When the Perfect Comes Text: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Introduction: The War Over the Word
We come now to a passage that has been the site of a great deal of theological wrestling. For many in our day, it has become a sort of continental divide. On one side, you have our charismatic brethren, who believe that the more spectacular gifts of the Spirit, like tongues and prophecy, are still fully operational. On the other side, you have men like myself, cessationists, who believe that these particular gifts had a foundational, authenticating purpose that was fulfilled with the closing of the apostolic age and the completion of Scripture. Both sides, if they are honest, come to this text to make their case.
The Corinthian church was a mess, but it was a gifted mess. They were rich in spiritual gifts but were behaving like spiritual toddlers. They were arrogant, divisive, and disorderly. Paul spends three chapters, from 12 to 14, correcting their misuse of the gifts. And right in the middle, like a load-bearing wall, he erects this magnificent chapter on love. His point is that the gifts, however wonderful, are temporary tools for the building of the church. But love is not a tool; it is the very substance of the finished building. The gifts are the scaffolding; love is the temple.
The central question in this latter half of the chapter is this: when does the scaffolding come down? When do these partial, temporary gifts cease? The answer Paul gives is, "when the perfect comes." Our task, then, is to rightly understand what "the perfect" is. Many continuationists argue that "the perfect" refers to the second coming of Christ. Therefore, they say, the gifts must continue until He returns. But this interpretation, I believe, misunderstands the context and the central contrast Paul is making. He is not contrasting our current age with the eternal state primarily, but rather the immaturity of the church during the apostolic era with the maturity of the church once it possessed the completed revelation of God.
This is not a small debate over church practice. It is a debate about the sufficiency of Scripture. If God is still giving new, authoritative prophecies and words of knowledge today, then the canon is not closed. We would be in a state of constant revelatory flux. But if the canon is closed, if the foundation has been laid once for all, then the tools used to lay that foundation, the authenticating sign gifts, have honorably fulfilled their purpose. This passage, understood correctly, establishes the permanence of love by contrasting it with the temporary nature of the revelatory gifts, which were rendered obsolete by the arrival of the completed New Testament.
The Text
8 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. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11When 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 with childish things. 12For 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. 13But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:8-13 LSB)
The Temporary Tools (v. 8)
Paul begins by establishing the central contrast: the permanence of love versus the temporary nature of certain gifts.
"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." (1 Corinthians 13:8)
Love never fails. It will never become obsolete, never be superseded, never fall away. It is the currency of the kingdom and the very atmosphere of heaven. It is an attribute of God Himself. But the gifts are different. They are task-oriented. They are for the edification of the church in a particular era, the era of its founding and establishment.
Notice the three gifts he mentions: prophecy, tongues, and knowledge. These are not the gifts of administration or mercy or teaching in the ordinary sense. These are the revelatory, word-based gifts. Prophecy is receiving a direct word from God for the people. Tongues, as used in the New Testament, were a sign gift, often involving known languages, authenticating the gospel's advance. The gift of knowledge here is not ordinary learning but a supernatural word of knowledge, a direct impartation of information from God. These were essential when the church did not yet have the full written counsel of God in the New Testament.
Paul uses two different verbs for their end. Prophecy and knowledge "will be done away." This is a passive verb, meaning something will act upon them to bring them to an end. Tongues, however, "will cease." This is an active verb, suggesting they will stop of their own accord. Historically, this seems to be what happened. The gift of tongues appears to have faded from church life relatively early, having served its purpose as a sign, particularly to unbelieving Jews, that the kingdom was now going to the Gentiles.
The key point is that these gifts were not designed to be permanent fixtures of the church throughout all ages. They were, in a very real sense, the divine equivalent of training wheels.
The Partial and the Perfect (v. 9-10)
Paul now explains why these gifts must pass away. They are, by their very nature, incomplete.
"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away." (1 Corinthians 13:9-10 LSB)
The revelatory gifts were piecemeal. A prophet would get a word here, a word there. The church in Corinth had a piece of the puzzle. The church in Ephesus had another. These sporadic revelations were like individual letters arriving in the mail before the complete book was delivered. They were true and from God, but they were partial. They were not the whole story.
But when "the perfect" comes, this partial system will be rendered obsolete. The word for "perfect" here is teleion. It means complete, mature, or finished. The question is, what is this "perfect" thing that makes the partial gifts unnecessary? As I said, our charismatic friends say this is the return of Christ. But the context points in a different direction. The contrast is between what is partial and what is whole. What is the complete whole that replaces the partial prophecies and words of knowledge? The completed canon of Scripture. The New Testament is the "perfect" or "complete" revelation of God for His church. Once the blueprints were delivered in their entirety, the sporadic messages from the architect's office were no longer needed.
Think of it this way. During the construction of a great cathedral, the master builder might send sketches and notes to the foreman on site. A drawing of a window arch one week, a note about the foundation the next. These are essential and authoritative. But once the final, complete set of architectural plans arrives, the foreman no longer needs to wait for these piecemeal instructions. He has the whole design. To continue to rely on the sporadic notes would be to neglect the finished plan. The New Testament is that finished plan.
From Child to Man (v. 11)
Paul then gives a powerful analogy to illustrate this transition from the partial to the complete.
"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 with childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11 LSB)
The period of the sign gifts was the childhood of the church. This is not an insult. Childhood is a necessary and wonderful stage of life. But it is a stage one is meant to grow out of. The way the church received revelation during that apostolic, foundational period was suited to its immaturity. It was a more direct, hands-on, and spectacular form of guidance, appropriate for a church that did not yet have its full rule of faith and life in written form.
But with the completion of the Scriptures, the church came of age. It reached a state of maturity. It now possessed the full and final Word from God. To desire to go back to the age of prophecy and tongues is to desire to return to the nursery. It is to prefer picture books when you have been given the complete works of Shakespeare. Maturity means putting away the methods of childhood. We now have the "more sure word of prophecy," as Peter calls the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:19). We are to live by this Word, not by seeking new, extra-biblical revelations, which is a mark of spiritual immaturity.
Dimly, Then Face to Face (v. 12-13)
This next verse is the one most often used to argue that "the perfect" must be the Second Coming. But we must read it carefully in light of the analogy Paul has just made.
"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." (1 Corinthians 13:12 LSB)
Paul is continuing his contrast between the age of the church's immaturity (the "now" for the Corinthians) and the age of its maturity (the "then" which was imminent for them). In their "now," they saw spiritual reality through a dim mirror. The mirrors of that day were made of polished metal, not glass, and gave a notoriously poor reflection. The revelatory gifts were like this mirror, they gave a true, but indirect and obscure, reflection of the truth.
But "then," when the perfect comes, they will see "face to face." This phrase does not have to refer to seeing Jesus in person. It is a common Greek idiom for clear, direct, and unmediated knowledge. Paul is contrasting the obscure knowledge provided by the gifts with the clear, direct, and sufficient knowledge provided by the completed Scriptures. In the Scriptures, we meet God "face to face." In His Word, we have a clear and sufficient revelation of His character, His will, and His plan of redemption. The knowledge is no longer partial, but "full" in the sense of being complete and sufficient for "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3).
Paul concludes by returning to the unshakable foundation.
"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13 LSB)
After the childish things have been put away, after the temporary gifts have ceased, what remains? What are the marks of the mature church? Faith, hope, and love. These are the enduring realities of the Christian life this side of glory. The gifts were temporary means to an end. But these three are central to our ongoing relationship with God. We live by faith in the Son of God, we are sustained by the hope of our resurrection, and we are defined by our love for God and for one another.
And of these three, the greatest is love. Why? Because faith will one day give way to sight. Hope will one day be fulfilled. But love will continue for all eternity. Love is what faith and hope are aiming at. Love is the very life of God in which we are called to participate forever. The gifts were for the church in the wilderness. Love is the law of the Promised Land.
Conclusion: Living in the Age of the Word
So what does this mean for us? It means we are living in the age of the church's maturity. We are not orphans, waiting for sporadic words from heaven. We have been given the complete and finished Word of God. The canon is closed. The foundation is laid. The scaffolding has been taken down.
Our duty now is not to seek new revelations, but to devote ourselves to the revelation we have been given. The task of the church is to preach this Word, to study this Word, to sing this Word, and to build our lives, our families, and our churches upon this Word. The Holy Spirit is still very much at work, but His primary work now is not to give new words, but to illuminate the Word that has been given. He applies the Scriptures to our hearts, convicts us of sin, and conforms us to the image of Christ.
We must not despise the gifts. They were a glorious provision for the infant church. But we must not cling to them either. We are to grow up. We are to put away childish things and embrace the glorious sufficiency of the Scriptures. And as we do, we are to pursue what is ultimate. We are to pursue faith, hope, and love. And above all, we are to pursue love, the very bond of perfection, which never, ever fails.