1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. ... 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. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 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. 12 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. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
As mentioned above, the church at Corinth was a mess, having all kinds of problems. At the core of many of the problems was selfish disunity; one of the manifestations of this was the prideful, self-exalting manner in which certain spiritual gifts were used, especially speaking in tongues. In chapter 13, with unaccustomed brevity, Paul dug down to and both exposed the reason for their disunity and revealed its cure: the Corinthians' need for self-sacrificing love. Love – this particular kind of love – needed to motivate (i.e. from their hearts outward to their hands, feet and lips) the Corinthians' fellowship, their faithfulness in the face of persecution, their charitable giving, and their use of spiritual gifts. While it is true that a large part of 1 Corinthians is devoted to discussing spiritual gifts, Paul put the gifts into their proper place in the broader context of the life of the church and of believers by placing this chapter about self-sacrificing love right in the middle of the discussion of the gifts – spiritual gifts are important, but not central to the Christian life and faith.
Verses 8-12 show where Cessationists are correct, and where they are incorrect. Faith, hope and love are enduring, will last into eternity; spiritual gifts will cease (you know, Cessationist). The question is, when. Verses 10-12 answer this clearly: the gifts of the Spirit will cease when they are no longer necessary, when Jesus' return makes spiritual gifts unnecessary.
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