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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
August 20
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Today's Pathway:
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In today's passage Paul begins with two illustrations of why the revelatory gifts would cease when the Scriptures were completed. He opens with the illustration of the difference between being a child and being a mature adult. Some commentators look at these two illustrations as a comparison between our condition now on earth (a child) and our condition when we are in Heaven (a man). That could probably be an appropriate application. However, the general context of the passage is spiritual gifts, and the immediate context of those verses is that some gifts are going to pass away, but charity does not. In verse 11 he is teaching that when he was young he needed certain things, but as he got older he did not not require them anymore. As an individual, once the Bible was completed, there was no longer a need for revelatory gifts, for believers now had everything that God wanted them to have at their fingertips. Thus, the "childish" things (those things that the child needed) could be put away. I Corinthians 14:22 reads,
"Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not".
Those signs are no longer necessary, for the Bible gives the unsaved world all the information that it needs. Christ Himself spoke to the efficacy of the Scriptures in Luke 16. There the rich man in Hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to life to warn his brothers so that they would not wind up in Hell themselves Abraham's response is this:
"They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." (verse 29).
The Bible is sufficient: it is all that is necessary for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3).
The second illustration deals with looking through a glass. A glass could refer to a mirror, or to something more transparent. Whatever the object is, it gives an imperfect view. The word translated "darkly" comes from the Greek word that is the basis for our English word "enigma". Again, some apply this verse to the fact that we can not understand all the wonders of God and Heaven until we see Him face to face. This may be true on some level. However, Paul wrote these words in I Corinthians 2:9-10,
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God".
So God does reveal these things to us before we reach Heaven. How would He do this? He would do it through the Holy Spirit guiding us into the Truth of the Word of God. Before the Bible was completed believers knew some things, but there were things that they did not know. That's why the revelatory gifts were needed. Once the Bible was finished, believers could know everything that they needed. The things of God were no longer an enigma - they were written down for all to see.
Verse 13 concludes Paul's teaching on charity. The sign gifts are going to pass away. History tells us that speaking in tongues stopped around the end of the first century, which is what Paul said would happen. However, virtues like faith, hope, and charity were going to continue on. Of these three, charity was the most important. Romans 13:10 states,
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law".
If love fulfills the law, then it must be very important. That which the Corinthians thought was important was going to disappear shortly. That which they ignored, loving the brethren, was going to last. They needed to change their priorities.
How are your priorities?
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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