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HAVE TONGUES CEASED? BY RYAN HICKS © 1996-1999 Ryan Hicks |
1 Corinthians 13:8-13
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake 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 through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
It is claimed by many people today, even good godly men and women, that the gift of speaking in tongues along with other sign gifts have been done away with and ceased. One person said,
"Love never fails" means that love will not decay or be abolished. Love is eternal. And thus, to invest in love is to invest in eternity. Now this was in contrast to the gifts of the Spirit which had captivated the hearts and minds of the Corinthians: "But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."[11] Because the focus of our study this morning is on the gift of tongues, let us turn our attention to the phrase, "whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease."
"whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease" – eite glossai, pausontai – the verb that Paul attaches to tongues is very important. Unlike the verb he uses for both prophecy and knowledge (katargeo), through the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Paul says that tongues will pauo- cease.
Now pauo has a very important nuance in the Greek. It means to stop or to come to an end. As a middle voice, it carries the added significance of stopping by itself. And so, whereas prophecy and knowledge, as passives, will be done away when the perfect comes,[12] the time would come when tongues would stop all by themselves. Tongues had a built in stopping mechanism.
his text does not indicate the WHEN of the cessation of tongues would occur – only that a time would come when tongues would stop themselves. This raises a very important question for us this morning: has the gift of tongues ceased? The Answer to this question is, "Yes" on account of three reasons." (http://www.discernment.org/nomore.htm. Brackets and Emphasis theirs. This site has a lot of good material and should not be totally discounted simply because of this article.)
This is absurd. The tongues will not stop themselves, rather they will end when the perfect is come. You cannot build a entire doctrinal system that throws out certain gifts of the Spirit simply based on one verse and a twisting of the Greek. You must prove every word by two or three witnesses (Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1).
1 Corinthians 13:8-13
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake 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 through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Paul tells us what will happen at the time when prophecies fail and tongues cease and knowledge shall vanish away. He tells us that we will see "then face to face" and that we shall know "then shall I know even as also I am known." Neither one of these things have happened yet which shows that prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are still in full effect today. Nowhere does the Bible teach any differently!
