Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 1 Corinthians 13:10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 13:10 But when that which is complete and perfect comes, that which is incomplete and partial will pass away. |
Subject: What does "the perfect" mean? |
Bible Note: Continuation part 3. If, as seems apparent in the passage, the teleion refers to the individual’s presence with the Lord [either through death or through rapture], this passage does not refer to some prophetic point in history. [Instead,] it serves to remind the Corinthians of the abiding nature of love in contrast to the gifts, which by their inherent nature are only temporal, only for this life. (Thomas Edgar, Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit, 246) Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians, then, is that they be less worried about what only has value for this life (the limited knowledge derived from the gifts), and be more concerned with what has value for the life to come (namely, love). This fits perfectly within the scope of Paul’s larger argument. Thus, how long the gifts will continue into church history is not explicitly addressed in this passage. For Paul and his Corinthian readers, living in an era in which charismatic gifts were unarguably operational, it is unlikely that Paul was thinking in terms of church history and more likely that he was thinking in terms of the personal experience of his audience. For the Corinthian recipients of this letter, the limited knowledge of prophecy did not “cease” at the close of the canon or at the return of Christ. It ceased, instead, at the moment they were ushered into our Lord’s presence. Paul’s point, then, is that until we each get to heaven our knowledge (through whatever means it comes) remains incomplete. But when glorifcation comes, then that which is partial will be done away. One Important Closing Thought In closing our discussion on this text, one final point should be made. The interpreter can take any of the above positions, and still remain a cessationist. In fact, there are cessationists who hold to each position listed above. Thus, Anthony Thiselton notes in his commentary: “The one important point to make here is that few or none of the serious “cessationist” arguments depends on a specific exegesis of 1 Cor 13:8–11. … These verses should not be used as a polemic for either side in this debate” (pp. 1063, emphasis original). Ultimately, we conclude that this text does not explicitly answer the when question, with regard to when the miraculous gifts will end in church history. To be sure, they will not continue into the eternal state. But whether or not the gifts themselves remain in operation until the end of the church age is something beyond the scope of Paul’s argument. It is not the apostle’s purpose to answer the when question from the perspective of church history. Rather, his goal is to make one very important point: Love is superior to the gifts. While the gifts produce that which is incomplete (and therefore limited to this life), love never fails — it has value both for this life and for the life to come. |