New Living Translation
1 Corinthians 13:9
9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!
1 Corinthians 13:9 in other versions
Context of 1 Corinthians 13:9
7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. 11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
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 13:12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:2Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.
- Job 11:7“Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?
- Job 26:14These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?”
- Psalms 40:5O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.
- Psalms 139:6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
- Proverbs 30:4Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down? Who holds the wind in his fists? Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who has created the whole wide world? What is his name—and his son’s name? Tell me if you know!
- Matthew 11:27“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
- Romans 11:34For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?
- Ephesians 3:8Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.
- Colossians 2:2I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.
- 1 Peter 1:10This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.
- 1 John 3:2Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really 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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