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1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

What kind of knowledge will pass away when the perfect comes?

Knowledge of what? Science? Physics? Biology? Theology? Knowledge of the mysteries of the spirit realm? What?

Related: Difference between wisdom, knowledge and prophecy?

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  • Partial knowledge will be replaced with complete knowledge. Thus, the partial knowledge we have now will pass away.
    – Perry Webb
    Apr 30, 2022 at 1:19
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    @PerryWebb - partial knowledge of what?
    – user38524
    Apr 30, 2022 at 1:20
  • Knowledge will pass away when we have enough pieces that we can take a step back and see the whole picture, as it were. This the Bible call "until the morning star raises in our hearts", in 2 Pet 1:19
    – Constantthin
    Apr 30, 2022 at 5:03

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When the "perfect comes", i.e. at the consummation of the ages when the Lord returns and we are brought back to life with brand new bodies, given eternal life, and much more, many things will become redundant. These include:

  • the police force
  • accountants
  • all the human infrastructure of civilization
  • all the knowledge about the multitude of languages
  • the entire medical profession
  • much of modern science
  • etc.

All these "professions" (and many more -- most human endeavors) and their associated "knowledge" and training will become useless and cease to be. Despite being the beneficiary of considerable training and education myself, I will be delighted to leave it all behind. This will include all the silly squabbles between highly trained theologians, many of whose fantastic theories will collapse.

I am eagerly looking forward to that time (1 Cor. 13:8-9; 12):

... As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part ... For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

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