---
title: 1 Corinthians 13:9
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-13-9/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-13-9.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 13:9
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 13:9

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

## JW Usage

Watchtower treatment of 13:9 is minimal. The phrase "we know in part" does not typically feature as a proof-text in either direction in JW literature, because the Watchtower's self-understanding is that through the faithful and discreet slave, accurate knowledge of Jehovah's purposes IS now delivered. The "in part" quality of apostolic knowledge is not extended into the present age — the verse thus sits in a blind spot of JW hermeneutics: acknowledged if cited, but never made load-bearing.

## Protestant Usage

13:9 grounds the "not yet" half of inaugurated eschatology. Paul — an apostle writing under inspiration, in the age of Pentecost — says "we know in part." If APOSTOLIC knowledge is in-part, no contemporary organisation can plausibly claim unmediated, final-settled knowledge of God's purposes. At the door, 13:9 is the hinge against the Watchtower's "channel of communication" claim: "If Paul puts himself in the in-part phase, and the full face-to-face knowledge belongs to the future, then any claim to infallible present-tense settled knowledge is claiming something Paul did not claim. Paul walked with limited light. He was honest about it. Should we expect more than Paul?"

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Already, But Not Yet — The New Covenant's Direction of Travel](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/inaugurated-eschatology-already-not-yet.md) — Jeremiah 31:34 and 1 Corinthians 13:12 read together [Authority]