What Does 1 Corinthians 13:10 Mean?
But when the whole comes, what is in pieces shall be made idle.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.THE KEY
The partial has an endpoint: when completeness arrives, the partial’s function ends.
THE MEANING
Your present understanding is partial, and this verse does not make that partial view ultimate. When completeness arrives, the partial loses its function; what can be seen and known changes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the fragment you can see now is all that will ever be available. The partial has a limit, and the verse names completeness beyond it.
THE ROOT
τέλειον
teleion
GROWS FROM
τέλος
telos
End, goal, or completion.
“the whole” in this verse is teleion. English “perfect” can suggest flawlessness, while τέλειον (teleion, complete) points to what has reached its goal. The contrast is between what is complete and what remains partial, not necessarily between moral flawlessness and defect.
ALSO GROWS
teleioō: To complete or bring to its goal.
τελειόω
It shows completion as something brought to its intended end.
teleiotēs: Completeness or maturity.
τελειότης
This branch carries the same sense of reaching a full measure.
ἐκ μέρους
ek merous
GROWS FROM
μέρος
meros
A portion, share, or part.
“what is in pieces” in this verse is ek merous. The phrase ἐκ μέρους (ek merous, partially) presents present knowing as a portion rather than a whole. The same phrase appears in the next verse, where “now I know in part” is set beside what comes “then.”
ALSO GROWS
merizō: To divide or distribute.
μερίζω
A share is something apportioned; the verse describes knowledge as not yet whole.
merismos: A division or distribution.
μερισμός
This related form echoes the divided state that completeness supersedes.
καταργηθήσεται
katargethēsetai
GROWS FROM
ἀργός
argos
Idle or inactive; no longer at work.
“made idle” in this verse is katargethēsetai. The verb καταργέω (katargeō, render inactive or bring to an end) can convey a function ceasing, rather than something simply being annihilated. The verse says the partial becomes inoperative when completeness arrives.
ALSO GROWS
argos: Idle or inactive.
ἀργός
It brings out the sense of a former function coming to rest.
ergon: Work or deed.
ἔργον
This related word for work makes the idea of something no longer operating more visible.
THE PATTERN
What is partial serves for a time, then yields as completeness reaches its goal.
But the path of the aligned is like gleaming light, walking and shining until the day stands firm.But let the bearing up under have its complete work, that you may be complete and entire, with nothing left behind.until we all reach the oneness of trust and of the full knowing of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the height of the fullness of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
But let the bearing up under have its complete work, that you may be complete and entire, with nothing left behind.James uses τέλειοι (teleioi, complete or mature), from the same word family as τέλειον (teleion, complete) here. Its picture of reaching a full measure opens this verse as a transition: what is partial gives way when completion arrives.
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