1. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What was Paul thinking about when he used the metaphor of a mirror to describe the limitations of our present knowledge?

1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Contents

  1. Interpretation 1:
    Mirrors in those days showed a blurred reflection.
  2. Interpretation 2:
    Mirror refers to a window with semi-transparent glass.
  3. Interpretation 3:
    Mirror refers to seeing a reflection of the Lord.

Interpretation 1:
Mirrors in those days showed a blurred reflection.

Summary: 

Paul used this metaphor because mirrors in his day showed only a blurred and distorted reflection.

Arguments in favour of this view:

  1. Ordinary mirrors in Paul’s day were of bronze or some other metal and therefore somewhat stained by corrosion.

  2. This distorted mirror image, according to Paul, caused you to look in riddles, as the Greek text adds: some things were left to guesswork. Some translations, such as the ESV, therefore translate: we see in a mirror dimly.

Arguments against this view:

  1. That the mirror image in those days was so much worse than our modern mirrors is partly an assumption. Commentators more than once mention it with a caveat: The image they displayed could never be perfectly clear. Or, The average mirror was stained to some extent by corrosion. One had to constantly polish away the rust on a bronze mirror.

  2. James also uses the metaphor of a mirror when he writes about the uncovering function of God’s law (James 1:23). There the mirror apparently shows clearly enough what is wrong with us, sinners.

  3. This interpretation too quickly concludes that Paul’s words that we are looking into riddles by means of this mirror must mean that the mirror of that time was of an inferior quality than ours today. The translation (as in the ESV) that we see in a mirror dimly is not an actual translation of the Greek, but an interpretation of this concept of inferior mirrors.

Interpretation 2:
Mirror refers to a window with semi-transparent glass.

Summary: 

Paul uses the word mirror to mean a window made of semi-transparent glass or horn. The church father Tertullian (approx. 160–230) already explained it this way.

Arguments in favour of this view:

  1. This interpretation rightly brings into account that Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:12 about a mirror image in which we do not see ourselves, but through which we can get to know God.

  2. For that reason, Paul is not thinking of looking at a mirror image, but at something that becomes visible through the mirror (= window), although the image remains unclear. Thus, it is behind the unclear windowpane. After all, the Greek word “dia” as used by Paul means “right through it.”

Arguments against this view:

  1. The explanation that the Greek word Paul uses would not be a mirror, but a window, finds little support in Greek literature.

  2. The Greek word “dia” may also mean by means of.

Interpretation 3:
Mirror refers to seeing a reflection of the Lord.

Summary: 

By using the word mirror Paul thought of seeing a reflection of the Lord as seen by the Israelites in the face of Moses.

Arguments in favour of this view:

  1. The words in 1 Corinthians 13:12 seeing in a riddle or enigma [AMP] are followed by the words seeing face to face which recall Moses’ mediation of God’s glorious presence: Moses’ face reflected something of the radiance of God (Exodus 34:29–35). Of this God himself said, “I speak [with Moses] from mouth to mouth; visibly [this is a better translation of the Hebrew than: clearly in the ESV] and not in riddles. He beholds the appearance (also a better translation of the Hebrew than form of the ESV) of the LORD” (Numbers 12:8). In Exodus 33:11, instead of the LORD speaking mouth to mouth to Moses, he is said to do so face to face.

  2. Through this reflection of God’s luminous glow on Moses’ face, the Israelites learned a great deal about God: despite their sins, he still wanted to move ahead with them. The way to the Promised Land remained open. How much did this show about who God is! Yet much was also left to guess. How would the journey continue? Would they, as a small nation, be able to drive the larger and stronger nations out of Canaan?

  3. Even though we may already know so much more of God today than Israel did back then (see also 1 Peter 1:10–12), the apostle Paul teaches us that our knowledge is still limited. This warning was especially necessary in the church at Corinth in the face of church members who boasted of their knowledge (see 1 Corinthians 8:1–3). The echo of the last words of 1 Corinthians 8:3 resounds in the closing words of 1 Corinthians 13:12.

  4. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul again recalls both the impressiveness and the imperfection of the divine radiance reflected by Moses’ face (2 Corinthians 3:7). And there he again uses the image of a mirror, see 2 Corinthians 3:18.

  5. This interpretation rightly takes into account that Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:12, is writing about a mirror image in which we do not look at ourselves, but through which we may come to know God. And it is more plausible than the interpretation that Paul’s metaphor evokes the image of someone who, with a not-very-smooth hand mirror, looks at someone standing behind him; but when he turns around, he sees the other person face to face. For to know God more fully we cannot turn around in this life already. We have to make do with the reflection that people, like Moses, show us today: the authors of the Holy Scriptures and the apostles aim to show him who fulfilled all those Scriptures: Jesus Christ. And we realize that because of this, we still do not know God fully. As the Reformed churches also confess in the final words of Article 2 of the Belgic Confession of Faith.