(In my second article on “The Best Arguments for Cessationism” I mentioned that I would address the argument for the continuation of the gifts based on 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. I addressed this matter directly in a sermon I recently preached, Heaven Is a World of Love. The following is an excerpt from that sermon.)
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. – 1 Cor 13:8-10
Of all the things that will “pass away,” why does Paul highlight these three? There are many other things that will one day “pass away”—sin, death, the fallen world, mosquitoes (hopefully). Why focus on prophecies, tongues, and knowledge? We see these three mentioned again at the beginning of chapter thirteen: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels…if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge…but have not love, I am nothing,” (1 Cor 13:1-2). Tongues, prophecy, and knowledge. I don’t think “knowledge” here is referring to the spiritual gift “words of knowledge” back in 12:8, but “knowledge” in general since he does not describe it as “words of knowledge” that pass away but just “knowledge.”
But you may be thinking: I can see how prophecy and tongues will cease…but how can knowledge cease? Is our future going to lack cognition? No, it cannot mean that, because the hope held out at the end is total knowledge: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known,” (1 Cor 13:12). So, “knowledge” passes away in the sense that the imperfect, partial experience of knowledge that we currently possess passes away.
One reason these three are linked together is that all three are being used wrongly in the church (1 Cor 8:1-3, 1 Cor 14). But there is another connection between these three: prophecy and tongues are a means of knowledge. In 1 Cor 13:1-2, Paul connects prophecy with knowledge, “…if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge.” To be a prophet entails understanding mysteries, possessing knowledge. And, in chapter fourteen, Paul is going to link tongues and prophecy together by showing that tongues are a form of untranslated prophecy.1 Prophecy is revealing mysteries, while tongues are “uttering mysteries in the Spirit,” (1 Cor 14:2). In other words, Paul links these three gifts together in 1 Cor 13:8 because prophecy and (translated) tongues are intended to be a means of bringing knowledge.
The emphasis on knowledge is made clear by noticing how the passage eventually whittles the other two away, till only knowing remains.
- Prophecies, tongues, knowledge (vs. 8)
- Know in part, prophesy in part (vs. 9)
- I know in part (vs. 12)
Why can Paul reducing everything down to only “knowing in part”? Because prophecies and tongues are a means of knowledge.
What’s the point? Prophecy and tongues are conduits of knowledge, ways in which the mysteries of God are revealed to the church. And, one day, they—along with partial knowledge—will cease.
Picture a large garden being watered by many sprinkler hoses during a drought. The hoses are how the water of the word (knowledge) is brought. Eventually, the drought will end, and these sprinklers will no longer be necessary. Or, picture a sailor relying on starlight to navigate in the dark. These two stars help, but when the sun rises, the sailor can see land clearly. When does that happen? Many Christians rightfully point out that Paul assumes that they cease “when the perfect comes” that is, when Jesus comes again. Thus, they conclude that the Church should expect the gift of prophecy and tongues to continue until Jesus returns. Other Christians sometimes argue that the “perfect” here refers to the closing of the canon of the New Testament, so the gifts of prophecy and tongues functioned in the church until the New Testament was completed, but have since ceased. But that is probably wrong. The passage clearly teaches that the coming of “the perfect” occurs at the second coming of Christ, when we shall see him “face to face.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the gifts of prophecy or tongues continue till the second coming. It could mean that! But it is still possible that prophecy and tongues could cease prior to the second coming without compromising Paul’s teaching here. The point of this passage is that the partial knowledge—which prophecy and tongues are a means of—will pass away. But, to return to our analogies, prophecy and tongues are not the only sprinkler hoses or stars of partial knowledge in the church—there are several others: the Bible, the preaching of the church, the exhortation of fellow Christians, prayer, etc. Many Christians today do not experience the gift of prophecy or tongues regularly in their life, or ever have, yet still have a “partial” experience of knowing God. When Christ comes again, all that is partial will pass away so that we will “know fully.” It is likely that Paul, out of a pastoral concern for the abuses of spiritual gifts in Corinth, highlights prophecy and tongues here to deflate those who suppose that their spiritual gifts place them on the spiritual “inner-ring.” So, it is possible for the gifts of prophecy or tongues to cease at some point prior to the second coming of Christ, without losing the emphasis that Paul places on the “partial” passing away.
This argument does not, of course, prove that prophecy and tongues cease, it only shows that 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 does not invalidate the cessationist position.
(If you’re interested, I began a discipleship class at my church on this subject. You can watch the first lesson here.)
- See Acts 2:11-17, where Peter explains speaking in tongues as a fulfillment of Joel’s prediction that “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” ↩︎
Marc Sims 