Love Is Permanent; Spiritual Gifts Are Not: 1 Corinthians 13:8-10

The simple but profound statement, “Love never fails” begins this section. The word for fails is actually “falls.” We show how this contrasts with the same word used elsewhere in 1 Corinthians. God’s love (agape) abides in and with all believers and keeps us from falling when brought into temptation.

The truth about God’s unfailing love is used in contrast to gifts such as prophecy and tongues which are temporary and have been abused in Corinth. In the sermon we deal with controversies over this section.

Some argue that Paul here predicts that gifts like tongues will cease when the canon of Scripture is completed. Others claim that gifts will be lost during the church age but then gradually restored to an even greater degree so that a new powerful church would arise and do greater miracles than Jesus and His apostles.

We reject such arguments as weak and missing the point of these verses in their own context. The gifts mentioned here are for the church age but do not provide inerrant and binding revelation beyond Scripture.

The “perfect” that comes and make such gifts superfluous is Jesus Christ at His coming. The Corinthians were abusing the gifts in many ways. The point of the gifts is for the edification of the church, not giving binding revelation.

Defined properly the continuation of spiritual gifts will not create false spiritual claims or deceive the church. They will provide valid teaching based on implications and applications of Scripture.