The Setting in Corinth and the Problem Paul Is Correcting

Paul’s words, “We know in part and we prophesy in part,” are embedded in his sustained correction of Corinth’s misuse of spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12–14). The congregation possessed real gifts from the Holy Spirit, yet they were using them competitively and disorderly, treating gifts as status markers rather than tools for edification. Paul’s argument moves in a clear progression. He identifies variety of gifts but one Spirit and one body (1 Cor 12:4–27). He then inserts love as the superior way that gives gifts their true purpose (1 Cor 12:31–13:7). Only after establishing love’s primacy does he explain the temporary nature of certain gifts in the congregation’s infancy: prophecies would be done away, tongues would cease, and knowledge in the gifted sense would be done away (1 Cor 13:8). Verse 9 provides the reason: the church’s revelatory and predictive capacities were partial, not final.

“In Part” as Partial Revelation and Partial Predictive Speech

The phrase “in part” describes incompleteness, not error. The Holy Spirit was truly guiding the early congregation, but the total body of Christian revelation had not yet been fully delivered and inscripturated. The apostles and prophets were receiving and communicating portions of divine truth as needed for the building up of the church. Prophecy in the first century included Spirit-given proclamation and, at times, Spirit-given prediction or disclosure that strengthened congregations and guided them through foundational phases (Acts 11:27–28; 13:1–3; 21:10–11). “Knowledge” in this context is not everyday learning; it is Spirit-enabled understanding and disclosure connected to revelation. When Paul says, “We know in part,” he is saying that the church’s revelatory insight was distributed in portions across people and occasions, and those portions did not yet amount to the completed deposit of Christian truth.

Why This Partial State Fits the Infancy of the First-Century Congregation

Paul’s imagery immediately confirms the “infancy” framework. He contrasts the child with the mature man: “When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (1 Cor 13:11). He is not insulting the Corinthians for being new believers only; he is describing the developmental stage of the entire covenant community in relation to the unfolding of New Covenant revelation. The apostolic era was foundational. The church was being established on the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as cornerstone (Eph 2:20). Foundations are laid once, then the building rises. In that foundational window, the Holy Spirit supplied gifts that enabled the church to receive, confirm, and apply revelation while the apostles were still living and while the New Testament Scriptures were being written and circulated.

The Meaning of “The Perfect” as the Completion That Replaces the Temporary

Your stated interpretation aligns with the text’s movement: the partial belongs to the temporary phase, and “the perfect” brings the partial to an end (1 Cor 13:10). In the grammar of Paul’s argument, “the perfect” is not love, because love is already said to “never fail” and continues regardless of gifts (1 Cor 13:8). “The perfect” is also not the believer’s death, because Paul’s contrast is corporate and redemptive-historical, tied to the function of gifts in the church and the transition from partial revelatory means to a completed standard. “The perfect” refers to the mature, complete provision of Christian revelation such that the church is no longer dependent on fragmentary, episodic revelatory gifts to possess God’s full counsel for doctrine and life. The completed canon functions as that mature provision. Scripture itself frames the faith as a delivered body of truth: “the faith that was once for all delivered to the holy ones” (Jude 3). Paul anticipates a time when the church is equipped through the Word for every good work (2 Tim 3:16–17), and when the apostolic teaching is guarded as a stable deposit (2 Tim 1:13–14).

“Face to Face” and “Know Fully” Without Forcing a Misread of the Metaphor

Some read “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12) as demanding the final state of seeing God in the resurrection. Yet Paul’s own usage allows “face to face” as a metaphor for clarity compared to indirectness. He pairs it with “in a mirror dimly,” invoking the contrast between blurred reflection and direct sight. The point is the change from mediated, partial disclosure to clear, settled understanding. Likewise, “then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known” can be read as knowing in a fuller, more complete way relative to the prior partial mode, not as becoming omniscient. Scripture never teaches that humans become all-knowing. The contrast is between fragmentary revelation and completed revelation that allows the congregation to possess the full message needed for faith and godliness. The Holy Spirit continues to help believers understand and apply Scripture, but not through new revelation that adds to the apostolic deposit (John 16:13 in harmony with the Spirit’s role in guiding into truth; 2 Tim 3:16–17 regarding Scripture’s sufficiency).

How Chapters 12–14 Confirm Paul’s Point About Gifts Being For a Season

Paul’s practical directives in chapter 14 reinforce that prophecy and tongues functioned to edify during the church’s early formation. Tongues served as a sign particularly in relation to unbelievers, and prophecy served to build up believers (1 Cor 14:22–25). Paul regulates their use because they were being mishandled, not because they were meant to be permanent fixtures in every era. He insists everything be done for edification and in an orderly way (1 Cor 14:26–33, 40). When the church possesses the completed apostolic teaching in written form, publicly read and taught, the means of edification becomes stable, universal, and testable across all congregations. That shift fits Paul’s logic: the partial and temporary are replaced by the mature and complete, while love remains always necessary and always operative.

Scriptural Support for a Closed Apostolic Deposit and Non-Continuing Revelation

The New Testament repeatedly treats apostolic teaching as a fixed standard to be guarded, preserved, and transmitted rather than continuously expanded by new prophecy. Paul pronounces a curse on any “different gospel” beyond what was delivered (Gal 1:8–9). He commands believers to “stand firm and hold to the traditions” taught by apostolic instruction (2 Thess 2:15). John warns against going beyond the teaching of Christ (2 John 9). Revelation closes with a solemn warning against adding to “the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 22:18–19). These passages do not merely caution against heresy; they support the principle that the church’s doctrinal foundation is not an open pipeline of new revelation. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to illuminate, convict, and sanctify through the Spirit-inspired Word, not to supply ongoing canonical-level prophecy.

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