1 Corinthians 13:11,12 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

When I was a child, &c. The difference between our present and future conceptions of spiritual things may be illustrated by the knowledge of a child compared to that of a man. For in our present state, we are mere infants in knowledge, in comparison of what we shall be hereafter. I spake as a child Would naturally do, words hardly intelligible, and often unmeaning; I understood Or was affected, as εφρονουν may be rendered; as a child That is, thrown into transports of joy or grief on trifling occasions, which manly reason soon taught me to despise. I thought Ελογιζομην, I reasoned; as a child In a weak, inconclusive, and sometimes ridiculous manner. But when I became a man My faculties being ripened; I put away childish things Of my own accord, willingly, without trouble; and entertained sentiments, and engaged in pursuits, correspondent to such advancements of age and reason. Such shall be the improvements of the heavenly state, in comparison with those which the most eminent Christians can attain on earth. For now we see Even the things that surround us; through a glass The expression, δι ' εσοπτρου, thus rendered, Dr. Pearce thinks, “signifies any of those transparent substances which the ancients used in their windows, such as thin plates of horn, transparent stone, and the like, through which they saw the objects without obscurely. But others are of opinion that the word denotes a brazen mirror, like those of which Moses made the laver, Exodus 38:8; and that the apostle's meaning is, that we see things as it were by images reflected from a mirror. But this does not accord with seeing things obscurely. Darkly Εν αινιγματι, literally, in an enigma, or riddle. A riddle being a discourse in which one thing is put for another, which is in some respects like it, we are said to see things at present in a riddle, because in the revelations of God, invisible things are represented by visible, and spiritual things by natural, and eternal things by such as are temporal.” But then We shall see, not a faint reflection, or an obscure resemblance, but the objects themselves, in a clear and distinct manner; face to face As men see each other, when they behold each the other's face. Now I know in part Even when God himself reveals things to me, a great part of them is still kept under the veil; but then shall I know even as also I am known In a clear, full, comprehensive manner; in some measure like God, who penetrates the centre of every object, and sees at one glance through my soul and all things. It is justly observed by Dr. Macknight here, “that the darkness in which things at present are involved, is in some respects necessary; for as in childhood our knowledge and conception of things are wisely made imperfect, that we may the more easily submit to the exercises and discipline which are proper to our childish state; so in the present life, which in relation to the whole of our existence may be called childhood, our knowledge of invisible things is appointed to be imperfect, that we may employ ourselves with pleasure in the occupations of the present life. But when the season of childhood is over, and the grand scenes of the heavenly world open upon us, we shall no more see spiritual things darkly as in a riddle, but we shall see them clearly, and shall fully know even as we ourselves are fully known of superior beings, or of our most familiar friends. In short, we shall leave off all those imperfect methods of acquiring knowledge which we made use of on earth.”