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KNOWING IN PART
AND PROPHESYING IN PART UNTIL
THE PERFECT IS COME
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READ I CORINTHIANS 13:8-13, and consider this in the light of its larger context of chapters 12, 13, and 14. Especially let us look at verses 9 and 10 in chapter 13. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."

This Scripture is quite revealing in the light of what our Lord said in John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth? " Earlier Jesus said in John 14:26, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost [Spirit], whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

At the time the apostle Paul wrote the Corinthians, they knew "in part," and they prophesied "in part," and they were looking to the time when that which was "perfect" would come so that the "in part" situation would be done away. The word "PART" here means just what it says: a part, or a portion, in contrast and in relationship to the whole or that which is complete. In reference to the Greek word translated "PERFECT," the Analytical Greek Lexicon defines it as "complete, entire, as opposed to what is partial and limited," and it gives I Corinthians 13:10 as an example of this usage.

The Holy Spirit Was in the Process of Guiding Them
into All Truth Step by Step and Part by Part
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But what about the knowing in part and the prophesying in part? Paul, in Ephesians 3:2-5, speaks of the "mystery? which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." We make a mistake if we think of the gift of prophecy only in terms of foretelling the future. Here it means to forthtell the truth of God by direct inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

So, Paul is saying, the Holy Spirit was in the process of guiding them into all truth. They did not receive the revelation of all the New Testament truths at once, but in "parts" along (you might say). Their knowledge was not complete, but the time was coming when this could be possible as far as God’s revelation was concerned. As we pointed out, when the "perfect" (that which was "complete, entire, as opposed to what is limited," I Corinthians 13:10) was come, the in part situation would be "done away." When the Holy Spirit finished guiding the inspired men into all truth, this was accomplished. We have the embodiment of it in the New Testament Scriptures.

Thereafter the supernatural spiritual gifts, which were transferred by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Hebrews 2:3,4; Acts 8:18; Acts 19:6), were no longer needed. They came to an end. Paul had said, "? whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away" (I Corinthians 13:8). He makes a parallel of their situation in the early church to that of a child: "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" (13:11). (Everything could be known and seen a lot clearer with the completed revelation of God? 13:12; James 1:21-25; Hebrews 4:12,13; II Corinthians 3:18).

(It is naive to think that we have the spiritual gifts today. Some say we do, especially emphasizing the "tongues"? however, in the New Testament this was the gift of speaking in another language theretofore unlearned by the person speaking, Acts 2:8; not some jibber-jabber. If we can have one of these spiritual gifts today, we can have all of them in the church. And the most important was the gift of prophecy, receiving and preaching God’s truth in PLAIN language by direct revelation. If this is true [that we have the gifts today], the Bible is not a completed or a closed book, and it could be added to by those who supposedly had the gift. Yes, and we have confusion, denominations, and cults today!).

Illustrations of the Holy Spirit Guiding
Them into All Truth Step by Step and Part by Part
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Now let us notice some ways in which the Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth, and how they knew in part and prophesied in part until that which was perfect came.

Even as God gave Moses his basic law, yet some things had to be spelled out more in detail along (Leviticus 24:10-23). This is especially true in the present age as people were making a transition from the Old Testament, which was but a shadow (Hebrews 10:1) of the reality of the New Testament which was to come. The Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth, and they preached the truth. However, sometimes they didn’t fully comprehend what they were saying, nor realize all of its implications. It took several years for them to get around to putting it into practice.

A good illustration of this is the Great Commission. The Lord had said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). And, as Matthew reads, it was to be taken to "all nations" ("nations," the word that is elsewhere translated "Gentiles"). (Matthew 28:19). The day the church was set up among men (Acts 2; Mark 9:1) people were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins for salvation. Then Peter declared, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38,39). We know that those who were "afar off" refers to the Gentiles (Ephesians 2:11-17).

We are made to wonder what the apostles actually thought Jesus meant in the Great Commission. It seems that Peter did not get the full import of what the Holy Spirit guided him to say on the day of Pentecost. For about eight years or so they stayed in close to Jerusalem and preached the gospel just to the Jews. It took the special prodding of God and the great demonstration of the Holy Spirit upon the household of Cornelius before they would move on out and preach to the Gentiles. It took a persecution before they "went every where preaching the word" (Acts 8).

Although they accepted Christ for salvation, the Jewish Christians had many hang-ups in making the complete transition to simple New Testament Christianity. They thought in terms of the temple, Jewish customs, and days. Perhaps the break in clarity and finality was not fully realized until the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. by the Romans. In the meantime, God led them step by step as these truths were "sinking in." Peter’s vision, which led him to the house of the Gentile Cornelius, also taught him that God no longer made distinctions of clean and unclean animals (Acts 10). Then a few years later, the "council" at Jerusalem concluded that the Gentiles didn’t have to be circumcised or keep the customs of the Jews (Acts 15). However, it was another thing with the Jewish Christians. Their clear-cut break was much longer in coming.

During this period of knowing in part and prophesying in part, we find Peter and John going to the temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1). Later in Asia Minor Paul had Timothy circumcised "because of the Jews which were in those quarters" (Acts 16:3). We see that Paul had "shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow" (Acts 18:18). To the Ephesians he said, "I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem" (Acts 18:21). In Acts 20:6, Luke mentions their departure from a certain place "after the days of unleavened bread" (the Passover). In the same chapter it is said that Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem for the "day of Pentecost" (Acts 20:16). Acts 21:20-30 shows some of their problems and indecision in relationship to the Law of Moses.

But, God was leading them into all truth. By the time the New Testament Scriptures were concluded, there is no question mark about these things. Even in the stage of knowing in part, Jewish concepts were looked upon more as hang-ups (Romans 14); especially by Paul as he considered them in relationship to the Gentiles. Although some were still doing things Jewish, they could not connect justification to them. It was more of a matter of individual hang-ups. When such hang-ups were imposed on whole churches as their doctrine (especially among the Gentiles), they were regarded as being in an apostate condition (Galatians).

Yes, the apostle Paul wrote to the early Christians, "For we know in part, and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." (James used this same Greek word when he wished his readers in their trials to be "perfect and entire, wanting nothing," James 1:4, thus illustrating its meaning). We have the full, final, and completed revelation of God. It is "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." What advantages we have today! We have all of God’s truths that He intended for us. Let us be faithful and diligent in studying that which God has taken the time and trouble to give us. We are a highly blessed people.

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