The Duration of Prophecy: How Long Will Prophecy Be Used in the Church? (Part 2) by Wayne A. Grudem
Reymond’s argument is somewhat different. He reasons as follows (34):
(a) “The imperfect” things mentioned in verses 9-10, prophecy, tongues, and knowledge, are incomplete means of revelation, “all relating to God’s making his will known to his church.”
(b) “The perfect” in this context must refer to something in the same category as the “imperfect” things.
(c) Therefore “the perfect” in this context must refer to a means of revelation, but a completed one. And this completed means of God’s making his will known to his church is Scripture.
(d) Conclusion: “When the perfect comes” refers to the time when the canon of Scripture will be complete. Reymond notes that he is not saying that “the perfect” refers exactly to the canon of Scripture, but rather that it refers to “the completed revelatory process” that resulted in Scripture (32). And in response to the objection that “then I shall see face to face” in verse 12 refers to seeing God face to face, he answers that it may simply mean seeing “plainly” as opposed to “obscurely” (32).
In response, it may be said that this argument, while careful and consistent in itself, still depends on one prior assumption which is really the point at issue in this whole discussion: the authority of New Testament prophecy and related gifts. Once Reymond assumes that prophecy (and tongues and the kind of “knowledge” mentioned here) are Scripture-quality revelation, the whole argument falls into place. The argument could be recast as follows:
(a) Prophecy and tongues are Scripture-quality revelation.
(b) Therefore this whole passage is about Scripture-quality revelation.
(c) Therefore “the perfect” refers to the perfection or completion of Scripture-quality revelation, or the completion of Scripture. Yet in such an argument the first assumption determines the conclusion. Before this assumption can be made, it would have to be demonstrated from an inductive analysis of the New Testament texts on prophecy, such as I have attempted to do in this book. Yet, to my knowledge, no such inductive demonstration of the Scripture-quality authority of New Testament congregational prophecy has been made.
Moreover, there are some other factors in the text of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 that are hard to reconcile with this position. The regular Old Testament usage of seeing “face to face” as an expression not just for seeing clearly but for personally seeing God (see above) remains unexplained. And the fact that Paul includes himself in the expressions “then I shall see face to face” and “then I shall know as I have been known” makes it difficult to view these as references to the time of the completion of Scripture. Does Paul really think that when the other apostles finally finish their contributions to the New Testament he will suddenly gain such a remarkable change in his knowledge that he will know as he has been known, and will go from seeing in a mirror dimly to seeing face to face?
Category: Spirit, Summer 2001
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