Tongues

This post continues our answer to a reader’s objection to our Miraculous Gifts post. There we dealt with 1 Cor 13:8–10 and said “that which is perfect” (1 Cor 13:10) refers to the messianic age.  If our identification of the “perfect” is correct, Paul was showing the Corinthians when God…

A gracious reader has raised questions about our Miraculous Gifts post. These queries arise from our view of “that which is perfect” in 1 Cor 13:10–12. There, Paul says: When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a…

A “perfect” condition requires “perfect” people, a “perfect” relationship to God, and “perfect” knowledge. Paul envisioned all these for the saints: But when that which is perfect (Gk. teleios) has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a…

Metaphors matter. The Scriptures use them to give a full-orbed description of the “last days” of the Mosaic age (e.g., Heb 1:2; Gen 49:1). God gave Israel a “new birth” through Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet 1:3; Eph 2:6). Christ then began to reign in his kingdom after Israel’s “regeneration” (Matt…

  A valued reader disagrees with our interpretation of “that which is perfect” in 1 Cor 13:10. In our post The Miraculous Gifts we said the “perfect” stands for the messianic age in which we now live. Our reader says “this ‘perfection,’ teleios, to which Paul refers, is the eternal…

Most Christians desire spiritual experiences. They want to know the Lord and have communion with him. Paul desired to “know [Christ], and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Phil. 3:10). Such desires are legitimate. Some believers seek spiritual experiences…