“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”

But whether there are prophecies, they will fail;

One day, there will be no need for prophecies because we will hear the Word of God directly in heaven. Although love will never fall, the three gifts of prophecies, tongues, and knowledge closed early in the church age. The gifts of prophecies and knowledge were foundational in establishing the canon (Eph 2:20), whereas the gift of tongues was confirmatory to the canon (2 Co 12:12; He 2:4).

The verbs “fail” and “vanish away” are the same Greek word (katargeo), whereas the word “cease” is a far different word (pauo). The dynamics of prophecy and knowledge differ from those of tongues. The word for “fail” and “vanish away” (katargeo) means to be rendered inoperative. The Greek used this term to describe cutting the hamstring of a horse. The horse was still alive but hamstrung so that he could not jump the fence. The word “cease” means to be terminated. The differences among these terms indicate that the original gifts of prophecies and knowledge would change in a different way than tongues. The gifts of prophecy and knowledge would still exist, but their nature would shift from receiving divine revelation directly to simply knowing and expounding revelation. Tongues would come to an absolute cessation after the canon (the writing of the New Testament). There was no further need to confirm the authenticity of a book of the Bible, as the canon was complete. 

The words “fail” and “vanish away” are in the passive voice in the Greek, indicating that God changed the nature of those gifts at the close of the canon (as we will see later). These two gifts would stop by something outside; God would do the stopping. The Greek word “cease” is in the middle voice, indicating that tongues would come to an absolute stop (termination) of their own accord (there is debate on this point). Often, there is no distinction between passive and middle voices, but when the author uses them in parallel, as here, they have distinct meanings.

Paul drops tongues in the ensuing verses from his discussion, and pursues what would happen to prophecy and knowledge (vv. 9-13). Knowledge and prophecy would not be the same after the completion of the canon, but would have a different nature and a more limited function.

The idea of prophecies, both in the Old and New Testaments, contains two ideas: (1) divinely and supernaturally originated immediate revelation, and (2) communication of that revelation. Note Revelation 1:3 and 22:7.

whether there are tongues, they will cease;

Tongues would cease at some point, but love will not cease. The word “cease” means stop. In contrast to the future passive voice (subject receives the action) in prophecies and knowledge, “cease” is the future middle voice (subject participates in the results of the action, or to cease). Tongues will cease of their own accord; it will stop by itself. Paul anticipates tongues will cease at the closing of the canon. The word tongues does not appear again in verses 9 and 12; thus, tongues do not even reach the point when “the perfect” has come. It ceased before that point. 

Note that the following verses 9-13 drop tongues but develop further points about the gifts of prophecies and knowledge. The latter two gifts continued after the canon closed, but in modified form. The gift of prophecy involves the communication of revelation, but not the miraculous element of immediate revelation.

whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

The original gift of knowledge was direct knowledge of special revelation before the completion of the canon, as well as the capacity to know and understand large segments of revelation. The gift of knowledge was a rational gift dealing with the ability to grasp the logic of the Word of God. The direct aspect of the gift of knowledge was “rendered inoperative” or, as our translation says, “will vanish away” after completing the canon. 

All three gifts cease, but tongues will come to an absolute cessation. Knowledge and tongues will change their function, but tongues will stop altogether. The cessation of each gift emphasizes the principle that love endures without cessation; it is a permanent item on God’s agenda; it shares God’s nature (1 Jn 4:16). 

PRINCIPLE:

God modified sign gifts after the completion of the canon.

APPLICATION:

Prophecy is miraculous in nature. Any understanding of the gift of prophecy that fails to recognize its miraculous nature will distort its function. It bestowed revelation directly from God. This gift functioned with full authority and complete accuracy in revealing God’s truth to individuals, but this aspect of the gift is no longer extant. Prophecy played a vital role in the foundation of the canon of Scripture and the church itself. 

Most miraculous phenomena relate to epoch events in special revelation. There are almost no miracles in the Bible that are not associated with special revelation. There were three periods of miracles in the Bible:

Moses and Joshua,

Elijah and Elisha, and

Jesus and the apostles.

Each period lasted around 70 years. No miracle occurred after A.D. 58 (Ac 28:8). The book of Hebrews (A.D. 67, 68) specifies that the confirmation of the apostles’ authenticity was a past event (He 2:3, 4; aorist, passive, indicative). Jesus and the apostles are the cornerstone and foundation of Christianity; therefore, the New Testament connects miracles to the New Testament period and to the attestation of the apostles and their associates to write Scripture. God gave “signs, wonders, and miracles” to authenticate apostles as sources of special revelation. As miracles attested to Jesus’ authority (Ac 2:22), so miraculous signs of the apostles attested to their authority to write Scripture (2 Co 12:12). God bore witness to His revelation through those who were the sources of His specially revealed Word (He 2:3, 4). Temporal gifts ceased after God completed the canon, as the church no longer required them for revelation.