13:10
“But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears” (NIV), some other versions have when the “perfect” comes. Some cessationists say the “perfect” refers to the completeness of the New Testament canon, and that when that happened the gifts would cease. Quite frankly this is a nonsensical argument, and is a case of eisegesis. Schreiner argues that the “perfect” refers to the return of Christ, the resurrection etc. His arguments can be found in his commentary, but the key one is that Paul is clearly talking about the return of Christ, and 13:12 confirms this.
13:11
There are two ways in which this verse can be taken. One is that Paul is trying to get them to realise that we are heading for something far greater, we will become perfectly Christlike. Tongues etc are useful now, but will eventually be superfluous. A second way is that Paul is trying to get them to grow up. The former seems the more likely in the context of this chapter, but the second is what he has been trying to do throughout the letter.
No comments:
Post a Comment