'Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.'
First we learn of the transitoriness of spiritual gifts, even true spiritual gifts, in contrast with the unfailing nature of love. How sad then if our spirituality is dependent on these gifts! For all prophecy, whether true or false, will one day be done away. All tongues, whether true or false, will one day cease (they are not the language of Heaven after all). All earthly and spiritual knowledge of whatever kind will be done away. For in the general resurrection and future transformation all will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:35-58).
For both our prophecy (whether foretelling or forthtelling) and our knowledge is partial and passing. It can only deal with what is to come prior to the resurrection and can only make us aware of the outskirts of God's being. For once we know in reality the fullness of His presence in Jesus Christ, then all our earlier glimpses and efforts to understand will vanish, to be replaced by a full knowledge of Him. Prophecy and the word of knowledge will no longer be required. When what is perfect comes, what in our folly we thought of as our grasp of the truth will be seen for what it is, as we recognise how very little we had known and appreciated. The folly of any boasting will be revealed. Thus must we remember the inadequacy, in comparison with love, of all prophecy and all knowledge. They are only minimal in what they can do in revealing God to us. But in love we come close to the heart of God even now, and love will go on for ever, beyond the resurrection and into eternity. Therein lies true spirituality.
‘When that which is perfect is come.' Some have sought to relate ‘perfect' to spiritual maturity, (one of its regular meanings), as though once we are spiritually mature we no longer require the gifts. There is a certain level of truth in that but it is certainly not Paul's meaning here. He himself delights to use the gifts (1 Corinthians 14:18), and who was more spiritually mature than him? To him the gifts properly used were of great benefit to all. There is no suggestion that he wanted them to pass away. He wanted them to be used so that all might benefit. Besides 1 Corinthians 13:12 relates the meaning to seeing God face to face (compare 1 John 3:2), and that suggests seeing Him in eternity.
Others have pointed to the completion of the New Testament as being the time when that which is perfect has come. But that is to idealise a situation which was not as black and white as suggested. And while that certainly did make the gifts not quite so necessary, the church did still need people gifted by the Spirit, for the word had to be interpreted, was not easily available, and not all had trained preachers. Not all ‘declaring forth' was to cease with the completion of the Scriptures. It was rather that the declaring forth could be made with more certainty. But others still had to judge, and that was anyway not the main purpose of the gift of prophecy which was for exhortation. The fact is that if prophecy had not been inhibited by the growing church, it may well have been the better for it. It is true that part of the problem lay in the rise of influential false prophets, prophecy became looked at suspiciously, but formalism would turn out to be the greater danger. And again 1 Corinthians 13:12 does not obviously refer to anything other than seeing God in eternity.