Regarding speaking in tongues, in the verse that says “when that which is perfect is come,” what does the word “perfect” mean in Greek?<\/p>\n\t
“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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away<\/em>” (I Corinthians 13:8-10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Greek word translated as “perfect” is the word\u00a0teleion<\/em>. It means something that is complete, perfect, whole, full-grown, ripe, mature, or adult. The word can be used in the nominative or accusative form, it refers to a single thing, and can refer to something that is either masculine or neuter. The fact that it is “that which is perfect” and not “he who is perfect” indicates that we are referring to a thing (neuter) and not a person.<\/p>\n
The same word is used in James 1:25, “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>” Interestingly, despite contentions elsewhere, this particular word is not used in connection with Christ, though it is used to describe mature Christians (I Corinthians 2:6; Ephesians 4:13; James 1:4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Regarding speaking in tongues, in the verse that says “when that which is perfect is come,” what does the word “perfect” mean in Greek? Answer: “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. For we know…<\/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":[219,728,339,76],"class_list":["post-9023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-bible","tag-i-corinthians","tag-second-coming","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-it-always-brought-up-that-prophecy-will-cease\/","url_meta":{"origin":9023,"position":0},"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":1894,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-tongues-still-in-existence-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":9023,"position":1},"title":"Are tongues still in existence today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are tongues still in existence today? Answer: When the gift of speaking in tongues was first mentioned in the Bible, the people found it a wonder. \"And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?\" (Acts 2:8). Hence, the proper definition\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":86259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/that-which-is-perfect-does-not-refer-to-the-second-coming-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":9023,"position":2},"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":88233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-there-are-no-genuine-miracles-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":9023,"position":3},"title":"Why There Are No Genuine Miracles Today","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger D. Campbell In the New Testament, a \"miracle\" refers to a supernatural act of power that had observable and immediate results or effects. We should not expect God Himself to perform miracles or bestow miraculous powers upon humans today. Why not? God's Will It is not God's will\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":6893,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-age-of-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":9023,"position":4},"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":11386,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-the-perfect-be-the-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":9023,"position":5},"title":"Could the perfect be the kingdom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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\/9023","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=9023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}