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Particulars
of Christianity:
310
Pentecostalism, the Charismatic
and Faith Movements
Comparing
Theories to Scripture (Part 2)
What
Happened to the Authentic Gifts?
Comparing Theories to Historic
Documentation
Comparing Theories to Scripture
(Part 1)
Comparing Theories to Scripture
(Part 2)
What Happened to the Gifts:
Scriptural Indications (Part 1)
What Happened to the Gifts:
Scriptural Indications (Part 2)
Section 1 | Section
2 | Section 3 | Section
4
| Section 5
Up
until this point in time, we have been discussing 1 Corinthians
13 in terms of the fourth theory that the gifts would pass
away when the Church became mature. But what impact does our
evaluation of 1 Corinthians 13 have on the other 3 theories
regarding the passing of the gifts?
Well, one thing that we have seen is that the notions of the
"death of the apostles" or "the close of the New Testament
canon" are nowhere to be found in these passages. Such phrases
are wholly absent from the New Testament, as is any expectation
that the gifts would pass with the destruction of the Temple.
These concepts are foreign to scripture and they are also
foreign to the works of the early church writers. And because
these ideas are not articulated in the New Testament, they
must be read into it. But not only that, as we have seen,
these ideas contradict the plain teaching of scripture.
From our examination and comparison of 1 Corinthians 13 to
Ephesians 4, 1 John 3, 1 Corinthians 15, and Philippians 4,
we see that the gifts were supposed to pass away on the day
when the Church saw Jesus Christ face to face at his return
and became mature reaching even his full stature when our
corruptible bodies were transformed into the very likeness
of his glorified spiritual body and "knew fully even as we
are fully known" so that we reached the "unity in the knowledge
of the Son of God" and were no longer "blown about by every
wind of false teaching." This remarkable event has always
been the future hope of the Church and it has not happened
yet, not at the death of the last apostle, not when the New
Testament was complete, and not when the Temple was destroyed.
Therefore, the gifts were not yet supposed to pass away. Yet,
nonetheless the authentic gifts are no longer occurring. And
while we have not yet discussed why they ceased, we have discounted
four theories suggesting that they were supposed to cease.
But before we move on to explore why the gifts ceased when
they were not supposed to, we have a few more items to discuss
in our evaluation of 1 Corinthians 13 and Paul's prediction
that the gifts would pass away.
First, if Paul had meant that the gifts were supposed to pass
away, then why does he spend the entire previous chapter (chapter
12) and the entire next chapter (chapter 14) laying out the
guidelines for their ongoing occurrence and practice within
the Church? And why in the world did he encourage and instruct
the Corinthians to continue to seek the gifts?
1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire
spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
1 Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake with
tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is
he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except
he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
1 Corinthians 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye
are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel
to the edifying of the church.
1 Corinthians 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to
prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
The answer is that Paul did not expect that the gifts were
supposed to soon pass away. We will touch more on this momentarily.
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as
a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but
when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Second, if by 1 Corinthians 13:11 Paul had meant that he put
away the gifts when he became mature at some earlier point
in time, then why does he state in 1 Corinthians 14 that he
continues to speak in tongues?
1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in an unknown
tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and
I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with
the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
1 Corinthians 14:18 I thank my God, I speak with
tongues more than ye all.
The answer is that Paul was talking about a maturing that
had NOT yet taken place, specifically the maturing of the
Church when Christ Jesus returns and we see him face to face
and are transformed with incorruptible, glorified, spirit
bodies like his and know as we are known so that we reach
the unity in the knowledge of the Son of God and are no longer
deceived by varying false doctrines.
But moreover, we can find out even more clearly from Paul
when he expected this maturing, seeing face to face, and passing
away of the gifts would take place. And the proof comes from
the very onset of the same book, 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf,
for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5
That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance,
and in all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was
confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift;
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first thing to note from 1 Corinthians 1 is verse 7's
mention of the phrase "so that you come behind in no gift."
While this may certainly include other gifts besides the charismatic
(prophetic) gifts that will be discussed in detail in chapters
12-14, it certainly includes those gifts as well.
Notice also that in verse 7 Paul ties their having the gifts
to their "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
This is remarkably similar to 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul
states that the gifts will pass when we see "face to face"
and to 1 John 3:1-3 where John writes that when Christ Jesus
returns we will be like him because we will see him as he
is. And not only that, but Paul also speaks in verse 8 of
Jesus Christ "confirming" the Ephesians unto the end. What
is "the end" Paul is talking about? Verse 8 answers that also,
it is the same "end" spoken of by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse
(Matthew 24:14, 30, Mark 13:13, 26, Luke 21:9, 27.) It is
the "day of our Lord Jesus Christ," "the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ" as Paul has also stated already in verse 7.
Notice that the word "confirm" appears both in verses 6 and
8, right before and right after the gifts are mentioned in
verse 7. In both cases it is the Greek word "ebaioo" (Strong's
No. 950), which means, "to make firm, establish, confirm,
make sure." But what does this word "confirming" mean?
Well, a simple word search will answer that question. The
same word also occurs in Mark 16.
Mark 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every
where, the Lord working with them, and confirming [950] the
word with signs following. Amen.
Here in Mark 16, we see that the apostles go and preach the
message everywhere and the Lord confirms the word that they
preach with signs. Paul's use of this same word "confirm"
twice in verse 6 and 8 right alongside his mention of the
gifts in his opening chapter to the Corinthians is quite informative.
And notice also that in both 1 Corinthians 1 and Mark 16,
it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is doing the confirming of
the Gospel message through signs. This all tells us that these
"gifts" including tongues and prophecy were part of the signs
that confirmed the message among the Jews and Gentiles including
the Corinthians as the apostles went about and preached the
message of salvation.
Notice that the Corinthians' receiving of the gifts is directly
connected to Jesus Christ providing confirmation in them.
1 Corinthians 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was
confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift;
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
This further demonstrates that the gifts came as part of the
confirmation.
And this is perfectly consistent with what we find in the
book of Acts where God confirms his acceptance and endorsement
of men first in Acts 2 with the disciples and apostles and
then also in Acts 10 with the first Gentile converts. In both
cases, the signs of God's endorsement and acceptance were
the prophetic gifts including prophecy and tongues.
And notice also from 1 Corinthians 1, how long Paul says Jesus
Christ will continue to confirm the Corinthians?
1 Corinthians 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was
confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift;
waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless
in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to Paul's teaching and expectation, the gifts and
signs were supposed to continue in the same way as they were
confirmed originally in the Corinthians all the way "unto
the end" when Jesus Christ returned. In fact, as stated earlier, Paul uses 3 parallel phrases to confirm the timeframe. He says "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," "the end," and "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." No only is the phrase "the end" a common New Testament reference to the end return of Jesus Christ (for example, Matthew 24:3, 6, 13-14), but here in 1 Corinthians 1, the phrase "the end" is literally sandwiched between to explicit references to the return of Christ.
This is amazingly consistent. Notice how in the opening chapter
of 1 Corinthians Paul is laying out the summary of the issues
he will address in greater detail later on in the letter.
Here in chapter 1 Paul states that Jesus Christ will continue
to confirm the Corinthians with the gifts unto the end as
they wait for the return of Jesus Christ. Then in 1 Corinthians
13, Paul explains that the gifts will pass away when the Church
becomes mature and when we see face to face. And finally,
in chapter 15, Paul explains that when Jesus Christ returns
we will see him and receive incorruptible, immortal, spiritual
bodies like his. Therefore, both the very context of 1 Corinthians
13 as well as the context of the entire first epistle to the
Corinthians require us to interpret chapter 13 as an indication
that the gifts were NOT supposed to cease until the return
of Christ, when we became mature by seeing him face to face
at which point we would be transformed into his likeness.
In his refutation of the Montanists, Asterius Urbanus (who
lived in the second century AD)confirms the ancient Christian
origin of this interpretation of 1 Corinthians 1.
"THE EXTANT WRITINGS OF ASTERIUS URBANUS. Book I. Chapter
X. For if, after Quadratus and the woman Ammia in Philadelphia,
as they say, the women who attached themselves to Montanus
succeeded to the gift of prophecy, let them show us which
of them thus succeeded Montanus and his women. For the
apostle deems that the gift of prophecy should abide in all
the Church up to the time of the final advent. But they
will not be able to show the gift to be in their possession
even at the present time, which is the fourteenth year only
from the death of Maximilla."
In this excerpt from Asterius, we see that he ascribed the
theory that the gifts were supposed to continue until the
return of Christ to "the apostle." Based upon our review of
1 Corinthians 1, we can see that Paul was the apostle Asterius
was referring to. Asterius' comments here also indicate how
he interpreted Paul's statements in 1 Corinthians 13, where
Paul discusses the gifts passing when "the perfect comes."
Thus, Asterius has given us a window into how the ancient
Christians interpreted Paul's teaching in both 1 Corinthians
1 and 13 regarding how long the gifts would remain.
And this also explains why orthodox Christian writers such
as Irenaeus (115-202 AD) and Justin Martyr (110-165 AD) recorded
that the prophetic gifts, including tongues specifically,
continued to occur into the mid and latter half of the second
century AD, about half a century after the destruction of
the Temple, death of the last apostle, and close of the New
Testament canon.
"For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the
present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the
gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to
us. And just as there were false prophets contemporaneous
with your holy prophets, so are there now many false teachers
amongst us, of whom our Lord forewarned us to beware; so
that in no respect are we deficient, since we know that
He foreknew all that would happen to us after His resurrection
from the dead and ascension to heaven. (Justin, Dialogue with
Trypho, CHAP. LXXXII.)
Justin also testifies that the gifts were not only still in use at this time, but still being received by new converts.
CHAP. XXXIX. Therefore, just as God did not inflict His anger on account of those seven thousand men, even so He has now neither yet inflicted judgment, nor does inflict it, knowing that daily some [of you] are becoming disciples in the name of Christ, and quitting the path of error; who are also receiving gifts, each as he is worthy, illumined through the name of this Christ. For one receives the spirit of understanding, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing, another of foreknowledge, another of teaching, and another of the fear of God." To this Trypho said to me, "I wish you knew that you are beside yourself, talking these sentiments." And I said to him, "Listen, O friend,(6) for I am not mad or beside myself; but it was prophesied that, after the ascent of Christ to heaven, He would deliver(7) us from error and give us gifts. The words are these: 'He ascended up on high; He led captivity captive; He gave gifts to men.'(8) Accordingly, we who have received gifts from Christ, who has ascended up on high, prove from the words of prophecy that you, 'the wise in yourselves, and the men of understanding in your own eyes,'(9) are foolish, and honour God and His Christ by lip only. (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, CHAP. XXXIX.)
Since all of the apostles were long dead by the time Justin wrote these words, this means that receiving the gifts was not restricted to laying on hands from the original apostles. Either God was doing it directly similar to Acts 2 and 10 or perhaps the elders were distributing the gifts through the laying on of their hands as suggested by 1 Timothy 4:14.
Notice from the first quote above that Justin says the Church of his day was "in no respect deficient" with regard to the gifts. This reflects Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 1:7, "that ye come behind in no gift." So, it seems Justin interpreted 1 Corinthians
1:6-8 to refer to the charismatic gifts and their continuation
in the Church having been "transferred" and "continued" from
the Jews under the Old Covenant. And, since Justin Martyr
is quoting one part of Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 1:6-8
and applying it to the Church of his own day, it stands to
reason that Justin also applied the rest of that statement
to the Church of his own day as well. This at least indirectly
indicates that like Asterius Urbanus, Justin Martyr believed
the charismatic gifts were supposed to continue in
the Church without deficiency until what Paul referred to
collectively as "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," "the
end," and, "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"For this reason does the apostle declare, "We speak wisdom
among them that are perfect," (6) terming those persons "perfect"
who have received the Spirit of God, and who through the
Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used Himself
also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren
in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through
the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to
light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and
declare the mysteries of God, whom also the apostle terms
"spiritual," they being spiritual because they partake of
the Spirit." (IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK V.CHAP. VI.)
From all this we can conclude with certainty that Paul's teaching
was that the gifts were not supposed to pass away until the
return of Jesus Christ. And this was the understanding of
the early Church as well. This conclusion is just as certain
as the fact that for some reason, the gifts have already ceased
even though they were not Biblically supposed to do so. This
brings us to the question of what happened to the gifts? If
they were not supposed to pass away, then why did they cease?
Our next section will address these very questions.
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