The Cessation of the Gifts of Tongues, Prophecies and Knowledge.

I would request those who would like to engage with me in this biblical debate to do so by employing both deductive and inductive reason when responding to my argument. I would prefer that before you disagree with me , please give evidence also by negating the scriptures I have put forth.  The bible only says what it says and not what we think it says.

 I have been asked to answer  a question first if tongues and  prophecies failed.

I would like to say that according to 1Corintians 13 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whetherthere are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

        Interpreting the verse above, using plenary hermeneutics, the verse says that LOVE IS ETERNAL. God cannot say something is forever when contrary is true. God is love and and God is The Truth. The Conjunction of contrast BUT in the sentence that begins with it.. but whether there are prophecies they will fail points to the fact there are two issues here being contrasted. These are love and prophesies. 

        Prophecies here may mean the oracles or pronouncements themselves or the gifts of prophecy themselves. The later qualifies to be the best rendering that the former because love is not a pronouncement neither is it an oracle.So the direct translation of the the phrase fail is THEY-SHALL-BE-BEING-DOWN-UN-ACTED they-shall-be-being-discarded pointing to the fact that the gift of prophecy shall be progressively discarded. The word shall here is stronger than will  pointing to the fact that it is imperative and future.  

        The Greek word katarghqhsontai translated FAIL in some versions actually means discard or get rid of (someone or something) and the English  Dictionary adds that it means get rid of something as no longer useful or desirable. In our daily lives we discard many things not necessarily because they are Bad, but because they are no longer useful or no longer fit in the present need. The synonyms for this word include: dispose of, throw away/out, get rid of, toss out, dispense with, cast aside/off, throw on the scrapheap; The above rendering should be applied to the following clauses whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ( εἴτε  γλῶσσαι παύσονται  ; εἴτε γνῶσις καταργηθήσεται) The words Cease and vanish are terminal in essence and they refer to the coming of an end in something. Webster's Dictionary defines these words thus: Cease =to bring an activity or action to an end : discontinue, obsolete : Vanish : to become extinct : die out., To pass out of existence ; to become zero. 

 I personally believe that these three sign gifts are no longer in use today not because they are bad but because they are no longer needed. There are other gifts that have superseded them. A spiritual parallel to this perspective is the Coming of John the Baptist and the Coming of Jesus' ministry, the end of Jesus' earthly ministry and the advent of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. All these events NEVER HAPPENED SIMULTANEOUSLY. John the Baptist had to VANISH for Jesus to take over. Jesus Christ had to die on the Cross for the Holy Spirit, the Mighty Counselor to take control and empower the Church. God is a God of order and not of confusion. A contemporary analogy would be, the use of technology. If anyone wants to use any of these below, he has the liberty to do so but the the newer technology dictates the terms. You may insist on using any of the gadgets below but they are overtaken with time. So the alternative is for you to take the latest that can serve your need.    

  

       The question is WHEN? When shall this gifts tongues, of prophecy  and knowledge be discarded? Simple English Grammar tells us that the word will or shall used in a sentence points to the future. But when is this Future? The Bible is a good teacher. The Apostle Paul write in the 1Cor. 13 that

For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

  The WE in the verses above refers to Paul and his contemporaries.The above analogy informs us that during the time of Paul and the other Apostles, they knew in part-that is to say the tongues they used then , the prophecy they had then and the knowledge they had at that time in terms of the sign gifts, were all IMPERFECT. Verse 10 points to that which is perfect.  When that which is perfect has come, then that which is imperfect will disappear. So what is this PERFECT. Some theologians say that the perfect refers to the second coming of Christ but when Christ comes we do not need FAITH and HOPE. The Greek New Testament ICorinthians 13:10 reads as follows=  ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον τὸ ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται ( hotan de elthe to teleion to ek merous katargesetai ) Which is translated as But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.The best interpretation of these verse is to take the neuter gender that which which correctly refers to a thing, an understanding or a revelation rather than a the person of Jesus Christ. I believe what the Apostle Paul was referring to here in these verses was the PERFECT WORD OF GOD we call THE HOLY BIBLE. In this library of 66 books we have all the PERFECT TONGUES in the World, better and varied than the ones spoken at Pentecost. In the Bible we have all the PERFECT PROPHECIES fulfilled and unfilled. In the Bible we have all the PERFECT KNOWLEDGE. Therefore we do not need the three sign Gifts of tongues, prophecies and knowledge because they are obsolete. They vanished. They ceased they passed away. What people are doing now is just a sham. Remember I said that AT PRESENT WE HAVE NO SINGLE PROPHET OR APOSTLE IN THE ORDER OF THE BIBLICAL PROPHETS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT APOSTLES.  I will address Ephesians 4 in the next blog. Otherwise I would like to end with the apostle Paul who summed up everything saying   

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.