“That Which Is Perfect” Does Not Refer to the Second Coming of Christ
by Dylan Steward
via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 5 No. 2, April-June 2025
Almost all Bible believers agree that 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 teaches that miraculous spiritual gifts will cease “when that which is perfect is come.” The problem, however, is disagreement over what is meant by “that which is perfect." Many claim "that which is perfect" refers to the Second Coming of Christ, but if we look closely at I Corinthians 13:8-13, we see that the "perfect" refers to something else entirely.
In I Corinthians 13:8, Paul concludes love is superior to spiritual gifts because, unlike miraculous spiritual gifts, love will never end: "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." Thus, we can be certain that prophecies, tongues, and special knowledge must all cease, but the question is, when will prophecies, tongues, and miraculous special knowledge cease? Paul answers in I Corinthians 13:9-10: "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away." The "partial" refers to the first-century revelation before the Word was complete, or "perfect." God gifted "partial" abilities (the miraculous gifts mentioned in I Corinthians 12-14) to fill a gap until the "perfect" would come. Since the "partial" in I Corinthians 13 is about the revelation of God's New Testament law through prophecy, tongues, and knowledge, and since the "perfect" must logically be of the same nature as those parts, then the whole - for the sake of consistency - cannot be anything else except the whole revelation, i.e. the completed New Testament. Since the parts were to "pass away” when the perfect came, the "partial" (miraculous gifts) were done away when the New Testament was completed. If "that which is perfect" refers to the second coming of Christ, then miraculous spiritual gifts are still in effect today, which is the exact opposite of Paul's primary teaching in I Corinthians 13:8-10.
In I Corinthians 13:10-12, we see further how the second coming of Christ is not the point where the "partial" (miraculous gifts) will cease: "But when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (NIV). Like a foggy mirror, spiritual gifts gave an incomplete (lacking "completeness") view of God's revelation. These verses could not possibly be talking about us seeing Jesus upon His return because mirrors are for seeing ourselves, and not for seeing others.
James describes this mirror in James 1:21-25 by saying, "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." James makes it abundantly clear that the Word of God is the fixture upon which we view ourselves. People with the complete and perfect revelation of God (James 1:25) can see themselves clearly and accurately through the mirror described in I Corinthians 13 and James 1. This mirror - the perfect law of liberty - accurately reflects ourselves, making any blemishes we might possess visible for us to see and, therefore, correct.
