Tag: For now we see in a mirror dimly

IN A MIRROR DIMLY

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul writes, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be misinformed.” Yet, the vast majority of Christendom today is just that, misinformed about the gifts of the Spirit. Then, in chapter 13, the “love chapter,” a chapter that has caused more divisions among believers than any other chapter in the Bible, Paul continues in the same thread when he writes, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

     There are many who believe that the “perfect” is referring to the Bible, and that upon its completion, the spiritual gifts will “pass away.” But that argument becomes a stretch when later he continues, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” That could only be referring to a time when we will see Jesus face to face and forever be in his presence. And later he adds, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Though the Bible helps define who we are, only Jesus himself is the one who can fully know us. Paul is simply saying that when we get to heaven and are forever in the presence of God, it would be “childish” to think we would still have a need for spiritual gifts.

     But back up. When Paul says, “we know in part” and “see in a mirror dimly,” he is saying that it is because of these same spiritual gifts operating in our lives, that for now, in this darkened and sinful world, at least we are able to see that much, that is, “in part,” and “dimly.” And that without these gifts we wouldn’t be able to see very much at all. Which, sad to say, is where many Christians live today, theologically thin and spiritually starving.

     Is it any wonder that Satan’s most deadly arrows against the church have been to rob her of the power of Pentecost? It has to be his biggest coup. This is why most of the Church has lapsed into the Laodicean Age, “having a form of godliness but denying its power.”  

Spiritual gifts are very much alive today

There may be no greater controversy and misunderstanding in the Western church today than the subject of the Gifts of the Spirit, including the “sign gifts”–tongues, miracles of healing, and prophecy.

Most believe these gifts passed away with the disciples or with the completion of Scripture, but history tells a far different story. Justin Martyr, in the 2nd century, said, “For the prophetic gifts remain with us even to the present times.” He described church initiation as “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” And Irenaeus and Origen, among many others of their day, all practiced and witnessed numerous miracles. Augustine, in the 5th century, who originally believed the gifts had passed with the disciples, later said he witnessed more miracles in his lifetime than he could possibly record. Symeon, in the 11th century, called on believers to “return to the charismatic and prophetic life of the primitive church.”

In the modern era, John Wesley, “God’s firebrand,” said God had given numerous witnesses that his hand was still “stretched out to heal, and that signs and wonders are even now wrought by his holy child Jesus.” The same could be said of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, and Charles Finney.

One of the main texts used by those who claim the gifts have passed away is 1Cor.13:8-12, which in part says, “when the perfect comes (which they claim is the completed Bible), then the childish things (sign gifts) will be done away.” But even if one believed their interpretation here, it further falls apart in vs.12: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face…now I know in part, but then  I will know [Him] fully, just as I have been fully known.”

Face to face? With who? The completed Bible? I think not. “Face to face” requires a person, and that would be Jesus when we get to heaven. The Bible has been completed for almost 2000 years. Do we now know Him fully? If we did, then we would have no further revelation of Him when we get to heaven. I don’t believe it is possible to “known Him fully” in this world, but only in our resurrected future.mirror-001

And, of course, we won’t need the sign gifts, or any of the Spiritual gifts in heaven, they will seem like “child’s play” compared to being with Him “face to face”