Coram Deo

meditatiotheologica:

The basic argument is that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows that the canon of scripture that we have now is sufficient for all christian living. Some may point to 1 Corinthians 13 and say that the “perfect” there is referring to the canon of scripture. I have long repented of that view. I believe that it is talking about the return of Christ where we will know Him more fully as He knows us. However, I believe that charismatics go too far with this line of reasoning by what I see to be eisegesis. They refer to the imperfect, by borrowing the language and argument of the very camp they are arguing against. They borrow the same argument as what I will call the “Old Cessationist Interpretation (OCI)” and commit the same fallacy by making the “imperfect” a means of knowledge and just changing the “perfect” to Jesus’ return. I think 1 Corinthians 13 is talking about the coming of Jesus, however, i disagree that the imperfect that is talked about is the modes of revelation; i.e. prophecy, tongues, etc. Rather I believe it is talking about the imperfect state of our knowledge. Not the means of how we receive this knowledge from God, but the knowledge that we have right now. This imperfect knowledge is supplied through the means of prophecy for edifying the body, but ultimately we will have perfect knowledge when we see Christ. This makes more sense contextually as Paul goes on to talking about how he once thought as a child, etc. So I see the text itself to be agnostic as to when the gifts will pass away but that they will pass away. We need to look elsewhere. Ephesians 2:20 states that the foundation of the church had been laid upon the apostles and prophets. The objective function of the apostles and prophets have been fulfilled with Christ as the cornerstone. We now live in the superstructure of the church and no longer need prophecy because we have the Scriptures. It is really problematic if we were to state that the gift of prophecy continued because prophecy carries great weight. It is authoritative and on par with God’s written Word. To say that it is lower, is being dishonest by switching the biblical definition of prophecy for something along the lines of exhortation or discernment, except the underlying baggage it carries with it is the claim that it is the Word of God. Thus that gives great authority to what we just said not just in our lives but the whole universal church’s.