The following piece is from an item written by Bro John Thomas in the style of a Dialogue between two men, Josedec who is being taught by Elpis, and has been forwarded by a brother for the interest of our readers
“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. When I was a child, I spake as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass in an enigma; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1Cor 13:9-12).
Josedec: But an inspired apostle has said “we know in part”.
Elpis: He did not say, “We know the gospel in part before baptism,” as you quote these words out of their connexion to prove. The apostle is discoursing about “spiritual gifts,” such as, “the word of wisdom,” or “prophecy,” “kinds of tongues,” and “the word of knowledge” (1Cor 11:10, 13:8). These were coveted by the members of the “One Body;” some of whom only were privileged to possess them for the benefit of all (11:7). He pointed out the best of the spiritual gifts, and exhorted them to seek after those, nevertheless, he would show them a way more excellent that even the possession of the best of the spiritual gifts (verse 31).
This way, which should abide when the gifts “failed,” “ceased,” or “vanished away,” consisted of “Faith, Hope and Charity; the greatest of which is charity.” (13:13). He then defined what he meant by “charity;” (and according to his definition of it, the most loving pietists of the churches of the Gentiles are utter strangers to it;) and said “Charity never faileth;” but that “prophecies,” “tongues,” and “knowledge” would fail, cease and vanish away. He then gives the reason why these gifts should be withheld; and after which withholding, faith, hope and charity would continue: “because,” says he “we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when perfection comes, then that which is in part shall be annulled.” (13:9,10).
KNOWING IN PART
Now, the word rendered “in part” does not bear the sense you attach to it. It is the same phrase as in 1 Corinthians 12:27, which is translated “in particular,” and refers to the same thing; namely, to the partial manifestation of the Spirit through the Spiritual men of the congregations; which consisted of those to whom the Spirit severally divided the gifts as he pleased (11:11) and the idiotoi, or those “occupying the room of the private person,” or plebian; rendered the “unlearned” in chapter 23:16. These two classes of the Temple of God, the public and the private brethren, having been all, by the spirit’s teaching through the apostles, baptised into one body (12:13) constituted that body in Christ; but the public brethren were “the members in particular,” the foot, the ear, the eye, the hand, the nose, the tongue &c.—of the whole; and constituted thus by the special gifts, called “spiritual”.
This was an imperfect state of the “One Body,” whose prophesyings, faculty of speaking foreign languages, and revelations, were individual, or “in part,” and not general. But there is a time coming, when perfection will have come; and then the Body of Christ will no longer “know in part, and prophesy in part,” as in apostolic times; but all the individuals then composing it, will, without exception, be qualified in a higher degree than the apostolic “members in particular;” so that the least in the kingdom of the heavens will be endowed with greater accomplishments than all the Spiritual Men of Paul’s day put together. In the apostle’s day, even with the Spirit’s manifestations through a part of the body, or “members in particular;” they could only say, “We see at present by a mirror in an enigma, but then (when the reality is manifested) face to face; now I am skilled (speaking for the Body,) by mirror-like partial manifestation but then (when perfection is come) I shall know perfectly as also I shall be known perfectly,” having then attained perfection by resurrection unto incorruptibility and life (Phil 3:11,12, Luke 8:32).
Can the miserable abortions, my dear Josedec, that pass current for Christians in our day, say, that they see by a mirror in an enigma – “with unveiled face beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord” – do then see the image of that glory there, being transformed into it, “from glory,” comprehended by faith, “to glory,” inherited when perfection is obtained (2Cor 3:18, Col 3:10)? What sort of a school of Christ is that you talk about, where the pupils after all the ‘new and elevated lessons in the gospel of the kingdom,’ they are said to receive, are as ignorant to their last breath, of the Image of Glory mirrorized in the gospel, as though there were no image there? Will you be content to remain in that school of the Outer Court, the professors of which have not yet attained to the great principles of the Truth? If I could, I would seize you by the hand as another Lot, and bid you to escape to Zoar, nor look back at your old gloomy and dingy cloisters, at the peril of your life.
Josedec: the things you bring to my ears interest me greatly; and in proportion as I perceive their import, I confess, I lose my admiration for the things which are behind. Will you be kind enough to add a little more in connexion with the mirror?
THE MIRROR
Elpis: With great pleasure. When you take up a position before a mirror, you see delineated thereon by the rays of light passing from real objects, a beautiful and exact representation, or image, of the landscape behind you. You study it artistically; and the more you consider it, and dwell upon it, the more is your admiration heightened and the more you appreciate its excellencies, until by this operation this picture is transferred, as it were, from the mirror to the “fleshly table of your heart,” mind, or sensorium; which becomes to you a mirror, upon which also an image of the original is vividly impressed.
Such is the process by which realities that have existed, do exist, and shall exist, are stamped, written, engraved, or impressed upon the heart of man. The fleshy tables of the heart, by way of access to which is ordinarily by the five senses (extraordinarily by the direct operation of the Spirit upon “the tables” themselves) are in the aggregate the mirror. Now through the apostolic ministry of the Word, the Spirit of the living God, impinged “the light of the glad tidings of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” upon that mirror. In this way “it shone into” the mirrors of the unmanifested mathetes. The beauties and magnificence of Christ’s glory fixed their attention, and they began to contemplate them artistically; until becoming so captivated with “the image,” its attributes began to shine forth from within them, and “they were known and read (or recognised) of all men,” who themselves understood the truth (2Cor 4:4; 3:11).
In this way, the Image of God, which is the Christ in his glory and sufferings, was depicted upon the fleshly tables of their hearts, and so long as it remained there, he “dwelt in their hearts by faith.” (Eph 3:17) – “the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). Here was a new man formed within them by the creating spirit, and what they now had to do, was to put on this new man by baptism into him (3:10). When they looked into their own hearts to see if they were in the faith, they beheld with unveiled face, as in a mirror, the Image of the Glory there, “in an enigma”.
THE ENIGMA
When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, Jehovah summoned the three before him, and addressed them, saying, “If there be a prophet among you (Israelites), I, Jehovah, will make myself known unto him in a dream. Not so my servant Moses, who is faithful over all mine house. I will speak with him mouth to mouth, even in sight and not in riddles, and the Image of Jehovah shall he behold” (Num 32:6-8). “Not in riddles, and the Image of Jehovah shall he behold,” is rendered by the King of Egypt’s seventy translators, “not through enigmas and the glory of the Lord shall he behold.” By vision and dream was the enigmatical mode of revelation which Jehovah communicated his truth to the prophets, much of which they could not unravel. It was too enigmatical for them, and even for Angels (1Pet 1:10-12). This enigma was the salvation of lives in connection with the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. The Image of Jehovah came into Moses’ sight on the Mount of Transfiguration; Moses spake with him mouth to mouth, of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). This was the basis of the enigma; for without that decease there would be no salvation of lives, or souls, no joint-heirship with the Christ in his kingdom and glory. Isaiah, in vision, saw Jesus, “the King, Jehovah of armies,” as contemporary with “the whole earth being full of his glory” (Is 6:3-5, Jno 12:41); but he did not see him in glory at the head of his armies, in the enigma of his decease and resurrection for the remission of the sins of those Jews and Gentiles who should share with him in that glory. It was revealed to Isaiah and the rest of the prophets, that their diligent search for a solution to this enigma, was in vain; inasmuch as it was purposely hidden from them; but would be revealed at a future time.
Josedec: This was the reason then, why the unsolved enigma is styled by Paul, “the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God ordained before the ages unto our glory” (1Cor 2:7)?
Elpis. It is. And in another place he styles it, the mystery of the Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Eph 3:5); “and made manifest to his saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:25-27).
THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST
Before the sending forth of the apostles, “the Mystery of the Christ” was not make known as they preached it; and when they announced it, they set forth the riches of its glory, which, when believed, became the hope of the believer. By their word, or teaching, the Spirit of the living God, daguerreotyped the Mystery of the Christ upon the fleshy plates of their intellectual and moral sentiments and faculties, styled in the aggregate “the heart”. They saw that the purpose of God was to set up a kingdom in Judea, which would have dominion over the whole earth: and that it’s administration should be justice and righteousness. The saw the Son of God, the Lord (eth-Adonai) highly exalted, sitting upon the throne of the kingdom, which was Jehovah’s Davidian kingdom, in which was Jehovah’s Davidian throne, in the enjoyment of omnipotence, and riches, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing, for ever more (Rev 5:12).
They saw Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, and many from the four corners of the earth (Luke 8:28) associated with him in his kingdom, and ascribing glory, honour, and thanks to him, because he had redeemed them out of all nations, peoples and tongues, and had made them God’s kings and priests to reign on earth with him (Rev 4:9, 9:10). They saw that both the King and his Associates were clothed in robes which had been made white and free from all spot, wrinkle, stain, or blemish, in the blood of One slain as a lamb in sacrifice (Eph 5:27; Rev 7:14) and declared to be all undefiled, guileless, and without fault before the throne of God (Rev 14:3,4,5); and well-fitted therefore, to rule the nations with a rod of iron (Rev 2:26) in righteousness, as their own peculiar and absolutely exclusive inheritance (Ps 2:8,9; 25:13; 111:6; Is 54 to the end).
When they contemplated the Spirit’s Daguerreotype artistically, they saw that the King, sitting upon the throne high and lifted up, was no other than the deceased Nazarene, named Jesus; and that he was, therefore Son of David and Son of God. They perceived that he attained to his high exaltation over the mundane system, as the heir of certain wills and testaments made by Jehovah, the God of Israel, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and their seed (Gen 11:7, 1,3,7; 13:15; 15:7,8,21; 17:5,8; 18:18; 26:3,4; 22:17,18; 28:4,13,14; 2Sam 7:12,16; 1Chron 17:11,14) as “the heir of all things,” and that, as he was “God manifested in flesh,” this decease was the death of THE TESTATOR of those Wills, which came into force thereby, and acquired a sanctifying efficacy for him and his joint-heirs (Heb 9:16,17; 10:10,14; Mat 26:28). Sanctified by the covenant with Abraham, inaugurated and made purifying by the death and resurrection of his seed, this federal person and all in him, when that all is filled up, entered, they perceived, on the possession of the kingdom and glory by resurrection from among the dead, or by transformation if living, temporary with the event.
Here, then, were the kingdom and glory set forth in an enigma, styled by Paul, my gospel (Rom 2:16, 16:25,26). Those upon whose minds his declaration of the testimony (1Cor 2:1) and reasonings (Acts 17:2, 18:4,19, 19:8) daguerreotyped his enigmatical gospel, having searched the scriptures to see if it accorded with what was written there (Acts 17:11) and finding it in strict accordance with Moses and the prophets, believed.
FAITH
If you do as the Bereans did with the scriptures I have quoted, you will comprehend their faith, which was something worthy of the name. It was “true christian faith based upon the plain word of God,” which they could not read for themselves, until the enigma it contained was expounded by the apostles under the guidance of the Spirit. To such believers with their eyes truly opened, the apostles presented an invitation, or call to the kingdom and glory they beheld with unveiled face in the mirror of their hearts (1Thess 2:12). Joyfully they accepted the high vocation (Eph 4:1, Acts 16:34) being ready to do anything commanded by the apostles. We do not read of any sorrowing for sins; they had fallen in love with the righteousness and goodness of God; and rejoiced in the hope of his glory; and there repentance evinced itself in their joyous obedience to “the truth as it was enigmatically set forth “in Jesus”.
John Thomas, June 1856
