Basic HTML Version
142
Early Writings
aid. The apostles’ commission belonged to the Christian age, and
embraced the whole of it. Consequently the gifts were lost only
through apostasy, and will be revived with the revival of primitive
faith and practice
.
In
1 corinthians 12:28
, we are informed that God hath set, placed,
or fixed, certain spiritual gifts in the church. In the absence of any
scriptural proof that he has removed or abolished them, we must
conclude that they were intended to remain. Where is the proof
then that they are abolished? In the same chapter where the
Jewish
Sabbath is abolished, and the
Christian
Sabbath instituted—a chapter
in the acts of the mystery of iniquity and the man of sin. But the
objector claims Bible proof that gifts were to cease, contained in
the following text: “Charity never faileth: but 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
[136]
shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake 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 through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: Now I know in part; but then shall
I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope,
charity.”
1 corinthians 13:8-13
.
This text does foretell the cessation of spiritual gifts, also of faith
and hope. But
when
Were they to cease? We still look forward to
the time when—
“Hope shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to
praise.”
They are to cease when that which is perfect is come, when we
shall no longer see through a glass darkly, but face to face. The
perfect day, when the just are made perfect and see as they are seen,
is yet in the future. It is true that the man of sin, when arrived
at manhood, had put away such “Childish things” as prophecies,
tongues, and knowledge, and also the faith, hope, and charity of the
Primitive Christians. But there is nothing in the text to show that
God designed to take away the gifts which he had set in the Church,
till the consummation of her faith and hope, till the surpassing glory