{"id":3563,"date":"2022-07-25T01:41:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T05:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2022-07-25T01:41:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T05:41:47","slug":"1-corinthians-1310","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=3563","title":{"rendered":"1 Corinthians 13:10"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Verse 10 \u2013 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only now, having provided the reason<\/em> for the cessation of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge (v.9), does Paul speak as to the timing<\/em> of that cessation. He does so by way of adding a contrast (\u03b4\u1f72, \u201cbut\u201d). He fronts the matter of timing for emphasis (\u1f45\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd \u2026 \u1f14\u03bb\u03b8\u1fc3 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c4\u1f73\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, \u201cwhen the perfect comes\u201d).<\/p>\n

Debate surrounds just what Paul intended by \u201cthe prefect\u201d (\u03c4\u1f78 \u03c4\u1f73\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd). Whatever it is, it stands in contrast to prophecy, tongues, and knowledge (vv.8-9), which must, by implication, be considered \u201cimperfect\u201d in some sense, probably in that they are incomplete, situational, and thus temporal in nature. The presence of the definite article (\u03c4\u1f78, \u201cthe<\/em> perfect\u201d) marks that which it designates as singular and unique. The adjective itself is used substantively.[1]<\/a> Its root points to the designed end of a thing. To be \u201cperfect\u201d is thus not so much to be without flaw as it is to be completed, brought into a state of original intent. Some have identified this with the completion of the Christian canon of Scripture, but there is no evidence that the term is so used elsewhere in the Bible and there is nothing in the context which would lend itself to this view. It seems, rather, to be driven by the theological agenda of cessationism. Thayer is probably not far off when he says it represents \u201cthe perfect state of all things, to be ushered in by the return of Christ from heaven.\u201d[2]<\/a> The context itself commends this understanding by its trajectory forward from the \u201cnow\u201d to the \u201cthen\u201d (v.12, twice).<\/p>\n

The verb (\u1f14\u03bb\u03b8\u1fc3, \u201ccomes\u201d) as an aorist tense does not tell us anything about the specific moment of arrival, but simply notes the singular, punctiliar nature of the arrival. The coming is an event, a moment, a pivotal instant when all things will change. That time is indicated only by \u201cwhen\u201d (\u1f45\u03c4\u03b1\u03bd). When used with an aorist subjunctive verb, as it is here, the temporal conjunction indicates action that precedes the main clause.[3]<\/a> Thus \u201cthe perfect\u201d arrives first and then, by its appearance, it eliminates and brings to an end \u201cthe partial.\u201d For \u201cthe partial\u201d (\u03c4\u1f78 \u2026 \u03bc\u1f73\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2) see above under verse 9 (where the noun is used twice; and cf. its use again in v.12) for more on the word\u2019s meaning. In the attributive position between the definite article and noun Paul placed the preposition \u1f10\u03ba. Our present experience, even when given supernaturally by the Holy Spirit through various giftings, is incomplete and not yet the fullness of God\u2019s design. It is something given to us \u201cout of\u201d (\u1f10\u03ba) the partial distribution of things in this present age and thus not to be compared to the fulfillment and completion of all God has designed for us in the end (\u03c4\u1f78 \u03c4\u1f73\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, \u201cthe perfect\u201d).<\/p>\n

This present divine, but partial installment of things \u201cwill pass away\u201d (\u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03b3\u03b7\u03b8\u1f75\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9). The same verb appeared twice in verse 8 with relationship to the ending of both prophecies and knowledge. See there for comments regarding its meaning.<\/p>\n

The incomplete and situational cannot be extrapolated without fail and with absolute confidence in a trajectory outward to unfailingly imagine \u201cthe perfect.\u201d But a time will come when \u201cthe perfect\u201d will be able to be read back into all the situational realities of this life with complete confidence. When \u201cthe prefect\u201d arrives we will finally, fully see<\/em>, know<\/em>, and understand<\/em>.<\/p>\n

C.S. Lewis, in his fanciful thoughts of heaven and hell conjectures that<\/p>\n

\u2026 both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all this earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. . . . Heaven once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure that they say, \u201cLet me but have this<\/em> and I\u2019ll take the consequences\u201d: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man\u2019s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man\u2019s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things . . . the Blessed will say, \u201cWe have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,\u201d and the Lost, \u201cWe were always in hell.\u201d And both will speak truly.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[1]<\/a> Friberg, 26442.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Thayer, 5238.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Friberg, 19997.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce<\/em>, 67-68.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Verse 10 \u2013 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. Only now, having provided the reason for the cessation of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge (v.9), does Paul speak as to the timing of that cessation. He does so by way of adding a contrast (\u03b4\u1f72, \u201cbut\u201d). He fronts the matter of timing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-corinthians","category-love","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-Vt","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3564,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions\/3564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}