I now note that a commentary by Jamieson, Faussett and Brown, while generally supporting the point on the abiding nature of faith and hope as contratsed with the transient charismata, nonetheless argues that faith, as trust in God, and hope, as in ongoing expectation of greater and greater joys in the eternal state, are NOT transient gifts. However, it is temporal faith and temporal hope as defined elsewhere in the New Testament that Paul is referring to in 1 Cor 13:13, because if we apply JFB's logic to the 3 charismata mentioned, then in a sense prophecies, tongues, and knowledge, described as temporary in 1 Cor 13:8, would also be eternally abiding.
The apostle is making a contrast between very transient gifts and those that abide with the church.
I think the toughest thing for people to appreciate is that while it is very true that believers will know things much better in the next life and see the Lord face to face, it does not follow that this truth is what 1 Cor 13:12 refers to! And we must concede, the glass (mirror) metaphor makes it easy for continuationists to argue for the perfect clarity of sight that can only be the case in the eternal state, given the difficulty or obscurity of much of the Bible. We can address the continuationists on this argument thus:
1. Nobody could deny that a darkened mirror gives an incomplete picture of the object being looked at; and I am sure it is incompleteness rather than lack of perspicuity that is being spoken of in the darkened mirror metaphor. How can we know? Because in all the sentences before and after the mirror metaphor, it is knowledge "in part" that is being spoken of. With the completion of the canon, there is full knowledge of the whole counsel of God to the church. The man of God can have access to ALL of God's counsel now.
2. If we say the Word of God is a darkened mirror, what we are really saying is that it is impossible to glean a truly clear picture of any doctrine or particular counsel of God. It means vast swathes of Scripture can never be unlocked in this world, in which case, why would God bother giving us this impossible-to-fully-glean message at all? This is not to deny that there are many parts of the Bible that are DIFFICULT to be understood - the Bible itself concedes this! But there is no passage that CANNOT most definitely be interpreted and understood, clearly and with full perspicuity.
Thus 1 Cor 13:12 teaches, "For now (in the apostolic age) we see the counsel of God incompletely (seeing the outline of it, perhaps even most of it, but not in complete detail), but then (when canon is complete) a complete picture of the whole of God's counsel will appear (like our own reflection, "face to face", in a perfect mirror); in other words, now I (the man of God) know God's message to man in part; but then (upon completion of canon), the man of God shall be able to know the whole counsel of God, just as also he is able to see himself completely in a clear mirror."
To close, let us never think we shall know God with the same completeness He knows us; surely eternity will be enjoyed in ever increasing knowledge of the unsearchable riches of Himself!
