New International Version
1 Corinthians 13:9
9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
1 Corinthians 13:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
- New King James Version (NKJV)For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!
Context of 1 Corinthians 13:9
7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 131 Corinthians 13:9 word by word
ἐκ μέρους γὰρ γινώσκομεν καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 13:9
- 1 Corinthians 13:12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—
- 1 Corinthians 8:2Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.
- Job 11:7“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
- Job 26:14And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
- Psalms 40:5Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.
- Psalms 139:6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
- Proverbs 30:4Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!
- Matthew 11:27“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
- Romans 11:34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
- Ephesians 3:8Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ,
- Colossians 2:2My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
- 1 Peter 1:10Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
- 1 John 3:2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 13:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9For we know in part - We have here but little knowledge even of earthly, and much less of heavenly, things. He that knows most knows little in comparison of what is known by angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. And as we know so very little, how deficient must we be if we have not much love! Angels may wonder at the imperfection of our knowledge; and separate spirits may wonder at the perfection of their own, having obtained so much more in…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9For we know in part - Compare the note on 1 Corinthians 12:27. This expression means “only in part;” that is, “imperfectly.” Our knowledge here is imperfect and obscure. It may, therefore, all vanish in the eternal world amidst its superior brightness; and we should not regard that as of such vast value which is imperfect and obscure; compare the note at 1 Corinthians 8:2. This idea of the obscurity and imperfection of our knowledge, as compared with…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-13Verses 8-13 Charity is much to be preferred to the gifts on which the Corinthians prided themselves. From its longer continuance. It is a grace, lasting as eternity. The present state is a state of childhood, the future that of manhood. Such is the difference between earth and heaven. What narrow views, what confused notions of things, have children when compared with grown men! Thus shall we think of our most valued gifts of this world, when we come to…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9None of the spiritual gifts provides complete understanding. Unlike love, their benefits are limited.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 9-109-10. in part--partially and imperfectly. Compare a similar contrast to the "perfect man," "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ep 4:11-13).Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 13:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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