1 Cor.13:8-13
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.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
--Notice in 1Cor.12:1, quoted above, that Paul does not want the Corinthians to be ignorant or unknowledgeable about spiritual gifts. From here he devotes the next three chapters (12,13 and 14) to the subject—the abuse of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian Church. The gifts are listed in chapter 12 and how they operate in the context of the body of the local church is emphasized. Near the end of the chapter they are listed again in order of importance with tongues being at the very end of the list as the least important of all the gifts. Then Paul says that he shows us a better way than all the gifts put together, and that is the way of love, discussed in chapter 13, but primarily in the first seven verses. From verses 8-13 the immediate context is revelation within the scope of spiritual gifts once again, especially the spiritual gifts that have to do with revelation. They are contrasted and compared to love, the greatest of all gifts.
Love never fails. The greatest of all the gifts is love. Love is the one gift that is permanent. There are three categories of gifts: permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary. Love is the only permanent gift. It alone will abide forever (13:13).
There are two semi-permanent gifts: faith and hope.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
How long will these two gifts last?
Consider Faith. 2Cor.5:7 says “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
When we see Jesus we no longer will need faith.
Heb.11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is only needed for things that we do not see. When we get to Heaven and see Jesus we no longer will need faith. Therefore faith is a semi-permanent gift. It will be done away with when Jesus comes for His own.
Likewise, the same is true for hope. Our hope is in the Lord.
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
--We look for our Hope, Jesus Christ.
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.
--We are saved by hope. If we can see what we hope for then we don’t need hope, Paul says. When Christ comes, we no longer will need hope. The gift of hope will cease at the time of Christ’s coming. It is a semi-permanent gift.
Love is permanent. Faith and hope are semi-permanent.
Now consider verse eight:
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.
--prophecies shall fail, tongues shall cease, and revelatory knowledge shall vanish away.
These are the temporary sign gifts that deal with revelation that are temporary and are contrasted to the semi-permanent and permanent gifts already mentioned.
It says that they will fail, cease, vanish away. They are temporary. The question is when will they all cease?
Verse 9: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
--Again, the context is revelation. Spiritual gifts in the context of revelation. Paul says we know in part and we prophesy in part. We know in part. We have only part of the revelation of God’s Word. The Corinthian Church had the Old Testament. They may even have had Matthew and James, two of the earliest books that were written. Beyond that there was not much else of the Word of God written down. They knew in part. Thus God gave them these gifts until the canon of Scripture would be complete: prophecy, tongues, revelatory knowledge. They knew in part. They had part of the entire Word of God, and the prophesied in part. The gift of prophecy was the primary gift used to teach and make up the deficiency until the rest of the New Testament was complete. Chapter 14 shows the superiority of the gift of prophecy over that of tongues.
Verse 10: “But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”
-- “But when that which is perfect is come:” The word “that” in the Greek is in the neuter tense. If it were to refer to Christ it would be in the masculine tense but it is not. It cannot possibly refer to Christ because it is not a masculine pronoun. It is a neuter pronoun that refers to none other than the perfect Word of God. When that which is perfect (which also has the meaning of complete), then that which is in part (prophecy, tongues, revelatory knowledge) will be done away. Knowledge here is not common knowledge but special revelatory knowledge, like a word of knowledge, or the knowledge a prophet would receive, knowledge revealed from God. Common knowledge of course will never cease; that is an impossibility. This was a special sign gift.
James 1:25 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 refers to God’s Word as the perfect law of liberty. It is perfect. He also refers to it as a mirror, in the same context.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
--God’s word is perfect, converting the soul.
We have a perfect Word of God. It became complete near the end of the first century when the Book of revelation was finished. It was then that these sign gifts ceased and went out of existence, as also history verifies. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the modern day tongues movement began. For 1800 years people did not speak in tongues unless it was the odd heretical group here and there.
DHK