Seeing God ‘in a riddle’ or ‘face to face’: An Analysis of 1 Corinthians 13.12

Abstract

In his praise of the attitude of loving one another in 1 Cor. 13 Paul argues that ‘now we see in a mirror and in a riddle’ but at the eschaton we will see ‘face to face’ (v. 12). The implied object of ‘seeing’ is God. By introducing the image of a mirror Paul uses a well-known Hellenistic metaphor to describe the indirect, partial and incomplete nature of man’s knowledge of God. The expressions ‘in a riddle’ and ‘face to face’ are taken from Old Testament descriptions of Moses’ unique communication with God found in Num. 12.8 and Deut. 34.10.

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