| -
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 322
| This is what I found to answer your question. I didn't realize this until I had read more into it. I'm glad you asked the question as it was also helpful to me, thank you.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul began a discussion of the temporary spiritual gifts, explaining in chapter 13 that love was more important than the spiritual gifts in the development of the church, the body of Christ. As he closed chapter 13, Paul told the Corinthian Christians that these temporary gifts would cease when “that which is perfect is come” (1 Corinthians 13:10). He wrote, referring to the gifts, “whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:8).
Paul then said, “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10). Paul spoke of the “part” being done away, when “that which is perfect is come.” The word “perfect,” as used by Paul, has the primary meaning of completeness, of being finished, of being fully developed. So Paul said that the “part” would be done away with when the “whole” was completed, or perfect. The purpose of the miraculous spiritual gifts was to provide temporary guidance and help to the early church. The apostles “went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following” (Mark 16:20). That type of miraculous guidance is no longer needed by the church today, however, because we have the written will of Christ, the New Testament. Also, there are no more apostles to exercise those spiritual gifts or pass them on to others. God planned the gifts for the temporary, “in part” period. They were not planned to last until the end of time as some suggest. The emphasis of the passage is that the gifts “shall cease” (13:8).
James made this clear: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). James here used the word “perfect” in the sense of completeness, of being finished, of being whole. In the same chapter, James wrote, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25). James spoke of the “perfect” or “complete” “law of liberty.” The “law of liberty” that Christians live by is the New Testament.
The New Testament is “that which is perfect.” With the completion of the New Testament, the “perfect law of liberty,” there was no longer any need for the temporary gifts, or modern revelations. God’s written word is complete, finished, perfect. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The scriptures can make the man of God “perfect,” or complete, and ready to every good work. |
Linear Mode
