“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away," 1Corinthians 13:8-10.
The miraculous gifts which were a part of the early church had a time limit imposed on them; they would end when the “perfect” had come. But what this “perfect” is, is not stated in the passage. A study of the Greek word underlying “perfect”, and its usage in the New Testament, will show us what is meant.
The Greek word which underlies our word “perfect” in the above passage is the word “teleios." Below is its definition from 3 separate lexicons:
Bullinger - “what has reached its end, term, or limit; hence, complete, perfect, full, wanting nothing, with special reference to the end for which it was intended.” James 1:25, 1Cor 13:10
Thayer - “brought to its end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness; perfect”
Arndt & Gingrich - “having attained the end or purpose, complete, perfect.”
It means something that is complete, and carries with it the idea that it has been brought to that completeness (like with our word “full”, which while meaning that nothing more could be added, also carries with it the idea that it was previously brought to that state).
This word is used 19 times in the New Testament, in 17 verses, where it is translated variously in the NKJV as “perfect,” “mature,” and “of full age.” The majority of the time it is used of the perfection of the individual Christian; of the need to be perfect, and of those who already are. The following ten verses contain this usage, with two of them containing a second occurrence of the word, with a different usage (pointed out under the verse).
Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
This verse contains a second occurrence, describing the perfection of God, that we need to be perfect as He is.
Matthew 19:21 “Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’”
1 Corinthians 2:6 “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.”
1 Corinthians 14:20 “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.”
Philippians 3:15 “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you”
Colossians 1:28 “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 4:12 “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”
Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
James 1:4 “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
This verse contains a second occurrence, in regard to the perfecting work that patience has on the life of the believer.
James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”
1Cor 13:10 cannot mean this usage of the word, as there were already Christians who were in this state of maturity (1Cor 2:6 & Phil 3:15), while the miraculous was still present.
Next, we have:
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
In this verse, it shows that when a man is perfected in love, he will no longer fear God. 1Cor 13:10 cannot mean this usage, as each and every man that comes to Christ throughout the existence of the church will go through the process of perfecting love of God in himself, and therefore miracles would have to exist throughout the history of church.
Next is:
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
This is a general usage of the word, describing “every” gift which is from the Father. As it isn’t describing any specific gift, it cannot be this meaning, as we could never know which one is meant.
Next we have:
Hebrews 9:11-12 “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
The heavenly tabernacle is more suited to the redemption of man than the earthly tabernacle was under Moses; the earthly could save no one, while the heavenly is where God truly is, and where our High Priest ministers. Yet it cannot be this “perfect,” as the verse also says, “He entered,” not “He will enter,” showing it already was in existence while the miraculous was still in effect. Therefore, it cannot be this that is referred to in 1Cor 13:10.
Next is our verse:
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.”
Which leaves us with the following 3 verses, which gives us our answer:
James 1:25 “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
The “perfect” is the law of Christ, which hadn’t yet been fully revealed when Paul was writing to Corinth.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
We couldn’t prove what the will of God is, unless He has revealed it to us. This He has done in the New Testament, which we can now use to prove His will.
Ephesians 4:13 “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
We need the full context of this verse to effectively show what it is teaching; so verses 11-16:
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ - from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
This passage speaks of the purpose of the miraculous element in Christianity, and also of its end. Verse 12 shows what the purpose of it was; for the equipping of the infant church for her work, and for the building up of the body of Christ. This was to be “till we all come to the unity of the faith.” Faith belongs to the current age, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1. Therefore, the “unity of the faith” will occur in this age; it is not speaking of eternity. Once the unity of the faith comes, the miraculous will no longer be necessary; for then the body of Christ will have grown up into a perfect (or mature) man, into that which has been completed and is lacking nothing (the idea which “teleios” carries with it).
The New Testament was not given all at once, but over the course of 40-50 years or so (with the earliest date of Matthew being 42, and the latest date of Revelation around 96). This means that during the first half-century of the church, we did not have the full revelation of Christ, therefore we could not have attained to the full unity of the faith. Some congregations used additional letters later disregarded as Scripture, and likely not everyone had received a copy of every scriptural letter as soon as it was written.
Therefore, the church could not be fully united as to belief until the full revelation had occurred.
When did this occur? Revelation, the last book written, was likely written between 91 - 96 AD, and so the canon was completed then.
This goes well with what we know about the bestowing of miraculous gifts. There are 4 verses which bear on the subject, being 1 Cor 12:11, 2 Tim 1:6-7, 1 Tim 4:14, and Rom 1:11, along with the passage in Acts 8:12-17. According to these verses, it appears that an apostle had to be present for the imparting of a gift, and that it was through the laying on of hands. Paul was there when Timothy was given his gift, and it is said that it was through the laying on of his hands and the hands of the eldership; further, Paul says to the Romans “I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift,” showing that he needed to be present with them to impart the gift. In the passage from Acts, Philip (the deacon, not the apostle) had been given the ability to work miracles, but couldn’t pass them on, otherwise it would not have been necessary to send for Peter and John to come and lay hands on them.
From 1Cor 12:11, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills,” and 1Tim 4:14, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy,” it could be that the Spirit told them who was to have a gift given to them, and then they laid hands on that individual; or, if it was specific to Timothy alone that it was by prophecy, they laid hands on someone they thought worthy, and the Spirit gave what gift He chose for that individual.
There is no indication to us that anyone other than an apostle could impart a gift (for even though the eldership laid hands on Timothy when he received his gift, yet Paul was there, and specifically says that he also laid hands on him). This being the case, the miracles would have ceased to be imparted when the last apostle died, and ceased altogether when the last individual who had a gift died (whether an apostle or otherwise). If we had no other information on the subject, we could confidently say that this is when they ended.
But given that we are told that they would cease when the canon was completed, it gives us another possible end date, that they ceased immediately after Revelation was written. This would have had the added benefit of the church knowing exactly when the canon was completed (though with the death of the apostles, and the knowledge that the completion of the canon was necessary for miracles to cease, they would have been able to reason it out even if the miraculous lasted until the last individual with a gift died). At which point they ended, we don’t know; but we do know that at one or the other they did end.
The purpose of the miraculous element in the infant church was to build her up and teach her until she became “a perfect man.” As a child needs parents to care for him until he learns enough and is mature enough to survive on his own, so the church needed support until she became fully established in the world, 1Cor 13:11. The miraculous gave proof to those outside, edification and knowledge to those inside, until she had the full teachings of Christ, which are now able to accomplish the same end, for, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” 2 Tim 3:16-17.
There is therefore no further need for the miraculous element.