How Did Paul Know the Future?
By Dr. Nicholas J. Schaser
When Paul describes future events, it is easy for readers to assume that his insight comes from an experience of divine revelation. After all, for the apostle to know that which has not yet occurred, one would think that he must have received special information that is inaccessible to others on earth. While he is the recipient of such revelation (cf. Gal 1:12; 2 Cor 12:2-4), it is also true that Paul’s knowledge of the biblical past influences his expectations of the future.
For instance, to close his famous meditation on love, Paul looks into a future in which he will have the closest possible relationship with God, saying, “For now we see in a mirror darkly, but then face to face. Now, I know in part; then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12 ESV). The phrase usually translated “darkly” is ἐν αἰνίγματι (en ainīgmati), which literally means “in [a] riddle”—the Greek word aīnigma is where English speakers get the term “enigma.” Paul notes that while we see and understand God as something of an enigma in the present age—unable to comprehend the Divine fully—we will interact with the Lord face to face in the world to come.
But how does Paul know this relational information? While readers may assume that he gets it in a prophetic vision, it’s actually Paul’s deep knowledge of Scripture that provides him with these details. In the book of Numbers, when the Lord addresses Aaron and Miriam about their brother Moses, God declares, “With him I speak mouth to mouth, in visibility, and not by riddles (δι᾽ αἰνιγμάτων, di ainigmāton) and he has seen the glory of the Lord” (Num 12:8 LXX). For Paul, Moses’ “mouth to mouth” meetings with God are a foretaste of what every believer will experience in the future: the beholding of God’s glory “face to face” and not in riddles. In this case, instead of being shown the future, Paul looks into his past and sees the testimony of the Torah guaranteeing divine closeness for all who put their trust in God.
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