Do I believe in miracles in the early church of Christ? Oh yes I do, friend! I really do! Then, in my strong appeal for a restoration of New Testament Christianity, must I believe in miracles in the church today? If not, why not? That is our study today. Stay with us.
How good it is, my friend, to have you join in our study of the Word of God in search of the Lord's way of salvation and a good life with Him here on this earth. In case you are new to the program, we are closed captioned. And those who are with us today for the first time also need to know that they will not be harassed for money here, because we are sponsored by churches of Christ in the broadcast area of this very station. And that is a matter of faith with us. We are glad you have joined us.
There are some verses in the Bible that are interpreted differently by different people. And that doesn't mean now that a person who interprets a passage or scripture of God's Word different from my way-- or your way-- is dishonest or stupid. No, no, that doesn’t mean that at all; but it does mean one or the other of us-- or-- perhaps both of us-- may be giving a wrong interpretation. So, we just need to study it again and perhaps even again and again-- and sometimes in the light of many other verses that teach on the same subject. And that is the case with the verse from which we get the title of our study today: "When That Which Is Perfect Is Come" in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 10.
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We are reading today the First Corinthians, chapter 13. We are going to begin in verse eight. “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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” And now let us go to God in prayer. Almighty God and our heavenly Father, we approach You in prayer today in the name of Jesus Christ, and as we do so we give You thanks for your part in this ministry and for every viewer we have today. Without You we would be nothing. We pray your presence with us and your blessings upon each of us as we study from your Word today. Oh, that we might have a better understanding of what You are saying to us. Amen.
The apostle Paul was the first to preach Christ in the city of Corinth. It is recorded for us in Acts chapter 18, verses 1 to 18. Despite the persecution, the severe persecution by the Jews, he stayed there more than a year-and-a-half preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. "And many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized" (Acts chapter 18, verse 8). In charging the apostles to preach the gospel to every creature, Jesus had promised that "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16, verses 15 and 16). And on the strength of that promise by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, we have no choice but to believe that those Corinthians were saved people-- they were God’s people, God's church in Corinth (I Corinthians 1:2).
Earlier (in chapter 6 and 9 and 11, chapter 6 verses 9 and 11) he had asked them, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But, you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Their conversion to the Lord's way of living was a very radical change for them. It would be somewhat expected, I suppose, that they would have a lot of questions. And Paul addressed some of those questions in this letter. We must remember, too, that Paul is not simply giving his "advice" as a friend. He wrote them as they were, and they were to consider that what he wrote would be the commandment of God, and he wrote that to them in I Corinthians 7 and 10. Many-- well, most of the problems and questions they had were simply about "relationships"-- especially to fellow Christians, other members of the body there (I Corinthians 12:12 and 13).
He didn't divide those writings into chapters and verses. We have done that for our convenience; to make it easier to find our way around in the Scriptures and to be able to easily and quickly locate and identify certain sentences and paragraphs as we have today. So what constitutes chapters 12 and 13 and 14 is his writing on the one subject "spiritual gifts." He says so in verse one of chapter twelve. So, chapter 13, while it is called "The Love Chapter of The Bible," is within the context of teaching about spiritual gifts in the infant church. At the very beginning he wrote, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant." And he proceeded then, "There are diversities (the marginal note in my Bible says, "allotments of various kinds") of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." To understand this verse that we are studying today, it is absolutely essential that we remember that. Whatever spiritual gift one Christian received, was not for himself-- not to feed his pride or his ego, but for building up all the other members of the church. "For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another different kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He will."
The reason the gifts were more problematical in the church there, which necessitated Paul's writing to them about it, is that some of them were preferred by some people over the others, and the members who received the preferred gifts (the more spectacular ones like healings, miracles and tongues), those who received them were feeling more spiritual, or superior, or preferred over the other Christians who had received those of lesser preference. Well they didn't know it-- or if they did, they didn't remember that the gift was given them not for their own selfish glory and praise, but for the profit of all members of the congregation. So I repeat: We, in the 20th century church, must not forget that, lest we fall into the same snare or pit or which they had fallen into.
Having said all that, now, let us get to the context. He ends what we call the 12th chapter with the thought, "Earnestly desire the best gifts. And I show you a more excellent way." And he continues with the verse one of the 13th chapter to discuss this more excellent way. He says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing. And though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."
There are nine gifts named there. They are (1) the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gifts of faith, and the gift of healing, and miracles, and prophecy, and discerning the spirits, and tongues and the interpretation of tongues. No one Christian was given all those gifts. They were dispersed among them as to different parts of the body. They were not to be displayed for the pride or the vain glory of the recipient, but for the good of the whole church. They were gifts dispensed by the Holy Spirit (verse 4); the Lord Jesus Christ also was participant in that work, and so was God Himself (verses 5 and 6), all working together in unison.
That they were miraculous gifts, there is no reason to doubt. How they were bestowed, I do not know; perhaps by the laying on of the apostles’ hands; perhaps not. But, the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and faith and prophecy have to do with revelation of God's word; and the others for the confirmation of that revelation. And in the 13th chapter it is made clear that these were intended to be temporary. In verse eight of our text the Holy Spirit says, "Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away . . . For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away." Now the word "perfect" in our English versions comes from the word "telios" and it means "complete" or "finished." And whatever it was that would be complete or finished, when it came, was partial at the time that Paul wrote.
Of course so. Nothing can be partial and complete simultaneously. Revelation or knowledge or prophecy was then being dispensed in parts. It was in the growing or developmental process-- the church was, and so was knowledge; and some revelation had already been given, some was then being revealed, and there was more yet to be revealed. Some was penned by Paul himself, other by James, Peter, John, and so on. But when God's will was perfectly or completely revealed, wisdom, knowledge, prophecy and those gifts that confirm the truthfulness of God's word were done away. They had served their purpose. You see, while God is completely sovereign (He can do whatever He wishes), He never acts capriciously or whimsically. God always works in harmony with His nature and His will. Therefore, He doesn't do miracles without purpose, or if He doesn't will to do so.
Paul uses the example in I Corinthians 13:11: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." When the church was in its infancy (in its developmental stage), it needed all those supports, but when it came to maturity, those things were no longer needed and were taken away.
I was waiting in Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City for a plane departure one day when my attention was attracted to a man and a woman with a small baby ready to board the same flight that I was. What really got my attention was the baby's carriage. Have you noticed the new baby carriages? Oh, they are huge, monstrous things. I was curious about it, if and how they would be able to take it on the aircraft. I know, oh I'm sure-- no, no that one would not go in the overhead bin, even if nothing else was up there. Well, when we boarded the plane, there was another couple across the aisle with their son about, Oh, I would say thirteen or fourteen years old maybe. But guess what: they had no such baby carriage for him. No? No, they did not! How thoughtless and cheap of them you say! No, no, of course not; that doesn't amaze either of us, does it? In fact, it would have been more surprising or amazing had they had one. Why? For the same reason we don't have miraculous disbursements of those spiritual gifts in the church today. We don't have the purpose or the need for them. The church needed them in the days of infancy or development, when revelation was partial or incomplete or unwritten. But, when God completed His revelation to mankind, and confirmed it with miracles, to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, man must study and believe the Bible.
"When that which is perfect-- complete or finished, when that is in part shall be done away." That could not possibly be a reference to Christ, as many of you may have been taught in order to prove miracles would prevail in the church until the Lord comes, could it now? No, for several reasons. (1) Because Christ was never imperfect, and this verse says the partial or the imperfect will cease when that which is perfect or complete is come. And the second reason because Christ is never referred to in the Scriptures as an "it" or a "that." He is a person. Let us pray. Holy Father, we thank You for the blessings of this hour, for our Bible study, for each one participating in it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The second book of the Bible is called "Exodus" because it is the story of the "going out" of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt after more than 400 years of slavery there. The first two chapters of Exodus tell of the birth of Moses who would be God's leader in this gigantic venture. In chapters three and four, there is the account of God's call to Moses for that task. And then there follow the plagues of Egypt and the Pharaoh-- all leading up to the Red Sea Crossing, one of the great miracles of the Bible; then the song of victory in chapter 15.
You have to remember now that there were probably a million and a half of those people as they left Egypt, more than a population of a city like Oklahoma City and its immediate suburbs, so it took a lot of food-- literally tons of it every day. And after about six weeks in the wilderness they were without food. And they complained against Moses and they complained against God for bringing them over into this desolate place to starve. They fondly remembered when they sat by the flesh pots in Egypt and they had plenty of fish and cucumbers and melons and onions and garlics, and all of that. And Moses interceded for them and God miraculously, miraculously provided them a substance which they called "manna." They would consume several thousands-- perhaps millions of tons of it over those forty years that they wandered in the wilderness.
Then God suddenly stopped the manna! I mean, God halted it! He terminated; that ended it! No more miracle of the manna! Instantly! It was all over! What happened? Was God angry? No. Had God become weak and no longer possessed the power to continue such a tremendous miracle? No, that wasn't it. Did He no longer love the people He had delivered from Egyptian bondage? No, that wasn't it either. Then w-h-y --why did God stop the miracle of the manna?
He did so because it had served its purpose; there was not any need of it anymore. The children of Israel had come into the land that flowed with milk and honey, a very productive and prosperous land. And, w-e-l-l, Joshua 5:10 to 12 explains it: "And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched corn, on the very same day. Then manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.” Being the Sovereign God He is, God can do miracles when He wants and when He wants to stop, He can stop, and suffer no loss of His deity or sovereignty or power. God doesn't do things capriciously or whimsically. God has a purpose in every thing He does. And He is the Almighty, the all knowing God, all loving God, the Sovereign Ruler and Judge of the Universe. So He can do anything He chooses to do. But, He never does anything that is not in perfect harmony with His nature or His purpose. Well, there have been long periods of time in Bible history when God neither spoke audibly or miraculously, did miracles. But make no mistake about it, my friend; He was still minding the store, the same all-mighty God as always. So is he now!
Well, I pray you have been blessed by our study today. If you would like a free printed copy or audio cassette tape, or a CD of the message, simply address your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@aol.com. Our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Visit our web-site at searchtv.org. And worship with us in a nearby church of Christ, will you do that? I hope you will. And I hope you will be back next week at this same time, and have time to tell a friend about the program, too. We plan to be back. God bless you. We love you!
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