1 Corinthians 13:12 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.

Please be aware that the current understanding does not apply to the understanding of the time of that writing. The Greek word used was esoptron which means mirror. Mirrors in those days would have been made of highly polished metal. An accurate portrayal of an individual would have been difficult even if the mirror were to be polished just before use. Certainly those items were not in common use by any but the wealthy.

Knowledge of those mirrors would have been common but the image for the common man would have been left to the imagination. The translation for looking through makes it even more difficult to translate into common language of the times as one cannot see through metal. Once again, it is illusionary, left to the imagination.

A time sensitive understanding of the word through is a comparative and as it relates to this passage would best be understood in context of “we change over time” as the use of now and then brings into usage the secondary definition of the Greek word “the grounds or reason by which something is or is not done”.

Now place this verse in context of where it stands as a connective phrase between 13:11 and 13:13.

13:11 asks us to put away childish things (imaginations)

13:13 emphasis is the greater attribute love, the grounds or reason for something to be done, or not done.

If we look only to our own understand about a prophetic future and what that means for us, we miss the relative importance of the timely understanding for the people to whom these words were written.

The lessons they learned will do us good to learn in context.