When the Perfect Comes: Man's Destiny in Revelation

Paul declares that when that which is perfect (to teleion) arrives, the partial shall vanish. Joseph Exell's 1887 Biblical Illustrator frames this eschatological promise through three movements.

First, our hope for perfection rests on revelation itself. Man appears as "a vast collection of little beginnings, attempts, failures," yet Divine revelation pronounces perfectibility possible. Philosophy ridicules this doctrine, but Scripture validates it.

Second, this prediction concerns knowledge itself—surprisingly. Perfection in gnosis (knowledge) seems less conceivable than holiness, yet Paul anchors it here. In the heavenly state, error shall be excluded entirely. Whether knowledge comes by intuition or reasoning, all evidence will be self-evident and infallible. No spirit shall exult in receiving truth only to discover it counterfeit.

Third, this perfect knowledge will adequately govern the endless activities of the superior state. The redeemed shall possess infallible understanding—what to do, when, and by what means—directing their celestial work with complete certainty.

Our present condition mirrors childhood: we know in part (1 Corinthians 13:9), through obscured glass (di' esoptrou en ainigmati). But Adonai promises maturity. Physical, intellectual, moral, and social perfection await those whom Christ has redeemed. The removal of all defect necessarily removes all sorrow. This is no philosophic romance but Elohim's covenant promise, secured by faith itself.