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1 Corinthians 13:12  (King James Version)
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Adam Clarke
<< 1 Corinthians 13:11   1 Corinthians 13:13 >>


1 Corinthians 13:12

Now we see through a glass, darkly - ' . Of these words some literal explanation is necessary. The word which we translate a glass, literally signifies a mirror or reflector, from , into, and , I look; and among the ancients mirrors were certainly made of fine polished metal. The word here may signify any thing by which the image of a person is reflected, as in our looking, or look in glass. The word is not used for a glass to look through; nor would such an image have suited with the apostle' s design.

The or mirror, is mentioned by some of the most ancient Greek writers; so Anacreon, Ode xi. ver. 1: -

̔ ,

, ·

' .

The women tell me,

Anacreon, thou art grown old;

Take thy mirror, and view

How few of thy hairs remain.

And again, in Ode xx. ver. 5: -

' ,

̔ .

I wish I were a mirror

That thou mightst always look into me.

In Exodus 38:8, we meet with the term looking glasses; but the original is maroth , and should be translated mirrors; as out of those very articles, which we absurdly translate looking Glasses, the brazen laver was made!

In the Greek version the word is not found but twice, and that in the apocryphal books.

In the book of the Wisdom of Solomon 7:26, speaking of wisdom the author says: "She is the brightness of the everlasting light, , and the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness." In Ecclus. 12:11, exhorting to put no trust in an enemy, he says: "Though he humble himself, and go crouching, yet take good heed and beware of him, and thou shalt be unto him, ̔ , as if thou hadst wiped a looking glass, (mirror), and thou shalt know that his rust hath not altogether been wiped away." All these passages must be understood of polished metal, not of glass, which, though it existed among the Romans and others, yet was brought to very little perfection; and as to grinding and silvering of glass, they are modern inventions.

Some have thought that the apostle refers to something of the telescopic kind, by which distant and small objects become visible, although their surfaces become dim in proportion to the quantum of the magnifying power; but this is too refined; he appears simply to refer to a mirror by which images were rejected, and not to any diaphanous and magnifying powers, through which objects were perceived.

Possibly the true meaning of the words ' , through a glass darkly, may be found among the Jewish writers, who use a similar term to express nearly the same thing to which the apostle refers. A revelation of the will of God, in clear and express terms, is called by them aspecularia maira , a clear or lucid glass, or specular in reference, specularibus lapidibus , to the diaphanous polished stones, used by the ancients for windows instead of glass. An obscure prophecy they termed aspecularia dela naharia , "a specular which is not clear."

Numbers 12:6 : If there be a prophet - I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and I will speak unto him in a dream; Rab. Tanchum thus explains: "My Shechinah shall not be revealed to him, beaspecularia maira , in a lucid specular, but only in a dream and a vision."

On Ezekiel 1:4, Ezekiel 1:5 : And I looked, and behold a whirlwind - a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, etc.; Sohar Chadash, fol. 33, says: "This is a vision beaspecularia dela nahara , by an obscure or dark specular."

From a great variety of examples produced by Schoettgen it appears that the rabbins make a great deal of difference between seeing through the lucid glass or specular, and seeing through the obscure one. The first is attributed only to Moses, who conversed with God face to face, i.e. through the lucid specular; and between the other prophets, who saw him in dreams and visions, i.e. through the obscure specular. In these distinctions and sayings of the ancient Jews we must seek for that to which the apostle alludes. See Schoettgen.

The word , which we render darkly, will help us to the true meaning of the place. The following is Mr. Parkhurst' s definition of the term and of the thing: " , from , the perfect passive of , to hint, intimate, signify with some degree of obscurity; an enigma, in which one thing answers or stands in correspondence to, or as the representative of, another, which is in some respects similar to it; occurs I Corinthians 13:12 : Now - in this life, we see by means of a mirror reflecting the images of heavenly and spiritual things, , in an enigmatical manner, invisible things being represented by visible, spiritual by natural, eternal by temporal; but then - in the eternal world, face to face, every thing being seen in itself, and not by means of a representative or similitude."

Now I know in part - Though I have an immediate revelation from God concerning his great design in the dispensation of the Gospel, yet there are lengths, breadths, depths, and heights of this design, which even that revelation has not discovered; nor can they be known and apprehended in the present imperfect state. Eternity alone can unfold the whole scheme of the Gospel.

As - I am known - In the same manner in which disembodied spirits know and understand.




Other Adam Clarke entries containing 1 Corinthians 13:12:

1 Corinthians 13:12
2 Corinthians 3:18

 

<< 1 Corinthians 13:11   1 Corinthians 13:13 >>

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