THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY!

1 Cor 13:11-12

11 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.

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.

It is believed that mirrors made of metal-backed glass was first produced in Lebanon in the first century AD. The Romans also made crude mirrors from blown glass with lead backings but the grinding and silvering of glass are modern inventions. Some believe that Paul is not referring to a mirror at all but rather a crude telescope by which one might see beyond the normal range of human vision. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a telescope that could not only our vision of things far away but of things in the future?

In the strictest sense, Paul was talking about the infancy of revealed truth. The Bible, as we now know it, was incomplete and quite scattered among many smaller writings. Scholars had not yet assembled them and sorted them for accuracy and inspiration. There was no Canon! Paul’s understanding was like looking through a distorted glass. Oh, what Paul wouldn’t have given for a copy of one of our Bibles!

We are approaching the ending of one year and the beginning of another. We see things without clarity. Our view is distorted by the influence of others. Truth, as it is reported, seems to be a matter of interpretation and opinion. Often we must choose sides. We see through the glass darkly. The word “darkly” is the Greek words  en ‎‎ainigmati‎ which means "In a riddle."

Eccl 10:14

14 A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

Dear Lord, our eyes fail and we see distorted images of truth twisted by circumstance and the influence of others who would change truth into something else. Our future is clouded but hopeful because we have a sure Shepherd who knows the way. AMEN