We charismatics like to use this verse to justify when a modern-day prophet makes a prophecy and it doesn’t come to pass:
1 Corinthians 13.9: For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
It seems we use “in part” to mean “could be incorrect.” Have you heard this? It’s exactly what I was taught how I should think about New Testament prophecy.
The idea I was taught is that Old Testament prophets were somehow overcome or controlled (or something) by God’s Spirit and so were able to prophesy without error. And it’s because of this perfect prophesy that the OT was able to have laws about how to know if a person is actually a prophet: what they say comes true. Here’s the go-to verse for that:
Deuteronomy 18.22: when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
And I was taught that New Testament prophets are different in that they prophesy “in part” — they can make mistakes. They can tell us what they think is a word from God, and be wrong— and yet still be a prophet.
So how wrong can a prophet be and still be a prophet? I don’t think anyone ever gave a percentage. I do remember my pastor talking about a prophet in our church and saying he is about 30% correct and that’s a good percentage.
That really is a low bar.
And what is even worse (if it could be worse) is that when they get a prophecy wrong, I’ve seen the prophet shrug and quote this verse. You can just search the internet yourself and find any number of examples.
So is that what “in part” means? “Could be wrong?”
The Greek word Paul uses in the 1 Corinthians passage is merous. The power of modern Bible software is that we can find everywhere New Testament authors use this same word, and see how it’s used. Paul uses this word a total of 17 times. I put his uses into three categories:
- A part of a whole (Rom 11.25, Rom 15.15, Rom 15.24, 1 Cor 11.18, 1 Cor 12.2, 1 Cor 13.9 (twice), 1 Cor 13.10, 1 Cor 13.12, 2 Cor 1.14, 2 Cor 2.5, 2 Cor 3.10, 2 Cor 9.3, Eph 4.16)
- A location, either geographic or metaphorical (Eph 4.9)
- participation (1 Cor 14.27, Col 2.16)
Take a look at that list. Does any verse give a sense of “incorrect?” Not even close!
What about the rest of the New Testament? I found the same results. You can run the search yourself and see that the uses fall into these same three categories, and at no time does it mean “incorrect.”
But I’ve heard very recently two men who gave a prophecy (which didn’t happen) and then said, “Oh well, we prophesy in part.”
I wonder if we get this idea from 1 Corinthians 13.10: “but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.” We define perfect as something like “without flaw” so conclude that partial must mean “flawed.” But what does Paul mean by perfect?
Paul uses this word (teleion in Greek) eight times. The ESV translates six of those times as “mature:” 1 Cor 2.6, 1 Cor 14.10, Eph 4.13, Phil 3.15, Col 1.28, Col 4.12. The word can definitely mean “flawless”as in Rom 12.2, so the question would be what it means in this passage in 1 Corinthians.
But think about it: even if Paul intends for this word to mean “flawless” in 1 Cor 13.10, that doesn’t make “in part” take on a meaning it has nowhere else. And the ESV translators recognize that: they DON’T translate it as “when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away,” as my old Revised Standard Version did. No, they say “the partial will pass away.”
So a better way to view “we prophesy in part” is to think of our prophecy as immature, or even better as incomplete. We don’t see everything; some information is left out. But when the perfect comes, then we will know fully.
So what do we do with Christians who say they are prophets but who give prophesies which don’t come true? I think we should follow the Deuteronomy passage: the prophet has spoken presumptuously, so we need not be afraid of him. We are not to hold these people in awe; they are false prophets.