“⁸Love 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.”

Much has been made of this verse in the spiritual gifts debate, particularly whether tongues (and by extension the other so-called sign or miraculous gifts) are operative today. It is true that a thing only has to be taught once in Scripture in order for it to carry divine weight, but given the significance of this subject and the sharp divisions among Christians today, it makes sense that one’s views should be substantiated or at least supported elsewhere in Scripture as well.

The debate goes like this. At the time of Paul’s writing this letter to the Corinthians, he is projecting a time when certain spiritual gifts will no longer be functional, namely when “the perfect comes.” Prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are pointed out. Scholars debate when that will be. Some say when the NT Scripture was to be completed, the church until then would have been considered in its infancy (inferred by the statement “when I was a child”), versus a mature church (“when I became a man”). Thus the gifts were all operative to validate the new dispensation, and then after the NT canon was complete, they were no longer needed. In support of this, scholars point out that the syntax and grammar of the underlying Greek suggests that the tongues will stop in and of themselves (“cease”), whereas prophecy and knowledge will be “done away with” (only the NASB and ESV maintain this distinction). Thus, even if those two continue on, tongues would not.

Others say these gifts will cease only when Christ returns, when God’s work through the church is complete and His people are made perfect, when we arrive at the full knowledge of Christ in the same way as He knows us.

Taking a more pragmatic posture avoids resorting to Greek nuance: God is certainly able to use any spiritual gift at any time He chooses. While we see no mandate that tongues must have ceased at the completion of the canon, neither do we believe this asserts that they must continue on. In truth, we must look to other Scripture to determine their validity for today. Rather, we better ask what is Paul’s point here as it relates to love. That’s coming next.

Lord, help me not be dogmatic where Your Word does not resolve an issue.