What Does 1 Corinthians 13:12 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Greek knowing-root turns both ways: your future knowing answers the knowing by which you are already known.
THE MEANING
Right now your seeing comes through a mirror and a riddle, and your knowing is only a portion; the verse lets that partial sight remain honest without making it final. Ahead is face-to-face recognition, and the same knowing word places your knowing beside the fact that you are already known.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must see everything clearly before you can be fully known.
THE ROOT
γινώσκω
ginōskō
GROWS FROM
γινωσκ-
ginōsk-
To know, recognize, or perceive through encounter rather than by information.
“know” in this verse is ginōskō. The verse uses this knowing-family for knowing in part, knowing more fully, and being known. English can make those sound like separate actions; the repeated Greek root lets your future knowing answer a knowing already directed toward you.
ALSO GROWS
epiginōskō: Recognize or know fully.
ἐπιγινώσκω
The verse uses forms of this word for “shall I know” and “am I known,” carrying the same root in both directions.
gnōsis: Knowledge, knowing.
γνῶσις
This related form makes visible the word-family beneath the verse’s contrast between partial knowing and fuller recognition.
ἐν αἰνίγματι
en ainigmati
GROWS FROM
αἰνιγμ-
ainigm-
A riddle or hinted saying: meaning conveyed indirectly.
The Greek phrase translated “darkly” means “in a riddle,” adding the sense of indirect, hinted perception alongside the image of a dim reflection. What you see is mediated and incomplete, like a riddle awaiting fuller recognition.
ALSO GROWS
ainissomai: Speak in riddles or hints.
αἰνίσσομαι
The related verb shows how the word-family describes meaning carried indirectly.
ainos: A tale, saying, or fable.
αἶνος
This related word points to speech whose meaning may be carried through an indirect telling.
μέρους
merous
GROWS FROM
μερ-
mer-
A share, portion, or measured part.
“In part” is literally knowing “out of a portion.” The root pictures a limited share of knowing, giving the verse’s present sight a shape: partial, real, and not the whole.
ALSO GROWS
meros: A part or portion.
μέρος
This is the noun behind the verse’s “in part,” naming the measure of present knowing.
merizō: Divide or apportion.
μερίζω
The related verb shows how a whole can be distributed into shares, illuminating the verse’s partial knowing.
merismos: Division or distribution.
μερισμός
This related noun carries the sense of something divided into portions, echoing the limits named here.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats mediated sight as real but partial, while direct encounter brings clearer recognition and reveals likeness.
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.THE THREAD
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?Galatians uses the same γινώσκω knowing-family in the paired forms “ye have known God” and “are known of God.” Its turn toward being known echoes this verse and grounds future recognition in a knowing that is already present.
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