The End of Temporary Gifts;
1 Cor. 13:8-13
1 Corinthians
14:20-22 tells us that tongues are a sign of judgment for
Now we come to
the section in 1 Corinthians 13 that begins with verse 8. Without this passage there really isn’t a clear
statement anywhere in Scripture that these gifts stop.
There are four important interpretive
keys for 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
1)
There is a shift
in both verbs and voice in verse 8. In the NASB there are the words “will be done away” in v. 8, katargeo [katargew], associated with prophecy and knowledge, but there
is a different verb for tongues, pauo
[pauw].
2)
We have to note
the meaning of the word “perfect” in verse 10, teleios
[teleioj].
3)
We have to
understand that there is a temporal shift from now to then in verses 12 &
13. So what is the “now” and “then” referring to?
4)
The point of the
two illustrations in verses 11 & 12. “Put away childish things” is the same
word, katargew, that is
back in verse 8. The second illustration is the mirror illustration, v. 12.
1 Corinthians
13:8 NASB “Love never fails;
but if {there are gifts of} prophecy, they will be done away; if {there are}
tongues, they will cease; if {there is} knowledge, it will be done away.”
Prophecy and knowledge are said to be abolished, future passive indicative of katargew, which means to abolish, to put an end to, to
invalidate, to wipe out, to set aside, to supersede. So prophecy and knowledge
both have the same action occur. The future tense tell
us that this is yet future to the time that Paul is writing. The passive voice
means that the subject receives the action of the verb. The indicative mood is
the mood of reality from the viewpoint of the speaker. What Paul is saying is
that at some time in the future something will happen and these gifts, knowledge
and prophecy, will be superseded. They will receive the action of some event
that supersedes them. Along with this is a voice change. People come along today
is that the change here from katargeo
to pauo here, from a future
passive indicative to a future middle indicative is simply stylistic. A lot of
people do that when they hit something controversial. Essentially their
argument is that he didn’t want to keep using the same word over and over again,
so for stylistic reasons he has shifted back and forth between synonyms. Good
writers will do that, but let’s face it: Paul uses the verb katargeo four times in two verses. If it
is used five times it isn’t being a little more repetitive. If style is an
issue then he is going to use a number of different synonyms. He only changes
it ones and that is significant.
There are four observation
we need to make on verse 8
1)
Prophecy and
knowledge are both said to be partial. Tongues isn’t said to be partial.
2)
Both prophecy and
knowledge are abolished.
3)
Prophecy and
knowledge are both abolished by the coming of the perfect in verse 10. These
two gifts are connected to the perfect tense in the Greek. The only time tongues is mentioned is when it is sandwiched in between the
abolition of prophecy and knowledge in v. 8. We are told that prophecy and
knowledge are partial, and the idea of partial is really of something that is
incomplete. Verse 9: “For we know in part.” This is the Greek phrase ek merous [e)k merouj], an idiom for
knowing something in part or in an incomplete way. Then, “we prophesy in part,”
ek merous. Then in verse 10, “but
when the perfect comes, the partial [ek
marous] will be done away [abolished].” If we can understand the usage
of these same words over and over again we realize that Paul is drawing
connections here. This isn’t stylistic, he wants us to
see that there are specific connections between these words because that is the
thrust of what he is saying.
4)
When we look at verse 8 we see the statement
that tongues will cease—the verb pauo
[pauw], here a future middle indicative. In a passive voice
the subject receives the action of the verb; in the middle voice the subject
participates in the action of the verb. However, the middle voice really
involves a range of meanings. It has more of the idea of an active meaning
here, not a passive meaning. In fact, some scholars think that pauo really approaches what they call a
deponent verb in Greek, i.e. a verb that has lost its active voice form and it
uses the middle passive form to stand for either a passive meaning or active
meaning, either one depending on context. But for the sake of argument we will
just say it approaches that active meaning. It still means the same thing in
terms of interpretation, that the gift of languages will in the future stop
acting. The implication from the way the passage is structured is that tongues
will cease before prophecy and knowledge are abolished. That is inferred from
the fact that tongues are stated only once and then he goes on to talk about
the cessation or abolition of the two gifts, prophecy and knowledge.
What we have from verse 8 so
far is, “Love never fails.” That is the main idea, it doesn’t fall, present
active indicative of pipto [piptw], it never fails, it never falters. This is going to
be tied together because the last verse of this paragraph says: “But now [in
the church age] faith, hope, love, abide [continue] these three; but the
greatest of these is love.” Why? Because love never falters, never fails. So
everything else that is said in this paragraph is sandwiched between these two
statements: Love never fails, and faith, hope and love will continue in this church
age. But something doesn’t continue; something won’t continue, and that has to
do with the spiritual gifts of prophecy and knowledge which represent all of the temporary or sign gifts. So Paul says: “Love
never fails; but if {there are gifts of} prophecy, they will be abolished; if
{there are} tongues, they will cease; if {there is} knowledge, it will be abolished.”
1 Corinthians 13:9 NASB
“For we know in part [we know partially] and we prophesy in part [partially];
Now we come to the word “perfect”
which is the Greek word teleios [teleioj]. This is where the debate focuses. What does this
word mean? Notice it is used in the context to complete something. There are
seven different ways in which this word “perfect” is interpreted, but they can
all be boiled down to two categories. The first category has to do with
completion, something that completes something that is incomplete. It has to do
with what is really a quantity idea. Lexicographers will refer to this as a quantity
idea versus a quality idea, or a completion idea or a perfection idea. A
completion idea focuses on what we have in the context, that we have something that
is partial. In other words, incomplete. So teleios, then, ought to have this idea
of completion, the perfection idea. The word teleios
itself can mean complete or mature, or it can have the
idea of perfect, i.e. describing a situation that is flawless, that lacks any
blemish, describing an idyllic or utopic state. But with
one possible exception, which is in the Gospels, teleios never ever refers to a flawless, utopic
or perfect situation anywhere else in the New Testament. Everywhere it is found
in the epistles it has this idea of completion or maturity.
So there are seven interpretations
of “perfect.” The first two relate to this completion idea and they are really
very similar. One is the idea that this relates to the completed canon , the second is that it is the mature church. Our
argument is that these are two sides of the same coin because when we talk to
someone who takes the view that this is the mature church, that when the church
reaches a level of maturity, then the partial gifts will no longer be evident.
When you ask what it is that makes the church mature it is that it has complete
revelation. It is the completion of the canon and the end of the apostolic era.
So whether we are talking about the completed canon idea or the mature church
view we are still putting the same point in time of somewhere about 95 AD. So these two
ideas are very similar to one another.
The other five views are
also very similar. They are that this occurs at death when we are face to face
with the Lord. All of these other views are going to take that face to face
view in verse 12 as being face to face with the Lord. So one
view is that it is at the time of death when we are face to face with the Lord.
A second view is that the perfect is at the Rapture. See, at each of these
times, where are you? You’re in heaven, a state of perfection, flawlessness. A
third view is that it is the second coming. Fourth, that it is just the eternal
state. Then, for theologians who are in love with their own obscure, abstruse
vocabulary, they use the word “eschaton.” That just
refers to something in the future. So all of these ideas under perfect all have
to do with some other status, not in this life but in the next life when we are
face to face with the Lord, but it has to do with a qualitative environment
now.
The point we are making is
that the word teleios can either
have this quantity idea or a quality idea; context determines. Well, what does
the context say? The context says we know in part and we prophesy in part.
Partial is a quantity idea, so we can’t shift from quantity to quality in the
same context. We have to be consistent. So obviously it is the idea of the
completed canon or the mature church that rules the day here in understanding
the term “perfect.” But elsewhere in the New Testament the word teleios describes the Word of God—James
1 Corinthians
Now we come to the two
illustrations. How do we understand them? They are designed by the apostle Paul
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to illustrate this shift that takes
place from incomplete to complete, from going from an incomplete state of
knowledge or prophecy to a complete state of knowledge and prophecy.
1 Corinthians 13:11 NASB
“ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason
like a child; when I became a man, I did away [katargew - abolished] with childish things.” That shows that there is a
difference between the child and the adult. The child is incomplete,
the adult is complete, mature. Some will say this shows the maturity idea in
the church. The maturity idea is present here but it is linked to the giving of
complete revelation, that what brings the church to a mature position is that
they have the completed canon of Scripture.
1 Corinthians 13:12 NASB
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but
then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” It is crucial to
know what is happening in the Greek in this verse. The way most people think of
this is that “now I see in a mirror dimly.” In other words, now I see life and
it is somehow dim and I don’t really have all the information, so I don’t
understand why God is doing certain things in our lives and our information is
sketchy at best; once we are face to face with the Lord we will understand
everything. That is not what Paul is talking about at all.
The word for “now” here is
arti [a)rti]; the word
“now” is verse 13 is nuni [nuni]. Why does Paul make this shift? In many cases when arti and nuni
are used they refer to something that is happening. now.
Ninety-nine per cent of the time they are virtually identical, they are
synonyms; but when they are used in the same context there is a difference.
That is, that the arti has the
idea of something that is immediate, right now, today. The nuni is a more general “now,” during
this general time period. That makes a big difference in how we understand
this. For, “right now,” Paul is saying, in this pre-canon period, “we see in a
mirror dimly.” What do you see when you look in a mirror? You are face to face
with who? God, or yourself? So
if it is talking about a mirror it can’t be talking about face to face with
God. The word translated “dimly” is ainigma
[a)inigma] from which we get our English word “enigma,” which
means something that is puzzling, mysterious, dim or incomplete. So what Paul
is saying is that now at this time we are looking at this reflection of
ourselves in the canon of Scripture, but it is not all there yet, it is
partial; it is like looking at a mirror and there are big chunks missing from
it.
We see this terminology used
in the Old Testament. In Numbers 12:6-8 God is speaking with Moses, and in the LXX the word ainigma is used. Numbers 12:6 NASB
“He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet (He is talking about prophecy
here)among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to
him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.
So verse 11 gives us the
overall idea of these illustrations. The first part of verse 12 gives us the
illustration as it relates to prophecy: “Now we see in a mirror enigmatically,”
the prophecy is incomplete; “but then [when the prophecy is complete] I will
know fully [epignosis knowledge] just
as I also have been fully known.” He is not talking about when we are in heaven
because when we are absent from the body and face to face with the Lord we are
not going to be omniscient, we are still going to be a finite creature. We will
never know everything that God knows. So Paul isn’t saying here that when he is
in heaven he is going to have complete knowledge, omniscience; that is not
true. He is saying that now in this early part of the church age, in the pre-canon
period our knowledge is partial, prophecy is partial; but then, when the canon
is complete, I will have face to face knowledge of myself because of the
perspicacity of Scripture. Then he goes to a second illustration: “now I know
in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” In
other words, the Scripture is going to tell you who you really are, blemishes
and all.
1 Corinthians
A problem: If you take the
perfection view, then what you are saying is that faith, hope and love are
going to continue; that knowledge and prophecy cease at the time of your coming
face to face with the Lord. But then you would have to say that faith, hope,
and love continue. What you have said is that if you take the perfect as being
face to face with the Lord, whether it is at the Rapture, second coming, death,
what you are saying is that knowledge and prophecy and tongues will continue up
until you are face to face with the Lord. That would necessitate that faith,
hope and love would continue beyond that, because it is knowledge and prophecy
that stop and faith, hope and love that continue. So you have a real problem. 2
Corinthians 5:7 NASB “for we walk by faith, not by sight. [8] we are
of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be
at home with the Lord.” We are not going to walk by faith once we die, we are going to walk by sight. So faith stops when we
die; faith stops when we are face to face with the Lord. So we can’t take the
perfection view because that would mean that we are trying to say that faith
continues after death. Furthermore, what about hope? Romans
All of this means that the
gift of knowledge and prophecy were abolished when the canon came. But what about the gift of tongues? They have ceased. As we
will see when we get into the section dealing with the purpose of the gift of
tongues is that it was designed as a sign of judgment to