Dr. Couch, how do you understand 1 Corinthians 13:10 which speaks of
“when the perfect has come, the partial will be done away.” Some Bible
teachers are saying this refers to the close of the canon of the NT, not
the second coming of Christ. Did Paul know when the canon was going to
be closed? What do you think?
Of course Paul did not know when the canon of Scripture would be closed,
i.e., when the final book of the NT would be written. It happened to
be, of course, the book of Revelation that was written by the last
apostle, John, around AD 90-95. To understand what is going on in 13:10,
one must look at the context of verses 8-11. Paul is discussing the
issue of communicating the truth. His point is that spiritual truth is
not simply communicated by one of the “communication” gifts (prophecy,
tongues [languages], or knowledge), but by love.
These three gifts were used by the early
church to convey spiritual truth that had not be recorded or written
down yet. That was what these three gifts were all about. Some believer
had the special gift of teaching (prophecy), or the gift of sharing
truth in a mixed linguistic setting, or had an additional dose of
spiritual knowledge that others did not have. When the canon was
completed these gifts gradually faded away.
We know this especially about the gift of “languages” (tongues). In my book The Coming of the Holy Spirit,
I quote Eusebius, Irenaeus, Chrysostom, and Augustine, who tells us
tongues was a language and that it was with the early church but had
ceased. This would fit what Paul said.
The apostle said (in Greek), “Prophecy will in
the future be made inoperative, will be set aside.” “Tongues will in
the future stop themselves.” He says of knowledge, “It will in the
future stop itself.” The early church concurs this happened! These
statements of Paul work perfectly with what we know in church history.
By the way, when Paul writes “when the perfect
comes,” the word perfect is teleion and means that which is complete or
whole. In is in the neuter gender and could not refer to Christ. He is
masculine! I have the greater proof that Paul is referring to the
cessation of the special gifts for communicating spiritual truth than
others have that it is referring to the second coming. And besides, the
rapture comes before the second coming. The church will be gone in the
rapture. Paul has something else in mind in this passage besides the
rapture!
You need my book "The Coming of the Holy Spirit".
Thanks for asking,
Dr. Mal Couch
