I start the quote at 12:27 and end at 14:1. This is important for seeing Paul's train of thought. My comments in bold.
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Up to this point Paul has been explaining how the Body of Christ ought to work and what it is like. He explains the variety of Spiritual Gifts which are apportioned by the Holy Spirit, and how they are to work together for the common good. He now turns to his audience and tells them that he's talking about them:
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts.He tells the Corinthian church that everyone has spiritual gifts, but not everyone has all gifts. There is variety, and in fact, a hierarchy of Spiritual gifts. Thus, tells the Corinthians to pursue, ζηλόω (zeloo), to desire one earnestly, to strive after, the greater gifts.
He now sets us up for the environment in which the gifts operate: Love.
And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.Now he tells us what love is like:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
Paul tells us that love endures, while the gifts must manifest in love. We must be lovers of His Body in order to properly express the gifts. Thus the gifts are inferior to love, for they will pass while love remains.
Why? Because something greater than the imperfect expression of the gifts is coming. The "perfect." And now we have arrived at the principle question: What is the "perfect?"
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
As mentioned, cessationists assert that the "perfect" is the Bible. But as I previously noted, "perfect," τέλειον (teleion), is found 19 times in the N.T., and there is no example of this word being used in describing Scripture. With the exception of Ja. 1:25 and Heb 9:11, it always refers to a person's maturity, completeness, being fully formed, or adulthood. There is no reason to accept that the meaning of τέλειον would change to "the Bible" in this one circumstance.
Interestingly, Paul employs this imagery of maturity and adulthood to describe the "perfect." The "imperfect" is compared to childishness, while the "perfect" is compared to being grown up. At present we "prophesy in part." We don't have the full picture. We can't see perfectly clearly. We are immature in spiritual things. But at some point we will see face to face, and we will fully know.
The Bible is simply written down prophecy. Can the cessationist explain how the "imperfect" becomes the "perfect" simply by being written down? How can prophecy be childish, while the result of prophecy be grown up? Apparently, we are expected to accept that for this one time, the word "perfect" means the Bible.
Further, can the Bible fully know us? Of course not. The Bible is not a person.
Can we and the Bible see each other "face to face?" Again, certainly not. Every other reference to "face to face" (Gen 32:30, Ex 33:11, Num 12:8, Num 14:14, Deut 5:4, Deut 34:10, Jud 6:22, 2 Ki 14:8, 2 Chro 5:17, Jer 32:4, Jer 34:3, Ez 20:35, 2 Cor. 10:1, 2 Jn 12, 3 Jn 14) refers to meeting someone in person. But apparently, for this one particular occurrence in 1 Corinthians, we are expected to accept that this refers to the Bible.
However, there be a time when we see "face to face." There will come a time when we finally know fully. Mt. 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." So therefore, the question really is not what the perfect is, but when will we see the perfect?
As I consider the idea of seeing face to face, my thoughts turn to the tabernacle, that is, the place where the Presence of God dwells. I think this is where we find out what the "perfect" is:
Ex. 25:8-9 Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
He. 9:11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
Re. 21:1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” This parallels Lev. 26:12: I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people."More perfect." Hmm. So there are three manifestations of the tabernacle. The first is a physical dwelling place made by the Hebrew people. Its a representation of the heavenly tabernacle, a prophetic picture of the ultimate tabernacle to come. The second, the tabernacle we have today, is "not man-made." That tabernacle is a "more perfect" one, the temple made of living stones, that is, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:27
The third is a future tabernacle, at the culmination of all things. Then God Himself will be in our midst and walk among us, His people. I thus conclude that the "perfect' is the tabernacle, the place where the Glory dwells. A past, present, and future manifestation of His Presence, where at some point we will see face-to-face.
And finally, the last quote:
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
So after telling the Corinthians about the Body and its operation, giving the context for the expressions of the Body, and then telling them that something better is coming, he tells them again to pursue (zeloo again) the gifts!
In fact, he tells them in 1 Co. 14:26 that "All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."
In fact, he tells them in 1 Co. 14:26 that "All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."
Does it strike you as odd that Paul would spend so much time explaining and giving context about what must be done for the strengthening of the church, if those things were to be passing away soon and thus weren't really that important? After all, if the perfect Bible is coming in only a few years, why bother spending so much time on what is passing away? And even more important, why does the perfect Bible include these instructions, corrections, and all sorts of explanations and rules for the supernatural gifts if the perfect Bible itself would supposedly soon supplant them?
Further, if the cessationists are correct, then there is no need for large portions of the Bible to even be there. All the instructions to the Apostles. Every mention of the spiritual gifts. John chapter 14-17. All irrelevant and nonsensical to any succeeding generation of Christians.
It doesn't make sense, unless your presupposition is that the supernatural gifts have ceased. In other words, you must assume what you set out to prove.
Whenever I hear cessationists explain that the gifts are no longer in operation because we have the Word of God, I find myself wondering several things:
ReplyDeleteIf Paul says he spoke in tongues "more than you all" what makes us think that we are more spiritually mature than he was and have grown "beyond" such a need ourselves? As the author of most of the New Testament, surely if anyone had "the perfect" in the form of scriptural knowledge, it was him. Yet he spoke in tongues (as a part of his private prayer life, not as a manifestation in the assembly) - by his own admission - more than anyone else in the church.
The gifts are primarily for building up the body of Christ - not as a sign to unbelievers. The idea that the church needed these to get it through its infancy but no longer seems indefensible to me. People no longer need healing? Exhortation and encouragement (i.e. prophetic gifts)?
I have this recurring mental picture of a cessationist standing at an outdoor podium, facing an audience and with his back to a large backdrop of sky and mountains. He vehemently explains why heavier than air flight is impossible as - unbeknownst to him - an airplane cuts across the sky silently, leaving a contrail. The audience sees all of this and marvels at the cluelessness of the speaker for not being able to see what is plain for the rest.
That is an interesting take, Steve. The cessationists claim the "all truth" ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 16:13 was for the apostles only. So Paul as an apostle must have possessed "all truth," and that revelatory truth was what he wrote down.
ReplyDeleteYet for some reason, despite him possessing "all truth," he talked over and over about how we are to desire the gifts, especially prophecy! Why would he do that? Why wouldn't he simple tell them more of the "truth," rather than command them to seek it themselves?
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI believe that that which is perfect refers to the body of Christ.
We are told that the scriptures are discerned spiritually,(1 Corinthians ch. 2 v. 14 ) and also that one day with God is as a thousand years.(2 Peter ch. 3 v. 8).
Jesus says in Luke ch. 13 v. 32 '.... I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'
If we read this in the context of one day being as a thousand years, and discerning His words spiritually He would be saying that over the next two thousand years He is casting out demons and 'curing', (as in the growth of the church, His body). If we look at when Jesus came into this world in that same one day as a thousand years, it was on the fourth day, just as the sun and moon was created on the fourth day in Genesis 1. The sun would represent Jesus, the bridegroom, being the light of the world, and the moon would represent the church that can only reflect the light of the sun.
I believe that Jesus is saying that over the next two thousand years He will be forming the church, His body, then after those two thousand years are over He will be perfected as in the whole Spiritual second Adam being perfected, head (Jesus) and body (church) fully formed.
Thank you for your comment. I'm not sure I can agree that we should take poetic language and extend it a grand theory of the purposes of God, however.
DeleteI do think that the Body of Christ being "the perfect" has some merit, however.