1 Corinthians 13:8–13 and the Cessation of Miraculous Gifts

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106 Detroit Baptist Seminary JournalThe contrast in 13:11 between the activities of a child and those ofan adult serve to illustrate the contrast in the kinds of revelation andknowledge the church has before and after the return of Christ. BeforeChrist returns, the church’s knowledge of God and the revelation uponwhich it is based are partial and imperfect. When Christ returns, thesepartial and imperfect methods of communicating and knowing are renderedobsolete and inoperative. The analogies of seeing and knowing in13:12 are taken in a similar way. Prior to the return of Christ thechurch is limited in its ability to see and know God, because of the inherentlimitations of the revelatory gifts. But when Christ returns togather His church, limited sight will be replaced with the personal presenceof Christ, and imperfect knowledge will be replaced with full,clear, and complete knowledge. 20Proponents are divided on the interpretation of 13:13. Some haveinterpreted 13:13 as following in sequence the events surrounding thereturn of Christ depicted in 13:12. To say that the three virtues, faith,hope, and love, abide means that all three virtues continue after thereturn of Christ and the cessation of the gifts. In this case, the supremacyof love to the other virtues is qualitative, not temporal in that allthree virtues abide or continue throughout eternity. 21 Others have interpretedthe three virtues of faith, hope, and love in 13:13 as abidingin the present age, with only love continuing into the future followingthe return of Christ. 22EXEGETICAL SURVEY OF 1 CORINTHIANS 13:8–13Having presented the major views on the identification of “the perfect”in 1 Corinthians 13:10, the key exegetical issues from the surroundingverses are addressed in order to arrive at a properinterpretation of the debated constructions. Specifically, the salientquestions raised from 1 Corinthians 13:8–13 in the discussion of thevarious views are examined in sequence, beginning with a brief analysisof the theme and argument of the passage within the larger section.Theme and ArgumentChapter 13 is located within a larger section, 12:1–14:40, wherePaul addresses the issue of spiritual gifts. Paul introduces this theme in12:1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts,” with a construction he employselsewhere in the epistle to address questions the Corinthians had raised20 E.g., Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy, pp. 230–33.21 E.g., Carson, Showing the Spirit, pp. 72–75.22 E.g., Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 649–51.
1 Corinthians 13:8–11 107in a previous correspondence. 23 At the same time, the impressiongained from reading these chapters is that Paul is responding not onlyto questions raised by the Corinthian church but also to problemswithin the church on the use or misuse of spiritual gifts. Thus, in thesechapters Paul is both answering questions and endeavoring to correctproblems within the Corinthian church on the matter of spiritualgifts. 24The general development of Paul’s argument in these chapters appearsfairly straightforward. Paul begins in chapter 12 by discussing thediversity of spiritual gifts and the unity of believers in the body ofChrist. Chapter 13 stresses the importance of love in the exercise ofspiritual gifts. Paul then concludes in chapter 14 by arguing, first, forthe preeminence of prophecy over tongues in edifying the church and,second, for orderliness in public worship. 25 Looking specifically at chapter13 and Paul’s discussion on the importance of love, Paul developshis argument in three sections. He starts in 13:1–3 by showing the necessityof love in the exercise of spiritual gifts. Following this, he givesan extended description of the nature and character of love in 13:4–7.Then, in 13:8–13, he concludes by underscoring the permanence oflove. 2623 The new section is marked off by the phrase “now concerning” (peri; dev) and thevocative “brethren” (ajdelfoiv) at the beginning of 12:1. The phrase “now concerning” isused by Paul to address issues the Corinthians had raised in a previous letter to theapostle (cf. 7:1; 8:1; 16:1). The plural substantival adjective “spiritual”(tw'n pneumatikw'n) in 12:1 could be either masculine, “those who are spiritual,” or neuter,“spiritual gifts.” The majority of interpreters take it as the latter in light of the overallemphasis in the section on gifts, the clear instance of the neuter plural in 14:1referring to spiritual gifts, and the parallel use of the synonym “gifts” (carismavtwn) in12:4 and elsewhere. See the discussion in Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians,pp. 570, 575–76.24 As Fee notes, “On the basis of chap. 12 alone, one might think that they wereasking questions about spiritual gifts; but chap. 14 indicates that, as throughout theletter, Paul’s answer is intended to be corrective, not instructional or informational”(The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 570).25 Similarly Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 569–74. For recent treatmentof these chapters from literary and rhetorical analysis, including bibliographies,see Raymond F. Collins, First Corinthians, Sacra Pagina (Collegeville, MN: LiturgicalPress, 1999), pp. 441–44; Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: ACommentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 902–7. A number of these studies have identifieda macro-chiasm for this section. Paul lays the foundation for his response in 12:1–30 byaddressing both the diversity of gifts and the unity of believers (A); he turns aside for amoment in something of a digression in 13:1–13 to develop the necessity of love inrelationship to the gifts (B); he returns to his argument in 14:1–40 by discussing theimportance of mutual edification and the need for proper order in the exercise of thegifts (A 1 ). See the discussion in Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 571–72.26 See, for example, C. K. Barrett, A Commentary on the First Epistle to the
Page 1: DBSJ 9 (2004): 97-1441 CORINTHIANS
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1 Corinthians 13:8–13 and the Cessation of Miraculous Gifts

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