11/30/2025

 

Samuel Clifford

 

“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8-10 KJV)

 

“Love 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.”

(1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NASB)

 

In this verse, Paul explained that “whether there are tongues, they shall cease”. 

 

Prophecy and knowledge will be done away with when that which is perfect comes. According to verse 10, this will happen when “that which is perfect is come.” What this means has been debated over the years but today I will go over the most Biblically accurate view.

 

The Quantitative Completeness View

 

The quantitative completeness view understands “perfect” (teleion) as completion of something that already exists in part. Proponents, such as myself, typically hold that the New Testament canon completes the partial revelation and revelatory gifts that are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12. This view also understands the various temporal indicators in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 to refer to the “now” of the apostlic age (pre canonical period) and the “then” of the postapostlic age (post canonical period). 

 

There are three vital points to understanding this view:

 

1) The first point is that the partial gifts of knowledge and prophecy spoken in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 are revelatory gifts. During the time in which Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, the church did not have the benefit of the completed canon, and thus without a body of truth to base its decision upon. Therefore, because of this, God provided guidance through the revelatory gifts of prophecy, knowledge, and tongues. 

 

Prophecy’s character is revelatory. The gift of prophecy is based upon the Old Testament understanding of a prophet as one who received a direct revelation from God (Deuteronomy 18:18). Peter surely understood the function of an Old Testament prophet in revelatory terms (2 Peter 1:20–21), and so did Paul. In Ephesians 3:5, he explains that the New Testament prophets revealed the mystery of the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:29–30, he emphasizes the revelatory function of prophecy by indicating that when a prophet is speaking, others are to judge what he says. The revelatory character of prophecy can also be seen in the divine messages revealed by the prophet Agabus (Acts 11:28; 21:10–11). 

 

The revelatory nature of the gift of knowledge can also be demonstrated by virtue of the fact that it is enumerated in 1 Corinthians 13:8–12 alongside prophecy. “Paul places gnōsis beside mysteria in 1 Corinthians 13:2 and between apokalypsis and profēteia in 1 Corinthians 14:6, thus investing the term with ‘the significance of supernatural mystical knowledge’” -Andy Woods. Therefore, the gift of knowledge involved unusual spiritual insight, including the supernatural guidance of the Spirit, in determining the proper solution for the many practical problems which took place in the early church.

 

2) The second vital point is that revelations provided to the early church by these revelatory gifts were designed to be only partial and were intended to be superseded by something more comprehensive. This gives more understanding as to why Paul consistently uses the phrase “in part” (ek merous) when referring to the gifts of prophecy and knowledge. 

 

3) The third point which must be understood if if what is in part (ek merous) refers to the partial revelations brought to the early church through these revelatory gifts, then teleion, which stands in contrast to ek merous, must refer to the New Testament canon, which completed and superseded the partial revelations. A completed New Testament canon would render a partial revelation obsolete by providing a complete picture of the mystery nature of the Church and God’s program for the ages and thereby equipping saints for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17). 

 

Reasons For Believing This View:

 

1. The meaning “complete,” or “whole,” is well attested in Paul’s writings. 

 

2. The adjective teleion is used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe God’s word (James 1:25).

 

“But one who looks intently at the perfect (teleion) law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25 NASB)

 

3. The canon view does not pit a quantitative concept (ek merous) against a qualitative concept, as do most views by charismatics. “It allows both expressions to be understood quantitatively.” -Andy Woods In other words, the concept of “complete” is a natural antithesis to the concept of “in part.” Thus, the idea of completed Scripture furnishes the best antithesis to the partial revelations given through the gifts of knowledge, prophecy, and tongues, because both expressions are taken in a quantitative sense. 

 

4. The Bible states that the canon is closed in verses such as Revelation 22:18-9 and Jude 3. Therefore, prophecy and divine revelation or knowledge would be expected to cease when the canon has closed so that nothing else is added to the scriptures.