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The Bible Study New Testament

1 Corinthians 13:9

Are only partial. Our gifts are limited by the limitations placed on them. Compare 1 Peter 1:10-11 for an example of this.

10. But when what is perfect comes. Most scholars believe the perfect will come with the Second Coming of Christ and our entrance into that eternal world. So Johnson, MacKnight, Expositor's Greek Testament, et. al. Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 13:12 points to this. But Lipscomb, et. al, take the completion of the New Testament (or the coming to maturity of the church) as the time when the partial will disappear. Some think the destruction of Jerusalem (70 A.D.) was the cut-off point for the gifts from the Spirit.

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See also 1 Corinthians 13:9 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 1 Corinthians 13:9. _FOR 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 kno...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    FOR 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...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    3. THE NEED AND SUPERIORITY OF LOVE. CHAPTER 13 __ 1. The Preeminence of Love. (1 Corinthians 13:1 .) 2. Love described in its characteristics. (1 Corinthians 13:4 .) 3. Love never faileth; its Pe...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    1 CORINTHIANS 13. ALL GIFTS AND SACRIFICES ARE WORTHLESS WITHOUT LOVE, WHICH IS SUPREME AND INCOMPARABLE. The chapter falls into three divisions: (_a)_ superlative gifts and costliest surrenders are v...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE HYMN OF LOVE (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) 13 I may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I have not love, I am become no better than echoing brass or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gi...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    KNOW. App-132. IN PART. Greek. _ek_ (App-104.) _merous._...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _and we prophesy in part_ All inspired utterances are but partial revelations of Divine Truth....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    1 Corinthians 12:31 Ch. 1 Corinthians 13:13. The Excellencies of Love _and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way_ Literally, AND FURTHERMORE I SHEW YOU AN EMINENTLY EXCELLENT WAY, i.e. the way of l...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    1 Corinthians 12:31 to 1 Corinthians 13:13. THE EXCELLENCIES OF LOVE ΚΑῚ ἜΤΙ ΚΑΘ' ὙΠΕΡΒΟΛῊΝ ὉΔῸΝ ὙΜΙ͂Ν ΔΕΊΚΝΥΜΙ. AND MOREOVER I SHEW YOU A WAY OF SUPERLATIVE EXCELLENCE. This, St Paul would have us un...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _THE UNPERISHABLE NATURE OF LOVE 1 CORINTHIANS 13:8-10:_ Love is said to "never fail," though the miraculous spiritual gifts were to be made "null" or "useless" in time. "Charity never faileth: but wh...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΈΚ ΜΈΡΟΥΣ (G1537; G3304) отчасти, частично. Оба раза это слово выделено в данном стихе (RWP)....

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 1987 THE SAINTS’ VIEWS IN HEAVEN 1 Corinthians 13:9. We know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    FOR WE KNOW IN PART, &C.— The wisest of men have here but short, narrow, imperfect conceptions even of the things round about them; and much more of the deep things of God: and even the prophesies whi...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    BUTLER'S COMMENTS SECTION 3 Giftedness is Temporary, Love is Eternal (1 Corinthians 13:8-13) 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowle...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    APPLEBURY'S COMMENTS _Text_ 1 Corinthians 13:8-12. Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. IN PART - partially and imperfectly. Compare a similar contrast to the "perfect man," Ephesians 4:11. THAT WHICH IS IN PART - fragmentary and isolat...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    13 The body of Jesus, or of the Lord, denotes His physical frame. The body of Christ, however, is quite a distinct thought. Christ, or the Anointed, is a title rather than a name. It suggests official...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    13:9 know (e-3) _ Ginosko_ . see Note, ch. 8.1....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    _(e) Spiritual Gifts (ii) The most excellent Gift of Charity_ In this chapter we enter into the purest atmosphere and breathe the most fragrant odours. Passing from the previous Chapter s with their t...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    LOVE IS ETERNAL. Other gifts, knowledge, prophecy, tongues serve but a temporary purpose. 'They are only means towards an end. Love remains the completion and perfection of our human being' (F. W. Rob...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    IN PART] partially, imperfectly....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    SERVANTS OF CHRIST 1 CORINTHIANS _HILDA BRIGHT_ CHAPTER 13 LOVE 13:1-13 1. THE ABSENCE OF LOVE 13:1-3 V1 Suppose that I speak in the languages of people and *angels. If I have no love, I am onl...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    WE KNOW IN PART. — Knowledge and preaching are incomplete; therefore, when this dispensation ends, and the complete dispensation is brought in, these imperfect gifts shall cease. Gifts are but the imp...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 19 NO GIFT LIKE LOVE THIS is one of the passages of Scripture which an expositor scruples to touch. Some of the bloom and delicacy of surface passes from the flower in the very handling whic...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    § 43. THE QUALITIES OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. The previous vv. have justified the καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν of 1 Corinthians 12:31. The loftiest human faculties of man are seen to be frustrate without love; by its aid...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    1 Corinthians 13:9-10 : reasons why _Prophecy_ and _Knowledge_ must be abolished. Though amongst the μείζονα (1 Corinthians 12:31) and rich in edification (1 Corinthians 14:6), these c

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE ONE ESSENTIAL FOR ALL 1 Corinthians 13:1 With what wonder his amanuensis must have looked up, as the Apostle broke into this exquisite sonnet on love! His radiant spirit had caught a glimpse of t...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The apostle dealt with love, its values (verses 1Co 13:1-3), its virtues (verses 1Co 13:4-7), and its victory (verses 1Co 13:8-13). The values of love are discovered in the fact that, apart from it, a...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    The Temporary Nature of Spiritual Gifts Spiritual gifts were needed to aid in the growth and development of the early church. The need for those gifts came to an end when God's will was completely rev...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (4) For we know in (h) part, and we prophesy in part. (4) The reason: because we are now in the state that we have need to learn daily, and therefore we have need of those helps, that is, of the gift...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    “Charity never faileth. As to prophecies, they shall be done away; as to tongues, they shall cease; as to knowledges, they shall be done away. 9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10. But...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    The reading γάρ, _for_, is evidently preferable to the δέ, _then_, of the Byz. The apostle wishes to explain why this doing away shall take place. Prophecy lifts on each occasion only a corner of the...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    II. THE WAY PAR EXCELLENCE. CHAP. 13. This chapter has been called a hymn. In tone indeed it is truly lyrical, especially in the first verses. Charity is poetically personified. In this respect the pa...

  • Godet's commentary on Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians

    1 Corinthians 13:8-13 . The absolute duration of charity is developed in these last verses: first, in opposition to gifts, then even in contrast to the other two fundamental virtues, faith and hope....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we proph...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    As usual, the introductory words (1 Corinthians 1:1-3) of the epistle give us no little intimation of that which is to follow. The apostle speaks of himself as such "called [to be] an apostle of Jesus...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    He now proves that _prophecy, _and other gifts of that nature, are done away, (798) because they are conferred upon us to help our infirmity. Now our imperfection will one day have an end. Hence the u...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Nevertheless there was something more excellent than all gifts. They were the manifestations of the power of God and of the mysteries of His wisdom; love, that of His nature itself. They might speak w...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    FOR WE KNOW IN PART,.... Not that the Scriptures, the rule and measure of knowledge, and from whence spiritual knowledge is derived, are imperfect; so that there is need of unwritten traditions, and o...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. Ver. 9. _We prophesy in part_] We therefore know but imperfectly, because we are taught but imperfectly. My greatest knowledge, said Chytraeus, is to kno...

  • Jonathan Edwards' Notes On The Scriptures

    1 Cor. 13:8-12. "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; - For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Love never faileth_ It accompanies us to, prepares us for, and adorns us in eternity; nay, it is the very felicity of heaven. In these respects it materially differs from, and has an apparent advanta...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    WE KNOW IN PART; that is, in our present state. WE PROPHESY IN PART; we are not capable of either receiving or communicating truth by prophecy, except in a partial and imperfect way....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The eternal duration of love:...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    FOR WE KNOW IN PART, AND WE PROPHESY IN PART....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    Verses 1 Timothy 3 of this chapter show the necessity of love; verses 4 to 7 the characteristics of love; and verses 8 to 13 its permanence. And in the first section, verse I deals with what I speak;...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    FOR WE KNOW IN PART, AND WE PROPHESY IN PART; 'For' -explains the reason why these spiritual gifts will cease. All the spiritual gifts had some relationship to the revelation of the Word of God. Gift...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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 childhoo...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    FOR WE KNOW IN PART; it was truly said, as to things human, that the greatest part of those things that we know, is the least part of those things which we are ignorant of. A great measure of Divine t...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Irenaeus Against Heresies Book II and we, while upon the earth, as Paul also declares, "know in part, and prophesy in part."[244] Irenaeus Against Heresies Book II But if any lover of strife contra...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    1 Corinthians 13:9 For G1063 know G1097 (G5719) in G1537 part G3313 and G2532 prophesy G4395 (G5719) in

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    'Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    LOVE MUST LIE AT THE ROOT OF ALL WE DO ESPECIALLY OUR MINISTRY TO THE CHURCH (13:1-13). Paul now deals with what must lie behind the use of spiritual gifts, if they are to be truly spiritual. And in s...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    LOVE WILL INDEED OUTLIVE ALL SPIRITUAL GIFTS, AND IS EVEN GREATER THAN FAITH AND HOPE (13:8B-13). For then we are brought back to how such love compares with the subject in hand. Prophecies, tongues...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    1 Corinthians 13:9. FOR WE KNOW IN PART even in respect of the supernatural gift of knowledge AND WE PROPHESY IN PART in necessarily broken, fragmentary utterances, giving at best but imperfect views...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    IN PART (εκ μερους). See on 1 Corinthians 12:27. As opposed to the whole....

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    1 Corinthians 13:9 I. "We know in part." This limitation is imposed upon us briefly. Of all that is, of all that ever we, with our present faculties, feel must be, we can know but a small fraction. Ou...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1 Corinthians 13:1. _Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal._ If there be no love to God, and no love to man,...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Love, the supreme gift of the Spirit, and its governing power over other gifts. CHARACTERS: Paul. CONCLUSION: Love alone can give value to any service rendered in Christ's name, and it is...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    The apostle having spoken of the adornings of the church, which is the body of Christ, proceeds now to treat of her internal glory; and that glory is charity, for without this, all other endowments ar...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal._ CHARITY Each of the apostles had a predominant feature of character....

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    CHARITY NEVER FAILETH;… PROPHECIES SHALL FAIL;… TONGUES SHALL CEASE;… KNOWLEDGE SHALL VANISH AWAY. CHARITY NEVER FAILETH I. As the living principle in the heart of believers. In its essence it is the...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _We know in part, and we prophesy in part._ WE KNOW IN PART I. The imperfection of our knowledge. 1. We know but little. 2. That little is mixed with much error. 3. Includes much that is useless....

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    _For we know in part and we prophesy in part, i.e._, imperfectly. Ephrem turns it. "We know but little of much;" for the Apostle opposes what is little and imperfect, what we know partly by reason, pa...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER 13 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER i. He points out that of all gifts and graces, charity is the first, and that without charity no gift or virtue is of any use. II. He enumerates (ver. 4) the sixt...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL NOTES_ 1. THESE NEED BE VERY FEW; the language of the chapter is of the simplest, the thought inexhaustibly full. 2. Note, Paul, not John, writes this chapter on LOVE. 3. The “I” is not s...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1 _The supremely excellent way of Christian love. _This chapter has been in all ages the object of the special admiration of the Church. Would that it had received in all...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Let's turn to the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians. The thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians actually begins with chapter 12. Paul was talking in chapter 12 about the various gifts of the Holy Spiri...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Corinthians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 8:2; 1 John 3:2;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY 1 Corinthians 13:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS 1. The love of God. The great love of God verse is John 3:16. Another great love verse is Romans 5:8. The whole Bible is, however, one st...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    For we know in part, and we prophesy in part — The wisest of men have here but short, narrow, imperfect conceptions, even of the things round about them, and much more of the deep things of God. And e...

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Old Testament