Oneness,
Quote:
"IT CEASED WITH THE COMPLETION OF THE N.T.?
First of all if you are going to say that tounges ceased than you have got to say that knowledge has vanished away. Go ahead and state the rest of the verse if you are going to use it. Sure just a portion of scripture looks good stuck out on a bill board on a highway all by itself. But if you are going to use the verse, please quote the whole verse."
1 Cor. 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Notice that the greatest gift is charity (love). Let's try and understand why. There are three groups of gifts: 1) temporary sign gifts (tongues, prophecies, and revelatory knowledge),
2) semi-permanent gifts (faith and hope), and
3) permanent gift (love).
The greatest of all of these is love because it will endure forever through all eternity. It will never end.
What about faith. (2 Cor 5:7 KJV) " (For we walk by faith, not by sight)" That is, when we see Jesus, we will no longer have need of faith.
Heb.11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Likewise hope:
Rom.8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
--Hope that is seen is not hope. Thus when we see Jesus our hope will end. He is our hope. We will no longer have to hope for him to come. Thus at His Coming, faith and hope will end. Only love will continue. That is why love is the greatest. It only is permanent. Faith and hope are semi-permanent gifts ceasing at the second coming.
Verse 8 of 1Cor.13, says that prophecies shall fail, tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall vanish away. The question is "when?" Verse 9 says we know in part and we prophesy in part. The New Testament believers did not have all of the Word of God. They had the Old Testament, and maybe one or two of the New Testament books, like Matthew or James which were written earlier than the others. Therefore they knew in part. They only had "part" of the Word of God. Thus, they had the gift of prophesy (as well as tongues and revelatory knowledge) to give them further revelation of the Word of God. The word "knowledge" here does not refer to all common knowledge. It refers to that special revealed knowledge that was given as a sign gift, at that time, imparted to some in the early churches, so that they would have God's truth, as the New Testament had not yet been completed.
They knew in part and they prophesied in part.
Now verse 10 says, "But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." The pronoun "that," in the Greek is in the neuter gender, not in the masculine. It therefore cannot refer to Jesus Christ, otherwise the Holy Spirit would have used a masculine pronoun to refer to Him. The word ‘that,' ("that which is perfect"), refers to the Word of God. The old English Word "perfect" means "complete." When the Word of God is completed then that which is in part (the temporary sign gifts of tongues, prophesying, and revelatory knowledge), shall be done away.
When that which is perfect (complete) is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
The Word of God was completed about 95-98 a.d. when John finished the Book of Revelation. All the sign gifts ceased by the end of the first century. They were not needed any more. The only revelation that we need now is contained within the pages of the Bible. And the Lord gives a stern warning about adding to that (Rev. 22:18,19).
DHK
[ December 21, 2001: Message edited by: DHK ]