it......was......not......that......Paul.......was.......not......smart.......or.....gifted......or......called.
it is that they did not have ALL of what we now have.
if you don't understand ALL of what we now have, that's YOUR problem.
not Paul's.
It's obviously your problem, too, and illustrates your problem with the interpretation.
Paul wrote, "
[SUP]11 [/SUP]When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. [SUP]12 [/SUP]For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."
(NKJV)
He doesn't say then I will have a book which I can study to know fully. He says, "Then I shall know". Notice the contrast to 'in part.'
The issue is
complete knowledge NOT having access to all relevant information in a book. If believers had complete knowledge now, what need would there be of Bible study. New believers study the Bible at least partly
because they do not know it.
The issue is
COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE not access to a complete repository of knowledge.
Notice Paul compares it to his own
individual understanding as a child. He says
I shall know fully. He wasn't even around when John finished Revelation. But if you want to use it metaphorically to apply to others, it applies to the individual, not to the collective knowledge of the church. The individual does not gain complete knowledge at salvation. We do not have complete knowledge of the scriptures, which is why we study. We certainly do not have such complete knowledge of the scriptures that we make Paul's understanding of New Testament doctrine seem childish by comparison.
The text just does not say what you are trying to make it say.
