Please, what would be wrong to interpret “that which is in part” in I Corinthians 13:10 to mean the kingdom of God instead of the Word of God?<\/p>\n\t
“Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love<\/em>” (I Corinthians 13:8-13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The perfect cannot refer to the kingdom because the kingdom already existed and Paul is talking about a future event. When people become Christians, they become citizens of the kingdom. “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins<\/em>” (Colossians 1:8). Notice the use of the past tense in Paul’s statement.<\/p>\n
While the Scriptures are referred to as perfect, the kingdom is not. “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<\/em>” (James 1:25). Individual Christians are perfected, but the kingdom, as a whole, is not referred to in these terms.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thanks, sir. God bless you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Please, what would be wrong to interpret “that which is in part” in I Corinthians 13:10 to mean the kingdom of God instead of the Word of God? Answer: “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[428],"class_list":["post-11386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6893,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-age-of-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":11386,"position":0},"title":"The Age of Miracles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 47, Nov. 21, 2008. Question: Most of the older members of the church tell me that the age of miracles has ended. But I can't find anyone who can give me the passage of Scripture that teaches that. Can you provide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/that-which-is-perfect-does-not-refer-to-the-second-coming-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":11386,"position":1},"title":"“That Which Is Perfect” Does Not Refer to the Second Coming of Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dylan Steward via\u00a0Unmasking 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-it-always-brought-up-that-prophecy-will-cease\/","url_meta":{"origin":11386,"position":2},"title":"Why is it always brought up that prophecy will cease?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is regarding prophecy.\u00a0 It seems I always get the same answer regarding this question (I Corinthians 13:8), \"Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies they will fail, tongues will cease, knowledge will vanish,\" (not an exact\u00a0quote). But if you take this one verse literally, if prophecies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-your-proof-that-prophecy-has-ended\/","url_meta":{"origin":11386,"position":3},"title":"What is your proof that prophecy has ended?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know who told you that prophecy has ended.\u00a0\u00a0 Have you read the book of Daniel and Revelation?\u00a0 Where did this doctrine of devils come from? I hold an earned Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and Education and would love to hear your stance on this issue,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-reasoning-is-flawed-spiritual-gifts-have-not-ceased\/","url_meta":{"origin":11386,"position":4},"title":"Your reasoning is flawed. Spiritual gifts have not ceased","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have read articles on your site and they are pretty informative. However, your take on Corinthians 13:8-13, stating that spiritual gifts have ceased, is flawed. Verse 8: \"Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39635,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-the-bible-be-complete-when-all-prophecies-have-not-been-fulfilled\/","url_meta":{"origin":11386,"position":5},"title":"How can the Bible be complete when all prophecies have not been fulfilled?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a member of the church of Christ and I had a discussion with the gentlemen concerning the gifts as described in I Corinthians 13:8-10 and of course, we disagreed if we have the completed scripture or if it still hasn't been fulfilled. I believe it's been fulfilled, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}