When The Perfect Appears

1 Cor 13:11-13

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is
charity. 

What is Paul’s meaning in these verses of scripture? I believe that Paul is comparing two understandings ofSalvation. The Old Covenant understanding which was given in pieces and fragments and the New Covenant understanding which is the Person of Christ revealed in our hearts as the substance of the pieces and fragments.Those who have not come to a New Covenant comprehension of Salvation will continue to live in such a state of puzzlement and confusion. If we look at the word “darkly” which Paul uses, we will see that this is exactly what he is saying. 

Darkly
en (NT:1722) ainigmati (NT:135). Literally, "in a riddle or enigma," the word expressing the obscure "form" in which the revelation appears. Compare di' (NT:1223) ainigmatoon (NT:135) "in dark speeches," Num 12:8.
(from Vincent's Word Studies of the New Testament, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
1 Cor 13:12[Darkly] Margin, "In a riddle" en (NT:1722) ainigmati (NT:135). 

The word means a riddle; an enigma; then an obscure intimation. In a riddle a statement is made with some resemblance to the truth; a puzzling question is proposed, and the solution is left to conjecture. Hence, it means, as here, obscurely, darkly, imperfectly. Little is known; much is left to conjecture; a very accurate account of most of that which passes for knowledge. (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

Let me stress that this is not the obligatory state of born again believers, contrary to the “we will only know the truth when we die” mentality that is in the Christian religion. This is speaking of an Old Covenant understanding being carried over into the hearts of New Covenant Christians. Under the Old Covenant, God used pieces, parts and fragments of information to speak of the Eternal Substance of His Son, but in the New Covenant, those pieces and fragments are gathered up and made known in Christ. This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews said: Heb 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Here are a couple of translations of that verse. Whereas, in many parts and in many ways of old, God spake unto the fathers, in the prophets, At the end of these days, He hath spoken unto us in his Son… (Rotherham Translation) In many parts, and many ways, God of old having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, in these last days did speak to us in a Son… (Young’s Literal Translation)

In the Old Covenant, God spoke in parts and pieces to the fathers by the prophets. The writers point is not to say that what God said was not true or faithful, but that what He had said in different fragmented ways has now come to be fully realized in the Person of His Son. The problem is that without FIRST seeing Christ, these pieces are left open ended. Holiness and Righteousness are not correctly seen as the Nature of the Indwelling Son of God, but suddenly get defined by codes of dress and codes of conduct. So being Holy or Righteous becomes a futile and frustrating exercise of self-denial instead of the Nature of The Living Christ transforming our souls into His image. 

But what is it that frees us from seeing Salvation as a pile of scattered pieces and confusing riddles? Seeing The Perfect One face to face! 1 Cor 13:10, But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. The word Perfect is from the Greek word teleios, which means ‘lacking nothing necessary to completeness’. How contrary that is to our fragmented and self centered understanding of Salvation. We are always noticing our failure to be holy or to be righteous, or to love, but that is because we have not seen Christ Who is our Holiness, Righteousness, and Love. In Him there is nothing lacking. In Him there is nothing missing. In Him there is nothing that falls short. And in Him we live, move and have our being. Why do we insist on continually gathering fragments into our “I love Jesus” basket and not just turn our hearts to behold Him in Whom all the fragments are gathered and nothing is lost.

This is the face to face encounter of which Paul is speaking in 1 Corinthians 13 and it is not a future time or event, but the Revelation of Christ IN US. Not just God revealing “things or information” to us, but God revealing THE PERSON WHO IS THE FULNESS OF ALL THINGS IN OUR SOULS. Most look for what they call “nuggets of revelation”, but Paul did not say that it pleased God to reveal “nuggets of truth” to him, but it pleased God to reveal the Son in Him. In the New Testament the words elements, rudiments, and principles are used and in each of those cases the law is being addressed. But when I began to look at the definition of these words I realized that they speak of that, which is a part of a whole. One definition said that we call our alphabet “elements” of language, but one letter does not make up the whole of our language. It is like we seek to find the “A” of God or the “Z” of God and we preach or teach a letter, but we have not yet had the Living Word, The Language of God, Who is Christ, revealed in us. Nothing of Truth can be communicated until The Truth; The Word of Truth is unveiled in our souls. That is what Paul understood when He said in Galatians 1:15-16 that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him that he might preach him. Paul knew that no ministry could take place until the Person was revealed.
 

The Person of our Salvation must be made known in us by the Spirit of Truth, Who’s only purpose is to reveal Christ, not in pieces, but in the fullness of His Person. What I mean is that God does not reveal Faith to us, but reveals the Son in us Who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. God does not reveal Love to us, but reveals the Son Who is His Love in us. When He is revealed and I behold Him, Who is the One Vision of God, my soul is transformed (2 Cor. 3:18). Then I no longer seek the rules and methods to be Holy, but I look unto Him Who is My Holiness. I no longer seek to be Righteous by my efforts and works, but I look unto Christ Who is My Righteousness. Now the pieces have been defined by the Person. Here is a sure sign of growing up in Christ. We put away the pieces and lay hold of the Perfect. (1 Cor. 13:11) Paul’s prayer for the Church was not that God would show them more pieces of the puzzle, but that He would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of HIM
 

Eph 1:17
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. That’s why Paul did not say that it pleased God to reveal spiritual things to him so that he could preach about Jesus, but that it pleased God to reveal the Son in him. God reveals the Person. Wisdom, Revelation, Knowledge, just finally comes for us to be HIM. Not different pieces of the puzzle, but a glorious Person that dwells in us and in Whom we dwell. We are not to come to the full knowledge of Faith or Love or Holiness, but of HIM. Paul never presented Salvation as pieces, but as the Indwellingerson of Christ being revealed and working in us. He never separates the aspects of Christ from Christ. How can you do that? How can you separate holiness from The Holy One? We can say that about every aspect we try to grasp as if it were separate from Him. Paul is saying the same thing in 1 Corinthians 13 and in 2 Corinthians 3:18. When we will turn to the Lord to know Him, He will be seen as the substance of all spiritual things and as we behold Him our soul is transformed from the glory of the pieces to the more glorious substance of the Person. If faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, to walk in faith is to walk in the comprehending of Christ as the substance of the things that have been hoped for and the evidence of what could at one time not be seen, but is now REVEALED IN US by the Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9-10)

Therefore, the Church needs a face to face encounter with the I AM. No, not the I DO or the I GIVE, but the I AM. It is seeing the I AM that will transform our souls. Let’s look at a familiar example: Martha’s brother had died and she was upset that Jesus did nothing to save him. When Jesus assured her that her brother would live again, she pulled out one of her “fragments” and presented it to Jesus. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. (John 11:24) Martha knew about a resurrection, but she knew it as a piece of the religious puzzle. It was an aspect that she believed and knew was true, but she had not yet come to KNOW the Resurrection. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. (John 11:25) Now, a fragment has been gathered. Now the Resurrection has been defined in I AM. I think this is one of the great fragments that still hinder Christians from walking in the Newness of Life in Christ NOW. They have been told that Eternal Life is for the future, but I will tell you as one who has had I AM revealed in his soul, that Eternal Life is NOW IN CHRIST JESUS. The I AM Resurrection and Life Now dwells in our souls and He must be revealed in us, that as Martha we will put away the pieces for the Person.
 

We can even look at Paul:
Phil 3:8, Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

Paul thrived under the Old Covenant. Yet when the Perfect One appeared, Paul put away and counted as loss the fragments of the Old Covenant (“all things”) for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. At one time the fragments were a means of boasting for Paul, but now his boasting is the Lord Himself Who had appeared in Him and Who has become the substance of those things he had at one time zealously believed. Yet now he has gone from just believing things to seeing the substance of what He had believed. When he says “for whom I have suffered the loss of all things”, he does not mean that he cast it away “for” Jesus, but the definition of the word “for” is “by reason of”. So putting away the fragments of the Old is not an option for those who have truly seen the Perfect, because the knowledge that exceeds has come in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, may we turn away from our pieces, regardless of how true they may be and how strongly we may believe them, and turn our hearts to see the One in Whom there is nothing lacking necessary to completeness. Then and only then can we be established upon the solid and unshakable foundation of Christ and not the fragmented and unsteady ground of our own understanding.