Eamon Younis: The Time When Revelatory Gifts Cease (1 Cor 13:8-12)

By James W. Scott

[James W Scott is Managing Editor of New Horizons in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Publications Coordinator for the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC.]

In the debate over the continuance or cessation of revelatory gifts, a key text is 1 Cor 13:8-12, which indicates that prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will pass away “when the perfect comes” (v. 10). But when is that? According to noncessationists, this passage teaches that these gifts will cease only when Christ returns, and thus will continue to be manifested in the church until that time. But according to some cessationists, this passage predicts the cessation of these gifts when the NT canon is completed or when the church reaches maturity (around the end of the first century). According to other cessationists, this passage does indeed refer to the time of Christ’s return, but tells us only that knowledge once gained from revelatory gifts will come to an end at that time, and thus does not indicate when the gifts themselves will cease. In this article, we will propose a new interpretation of the passage.

First Corinthians 13:8-12 (plus v. 13) reads in the ESV:[1]

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

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

I. The Context: 1 Corinthians 12-14

Paul addresses the subject of “spiritual gifts” (τὰ πνευματικά) in 1 Cor 12-14 (see 12:1; 14:1). First, in ch. 12, he discusses the diversity of spiritual gifts and the unity of the Spirit (and thus of the church). This general discussion ends with the instruction to “earnestly desire the higher gifts” (12:31a). But there is “a still more excellent way” (12:31b), the way of love, which Paul addresses in ch. 13. Then in 14:1, having concluded his treatment of love with the instruction to “pursue love,” he returns to the argument left off at 12:31a, repeating the instruction to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.”[2] He then focuses in ch. 14 on what was evidently troubling the Corinthians, namely, the practical issues pertaining to speaking in tongues (and prophesying).

The words τῶν πνευματικῶν in 12:1 should be understood as neuter, referring to “spiritual things,” that is, “spiritual gifts.” The masculine, “spiritual persons,” is grammatically possible (cf. the masculine singular in 14:37), but the form τὰ πνευματικά is unambiguously neuter in 14:1. Since 14:1 resumes the argument of ch. 12, we must infer that τῶν πνευματικῶν is neuter when that argument is begun in 12:1, to be consistent with τὰ πνευματικά in 14:1. Since 12:1 begins περὶ δὲ τῶν πνευματικῶν, apparently introducing a subject about which the Corinthians had written to Paul (cf. 7:1, 25; 8:1; 16:1), the word πνευματικός may have been taken from the Corinthians’ letter to him. But even if that is so, we should not infer that Paul is throwing it back at them with a touch of sarcasm, implying that the spiritual persons or gifts are not really all that spiritual. Because there is no sarcasm in the term’s use in 14:1, we should not suppose that there is any in its parallel use in 12:1. In both passages, the term simply indicates the topic of discussion.[3]

The essential characteristic of these spiritual gifts is that each one is “the manifestation of the Spirit” (ἡ φανέρωσις τοῦ πνεύματος) (12:7). Christians manifest the work of the Spirit in many ways, but in view here are extraordinary manifestations of spiritual empowerment. God “empowers them all” (v. 6); they are “empowered” by the Spirit (v. 11). At the very least, the spiritual gifts are extraordinary in the sense that only some people have each one. This is clearly indicated by the words “to one” and “to another” in vv 8-10. Since all Christians have saving faith (and the spiritual fruit of faithfulness) to some degree, it follows that the spiritual gift of “faith” (v. 9), which is given only to some, is something other than the faith common to all believers. Similarly, since all Christians have some knowledge of Christian things, it follows that the spiritual gift of “the utterance of knowledge” (v. 8), given only to some, involves a special kind of knowledge. All of these spiritual gifts, each being given to a limited number of believers, must be gifts that go beyond ordinary Christian endowments.[4]

More is involved here than a high level of ordinary Christian endowment. There are high levels of ordinary wisdom and knowledge that manifest spiritual maturity and learning, but when someone is “given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom (λόγος σοφίας)” and “given . . . the utterance of knowledge (λόγος γνώσεως) according to the same Spirit” (v. 8), immediate revelation from the Holy Spirit would seem to be in view. Similarly, the “faith” (πίστις) mentioned in v. 9 is evidently that extraordinary, powerful “faith, so as to remove mountains” described in 13:2 (cf. Matt 17:20). “Gifts of healing” (χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων), “the working of miracles” (ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων), “prophecy” (προφητεία), “the ability to distinguish between spirits” (διακρίσεις πνευμάτων), “various kinds of tongues” (γένη γλωσςῶν), and “the interpretation of tongues” (ἑρμενεία γλωσσῶν) (vv. 9-10) are more clearly extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit’s power. In these verses, then, Paul is describing various forms of divine revelation and miraculous empowerment.

At the end of the chapter (12:28-31), Paul lists various “gifts” (χαρίσματα), using a term that is evidently wider in scope than “spiritual gifts” (πνευματικά).[5] In this list, extraordinary gifts of (and offices involving) revelation and miraculous empowerment again dominate. However, the office of “teacher” (but cf. 14:6, 26) and the gifts of “helping” and “administering” should arguably be understood as ordinary (i.e., not directly revelatory or miraculously empowering) gifts—among the “lower gifts” implied by v. 31. At the conclusion of a passage on the diversity of gifts in the church, such a widening of focus is understandable. But in v. 31 Paul narrows his attention back to “the higher gifts” (τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ μειζονα/κρείττονα), which are evidently the same as “the spiritual gifts” (τὰ πνευματικά), since he uses the same language to encourage the Corinthians to “earnestly desire” them (12:31; 14:1).

There are those who would disagree with our view that the spiritual gifts are all revelatory or miraculously empowering. Paul Barnett, for example, asserts that “the ‘word of wisdom’ and the ‘word of knowledge’ probably describe those whose gift is to teach the gospel, bringing the church ‘wisdom’ about God, ‘knowledge’ of God and ‘faith’ in him.” And while he ties “faith” to the extraordinary faith of 13:2, he does not connect it with miraculous empowerment, seeing it merely as “‘faith’ which is directed towards the impossible,” in order to “strengthen the confidence of others in God’s purposes.”[6] However, that would simply be ordinary faith at a high level, whereas Paul (following Jesus) more likely has a higher order of faith in view, one which can (with the Spirit’s energizing) seemingly will things to happen. However, it is not easy to decide which gifts (χαρίσματα) are ordinary (or lower) and which ones are extraordinary (or higher), either in 1 Corinthians or elsewhere, and some commentators would blur or even reject these categories. We have outlined the case for interpreting the spiritual gifts (τὰ πνευματικά) as in each case extraordinary—that is, directly revelatory or miraculously empowering—but the main line of our argument in this article does not require that each spiritual gift mentioned in ch. 12 be of that character, so long as revelatory gifts are recognized as properly revelatory.

Having completed his discussion of the diversity of gifts and the unity of the Spirit, Paul digresses somewhat in ch. 13 to put the spiritual gifts in the proper perspective.[7] He argues that the more prosaic spiritual fruit, especially love, are actually more important and more valuable than the spectacular spiritual gifts.[8] Without love, it will not do anyone any good to speak in tongues, have the prophetic gift, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, or have any other extraordinary gift (13:1-3).[9] After eloquently describing love in 13:4-7 (a digression within a digression), Paul returns to a consideration of spiritual gifts in the light of love. He declares that three revelatory gifts (no doubt representing all spiritual gifts, as we shall argue) will come to an end, but that love and other virtues will endure (13:8-12, 13). Love is permanent (and thus superior); prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are temporary (and thus inferior). Without love, these revelatory gifts are of no value to their possessor; with love, they have some value, though only temporarily. Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that they should primarily be pursuing love, and only secondarily be seeking spiritual gifts (13:13-14:1; cf. 12:31).

People today often turn to 1 Cor 13:8-12, seeking to discern when in the history of the church, if ever, the gifts of prophecy and tongues will cease or have ceased. This passage may shed some light on that question, but Paul’s main concern in this chapter is quite different. He is primarily concerned with the spiritual development, the sanctification, of the Corinthians. They are obsessed with exercising spiritual gifts, especially speaking in tongues, evidently to the detriment of constructive ministry (see ch. 14) and even their growth in grace.

Throughout ch. 13, we see that Paul is not talking about spiritual gifts in the abstract, as phenomena per se. Rather, he is talking about spiritual gifts as they are possessed and exercised by individual Christians. We see this personal focus as Paul begins the chapter. He says, “If I speak in . . . tongues” (v. 1), “if I have prophetic powers,” “if I . . . understand all mysteries and all knowledge,” “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains” (v. 2), “if I give away all I have,” and “if I deliver up my body to be burned,” then “I gain nothing” if I do not have love (v. 3). He concludes by saying, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known” (v. 12). Although, grammatically speaking, Paul is referring to himself, he is using himself as an example.[10] He wants the Corinthians to apply what he says to themselves. Even when he extols love in more abstract terms in vv 4-7, and speaks elsewhere in the chapter about spiritual gifts more objectively, we should understand that he is speaking about them as the possessions of individual Christians.[11]

In this context, the chief point of vv 8-12 is that the time will come in the experience of each spiritually gifted Christian when his or her spiritual gifts will come to an end—leaving whatever love (and other fruit of the Spirit) has been cultivated in that person. Paul may incidentally say something about the history of spiritual gifts, but fundamentally he is talking about their cessation in the experience of the persons exercising them. In other words, Paul is not particularly concerned about how long certain gifts will be observable somewhere in the church. Rather, he is concerned about how long they will be functioning in the lives of the Christians who possess them.

II. Exegetical Remarks On 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 (And 13)

1. Verse 8

Verse 8 begins, “Love never ends.” The verb (πίπτει or ἐκπίπτει, used figuratively) should perhaps more accurately be translated “fails,” but the key implication of love never failing is that it never ends. We gather from the context that Paul is speaking about the divine working of love in the hearts of individual Christians. It will always remain there, and will never die out. The point of “Love never ends” is not that there will always be someone in the church who is manifesting love. Rather, the point is that if someone has genuine love in his heart, it will always remain there; it is one’s eternal possession.[12]

But (δέ)—unlike love— “prophecies,” “tongues,” and “knowledge” will come to an end (v. 8). In the context of chs. 12-14, these must be understood as spiritual gifts (πνευματικά). As we have seen, v. 8 continues the argument begun in vv 1-3, where spiritual gifts are in view and the three gifts of v. 8 are mentioned. We likewise find them in Paul’s list of spiritual gifts in 12:8-10. The first two of these three gifts are also mentioned at the beginning of the next chapter, where they are described as “spiritual gifts” (14:1-2).

There is some dispute about whether Paul has the act of utterance or the content of utterance in view here, but one cannot really separate the two.[13] When speaking of word gifts, he sometimes focuses on the message and sometimes on the handling of it, but they are two aspects of the same gift. That being said, we believe that, in 1 Cor 13 at least, the nouns “prophecies,” “tongues,” “knowledge,” and “mysteries” focus on revelatory content (though “tongues” can also indicate modes of speech, i.e., languages), and that verbs focus on the activity involved with that revelatory content: “prophesy,” “speak” (in tongues), “know,” and “understand” (mysteries, knowledge).

The three gifts of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are no doubt intended to be representative of spiritual gifts in general. Paul’s whole line of argumentation would be undercut if what he has to say about these three spiritual gifts were not true of the other spiritual gifts as well. He specifically mentions prophecies and tongues because those are the gifts about which he is primarily concerned, as becomes clear in ch. 14. But why does he add “knowledge,” which is barely mentioned in ch. 14 (in v. 6)? For one thing, as we will see, prophecy and knowledge are closely related. But a deeper reason can be discerned when we look down to 13:12, where Paul says that full knowledge will someday replace the partial knowledge (and other partial revelation, vv 9-10) of his day. Since knowledge is the spiritual gift that most resembles, and thus can most clearly be compared with, the future supergift of full knowledge, it is included in v. 8.

“Prophecies” are revelations that take the form of a direct message from God, given through a prophet, as defined in Deut 18:18: “I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (cf. Exod 4:10- 17). The words uttered by the inspired prophet are of divine origination, spoken by divine impulse. They often foretell the future (hence the test of Deut 18:22). As the mouthpiece of God, the prophet speaks God’s very words to his people, usually (but not necessarily) in the first person singular. Prophecies in the OT are characteristically introduced, “Thus says the Lord ...” It has been suggested that nonapostolic prophecies are different (i.e., less authoritative) in the NT era, but that view arises from various misconceptions that we cannot get into here,[14] except to note that the prophecy of Agabus in Acts 21 is introduced with the words “Thus says the Holy Spirit” (v. 11), which surely shows continuity with OT prophecy. When the prophet speaks, the Spirit of the Lord is speaking.

It is not immediately clear why Paul refers to “prophecies” in the plural, not to “prophecy” in the singular (as in 12:10; 13:2). We doubt that he had in view “various kinds and grades of prophetic gifts,”[15] for we question whether there are such, as there are “various kinds of tongues” (12:10). The best explanation comes from the fact that, as we have seen earlier, in ch. 13 the gifts of actual people are in view. Paul could have spoken abstractly of “prophecy” (as in 12:10), but he speaks instead of the actual messages of the actual prophets of his day.

The term “tongues” (characteristically plural) means “languages” in the expression “speak in tongues” (see Acts 2:4; 1 Cor 13:1), where utterance in languages unknown to the speaker is specifically in view (1 Cor 12:10, 28, 30; 13:1; often in ch. 14). Such statements can be understood by someone who knows the language (Acts 2:6-11) or can be translated into a known language by someone with the gift of interpretation (1 Cor 12:10,30; 14:5, 13).[16] The discussion of actual foreign languages in 1 Cor 14:10-12 does not present an analogy to, but an explanation of, tongues-speaking The reference to prophesied foreign language (1 Cor 14:21, quoting Isa 28:11-12) can explain the purpose of tongues-speaking (“Thus tongues are . . .,” v. 22) only if foreign languages are in view. But in 1 Cor 13:8 “tongues” probably has a different nuance, referring not to languages themselves, but to messages spoken in those languages. We would argue that it has this meaning both here and in 14:26, because in each passage it is part of a list of various kinds of messages. The “tongues” of 13:8, then, are messages in languages foreign to the speaker. Since tongues are revelations in an unknown language, they are the equivalent of prophecies (revelations in a known language) when interpreted.[17]

“Knowledge” in our passage is likewise a spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:8; 13:2), although the word has a wider reference in other contexts. Since it is parallel to two revelatory gifts in 13:8 and to one in v. 9, and comes (after the digression of vv 4-7) on the heels of a reference to the spiritual gift of knowledge in the section 13:1-3, it would be arbitrary to understand it as anything other than a revelatory gift in this verse.[18] The spiritual gift of knowledge must be distinguished from ordinary knowledge (as learned from Christian teachers), just as “faith, so as to remove mountains” in 13:2 must be distinguished from ordinary faith. In general, knowledge is that which is known, that is, information or truth. But here Paul is not talking about knowledge in general, or even about Christian knowledge in general, but rather about knowledge gained directly from the Spirit.[19] He refers to information about divine matters that is given directly by the Holy Spirit “‘given through the Spirit . . . according to the same Spirit,” 12:7-8).[20] It is propositional, since it can be stated in words (cf. “the utterance of knowledge,” 12:8).

These revelational gifts—prophecies, tongues, and knowledge—Paul says, are only temporary. Prophecies “will pass away” (καταργηθήσονται), as will knowledge (καταργηθήσεται), while tongues “will cease” (παύσονται). These two verbs, as used here, are equivalent in meaning.[21] They both indicate cessation. In the case of tongues, the verb clearly means “stop, cease.” These utterances will “come to an end.”[22] In the case of prophecies and knowledge, a definite termination likewise seems to be in view (as in vv 10 and 12), which suggests that the precise sense of καταργέω here is “do away with” (as in 1 Cor 6:13), rather than the more gradual “pass away” (as in 2 Cor 3:7).[23] At some point, people will find that these revelations have come to an end; they will no longer receive knowledge and other revelation from God and will stop prophesying and speaking in tongues.

Once again, we should understand that Paul is talking about these revelatory gifts as possessed by individual believers, not as abstract phenomena. He is not saying that a time is coming in history when these spiritual gifts will disappear from the church. Rather, he wants the Corinthians to understand that if they have these spiritual gifts, the time will come when they will no longer have them. Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will stop coming to them from God. Indeed, the prophecies, tongues, and knowledge that they already have will come to an end. This perspective is required by the comparison (8e) with love in v. 8, which, as we have seen, refers to the love that is in individual hearts. Love will not come to an end in one’s personal experience, but these revelatory gifts will.

This interpretation is confirmed by Paul’s manner of referring to the three revelatory gifts. What the ESV translates as “As for . . . as for ... as for . . .” in v. 8 is more precisely “If . . . and if . . . and if . . .” (εἴτε . . . εἴτε . . . εἴτε . . .): “But if there be prophecies. . . and if there be tongues. . . and if there be knowledge . . .”[24] Now Paul and his readers knew perfectly well that these spiritual gifts were in existence. So he cannot be saying, “If the gift of prophecy is present somewhere in the church . . ,”[25] Yet commentators have universally (it seems) assumed that Paul is talking about these gifts in just such an abstract sense, which may explain why the ESV (like many other translations) alters the construction so as merely to raise an abstract subject. What we must understand is that Paul is talking about these gifts as present in individual Christians. The possibilities implied by “if” are that any particular reader may or may not have the gift in question. Paul is saying to his readers, “If you have one of these gifts, the time will come when you will no longer have it. Your prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will come to an end, but your love will continue.”

2. Verses 9-10

Paul proceeds in v. 9 to explain why these gifts will come to an end: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” The second half of this statement, “we prophesy in part,” surely refers back to the “prophecies” of v. 8. The parallel first half of the statement, “we know in part,” must similarly refer back to the revelational “knowledge” of v. 8. As amazing as these prophecies are, and as wonderful as this knowledge is, they are still only “part” of the divine truth that could be revealed. And again, as we have seen in v. 8, when Paul says that “we” know and that “we” prophesy he is referring to the Christians then living (including himself) who had knowledge or who were prophesying.[26]

Paul could have added, but does not, “and we speak in tongues in part.”[27] Obviously, it would have been tedious to make each assertion about these gifts three times, once for each gift.[28] Paul probably drops tongues-speaking from the argument at this point (rather than another gift) because it is the least important of the three gifts (a hint to the Corinthians?),[29] and also because tongues (when interpreted) are the equivalent of prophecies.[30] Thus, to refrain from mentioning tongues at this point is to lose little or nothing.

Furthermore, since prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are linked in v. 8 as spiritual gifts that come to an end, the explanatory statement that “we know in part and we prophesy in part” in v. 9 must imply that “we speak in tongues in part.” Otherwise, how would vv 9-10 explain why tongues also come to an end?[31] Also, since tongues (when interpreted) are the equivalent of prophecies, “we prophesy in part” implies “we speak in (interpreted) tongues in part.”[32] So while speaking in tongues is not mentioned in vv 9-10, it is there by implication.

But there is a deeper movement within the text. As Gaffin observes, the focus of this passage gradually narrows to knowledge alone.[33] It narrows from prophecies, tongues, and knowledge in v. 8, to knowledge and prophecies in vv 9-10 (and note the reversal of order, bringing knowledge to the fore), to knowledge alone in v. 12. The reason for this is that Christians will eventually, when the temporary gifts have come to an end, receive a new gift of full knowledge (v. 12), which will supersede all previous knowledge. So when Paul refers to that new knowledge, he wants to compare it with the partial knowledge that precedes it. But while “Now I know in part” in v. 12 has its counterparts in v. 9 (prophesying in part and [implicitly] speaking in tongues in part), the conclusion, “then I shall know fully” (v. 12), cannot also be said of prophesying or speaking in tongues, for there will be no need of them then—nor can there be a counterpart for “I have been fully known” (v. 12). So while what is said about present knowledge applies to present prophecies and present tongues (and the other spiritual gifts) throughout the passage, the coming full knowledge does not have similar counterparts.

Also, as the focus of the passage narrows, we must not lose sight of the revelatory character of this knowledge. We have established that the “knowledge” of v. 8 is revealed knowledge, specifically, the Spirit-induced knowing of directly revealed truth. Taken out of context, the statements that “we know in part” (v. 9) and’ ‘I know in part” (v. 12) could be understood as referring to ordinary Christian knowledge, or even to knowledge in general.[34] But the close connection between the subject matter of v. 8 and that of v. 9, and the verbal similarity between the statements about present knowledge in v. 9 and v. 12, indicate that the spiritual gift of revealed knowledge continues to be in view throughout this passage.[35]

In v. 10, Paul says that “the partial” (τὸ ἐκ μέρους) will be done away with (again, καταργηθήσεται) when “the perfect” (τὸ τέλειον) comes. These translations are awkward as English expressions, since the words partial and perfect (as used here) are adjectives, not nouns. In better English, we would speak of “that which is partial” and “that which is perfect.”[36]

The phrase ἐκ μέρους, which occurs as an adverbial phrase twice in v. 9 and once in v. 12, meaning “in part,” is adjectival in v. 10, meaning “partial.” BAGD gives the meaning “imperfect” for v. 10, evidently because of the contrast with τέλειον, which could mean “perfect.”[37] However, since Paul was not one to denigrate divine revelation, he could mean “imperfect” only in the sense of “limited,” not in the sense of “defective.” This is more clearly brought out by the translation “partial.”[38]

The two main senses of τέλειος, with respect to things, are “complete” and “perfect.”[39] Since a part would ordinarily be compared with a whole, “that which is partial” would more naturally be compared with “that which is complete” than with “that which is perfect.”[40] The same comparison is restated more clearly in v. 12: “Now I know in part (ἐκ μέρους); then I shall know fully (ἐπιγνώσομαι), even as I have been fully known (ἐπεγνώσθην),” where the prefix ἐπι- intensifies the verb, indicating a fullness or completeness of knowing.[41]

There is no suggestion in the text that partial knowledge gradually becomes complete knowledge.[42] Rather, the gift of complete knowledge (as a whole] “comes,” and at that time the gift of partial knowledge (as a whole) is done away with.[43] Some commentators insist that the difference between the two kinds of knowledge is qualitative, rather than quantitative,[44] but it is really both, depending on how one looks at it. In one sense, the complete knowledge will include the partial knowledge, and thus be quantitatively more knowledge. But since the complete knowledge will add a wonderful fullness, a much greater depth, at each point—knowing God “even as I have been fully known” by him (v. 12)!—it will also be at a much higher level, making it qualitatively superior.

In vv. 9-10, then, Paul says that Christians who possess the gifts of knowledge and prophecy (and tongues) will cease to possess them when “that which is complete” arrives. Since “that which is partial” in v. 10 refers back in summary fashion to the various forms of partial revelation that are in view in v. 9 (knowledge, prophecies, and implicitly tongues), it follows that “that which is complete” refers to the complete revelation of divine truth.[45] When this full revelation of God comes, the gifts of partial revelation will pass away.

When the revelatory gifts end, the knowledge imparted by them will presumably remain in the memory. However, the impact of the new and complete revelation will evidently be so powerful that the old and partial revelation will be all but forgotten.

3. Verses 11-12

Paul offers two analogies to illustrate the transition from partial to full knowledge. First, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up (κατήργηκα, ‘did away with’) childish ways” (v. 11). Speaking like a child, thinking like a child, and reasoning like a child are given up when adult ways are embraced. Similarly, “childish” revelations are done away with when “adult” revelation is received. Paul probably makes parallel statements about three childish verbal skills in order to call to mind, if not necessarily to parallel, the three verbal gifts mentioned in v. 8.[46] If so, this would further confirm that all three gifts remain in view throughout the passage. (The spiritual virtues said to abide in v. 13 may also be three in number to balance the three gifts that come to an end.[47])

Paul’s second analogy is: “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (v. 12). A first-century mirror revealed facial features only “dimly” (or in some other limited way, which we need not determine here), whereas a direct look in someone’s face reveals facial features fully.[48] Similarly, the relatively hazy revelations of today cannot compare to the clear revelation that is coming.

The details of these analogies cannot be pressed beyond their main point, but it is noteworthy that they refer to individual experience, not to abstract categories of spiritual phenomena.

Paul concludes in v. 12b, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” The present situation of knowing in part, mentioned here, must be the same present situation of knowing in part that is mentioned in w. 9-10. Therefore, that which brings this situation to an end in vv 9-10 must be the same thing as that which brings it to an end in v. 12. As we have seen, that is the coming revelation of full knowledge.[49]

In v. 12b, we again find reference to an individual’s experience of spiritual gifts, with Paul serving as an example for all who have them. To whom was more revealed than to Paul? Yet he looked forward to a time when full and complete knowledge would be given to him. He says, though this seems to be too much to imagine, that we will have full knowledge of divine truth (insofar as that is humanly possible), just as God has fully known us! With revelation like that, there will be no need for the “dim” prophecies, tongues, and knowledge of prior days. As we saw in v. 10, full knowledge does not augment, but rather replaces, partial knowledge.[50]

4. Verse 13

Some writers treat v. 13 as the conclusion tow. 8-12. But since v. 13 does not mention revelatory gifts, it is better understood as the conclusion to the argument that began at v. 1.[51] It is an elaboration of v. 7 in the light of what is said in vv 8-12. That is, “love” is the focus of v. 13 and the subject of v. 7, while “faith” and “hope” in v. 13 pick up on “believes all things” and “hopes all things” in v. 7. They “abide,” not only in the present age, but also (by implication from vv. 8-12) when spiritual gifts come to an end—and forever (as indicated in v. 8 for love).[52]

Some have questioned whether faith and hope will characterize believers after Christ returns and in the eternal state.[53] However, if love is permanent, then faith and hope must also be permanent, for love expresses both faith and hope. That is, love “believes all things” and “hopes all things” (v. 7). Where there is love, then, there are also faith and hope. It is of course true that faith and hope that are focused specifically on the Parousia (as in 2 Cor 4:18; 5:7) will come to an end at the Parousia (1 Pet 1:8-9; Rom 8:22-25), but faith and hope as personal qualities will abide forever. Believers will always trust in their Savior, and hope will abound as long as there is a future.[54]

Finally, it should be observed that these Christian virtues “abide” in the sense that individual Christians continue to have them indefinitely, not in the sense that someone somewhere will always have them. We have observed this personal focus throughout the chapter, with respect to both spiritual gifts and spiritual virtues.

III. Does τὸ τέλειον Refer To Scripture?

The expression τὸ τέλειον in v. 10, we have argued, means “that which is complete,” in comparison to “that which is partial,” which is that which we know and prophesy “in part” (v. 9), that is, the prophecies, tongues, and knowledge of Paul’s day (v. 8). Since “that which is partial” refers to partial revelation, “that which is complete” must refer to complete revelation.[55] As v. 12 elaborates on this point, we now have a partial or “dim” revelation, but at a certain time in the future we will receive a full, complete, and clear revelation of God.

The idea of complete revelation has led some writers to suggest that τὸ τέλειον has in view the completed canon of Scripture (the NT).[56] The basic argument is that the early revelations were partial (piecemeal), but that the whole NT brings the pieces together and fills in the gaps to give us a complete revelation.[57] This view is often dismissed with the observation that neither Paul nor the Corinthians had any notion of a NT canon, but this criticism overlooks the fact that Paul speaks only vaguely of “that which is complete,” without suggesting what body of knowledge that will be or what form it will take.

However, this interpretation does not make much sense of the actual words of the text. Verse 10 refers to a time when “that which is complete comes (ἔλθῃ),” but neither the complete canon, nor the complete NT, nor the completed revelatory process, can be said to “come.” The books of the NT were written over a period of decades, and when the last one was written it was not immediately evident that no more were to follow. So what “complete” thing is it, according to this interpretation, that “comes”?

Furthermore, Paul does not state that the partial revelation of his day will eventually become full and complete. Rather, it will be done away with, and a new body of full revelation will replace it.[58] No process of gradual development is in view. Paul does not speak of any revelatory process being “completed.”[59] Partial revelation is received “now”; full revelation will be received “then” (v. 12). The content of the former no doubt anticipates the content of the latter, just as childish talk anticipates adult discourse (v. 11). Nonetheless, separate bodies of revelation are in view. There is no suggestion that partial revelation simply expands until it is completed. The full revelation as a whole supersedes the partial revelation as a whole. Thus, Paul cannot be talking about the early revelation of the apostolic age becoming the complete canon of the NT. It is not sufficient to explain that oral revelation passes away, being replaced by the writings of the NT.[60] The content of the oral revelation was undoubtedly much the same as the content of the NT, so the former was hardly replaced by the latter. Besides, it is clear from 1 Corinthians and the NT more generally that the periods of oral and written revelation overlapped considerably. Revelation was not separated into an oral phase “now” and a written phase “then.” Indeed, when Paul was writing 1 Corinthians, the written phase had already begun, making “then” (on this interpretation) already “now.”

Moreover, as wonderful as the sacred Scriptures are, they present only a partial knowledge of God, not the promised full knowledge of him.[61] The NT gives us a full (though not complete) presentation of divine revelation at the apostolic stage, to be sure, but the truth it reveals is nonetheless “dim” in comparison to the revelation that would be received in the Lord’s immediate presence. Paul describes the revelation of his day as “partial,” “dim,” and relatively “childish”; the NT, being the written deposit of that apostolic revelation, is surely of the same order, a collection of limited revelations.[62]

Finally, if Paul wanted to refer to the writings of Scripture (or more broadly to the revelations of his day), he surely would have done so in more specific language, since nothing in the context suggests that a reference to Scripture is in view.[63] He speaks vaguely of “that which is complete” and of knowing “fully,” because the full revelation that is to come is too distant and too unknowable to describe more specifically. When that revelation does come, we will no doubt be given language that is adequate to describe it, as well as the capacity to understand it, but we do not have such things now (cf. 2 Cor 12:1 -4).

IV. What Comes To An End?

If one believes that the revelatory gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge ceased long ago, and also that the full revelation of God has yet to be received, then one has a problem: the former are said by Paul to continue until the latter is received. Why was not the full revelation received long ago, when the revelatory gifts ceased? Or why have not the revelatory gifts continued as we await the full revelation of God? Does not the long interval between the receiving of partial knowledge and the receiving of full knowledge undermine the cessationist view?

One approach to solving this problem has been to suppose that something other than revelatory gifts continue until the full revelation is received. Some have suggested that the revelatory gifts were transformed into similar nonrevelatory activity which continues until the new revelation comes.[64] Now there certainly are nonrevelatory gifts operative today that are analogous to apostolic revelatory gifts.[65] But the essential aspect of revelatory gifts is their revelatory character. The possessor of such a gift receives revelation directly from the Spirit; if someone does not receive such revelation, he does not have the gift. Another activity may be analogous, but it is still essentially different. We can hardly suppose that Paul’s statements about revelatory activity somehow morph into statements about nonrevelatory activity. Furthermore, we have seen that revelatory gifts remain in view throughout this tightly knit passage. Those who have revelatory gifts, Paul says, will continue to exercise them until the time when the revelation of the full knowledge of God is received.

It has been similarly argued that Paul’s focus in this passage shifts from the revelatory gifts of the apostolic age (v. 8) to knowledge that, while derived from that revelation, has subsequently been passed on in the church by ordinary means (vv. 9-12). This view was set forth with some questionable argumentation by Grosheide,[66] but was put on firmer footing by Gaffin. Gaffin has argued that Paul refers in 1 Cor 13:8-12 to the spiritual gifts (or “modes of revelation”) of prophecy and tongues, but (with the possible exception of v. 8) only to ordinary Christian knowledge (i.e., “the believer’s present knowledge”). Paul “moves from revelatory gifts exercised by some in the church to the present knowledge ... of all believers.”[67] It is this ordinary Christian knowledge that is superseded when the new revelation comes. Thus, on this view, nothing is said about when the revelatory gifts come to an end.

However, we have established that the revelatory gifts of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge that are explicitly mentioned in v. 8 remain in view in vv 9-10. The tight argumentation and repetition in this passage render implausible any claim that Paul’s focus has shifted from revealed knowledge to ordinary knowledge based upon it. Since v. 9 explains what is said in v. 8, the knowledge in view in v. 9 has to be the same knowledge as that mentioned in v. 8. And the knowledge mentioned in v. 8 can hardly be ordinary knowledge, for it is grouped with and treated like the spiritual gifts of prophecies and tongues and is presumably the same knowledge as in 12:8 and 13:2, which is revelatory knowledge given to some and not ordinary knowledge given to all Christians. Nothing in the text signals a shift to ordinary knowledge. Why would the cessation of spiritual gifts be mentioned in v. 8 and then left hanging, while a discussion of the cessation of ordinary knowledge proceeds? The flow of the passage is clear and straightforward: Paul first tells us that the revelatory gifts will come to an end (v. 8), and then he explains why and when this will happen (vv. 9-12).

On Gaffin’s interpretation, our ordinarily obtained knowledge will remain until perfect knowledge comes at Christ’s return (v. 10), while the revelatory gifts pass away at an unspecified time (v. 8).[68] However, that which is done away with in v. 10 is described as that which is partial (ἐκ μέρους), and that surely is not merely what “we know in part (ἐκ μέρους),” but equally what “we prophesy in part (ἐκ μέρους),” in v. 9. Thus, prophecies (and implicitly tongues) have the same terminus as knowledge. So even if we understand Paul to be saying that ordinary knowledge is done away with at Christ’s return, we must still understand him to be saying that prophecies and presumably tongues are also done away with at that time—and thus continue until then.[69]

As we have seen, vv 9-10 are an elaboration of the statement in v. 8 that the revelatory gifts are to cease. That elaboration includes the detail that the revelatory gifts will cease “when” the complete revelation comes. We must accept that the spiritual gift of knowledge is in view throughout this passage, that it is revelatory in character, and that it continues until it is superseded by the full revelation of divine truth.

V. The Time When Complete Knowledge Comes

We are now ready to focus our attention on v. 10 and the question of when the revelatory gifts of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will cease. These gifts, these forms of divine revelation, will come to an end, Paul says, “when the perfect comes.” As we have indicated, this would be more accurately translated “when that which is complete comes,” meaning “when complete knowledge of God comes.” The revelations that we have “now” (v. 12), even though they have come from God, will beset aside and forgotten, like childish chatter and dim reflections (vv. 11-12), when we “then” (v. 12) receive the full revelation of divine truth.

In the context of ch. 13, as we have been emphasizing all along, this refers to a transition in the experience of individual Christians who have these gifts. The person who prophesies or speaks in tongues or has revealed knowledge will one day stop doing so when he receives the complete revelation of God. This can only mean that the time of cessation is the time of reception. The revelatory gifts cease at the time “when” complete knowledge comes. There is a point of transition in the life of the gifted person when he receives the supergift of full knowledge, replacing the previous gifts of partial revelation.

The full force of the word “when” (ὅταν) in v. 10 must be acknowledged. Paul first states that the spiritual gifts will come to an end (v. 8), and then he tells us when that will happen (v. 10). This does not mean merely that they will have already ceased by that time.[70] The word when specifies the time at which something happens, not the time by which something happens. It clearly implies in this verse that the revelatory gifts will continue until that time.[71] There is an ongoing exercise of gifts, an ongoing reception of divine revelation, and then that activity comes to an end “when” something else happens.

When do the spiritual gifts come to an end, surpassed by the advent of full knowledge? One might suppose that this occurs at a certain point of transition in the life of each individual (e.g., upon reaching spiritual maturity[72] or at death[73]). But there is some indication in our passage that the time of cessation and of new revelation will be the same for all. If “we” know and prophesy (v. 9) until such time as full revelation comes, the suggestion is that “we” will receive full revelation together. This is clearer in v. 12, where “we” see dimly “now,” but will “then” see clearly. If “we” are to look forward to experiencing something that takes place “then,” it would seem that a particular time is in view, at which we all have this experience.[74]

Although Paul’s language is a little vague, it is difficult to avoid seeing an eschatological reference in it.[75] The great majority of commentators in all ages of the church have recognized that the end of the age, at the Parousia or Consummation, is in view.[76] Only then will God’s complete revelation, far surpassing anything known to Paul and others in the apostolic age, be given. Paul’s statement that we will then see “face to face” may use an expression taken from ordinary experience (like the reference to seeing in a mirror), but it seems to have been chosen to allude to the time when we will see the Lord face to face at his return in glory (cf 1 John 3:2; Rev 22:4).

VI. The Pauline Perspective On The Lord’s Return

One might think that, when Paul looks forward to the return of Christ in 1 Cor 13:10, he has in mind the whole course of church history, during which time a succession of people have revelatory gifts, until the day of Christ’s return. But we have seen all along in ch. 13, both in vv 8-12 and in its immediate context, that Paul is not speaking abstractly about the phenomena of church history, but rather about the experience of individual people. That is, Paul is not describing the continuance of spiritual gifts in a succession of people until Christ finally returns. Rather, he is describing the continuance of spiritual gifts in the people who had them in his own day. They will continue to have those gifts, he says, until Christ returns.

The same perspective on the future is evident earlier in this epistle. In 1 Cor 1:7-8, Paul says that “you are not lacking in any spiritual gift (χαρίσματι), as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” While the Corinthians wait for Christ to return from heaven, they remain in possession of various gifts, and will continue to do so (“not lacking” anything) until “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here we see that, from Paul’s point of view, Christ might well return in the near future. But while Paul and the early Christians waited for him to return, they had no promise that he would come before they died, and in fact some of the Corinthians and other Christians had already died (see 1 Cor 11:30; 15:6, 18; 1 Thess 4:13-16). The expression “to the end” (ἕως τέλους) in 1:8 does not itself have “the End” in view (cf. 2 Cor 1:13); here it simply denotes the termination or completion of the period of waiting. Christians were waiting for Christ to return in their lifetime, but they also understood that death might cut short their period of waiting—hence the expectations of an intermediate state and a resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:12-58; 2 Cor 5:8-10; Phil 1:21-23; 1 Thess 4:13-16). The Corinthians were waiting for Christ to return, exercising their gifts as they waited, and they hoped that their wait would end with him being revealed from heaven, but they also realized that their wait might end in their death before he appeared.

When the same perspective on the future is applied to 1 Cor 13:8-12, we understand Paul to be saying that people who possess spiritual gifts will continue to possess them until Christ returns or until their death intervenes. This may explain why Paul discusses the resurrection of the dead in ch. 15, as soon as he finishes his discussion of spiritual gifts in ch. 14. When Jesus returns, he will bring the dead back with him to be reunited with believers who are alive at that time (1 Cor 15:22-23, 51-52; 1 Thess 4:13-18). Paul’s contrast, between that which is partial and comes to an end and that which is complete and never ends, fits in well with his contrast between the perishable and the imperishable, the weak and the powerful, the natural and the spiritual or heavenly, the mortal and the immortal (1 Cor 15:42-55). The revelation given to us in this age is in a form of words accommodated to our relatively childish stage of development; the revelation that is to come, of which Paul once received a glimpse (2 Cor 12:1 -4), will be so stupendous that we will be able to comprehend it only in our imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, and heavenly state, when we shall “bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor 15:49) and thus be able to see him face to face. Christians can look forward to receiving a full knowledge of divine truth in the resurrection.

Paul indicates, then, that those who receive such spiritual gifts as prophecies, tongues, and knowledge retain them indefinitely, either until Christ returns (as stated) or until they die (as understood). But for how long did Christians continue to receive these gifts? The epistles written later in the apostolic age (e.g., the Pastoral Epistles) mention spiritual gifts less frequently or not at all, suggesting that these gifts were manifested less often as time went on. Perhaps the frequency of new revelations declined as gifted Christians aged. Perhaps fewer converts received revelatory gifts as time passed. But even if Christians received new revelations less often, the revelations that they had already received remained in their memories indefinitely, helping to sustain them in their trials to the end (1 Cor 1:7-8).[77] The apparent decline in new revelations was compensated for by the availability of more NT writings and the development of Christian teaching, although neither is mentioned in our passage.

VII. Conclusion

Cessationists have argued that the NT associates the revelatory gifts, such as prophecy and tongues, along with such attesting gifts as miraculous healing, with the apostles and the founding of the church, and thus that these gifts ceased early in church history. However, 1 Cor 13:8-12 has remained a thorn in the flesh for this view, for this passage seems to connect the cessation of these spiritual gifts with the return of Christ, thus implying their continuance until then. The arguments that this passage links their cessation with the close of the canon, or that the cessation only of ordinary knowledge based on those gifts is tied to the return of Christ, are not convincing.

However, the thorn can now be painlessly removed. The key insight is that Paul is speaking about the cessation of revelatory gifts in the personal experience of the individuals who possess them, not their cessation in the history of the church (cf. 1 Cor 1:7-8). Paul is saying that their spiritual gifts of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will cease at Christ’s return if they are still alive at that time, when they will receive a complete and full revelation of divine truth. If they die before Christ returns, their spiritual gifts (at least as manifested on earth) will of course cease at their death.

When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, people were still receiving spiritual gifts (as 12:31 and 14:1 imply), but nothing in the epistle says how long that would continue to be the case. The passage 13:8-12 indicates only that the people in his day who possessed spiritual gifts would continue to possess them during their lifetime, unless Christ returned first.

While this interpretation makes the cessationist position much easier to defend from Scripture, since it has the effect of neutralizing the seemingly strongest noncessationist passage in the NT, it does not determine which position is correct. That larger issue must be decided on the basis of other considerations—exegetical, theological, and historical.

Notes

We will follow the ESV in this article, but more accurate translations will sometimes be suggested.
See Jose Enrique Aguilar Chiu, 1 Cor 12—14 Literary Structure and Theology (AnBib 124; Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2007), 277-78.
Cf. Kenneth Berding, What Are Spiritual Gifts? Rethinking the Conventional View (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2006), 68-70, esp. n. 18 and n. 19.
These gifts are empowered by God in “everyone” (v. 6) in the sense of “everyone who has them.” “Each” in v. 7 and “each one” in v. 11 should be understood in that same sense, which is simply the sense implied by the context.
So Ralph P. Martin, The Spirit and the Congregation: Studies in 1 Corinthians 12—15 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 8 (though his limiting of πνευματικά to gifts exercised in public worship is unpersuasive). In the present article, the term “spiritual gifts” represents πνευματικά, not χαρίσματα, because that is Paul’s basic category for the matters discussed in chs. 12—14 (see 12:1; 14:1).
Paul W. Barnett, 1 Corinthians (Fearn, U.K.: Christian Focus, 2000), 229, 244. Cf. Max Turner, “Spiritual Gifts Then and Now,” VE 15 (1985): 26-31.
So Archibald Robertson and Alfred Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (ICG; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1911), 285; Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 626; Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today (Wheaton: Crossway, 1988), 227; Aguilar Chiu, 1 Cor 12—14. 101, 278. Some have suggested that ch. 13 was originally a separate composition, perhaps not even composed by Paul, though adapted to the present context. This view is refuted by Wolfgang Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (EKK; 4 vols.; Zurich and Dtisseldorf: Benziger Verlag 1991-2001), 3:276-77.
For the sake of clarity, we will speak of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge as “spiritual gifts” (in the narrow sense of 12:1 and 14:1), and of love, faith(fulness), and hope as “spiritual fruit” (cf. Gal 5:22) or “virtues,” without denying that the latter are also spiritual gifts in the broad sense of Rom 15:27 and 1 Cor 9:11.
Although extreme personal sacrifices (v. 3) are neither revelatory gifts (as in vv. l-2a)—what Martin calls “Spirit-induced utterances” (The Spirit and the Congregation, 44)—nor miraculous workings (as in v. 2b), they are also Spirit-induced and hence are best understood as extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit (pace Fee, First Corinthians, 633, 635).
So Robertson and Plummer, First Corinthians, 289; Carl R. Holladay “1 Corinthians 13: Paul as Apostolic Paradigm,” in Greeks, Romans, and Christians: Essays in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe (ed. David L. Balch, Everett Ferguson, and Wayne Meeks; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 80-98.
Cf. Fee, First Corinthians, 628: Love is not an “abstract quality” for Paul. Love “is behavior. To love is to act; anything short of action is not love at all.” So also D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12—14 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 61.
Thomas R. Edgar, Miraculous Gifts: Are They for Today? (Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux Brothers, 1983), 341: “It is not love in an abstract intangible sense which is eternal in and of itself, but is the love of one individual for others.”
Philipp Bachmann, Der ersteBrief desPaulus an dieKorinther (3d ed.; KNT; Leipzig: A. Deichert. 1921), 400-401, argues that activities, not content, are in view. On the other hand, Stanley D. Toussaint, “First Corinthians Thirteen and the Tongues Question,” BSac 120 (1963): 313-14, and Edgar, Miraculous Gifts, 273-74, argue that in view in 13:8 are not spiritual gifts (e.g., the “act” of prophesying), but only the “content” conveyed by them. But is not the content given by the Spirit, and hence a gift of the Spirit, just as much as the uttering of that content? Without the content, what is left of the gift?
This view is propounded by Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy (cf. Carson, Showing the Spirit, 93- 100). and is answered by Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., The Charismatic Gift of Prophecy: A Reformed Response to Wayne Grudem (2d ed.; Memphis: Footstool Publications, 1989), esp. pp. 26-50; Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity 1996), 214-21- See also Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Perspectives on Pentecost: Studies in New Testament Teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1979), 58-72, concluding: “New Testament prophecy is revelatory.” It has an “inspired. Spirit-worked origin,” so that “the words of the prophet are the words of God” (p. 72).
BAGD, s.v.προφητεία, 2.
Contrary to the view of many, there is no inconsistency between Paul’s comments regarding speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians and Luke’s portrayal of the phenomenon in Acts. References to unintelligibility in 1 Cor 14 refer to the lack of cognition by those who do not understand the language spoken (v. 16), not to the lack of inherent linguistic meaning in tongues. Also, it is quite possible that some converts from pagan religions were engaging in “ecstatic” broken speech or free vocalization (as they had done, or had observed, in their pre-Christian religious experience: see Johannes Behm, “γλῶσσα,” TDNT, 1:722-24; H. Wayne House, “Tongues and the Mystery Religions of Corinth,” BSac 140 [1983]: 134-50; but cf. Christopher Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech in Early Christianity and Its Hellenistic Environment [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997], 103-70) under the misconception that they were speaking in tongues, and that Paul’s restrictions on the expression of reputed tongues-speaking in church (notably the requirement of interpretation, 14:27-28) were intended to curtail such misguided enthusiasm. Genuine speaking in tongues may actually have been relatively rare, even at Corinth (cf. 14:18).
See Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 73-87. Gaffin speaks of “the functional equivalence of prophecy and interpreted tongues,” since both are “inspired revelation” (p. 81). Representing a quite different view is Turner, “Spiritual Gifts Then and Now,” 44-45: Tongues-speaking is “free vocalization for religious purposes,” not “xenolalia” (speaking actual foreign languages); it conveys meaning through meter, stress, and intonation. This may be what is uttered today in certain circles (see William J. Samarin, Tongues of Men and Angels: The Religious Language of Pentecostalism [New York: Macmillan, 1972]), but it bears little resemblance to what Paul describes.
That the understanding of mysteries and knowledge (“all” is hyperbolic, as is much in w. 1-3) in 13:2 is a revelatory gift is indicated not only by the extraordinary character of the gifts mentioned around it, but also by its close grammatical connection (i.e., sharing an ἐάν) with “prophetic powers” (προφητείαν, “the gift of prophecy”), which suggests that prophesying is closely related to the uttering of revealed mysteries and knowledge.
So Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (New York: R. Carter, 1857), 271; F. W. Grosheide, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953), 308; Carson, Showing the Spirit, 67-68; cf. Nils Johansson, “I Cor. XIII and Ι Cor. XIV,” NTS 10 (1963-1964): 389.
Victor Paul Furnish, The Theology of the First Letter to the Corinthians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 101, describes it as “the special gift of knowledge granted by the Spirit to some and not to others.” Douglas Judisch, An Evaluation of Claims to the Charismatic Gifts (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 46, describes it as “knowing divine truths by direct revelation.” B. B. Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1918; repr., London: Banner of Truth, 1972), 5, lists “miracles of knowledge” among the spiritual gifts.
So Fee, First Corinthians, 643 n. 17; Carson, Showing the Spirit, 66-67; see Myron J. Houghton, “A Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13,” BSac 153 (1996): 348-49. Seeing much significance in the change of verb (and especially from the passive to the middle voice for tongues) is Toussaint, “First Corinthians Thirteen and the Tongues Question/’ 314-15, who deduces not only that “tongues will in and of themselves cease,” but that they will do so earlier. But why earlier? He also sees their earlier demise in the absence of their mention in vv. 9 and 12 (p. 315), which is an invalid argument from silence, but when we discuss v. 9 we shall see that tongues remain in view by implication. George E. Gardiner, The Corinthian Catastrophe (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1974), 37-40, also argues for an early cessation of tongues—when their purpose ceased at the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, as he interprets 1 Cor 14:21-22.
BAGD, s.v.παύω, 2.
BAGD, s.v.καταργέω, 2, gives “cease, pass away” for the meaning here and in v. 10.
BAGD, s.v.εἰ, VI. 13. The same construction, in a similar discussion of gifts (χαρίσματα), can be found in Rom 12:6-8.
Peter Naylor, “An Examination of 1 Corinthians 13—with Reference to Verse 10 and Also to Ephesians 4:1-16,” in Charismatic Gifts—Today? (ed. John Yuille; St. Albans: British Evangelical Council, 1978), 6, following Robertson and Plummer, First Corinthians, 296, tries to avoid this problem by suggesting that Paul’s use of εἴτε is “ironic and depreciatory.” But such a tone is not present elsewhere in the passage.
So Johansson, “I Cor. XIII and I Cor. XIV,” 389; Peter Naylor, A Commentary on 1 Corinthians (Durham, U.K.: Evangelical Press, 1996), 260-61. Thus we must disagree with Gaffin’s assertion that Paul is referring to “the present knowledge . . . of all believers” (Perspectives on Pentecost, 111). It is true that the present (ordinary) knowledge of all believers is partial, but that is not what Paul is saying here. All believers do not prophesy or have revealed knowledge.
Pace Edgar, Miraculous Gifts, 337.
This is emphasized by Carson, Showing the Spirit, 67.
So E.-B. Alio, Saint Paul Premiere epitre aux Corinthiens (2d ed.; Paris: J. Gabalda, 1956), 347.
So Carson, Showing the Spirit, 67.
A similar argument is made by Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy, 230.
Speaking in tongues is included in prophesying according to Grosheide, First Corinthians, 309. It is included in knowing, according to Christian Wolff, Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther (THKNT; Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1996), 322- It is included in the two together, according to Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 3:307 n. 167.
Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 110-11. Cf. Furnish, The Theology of First Corinthians, 101.
Leon Morris, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (2d ed.; TNTC; Leicester: InterVarsity 1985), 182, 184, thinks that “all earthly knowledge” is in view, including that gained from “every laboratory in the world.”
Furnish, The Theology of First Corinthians, 101, supposes that “the special gift of knowledge” is in view in v. 9, but that the much wider “knowledge that is constitutive of one’s relationship to God” is in view in v. 12- However, since the statements about knowledge in the two verses are identical (except that “we” changes to “I”), such a shift in meaning is not plausible.
See Charles J. Ellicott, A Critical and Grammatical Commentary on St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (Andover, Mass.: W. F Draper, 1889), 259; Naylor, 1 Corinthians, 261; Gregory J. Lockwood, 1 Corinthians (Concordia Commentary; Saint Louis, Mo.: Concordia, 2000), 468; so KJV, ASV The translations “what is partial” and “what is perfect” would also suffice (see BAGD, s.v.μέρος, l.c, and s.v. , τέλειος, l.α.β). Note that “that which is perfect” is not “perfection” itself (as is assumed, e.g., by Carson, Showing the Spirit, 66-68), but rather something that is characterized by perfection.
See BAGD, s.v.μέρος, l.c.
The phrase ἐκ μέρους also occurs in 1 Cor 12:27, but with a different nuance: not “in part,” but “in particular” (BAGD: “individually”). ESV: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”—i.e., “and each of you is a particular member of that body.”
See BAGD, s.v.τέλειος. The meaning “mature” occurs with persons, but not with things.
So Gerhard Delling, “τέλειος,” TDKT, 8:75; Edgar, Miraculous Gifts, 273, 333-34. However, “that which is complete” is not “completeness” itself or, as Johansson supposes, personal “wholeness” (“I Cor. XIII and I Cor. XIV,” 389).
So BAGD, s.v.ἐπιγινώσκω), l.a. So also Ruth Elizabeth Kritzer, “Zum Wechsel von Simplex und Kompositum in IKor 13,12,” BN, n.s., 124 (2005): 103-4 (“wirklich erkennen”).
So Bachmann, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 400, 402; pace Henry Barclay Swete, The Holy Spirit in the New Testament (London: Macmillan, 1910), 378-79.
So Grosheide, First Corinthians, 309.
So K. A. McElhanon, “1 Corinthians 13:8-12: Neglected Meanings of ἐκ μέρους and τὸ τέλειον,” Motes 11.1 (1997): 36-40; Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther: 3:306.
So Houghton, “A Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13,” 350. Wolff, Der erste Brief an die Korinther: 322-23: “die vollkommene, das heiBt umfassende Erkenntnis Gottes.”
So Frederic Godet, Commentary on St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1889—1890), 2:252-53 (and “most [earlier] commentators”); Toussaint, “First Corinthians Thirteen and the Tongues Question,” 312- However, the correspondence is “kaum exakt” (Wolff, Der erste Brief an die Korinther: 323). Indeed, any notion of correspondence is “ganz falsch,” declares Johannes Weiss, Der erste Korintherbrief (KEK; 10th ed.; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1925), 318.
Cf. Wolff, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 325.
Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), 210-11, argues that the distinction is between seeing a face indirectly (in a mirror) and directly. However, the context favors a distinction between a partial view and a full view.
This is denied by Donald G. McDougall, “Cessationism in 1 Cor 13:8-12,” MSJ 14 (2003): 210, who claims that the thought of v. 12 “far transcends” that of v. 10. He recognizes that v. 12 speaks of “ultimate revelation when believers see Christ face to face,” but he has already decided that v. 10 speaks merely of a (previous) time “when a maturation would come to the church” (p. 208). But the similarities between v. 10 and v. 12, not to mention the coherence of the entire passage, show that they speak of the same future event; hence, McDougall’s interpretation of v. 10 must be mistaken.
So Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 3:315.
Cf. Martin, The Spirit and the Congregation, 41-42: The “hymn” of ch. 13 has three “stanzas” [vv. 1-3, 4-7, and 8-12), and “verse 13 looks to be a statement of the hymn’s thesis with a concluding coda.”
νυνὶ δέ must be understood in v. 13 logically, not temporally. So BAGD, s.v.νυνί, 2-a (“as the situation is”). A temporal “now” would be superfluous; no one would question that faith, hope, and love presently abide. At issue is what abides permanently. See Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther 3:316-17.
E.g., John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1546; trans. John Pringle; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1848—1849), 1:432; Naylor, “An Examination of 1 Corinthians 13,” 12; Judisch, Claims to the Charismatic Gifts, 47; Wolff, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 325; Houghton, “A Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13,” 355-56; Richard B. Hays, First Corinthians (IBC; Louisville, Ky: John Knox, 1997), 230-31; Naylor, 1 Corinthians, 21&-11- Cf Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 112.
See the discussions of F. Neirynck, “De grote drie bij een nieuwe vertaling van I Cor., XIII, 13,” ETL 39 (1963): 595-615; C. K. Barrett, A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC; London: Adam & Charles Black, 1968), 308-10; Carson, Showing the Spirit, 74-75; Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 3:318 (“Liebe als Partizipation an der Liebe Gottes” is for Paul “nicht ohne Glaube und Hoffnung denkbar”). Morris, First Corinthians, 185: “Faith means trust in God and commitment to him, and that surely lasts into the coming age.” For an eloquent statement of this position, see J. Elwyn Davies, “An Examination of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 with a Reference Made to Ephesians 4:11-15,” in Charismatic Gifts—Today? (ed. Yuille), 37. Cf. Weiss, Der erste Korintherbrief 320-21: Paul quotes, but did not author, this statement making faith and hope eternal, but it is inconsistent with his own theology (!).
It cannot, therefore, refer to personal maturity or wholeness, as argued by Johansson, “I Cor. XIII and I Cor. XW” 389-90; Emanuel Miguens, “1 Cor 13:8-13 Reconsidered,” CBQ, 37 (1975): 81-89. (For more on their views, see n. 72 below.) Nor can it refer to ecclesiastical maturity, as proposed by John R. McRay “Τὸ τέλειον in 1 Corinthians 13:10,” iteQ14 (1971): 168-83; Robert L. Thomas, Understanding Spiritual Gifts (rev. ed.; Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), 78-80; McDougall, “Cessationism in 1 Cor 13:8-12,” 208-13. See n. 49 above and Fee, First Corinthians, 644-45, repeated in Fee, God’s Empowering Presence, 207-8; Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech, 88-91.
See John F. Walvoord, The Holy Spirit: A Comprehensive Study of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (Wheaton, 111.: Van Kampen, 1954), 178-79; Robert Glenn Gromacki, The Modern Tongues Movement (rev. ed.; Phillipsburg N.J.: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1972), 126-27; Merrill F. Unger, The Baptism and Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Chicago: Moody, 1974), 141-42; Walter J. Chantry, Signs of the Apostles: Observations on Pentecostalism Old and Mew (2d ed.; Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1976), 50-51; Robert L. Reymond, “What about Continuing Revelations and Miracles in the Presbyterian Church Today?” (Nutley NJ.: Presbyterian & Reformed, 1977), 32-33, 33-34; Jack MacLeod, “The Case for the Cessation of the Charismatic Gifts with the Apostolic Age,” in The Baptism of the Spirit and Charismatic Gifts (ed. R. J. Sheehan; St. Albans: British Evangelical Council, 1977), 36 (“the completion of the supernatural revelation which God has given to us through the ministry of apostles and prophets in the scriptures of the New Testament”); Judisch, Claims to the Charismatic Gifts, 45-54; Gentry The Charismatic Gift of Prophecy, 53-54; Naylor, 1 Corinthians, 272, 276-83; Houghton, “A Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13,” 356. Cf. Ferguson, The Holy Spirit, 226-28: It is “still arguable” that Paul has in view “an interim yet comprehensive (complete) knowledge of God made available by the totality of apostolic teaching.”
Gromacki, The Modern Tongues Movement, 126; Judisch, Claims to the Charismatic Gifts, 47, 48, 50; Naylor, “An Examination of 1 Corinthians 13,” 6; Gentry, The Charismatic Gift of Prophecy, 53-54.
Furnish, The Theology of First Corinthians, 101: Paul “speaks not of their being perfected or completed, but of their coming to an end.”
Houghton, “A Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13,” speaks of “completed revelation” (pp. 350, 353) and “the completed canon of Scripture” (p. 356). But his adding of a d to change “complete” to “completed” makes all the difference.
This is the explanation of MacLeod, “The Cessation of the Charismatic Gifts,” 37; Naylor, “An Examination of 1 Corinthians 13,” 6-7; Naylor, 1 Corinthians, 278-29.
So Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 111.
Calvin, Commentary on Corinthians, 1:430: “The knowledge of God, which we now have from his word, . . . comes far short of that clear manifestation to which we look forward.”
Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 109, rightly rejects the notion that Paul has in view the completion of the NT canon because “it strains Paul’s statements by reading into them considerations that are outside his scope here.” Hence, that interpretation “cannot be made credible exegetically” So also Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy, 238-39; Richard B. Gaffin Jr., “A Cessationist View,” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views (ed. Wayne A. Grudem; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 55 n. 81.
Godet, First Corinthians, 2:250, explains that the gift of prophecy was transformed into animated preaching, tongues into poetry and music, and knowledge into catechetical and theological teaching. Similarly, John F. MacArthur Jr., Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 230 n. 20, sees the continuance of “the non-revelatory gifts of knowledge (the ability to grasp the meaning of God’s revelation) and prophecy (the ability to proclaim truth powerfully).” Cf. Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 470.
See Vern Sheridan Poythress, “Modern Spiritual Gifts as Analogous to Apostolic Gifts: Affirming Extraordinary Works of the Spirit within Cessationist Theology,” JETS 39 (1996): 71-101 (but not dealing with 1 Cor 13:8-12).
In First Corinthians, 308-12, Grosheide first declares that the prophecies, tongues, and knowledge mentioned in v. 8 are “the charismata, as everywhere else in this context.” Then, on the grounds that the “ordinary” gift of knowledge is difficult to distinguish from the “extraordinary” gift, he finds “no objection to taking” all references to knowledge in this passage as referring primarily to ordinary knowledge (though also to the charismata). However, the spiritual gift of knowledge is clearly distinguished from ordinary knowledge by the fact that it is directly revelatory. Furthermore, the fact that A is similar to B does not imply that anything said about A is also being said about B.
Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 110-11. So also George W Knight III, Prophecy in the New Testament (Dallas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1988), 21 n. 12; Gaffin, “A Cessationist View,” 55: Robert L. Saucy, “An Open But Cautious View,” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? (ed. Grudem), 123-24; Richard L. Pratt Jr., / and II Corinthians (Holman New Testament Commentary; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), 234. Cf. Lockwood, 1 Corinthians, 468: Paul has in view “our partial knowledge of the Christian faith and the divine mysteries during this present age.” In his critique of Gaffin, Grudem (The Gift of Prophecy, 234-35) misses the shift that Gaffin sees from revelatory gifts to ordinary knowledge, and thus his criticisms are off base. R. Fowler White, in “Richard Gaffin and Wayne Grudem on 1 Cor 13:10: A Comparison of Cessationist and Noncessationist Argumentation,” JETS 35 (1992): 173-81, argues that Gaffin (correctly) understands Paul as referring to “states of knowledge” from v. 9 onward, whereas Grudem (incorrectly) understands Paul as referring to “methods of acquiring knowledge.” Despite White’s article, Grudem repeats his misplaced criticism of Gaffin practically verbatim in Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 1035-36.
Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 110; Gaffin, “A Cessationist View,” 55.
Perhaps to avoid this problem, Edgar (though indicating no acquaintance with Gaffin’s work) argues in Miraculous Gifts, 274, 337-40, that not only the “knowledge,” but also the “prophecies” and the “tongues,” in this passage are “content,” not gifts as such. Thus, what comes to an end is merely “the content of knowledge resulting from the gifts” (p. 2 74). The same approach was previously taken by Toussaint, “First Corinthians Thirteen and the Tongues Question,” 313-14. We have already argued that revelatory gifts can be viewed either as acts of utterance or as what is uttered, and that the content cannot be isolated from the uttering of it. Indeed, Toussaint admits as much when he says that v. 9 emphasizes content “more than” the act; but if the act continues to be in view in w. 9-10, his argument for the cessation of the gifts prior to the Parousia falls. Besides, when Paul says in v. 9 that “we prophesy in part,” he is surely referring to an activity, not merely to content, and the development of that thought in v. 10 implies that that activity continues until partial knowledge comes to an end.
Contrary to Judisch, Claims to the Charismatic Gifts, 46.
Godet, First Corinthians, 2:250: “It is vain to attempt to fix an interval between the abolition announced in ver. 8 and the τὸ τέλειονἐλθεῖν, the advent of perfection, of vers. 10.” So also Robertson and Plummer, First Corinthians, 297 (“then, but not till then”); Donald Bridge and David Phypers, Spiritual Gifts and the Church (Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity 1973), 28-29; Carson, Showing the Spirit. 69-7 0; Jon Ruthven, On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Postbiblical Miracles (Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series 3; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 141-42; Craig S. Keener, Gift and Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 105-6.
So Johansson, “I Cor. XIII and I Cor. XIV,” 389-90: By living “in Agape, that is in Christ,” one “already” in this life “sees God face to face,” and thus “wholeness” is realized. But this would involve attaining full knowledge, which no one does in this age—including Paul (v. 12). Johansson finally has to concede that Paul passes over “into eschatological trains of thought and the antithesis between time and eternity also plays a part” (p. 390). Similarly seeing a reference to “the gradual development of the Christian life” is Miguens, “1 Cor 13:8-13 Reconsidered,” 87. However, as we have seen, no gradual transition is in view.
So Edgar, Miraculous Gifts, 340: “The believer will see directly when he is present with the Lord” after death. However, the Bible does not teach that after death one receives the full revelation of divine truth (cf. Rev 6:9-10), and Edgar offers no text to support this view. Calvin, Commentary on Corinthians, 1:431, correctly comments: ‘Although full vision will be deferred until the day of Christ, a nearer view of God will begin to be enjoyed immediately after death” (see also p. 428); Paul here has in view the full vision, not the nearer view.
Thus, we must reject interpretations that suppose that personal maturation or enlightenment in some sense (in this life) is in view. Proponents of such views are listed in Ruthven, On the Cessation of the Charismata, 138 n. 1.
This is emphasized by F.F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Corinthians (NGB; London: Oliphants, 1971), 128; Fee. First Corinthians, 644-49; Ruthven, On the Cessation of the Charismata, 141; Hays, First Corinthians, 228-30: Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 3:320; Raymond F Collins, First Corinthians (SP; Collegeville. Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1999), 485-87; Furnish, The Theology of First Corinthians, 101-2; Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 1060-61.
So Gary Steven Shogren, “How Did They Suppose ‘the Perfect’ Would Come? 1 Corinthians 13.8-12 in Patristic Exegesis,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 15 (1999): 99. After a thorough examination of the patristic evidence, Shogren concludes that “almost every church father understood the whole text of 1 Cor. 13:8-12 to be a prediction of the return of Christ, at which point partial knowledge would be swallowed up in the light of Christ’s personal presence” (p. 108). For representative later statements of this position, see Calvin, Commentary on Corinthians, 1:428, 431; Henry Afford, The Greek Testament(7th ed.; London: Rivingtons, 1871—1877), 2:588; H. A.W. Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Hand-Book to the Epistles to the Corinthians (ed. William P. Dickson; trans. D. Douglas Bannerman; New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1884), 305-6; Ellicott, First Corinthians, 258, 259; Godet, First Corinthians, 2:250, 252; Robertson and Plummer, First Corinthians, 297; Bachmann, Der erste Brief an die Korinther 400, 402; Weiss, Der erste Korintherbrief 318; Toussaint, “First Corinthians Thirteen and the Tongues Question,” 312; Bruce, 1 and 2 Corinthians, 128; Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost, 109; Martin, The Spirit and the Congregation, 53; Morris, First Corinthians, 183; Fee, First Corinthians, 645-46; Kistemaker, First Corinthians, 467’-68; Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy, 231-33; Carson, Showing the Spirit, 69-71; Saucy, “An Open But Cautious View,” 123; Douglas A. Oss, “A Pentecostal/Charismatic View,” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? (ed. Grudem), 274; Michael P. Martens, “First Corinthians 13:10: ‘When That Which Is Perfect Comes,’” Notes 10.3 (1996): 40; Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech, 91; Max Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts in the New Testament Church and Today (rev. ed.; Peabody Mass.: Hendrickson. 1998), 294-96; Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 3:307-8, 309; Thomas, Understanding Spiritual Gifts, 82-83; Lockwood, 1 Corinthians, 469; Barnett, 1 Corinthians, 249; David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians [BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 622-23; Alan F Johnson, 1 Corinthians (IVPNT Downers Grove, 111.: InterVarsity 2004), 254, 256; Donald Codling, Sola Scriptura and Revelatory Gifts: How Should Christians Deal with Present Day Prophecy? (Rice, Wash.: Sentinel, 2005), 67.
We can only speculate as to the sense in which spiritual gifts are retained, if at all, during the intermediate state. However, it would appear that the deceased retain a vivid memory of their past life on earth (Luke 16:25, 27-28; Rev 6:10), and that would include a memory of revelations given to them. At least in that sense, their spiritual gifts remain with them until the day of their resurrection.

Eamon Younis

Saturday 6 November 2021

The Time When Revelatory Gifts Cease (1 Cor 13:8-12)

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