Prophecies will cease, tongues stilled and knowledge pass away

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Prophecies will cease, tongues stilled and knowledge pass away

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

Who is Sadhu?
Re:

Paul We Know and Peter too but who's Apostle Sadhu?
Re:

Who is Apostle Ananias? (SK)
Re:

Scripture the Word of God
Re:

Agree that Scripture is the Word of God. (SK)
Re:

Is Seeing Believing?
Re:

Where's the verse that says signs & wonders & visions stopped when the Apostles "slept"? (SK)
Date: 2001, May 12
From: TheTrueProtestant

Dear SK
We are grateful for your gracious spirit. We may win an argument but if if it not in the right spirit, we have in effect not gained anything.
Charismatic gifts were not the possession of the primitive Christian as such, nor the Apostolic Church or the Apostolic Age. They were distinctively the authentication of the Apostles. They were part of the credentials of the Apostles as the authoritative agents of God in founding the church, and ceased when the Apostles passed away.
[We apologize for being technical]
The evidence are these:
1] 1Cor.13:8-13 Love never fails:but where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away....when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears... Our Charismatic brethren teach that the phrase 'when perfection comes' refer to heaven or the second coming, and hence there would still be prophecies and tongues till then. As evangelicals, we must submit to the fact that every word in the Bible is inspired and chosen by supervision of the Holy Spirit. The greek word used for the second coming is 'telos', not 'to teleion' in verse ten for 'perfection' which means 'the completed thing' or 'mature'. Prophecies, tongues and knowledge are the gifts whereby God communicates supernatural, authorutative and infallible truth. When 1 Corinthians was writteh He did this in a partial but not incomplete way. What is the final completed form of God speaking supernaturally, authoritatively and infallibly? Is it not the New Testament? Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, used a strong word to described the cessation of the gifts. He spoke of them being destroyed ['Katargeo']in verse 8 with reference to prophecy and knowledge and in v.10 with reference to all these three. It means 'a complete obliteration beyond recall'.There is no possibility of a temporary lapse or revival. [The word is used also in chapter 15:24,26].
2] There is little or no evidence at all for miracle-working during the first 50 years of the post-Apostolic church; it is slight and unimportant for the next 50. The writings of the so-called "apostolic Fathers" did not contain any clear references to miracle-working or to the exercise of the charismatic gifts during their time.
3] The passages quoted [Luke 24:44-49 and Acts 1:7 & 8 ... YOU shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you] deal with the indwelling of the Spirit. Gifts were not mentioned. They were essentially and primarily to preach, not perform miracles.
4] On the Day of Pentecost, Peter shared about the fulfilling of Joel's prophecy that God had poured out His Spirit. Was it not at Pentecost that this prophecy was being fulfilled?
And after finishing Peter said to the hearers "Repent and let each of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all WHO ARE FAR OFF, AS MANY AS THE LORD SHALL CALL TO HIMSELF" Acts 2:38-39.
5] The promise is the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit,that is, the Holy Spirit would be given to them as a gift, not the promise of charismatic gifts. We read in the subsequent verses that they were baptized, enjoyed doctirne and fellowship, and prayed. Wonders and signs were done by the apostles but there was no mention of the converts doing any, which as mentioned earlier were the apostles authentication.
Every blessing.