{"id":18488,"date":"2018-07-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-029-spiritual-gifts-9\/"},"modified":"2018-07-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-029-spiritual-gifts-9","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-029-spiritual-gifts-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 029: Spiritual Gifts 9"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[91],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18488","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-corinthians","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 029: Spiritual Gifts 9","sermon_date":"20180715","sermon_month":"7","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":5913,"sermon_slides":5914,"sermon_mp3":5919,"sermon_id":"71518126430","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":91,"chapter_and_verse":"13:8-13","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 29, Spiritual Gifts 9\n\n7-15-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 29\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for today, grateful that this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.\u00a0 We\u2019re mindful, Father, of the fact that even waking up this morning is not a guarantee but You in Your mercy and\u00a0 Your grace allowed us another day of life and so I pray, Father, that we would be good stewards of today and this day, the first day of the week, the Lord\u2019s day will really set the tone for the rest of our individual weeks as we start it off on the right path with our focus on\u00a0 You.\u00a0\u00a0 We specifically ask for the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit today in Sunday School and in the main service that follows, and with the missions lunch that some are going to following the service, for our missionaries and I just pray that through all of these things that You will be glorified and I do ask, Father, that we would leave here not just having gone through the Christian motions today but we would leave here changed people and we\u2019ll need your Holy Spirit to accomplish that.\u00a0 I ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 8.\u00a0 As we in Sunday School continue our study on Ecclesiology, which is the doctrine of the church.\u00a0 One of the great purposes of the church is to equip the saints so that they can use their spiritual gifts.\u00a0 So that being the case we need to figure out what does the Bible say about the issue of spiritual gifts. \u00a0\u00a0By the way, you should have a handout, actually two, the paper I wrote, you might have that from last week and this week\u2019s power point.\u00a0 If you need either of those just put your hand up and then we\u2019ll give you a handout, not a monetary one but a boring paper one.\n\nIf the purpose of the church, one of its great purposes is to edify the saints in such a way that they can use their spiritual gifts, that really calls for a study to some extent on the issue of spiritual gifts.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the path and trajectory we\u2019ve been taking for the last few weeks.\u00a0 I think this is lesson 9 on spiritual gifts.\u00a0 So we\u2019re trying to ask and answer four questions: number one, what are some observations about spiritual gifts; we\u2019ve given those to you.\u00a0 The second major question is an issue that divides Christians, are all the spiritual gifts for today.\u00a0 And that\u2019s quite an excursus, isn\u2019t it, into that subject.\u00a0 Believe it or not I\u2019m trying to keep it brief on this but I feel it\u2019s such an important subject we also need to spend some time wrestling with this issue.\n\nThere are seven gifts mentioned in the New Testament that we don\u2019t practice here at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 These are what you call the charismatic gifts, charismatic churches believe that these gifts are in full operation today.\u00a0\u00a0 We do not believe that; we believe that most of the spiritual gifts are in operation today but these seven gifts that I have there on the screen ceased in the first century.\u00a0 [1. Apostle 2. Prophet\u00a0 3. Worker of Miracles\u00a0 4. Tongues\u00a0 5. Interpretation of tongues\u00a0 6. Healing\u00a0\u00a0 7. Knowledge]\u00a0 And that\u2019s the doctrinal position of our church and more importantly than you understanding that\u2019s the doctrine position of our church we want to explain why we believe this way.\n\nAnd part of the battle on this whole subject involves taking the spiritual gifts and putting them into four categories: foundational, confirmatory, revelatory and edificatory.\u00a0 Can you say that five times fast: foundational, confirmatory, revelatory and edificatory.\u00a0 A lot of big words there.\u00a0 But we believe that two gifts, apostles and prophets, are what you call foundational gifts.\u00a0\u00a0 God built the church on the foundation of those two gifts and since the foundation is laid only once we believe that those gifts ceased in the first century.\u00a0 And if you want all of the proof for that we went into it in prior lessons; I\u2019m just sort of reviewing where we are.\n\nAnd then there\u2019s a series of gifts that are confirmatory, workers of miracles, tongues, and the gift of healing.\u00a0 And we believe those are confirmatory because certain gifts in the Bible have a tendency to cluster around time period where God is doing something new.\u00a0 So those gifts were in operation in early Acts when the church got off the ground but those gifts ceased as well and we explained why that\u2019s the case.\u00a0 And then we moved to I think about three gifts, three or four depending on your count, the revelatory gifts and that\u2019s where we are right now.\n\nAnd basically these are spiritual gifts that involve God using a human being as a conduit for a direct word from God.\u00a0 A person is a conduit of divine revelation.\u00a0 In other words, when they speak God is speaking.\u00a0 And those gifts would include prophet (in the New Testament sense, New Testament prophets), tongues and interpretation of tongues, and then the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 The gift of knowledge is, if you watch the 700 Club, I like Pat Robertson and I like a lot of the things he says but when you watch him on there he\u2019ll basically say he\u2019s got a word from the Lord, a direct word from the Lord and he basically claims that\u2019s the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 And to his embarrassment one of the things, and you can find this on\u00a0 You Tube that he had a word from the Lord on is Mitt Romney would become President of the United States and beat Obama\u2026 when was that election?\u00a0\u00a0 In 2012, something like that.\u00a0 And he\u2019s on his television show claiming this is a direct word from the Lord, claiming it\u2019s the gift of knowledge and we all know that that\u2019s an example of a prophecy that didn\u2019t materialize.\u00a0 And one of the problems I have with that is if it\u2019s from God it can\u2019t be wrong.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 And he was wrong on that count.\u00a0 So that would be an example of the gift of knowledge, where someone is claiming a direct word from the Lord; the gift of prophet the same sort of thing.\n\nAnd we\u2019ve explained why prophet, knowledge, tongues and their interpretation can be categorized as revelatory gifts.\u00a0 So why would we, at Sugar Land Bible Church, say that those revelatory gifts ceased in the first century?\u00a0\u00a0 The key passage on it is 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, so let\u2019s re-familiarize ourselves with that passage.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to read these verses again to you.\n\nIt says: \u201cLove never fails; but if there are gifts of<\/em> prophecy, they will be done away; if there are<\/em> tongues, they will cease; if there is<\/em> knowledge,\u201d the gift of knowledge \u201cit will be done away with. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part; [10] but when the perfect\u201d telion in the Greek, the lexical form of that word is telios [ [telios<\/em>] but it\u2019s telion [ [telion<\/em>] in this passage which is just that word as a neuter adjective, \u201cbut when the perfect,\u201d the telion \u00a0comes, \u201cthe partial will be done away with. [11] When I as 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. [12] 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. [13] But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.\n\nSo what\u2019s the key issue in this passage?\u00a0 What in the world is the telion, because when the telion \u00a0comes\u201d specifically \u201ctold that prophecy knowledge, tongues and their interpretation will cease.\u201d\u00a0 So there\u2019s a battle within the evangelical church on what the telion<\/em> is.\u00a0 It\u2019s very controversial.\n\nView one, and I\u2019m trying to get rid of the incorrect views and explain to you why they are a problem before we get to the right view.\u00a0 View one we covered last week and this is probably the most popular view today.\u00a0 They interpret the telion<\/em>, or the perfect as the coming of Jesus Christ or some sort of event related to His return.\u00a0 That\u2019s how they define the perfect.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll recall that last week I gave you six problems with that, and I don\u2019t want to repeat this, if you\u2019re interested in why that view is a problem I would encourage you to go back to the archives and take a listen or take a look at that lesson.\u00a0 But that\u2019s no doubt the most popular view out there and that\u2019s the view that most people believe is true because they\u2019re really never heard any other view.\n\nNow we\u2019re moving on into view two which I think is closer to the truth; it\u2019s much closer to the truth than the first view because if the first view is true then prophecy, tongues and knowledge, you can expect those to continue until the second coming.\u00a0 But that view has a lot of problems with it and that leads us to view number two, which is closer to the truth but I still don\u2019t think view number two is the right view.\n\nThe second view is the telion<\/em> represents the maturity of the church.\u00a0 So what does that mean, \u201cthe maturity of the church.\u201d\u00a0 People say well, that\u2019s when the church became unified because it had a closed canon, and it had a central body of truth to rally around and it\u2019s also the time period when the church became independent.\u00a0 You look at a child in terms of their maturity, his or her maturity, by its independence from its parents and it\u2019s argued that the canon sort of completed this unified body of truth, making the ministry of the apostles no longer necessary because their ministry was recorded to us in the pages of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 So the completion of the canon, the unity of the church that it provided, the independence of the church from the apostolic gifts and the death of the apostles.\n\nAnd they would also argue for maturity when the church finally made a break from Judaism.\u00a0 The church is all Jewish, you don\u2019t even have a Gentile convert in the church until Acts 10, a guy named Cornelius, so the church is very Jewish.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of looked at, even by the religious authorities of that time period as just a denomination within Judaism.\u00a0 So when did the church finally cut its cord with Judaism?\u00a0 That happened (we\u2019re told, in A.D. 70) when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and there was no longer a functioning temple.\u00a0 And the Jews were pushed into worldwide dispersion so there was no Judaism to go back to.\u00a0 In fact the land of Israel was renamed at that time, around that time by Emperor Hadian, it was named Palestine which is a name designed to remove any vestige of Jewish thinking from that land.\n\nAnd so people say well, that happened in A.D. 70 so the church reached its maturity in A.D. 70, so you\u2019ve got a combination of things happening here: a canon that\u2019s completed, a unity of the church, independence from the apostles, death of the apostles, the final break with Judaism, which occurred in A.D. 70 and people say that\u2019s when \u201cthe perfect\u201d came.\u00a0 And that\u2019s when, in that general time period, is when these revelatory gifts ceased.\n\nSo just a couple of things on that.\u00a0 You notice verse 12, the language \u201cnow,\u201d verses \u201cthen.\u201d\u00a0 Did you catch verse 12, \u201cFor now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, now I know in part but then I will know fully,\u201d the \u201cnow\u201d is the time period before the church reached maturity, according to this view.\n\nSo the revelatory gifts are in effect until the church reaches maturity.\u00a0 Then is when the church finally reach maturity based on the criteria that we\u2019ve just talked about and that\u2019s when the revelatory gifts ceased.\u00a0 And so as that transition happened the church moved from immaturity to maturity, verse 11, and they moved from limited sight to full sight, verse 12.\u00a0 That\u2019s basically the maturity of the church view, which I think is very close to the truth but it has some problems in it as I\u2019ll show you.\n\nWhy do people believe this view?\u00a0 Why do they believe that the telion<\/em> equals the maturity of the church?\u00a0 Well, it fits very well, doesn\u2019t it, with verse 11, \u201cWhen I was a child I used to speak like a child and think like a child and reason like a child; when I became a man I did away with childish things.\u00a0 So Paul is talking about\u00a0 maturity in the context and so a lot of people gravitate towards this view because of its context.\u00a0 Beyond that it fits really well with 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, about ten chapters earlier, same book, where Paul, the Apostle, is dealing with the subject of the immature believer versus the mature believer.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 3:1-3, \u201cAnd I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. [2] I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.<\/em> Indeed, even now you are not yet able, [3] for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?\u201d\n\nThis is where he takes the world and divides it into two, unbelievers and believers, but then he takes the ranks of believers and divides them into thirds.\u00a0 There\u2019s the mature Christian, the infant and then the Christian that keeps returning to the sin nature.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll find Paul\u2019s whole discussion on that in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, so people say well, you know, maturity is a big point that Paul is making in 1 Corinthians so obviously the telion<\/em> in chapter 13,verse 10 is dealing with the subject of the final maturity of the church.\n\nBeyond that the word telios<\/em> means maturity; that\u2019s its dominant\u00a0 usage.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find Paul using that word that way in the same book, 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 14:20.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 2:6, \u201cYet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;\u201d\u00a0 1 Corinthians 14:20, \u201cBrethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.\u201d]\n\nAnd even beyond that, telion<\/em> when you study it all the way through the New Testament that\u2019s what the word typically means.\u00a0 Not just in Corinthians but elsewhere.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got the verses on the screen for you to look up if you\u2019re ever interested, Philippians 3:, Ephesians 4, Colossians 1, Colossians 4.\u00a0 In other words, when Paul uses this word and when this word is used in the New Testament it typically refers, not to sinlessness but to growth in Christ.\n\nSo there are many, many people that believe that the telion<\/em> is the maturity of the church which basically happened in the first century, maybe a little bit into the second century when that combination of factors came together.\u00a0 The church was no longer Jewish; the church was unified around a central canon of Scripture.\u00a0 The apostles had died so no longer was the church dependent upon the revelatory gifts of the apostles.\u00a0 So people believe that\u2019s when the telion<\/em> came and that\u2019s when the revelatory gifts ceased.\n\nHowever, as attractive as that view is, and there are a lot of really good people, for example, the late Robert Thomas of Master\u2019s Seminary was an advocate of this view.\u00a0 As popular as this view is I think it does have some problems with it.\u00a0 One of its problems is the same problem that I tried to surface with the eschaton view, is it pits two ideas that really do not go together because when you look at 1 Corinthians 13:10, the telion<\/em> is being contrasted with the things that are in part.\u00a0 In verse 10 you\u2019ll see the word telion<\/em> and then verse you\u2019ll see the word \u201cin part\u201d a couple of times, ek<\/em> maris<\/em>, and so really what\u2019s being contrasted here, as I\u2019ll show you is partial revelation versus full revelation.\n\nPartial revelation would be prophecies, tongues and the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 Full revelation would be a completed canon. But the eschaton view pits quantity, partial quantity with a quality, perfection, which is very awkward.\u00a0 And the maturity of the church view basically does the same thing.\u00a0 It\u2019s pitting something that\u2019s a quantity, partial revelation, with a quality, maturity.\u00a0 The maturity view does not provide a suitable antithesis to impart or ek maris<\/em>, in verse 10 and verse 12 which is quantitative.\u00a0 The closed canon view seals the deal in my opinion because it allows you to put competed revelation with partial revelation.\u00a0 More on that in a second.\n\nSo there\u2019s this kind of awkward antithesis that\u2019s taking place with the first two views.\u00a0 Beyond that the maturity view suffers because the criteria used to depict the church, to me is very subjective.\u00a0 I mean, what are we told?\u00a0 The church reached maturity when it was unified around a canon and experienced independence from the apostles.\u00a0 Those are all very subjective pieces of criteria. \u00a0People say the church reached maturity in A. D. 70.\u00a0 Well, the problem is the church was still very Jewish even after A. D. 70 and really didn\u2019t experience their final break from Judaism until something called Bar Kokhba\u2019s Revolt, A. D. 135.\u00a0 So which is it, is it A.D. 70 that the church reached maturity or is A.D. 135?\n\nAnd beyond all of that I would say this, when you look at what Paul says about the church I would say the church is still immature today.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 In the 21st<\/sup> century, because how does the Apostle Paul define maturity?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t define it as A.D. 70, A.D. 135, independence from the apostles, unity, all of these kinds of things; he defines it very clearly in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.\u00a0 He says, \u201cAnd I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.\u00a0 [2] I fed you with milk and now with solid food; for you were not able to receive it, even now you\u2019re still not able, [3] \u00a0for you are still carnal.\u201d\u00a0 Now how do you know there\u2019s carnality?\u00a0 \u201cFor where there is envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal, are you not behaving like mere men.\u201d\n\nI look at the 21st<\/sup> century church in America and it still has those characteristics.\u00a0 People get bent out of shape over the most minor things in churches and they say well, I\u2019m just going to go down the street and find a church the way I want it done.\u00a0 What people want in churches to a large extent is not truth, and this is a tough pill for me to swallow because I\u2019m all about truth, and it\u2019s sort of painful to realize that the average Christian, with very few exceptions, you people being exceptions to the rule, coming to a church like this, but your average\u00a0 person really isn\u2019t interested in truth.\u00a0 What they\u2019re interested in is somebody reinforcing their existing presuppositions.\u00a0 So if they want to be happy they\u2019re interested in a happy preacher that tells them how to be happy.\u00a0 If they want to be successful in business they\u2019re interested in a preacher that tells them how to be successful in business.\u00a0 But when you get into actually talking about holiness and repentance, heaven, hell, all of these kinds of things you\u2019ll find your audience sort of dwindles a tad.\n\nAnd so Paul defines carnality as these petty divisions and a church that really can\u2019t take in deeper truth.\u00a0 They can\u2019t sit through something more than twenty minutes.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s interesting, I went to the\u2026 I\u2019m not publicly confessing my sins or anything but I did to go see the Hans Solo movies with my family, I think it was on Friday.\u00a0 And I watched everybody in that theater, unbroken concentration for two hours, including my twelve year old.\u00a0\u00a0 And we\u2019re told that people can\u2019t sit through a sermon that goes for fifty minutes or an hour, in our case maybe a little bit over.\n\nAnd\u00a0 you know, the Christian education people come out with all of their statistics saying you can\u2019t teach long, and have a lot of jokes, have a lot of illustrations, don\u2019t make too many references to the Bible because people just can\u2019t take in a lesson like that.\u00a0 And yet they can sit through Star Wars,\u00a0 no problem.\u00a0 In fact, I was with my wife many times during Vacation Bible School and it\u2019s very interesting to watch these kids.\u00a0 I was a crew leader, we were taking the kids through different stations and my wife was doing [can't understand word] cinema upstairs and so when we brought the kids into the room it\u2019s interesting that they\u2019re all looking around and it\u2019s like they have no attention span but the moment she clicked on a two to three minute video it was like mesmerization, I\u00a0 mean, there wasn\u2019t a peep in the room.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s sort of frightening the power of media.\n\nBut all of that to say people can concentrate if they want to.\u00a0 Your average evangelical Christian today is not interested in that.\u00a0 And so I would say the church is still immature.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the church has ever reached maturity by Paul\u2019s definition.\u00a0 And Paul explains that immaturity is marked by \u201cchildren being tossed here and there by waves and carried away by every wind of doctrine and by the trickery of men.\u201d\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:14, \u201cAs a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;\u201d]\n\nIt never changed in the first century.\u00a0 This is the case today, it\u2019s lake fashions and fads that kind of blow through the body of Christ and the immature just jump on every fashion or fad that comes through.\u00a0 It\u2019s the mature Christian that\u2019s stable and sticks with the Word of God when fashions and fads come and go.\n\nSo if that\u2019s the definition of immaturity versus maturity I would say the church, at least in the United States, really never reached maturity.\u00a0 At least it\u2019s not in a state of maturity today, maybe it\u2019s mature in other parts of the world but not here in the United States.\u00a0 Now I\u2019m not saying every Christian, you people, obviously being here, would be an exception to the rule.\u00a0 I\u2019m just talking about what\u2019s the norm out there in evangelicalism.\n\nSo for all of these reasons I think the maturity of the church view is a lot closer to the truth than the eschaton view but I don\u2019t it really seals the deal at all, which now takes us to view number three.\u00a0 All of that to say here\u2019s what I think is the right view.\n\nWhat is the perfect in 1 Corinthians 13:10? [1 Corinthians 13:10, \u201cbut when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.] \u00a0The \u201cperfect\u201d is the completion of the canon.\u00a0 The canon was completed when John wrote the final verse in the Book of Revelation on Patmos in A.D. 95.\u00a0 The moment that happened the revelatory gifts, tongues, prophecy, interpretation of tongues, gift of knowledge, ceased.\n\nSo how does the completed canon view, which I think is the correct view, handle the now\/then language?\u00a0 Well, the \u201cnow\u201d of verse 12, when he says, \u201cNow we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNow\u201d is when Paul is writing these things in A. D. 56, A.D. 57, a good forty years before the canon closed.\u00a0 But once the canon closed and God\u2019s revelation to mankind was complete that\u2019s the \u201cthen\u201d that Paul is talking about.\u00a0 So when he says \u201cNow\u201d he\u2019s talking about a brief period of time in between the apostles and when the canon closed.\u00a0 The \u201cthen\u201d is when the canon close, making the revelatory gifts unnecessary.\n\nHow does the canon view handle the two illustrations in verse 11 and verse 12. [Verse 11, \u201c] 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. [12] 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.]\n\nThe transition from immaturity to maturity in verse 11 is a transition of the church before the canon closed and after the canon closed.\u00a0 How about the transition in verse 12, between limited sight and full sight.\u00a0 [Verse 12, \u201cFor 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.:\u201d]\u00a0 The limited sight is before the church had a completed canon; the full sight is when we had all 27 books of the New Testament,\u00a0\u00a0 66 books total.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the church entered full sight.\u00a0 So we don\u2019t define full sight as when we get to heaven and see Christ.\u00a0 We define full sight as we have the completed picture, everything God wanted to disclose available for us in these sixty-six books.\u00a0 So that\u2019s how we handle the illustrations in verses 11 and 12 and also the now\/then language of verse 12.\n\nSo all of this to say that the canon view, canon just means measuring rod, a completed measuring rod of everything God wanted to disclose with the sixty-six books of the Bible that we have.\u00a0 The completed canon view holds that the first century revelatory gifts were in part.\u00a0 So when\u00a0 Paul talks about tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy and knowledge what were those gifts as they were functioning in the times of the apostles.\u00a0 They were, verse 12, \u201cin part.\u201d\u00a0 They were never designed by God to be a completed revelation.\n\nSo let me give you some words, if you\u2019re into synonyms, which describe those revelations during that time period of early church history, before the canon closed.\u00a0 You can use words like \u201cimpart,\u201d that\u2019s how Paul describes them; sporadic, piecemeal, incomplete, partial, fragmented, limited, they were just glimpses, they were splintered, and they only provided temporary insight to the church in comparison to a completed sixty-six books. Those were so good you want those again, don\u2019t you? Sporadic, piecemeal, incomplete, partial, fragmented, limited, glimpses, temporary, temporary guidance and splintered.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the Apostle Paul looks at through his expression \u201cin part,\u201d tongues in their interpretation, knowledge and prophecy.\n\nThose things were functioning in early Christianity because early Christianity needed those things because early Christianity was without the light of a completed revelation from God.\u00a0 So those things were very necessary because as Paul is writing the New Testament is in the process of being compiled and written but yet it\u2019s incomplete.\u00a0 So how did the church function without a completed canon of Scripture during that time?\u00a0 They were completely dependent on these prophecies, tongues and their interpretation, word of knowledge, but once the canon is completed now you have the full package of everything God wanted to reveal.\u00a0 And once that full package came into existence in the first century with the last words of the Apostle John on Patmos, A.D. 95, what did the church then possess?\u00a0 Not something partial, not something incomplete, not something that\u2019s a mere glimpse, but they had something that was complete which therefore superseded incomplete revelation.\n\nAnd see what I\u2019m trying to give you is the logic as to why we believe the completed canon put an end to these revelatory gifts.\u00a0 They were very much partial and incomplete by Paul\u2019s own phrase\u00adology; that\u2019s why he calls them \u201cin part.\u201d\u00a0 But once the Bible itself has come into existence you have a gift from God that\u2019s amazing; you have a completed package, completed revelation and beyond that you have something that is, and this is a doctrine that\u2019s dying today in evangelicalism, you have something that\u2019s sufficient.\u00a0 The Bible claims for itself sufficiency.\n\nIn other words, if you become a student of the Word of God you have everything you need to become all that God has called\u00a0 you to become in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 You do not need some partial revelation somewhere, some partial word of knowledge, some partial prophecy.\u00a0 And what you have today all over evangelicalism is people waiting for some kind of voice from God.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is God has already spoken in His Word and He\u2019s given to us a gift called a completed canon which is sufficient.\u00a0 Sufficient for what?\u00a0 All matters of faith and practice.\u00a0 It is something that is completely sufficient as church leadership to base decisions upon.\u00a0 And this is a claim that the Bible makes for itself, sufficiency.\n\nSee, a lot of people believe in inerrancy, the Bible is without error but they don\u2019t believe in sufficiency.\u00a0 Oh, the Bible is without error but it\u2019s not complete, you need to tap into management theory to govern the church, you\u2019ve got to tap into manmade psychology to counsel people, you\u2019ve to be dependent on the latest word of knowledge from the Lord.\u00a0 So an awful lot of people out there will say yeah, we believe in inerrancy but that\u2019s not even on the battleground today.\u00a0 Most Christians believe in inerrancy, what\u00a0 you have to ask them is the question of sufficiency.\u00a0 That\u2019s the point of demarcation.\n\nSo should I drop dead of a heart attack and you get another pastor I hope one of the questions that\u00a0 you\u2019ll ask HIM, and I hope it will be a \u201chim\u201d by the way, we\u2019ll teach more on that down the road, is not just do you believe in inerrancy of the Bible but what is your belief in the sufficiency of the Bible, because anybody you get in here will say oh, I believe the Bible is inerrant.\u00a0 But what about the question of sufficiency?\u00a0 That\u2019s completely different, isn\u2019t it?\n\nSo what does the Bible claim for itself?\u00a0 It claims sufficiency.\u00a0 You know this verse, \u201cAll Scripture is God breathed and profitable for reproof, correct, training in righteousness so the man of God may be equipped for\u201d 99% of good works\u2026 \u201cevery good work.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Every good work\u2014sufficiency.\u00a0 See that?\n\nHow about 2 Peter 1:3-4, talking about Scripture as it was being compiled.\u00a0 \u201cseeing that His divine power has granted to us\u201d what? some things? \u201ceverything pertaining to life and godliness, [through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. [4] For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the<\/em> divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.\u201d]\u00a0 And\u00a0 you can see the context of this, the promises of God.\n\nSo not only was the canon that was completed in the first century all sufficient, but it was designed by God to be His final say.\u00a0 Jude 3 tells us that the faith was what? \u201conce for all handed down to the saints.\u00a0 [Jude 1:3, \u201cBeloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.\u201d]\u00a0 There is no additional insight, there is no additional revelation from God\u2019s perspective that what a person needs to somehow supplement this book, to understand Christianity, to get saved and to live the Christian life.\n\nAnd of course we looked at last time and eventually we\u2019ll get to this in our study of the Book of Revelation, assuming the rapture doesn\u2019t happen first, but at the end of the Book of Revelation we\u2019re specifically told not to add or subtract from anything.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the package is complete!\u00a0 Not only is the package complete but what God has given to us in these sixty-six books is sufficient for all matters of faith and practice.\u00a0 So a lot of people will come to me with their private interpretation, their private prophecy for my life, ever had people do that to you?\u00a0 I have a word of the Lord for you\u2026 and my reaction\u2026 well, how come God didn\u2019t tell me first of all, and secondly, do I really need this?\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s interesting to think about but do I really need this to develop correctly as a Christian when the Bible is telling me over and over again that revelation is complete and it\u2019s all sufficient.\u00a0 See that?\n\nCompleted revelation and sufficient revelation!\u00a0 What does that mean?\u00a0 This superseded, supplanted, finalized God\u2019s compiled New Testament canon upon which church leadership and Christians could base all decisions.\u00a0 If all of that is true, then the gifts impart, which would be what?\u00a0 Prophecy, tongues and knowledge no longer had a purpose, so this is one of the reasons we believe that those gifts ceased when the canon of Scripture was shut.\u00a0 The partial gifts, the impart gifts, the piecemeal gifts have been superseded by something that is complete and sufficient.\n\nAnd if you\u2019ll notice what Paul says here he analogizes prophecy, tongues, and knowledge to what?\u00a0 Speaking as a child, thinking as a child and reasoning as a child.\u00a0 See, when people get into these gifts, prophecy, tongues and knowledge, from Paul\u2019s perspective you\u2019re just speaking like a child again in immaturity; you\u2019re thinking like a child and you\u2019re reasoning like a child because these gifts were necessary before the completed picture was given to the church.\u00a0 Now that all of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are available you look back at those prior gifts that the church was dependent on as simply a child in a state of immaturity.\u00a0 Do you see that?\n\nRobert Dean, pastor of West Houston Bible Church, he\u2019s on our board at Chafer Seminary, write this:\u00a0 \u201cThe child represents the incomplete knowledge available to the infant, pre-canon church. Just as a child has inadequate knowledge to live as a mature adult, so the pre-canon church lacked a sufficient canon and doctrine to lead the spiritual life of the new Church Age. An adult reaches maturity when he is complete with the knowledge and skills necessary for life. So, too the post canon church has the completed canon of Scripture which is sufficient for every need, every problem, every difficulty in life. Through the learning of the doctrines of the Word under the filling of the Holy Spirit the believer is able to pursue spiritual maturity.\u201d\u00a0 [Robert Dean, \u201cThree Arguments for the Cessation of Tongues\u201d (paper, Conservative Theological Society, Fort Worth, TX, 2002), 9.]\n\nIn other words, in God there is no longer an excuse for a Christian not to mature because they have all of the tools they need for the job.\u00a0 What would that be?\u00a0 A completed canon which superseded the partial incomplete revelation that the church was experiencing prior to that period of time.\n\nKenneth Gentry, now this is interesting because I usually speak against the teachings of Kenneth Gentry, because he\u2019s what you call a replacement theologian and a preterist.\u00a0 But it\u2019s interesting, I think he\u2019s got it completely right on the subject of the canon of Scripture.\u00a0 And see, that\u2019s part of growing up in Christ is you can quote somebody because you agree with them on one point but you don\u2019t have to carte blanche believe everything they say.\u00a0 And the mature child of God is able to make that distinction.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of people out there that disagree with one thing someone says and they throw out everything and that\u2019s not growth in Christ.\u00a0 If you\u2019re growing in Christ you have a completed canon and you can say well, I agree with that but I don\u2019t agree with this.\n\nThomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, right?\u00a0 He said \u201call men are created equal,\u201d do you agree with that?\u00a0 I agree with that.\u00a0\u00a0 But does that mean I agree with everything Thomas Jefferson ever said or did?\u00a0 No, the guy in his life made some sort of wild statements about theology that I don\u2019t think are orthodox although at other times in his life he sounds very much like an orthodox Christian.\u00a0 Thomas Jefferson, for whatever reason owned slaves.\u00a0 So you could say well, I disagree with him there and I disagree with him there but I sure agree with what he said over here in the Declaration of Independence.\u00a0\u00a0 See?\u00a0 And that\u2019s what you have to do with people that you listen to; you have to sort of develop the skill of sifting.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019re doing that with me when I talk any time at this church, I hope you don\u2019t just believe something because \u201cout pastor says it.\u201d\u00a0 And I hope you don\u2019t just disagree with something because you don\u2019t like something I said three years ago.\n\nSo Kenneth Gentry writes, \u201cWhen Paul was in his childhood, he thought as a child was expected to think. But when he became a mature man, he naturally put away childish thought modes. Similarly,\u201d by way of analogy, this is the analogy that Paul is making here, \u201cwhen the church was in her infancy, she operated by means of bit by bit piecemeal revelation. But when she grew older, she operated by means of finalized Scripture. Thus, tongues were related to the Church in her infancy stage (cp. 1 Cor. 14:19, 20).\u201d\u00a0 [Kenneth Gentry, Robert Dean, \u201cThree Arguments for the Cessation of Tongues\u201d (paper, Conservative Theological Society, Fort Worth, TX, 2002), 9.]\u00a0 So what I\u2019m trying to give you is the logic of the canon view, the logic as to why we think that telion<\/em> represents the New Testament canon.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice from our doctrinal statement that we say those gifts ceased when the perfect came which we define as the closed canon of Scripture.\u00a0 It made those piecemeal gifts in Revelation unnecessary.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a lot of people out there that say Lord, talk to me, and what does God do?\u00a0 He gives them a Bible.\u00a0 There are so many people out there that are listening for some kind of extra voice from God, Lord speak to me, speak to me.\u00a0 The reality is God has already spoken, number one, through creation, you learn an awful lot about God just by looking at creation.\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s a big debate today about homosexuality, I don\u2019t even know if I want to get into that; that ought to be resolved just by looking at creation, right?\u00a0 You can\u2019t have two people of the same sex reproducing.\u00a0 Now I could figure that out, not by even reading the Bible, I could figure out that homosexuality is outside of the norm in terms of how God created the world, because God has spoken in creation. He\u2019s also spoken in these sixty-six books.\u00a0 And people say well, you don\u2019t understand pastor, I need to hear an audible voice.\u00a0 Okay, read the Bible out loud then, is my suggestion.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nI mean, what does the Bible say?\u00a0 If you\u2019re faithful in the small things He\u2019ll trust you with what?\u00a0 A greater thing.\u00a0 All these\u00a0 people listening for a voice from God, why in the world would God ever entrust Himself to them in that way when they haven\u2019t fulfilled this small task of trying to understand these sixty-six books.\u00a0 I mean, thank God this is only sixty-six books, this could read like the United States tax code, couldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 God only gave us sixty-six books and I\u2019ll probably die before I teach all sixty-six books at this church.\u00a0 But at least I\u2019ll have taught ten percent of them.\u00a0 Amen.\n\nSo why would we believe this?\u00a0 Let me give you the strengths of this view.\u00a0 It solves the problem of pitting two quantitative ideas together.\u00a0 The other views, the eschaton view, the maturity view pit a quality against a quantity in part and that\u2019s (to my mind) not very satisfying.\u00a0 The canon view solves that problem because it takes a limited quantity in part and juxtaposes it against a one hundred percent completed canon, a one hundred percent quantity.\u00a0 So when Paul says \u201cwhen the perfect comes the in part will be done away with.\u201d\u00a0 So that handles well taking two quantitative ideas and juxtaposing them.\n\nMyron Houghton writes: \u201cIs it possible to determine the nature of partial gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge?\u00a0 Yes, the answer is they are revelational in quality.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why we\u2019re dealing with them here, these are the revelatory gifts.\u00a0 \u201cSince this is so, then the perfect must also be\u201d what, what\u2019s the last word?\u00a0 \u201crevelational.\u201d\u00a0 [Myron J. Houghton, \u201cA Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8\u201313,\u201d Bib Sac 153 (July-September 1996): 350.]\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to pit revelation with revelation.\u00a0 Complete revelation with partial revelation, the other two views don\u2019t do that .\n\nCharles R. Smith writes, \u201c\u201c\u2018That which is complete\u2019 should logically be of the same kind as \u2018that which is partial\u2019 and is therefore most naturally understood as a reference to the completion of\u201d what? \u201crevelation for the Church Age.\u201d\u00a0 [Charles R. Smith,\u00a0Tongues in Biblical Perspective<\/em>\u00a0(Winona Lake, IN: BMH, 1972), 75]\u00a0 So we don\u2019t have that awkward problem of quantity\/quality being juxtaposed.\u00a0 We take quantity, partial, ek maris<\/em>, with quantity complete, the full disclosure revelation of God and the picture is complete.\u00a0\u00a0 So that\u2019s the first reason why I think this view is very attractive. \u00a0Now the twenty-five dollar question is well, this is all very interesting but can you give me an example anywhere where the word telios,<\/em> which typically means maturity, refers to part of the Word of God?\u00a0 Does telios<\/em> ever refer to the Word of God?\u00a0 And what\u2019s my answer?\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s in the Book of James.\n\nBy the way, can I ask you a question.\u00a0 What was the first New Testament book written?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got it on the screen, the Book of James, the very first book ever written.\u00a0 So this meaning was well established early on.\u00a0 James 1:25 says, \u201cBut one who looks intently at the perfect\u201d that\u2019s our word telios<\/em>, isn\u2019t it, \u201cthe perfect\u201d what? \u201claw, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.\u201d\u00a0 There telios<\/em> as an adjective is used to describe the Word of God in the earliest book of the New Testament.\n\nBeyond this, the canon view handles well the analogy of the mirror in verse 12.\u00a0 Take a look again at 1 Corinthians 13:12.\u00a0 \u201cFor now we see in a\u201d what? \u201cmirror\u201d that\u2019s the word esoptron<\/em> and that word \u201cmirror\u201d is used only one other time in the whole New Testament.\u00a0 And guess where it\u2019s used?\u00a0 The passage I was just quoting from, where the Word of God is called the perfect.\u00a0 James says, \u201cBut prove yourselves doers of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves for anyone who is a hearer of the word and not a doer of the Word is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Same word, esoptron, <\/em>that\u2019s the only other time in the whole New Testament it\u2019s used.\n\nSo Paul is using telion<\/em> and esoptron<\/em> the way those words were used in the very first book of the New Testament, the Book of James\u2026 well established meanings.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t that what the Word of God does to us?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it a mirror?\u00a0 The interesting thing about a mirror is it won\u2019t lie to you; it\u2019s kind of like your bathroom scales, you know, that satanic device that lies to you all the time?\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 That scale can\u2019t be right.\u00a0 The reality is numbers are objective.\u00a0 So when people say wow, you know, you\u2019re looking good.\u00a0 Well, thanks, but the numbers don\u2019t lie to me.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the Word of God does, it will not lie to you, it will give you an accurate picture of portrayal of who we are and why we need redemption.\u00a0 And so this view, what I\u2019m trying to say, handles the mirror example really well.\n\nIn fact, in Corinth it was known for its mirrors.\u00a0 Craig Keener, in his Bible Background Commentary says, \u201cCorinth was famous as the producer of some of the finest bronze mirrors in antiquity.\u201d\u2026\u201cBut even the best mirrors reflected images imperfectly.\u201d\u00a0 [Craig S. Keener,\u00a0The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament<\/em>\u00a0(Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1993), 480; Gordon D. Fee,\u00a0The First Epistle to the Corinthians<\/em>, NICNT, ed. F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 647-48.]\n\nSo they weren\u2019t advanced mirrors like we have today; you would look at it and it would be sort of an imperfect replica and so Paul is using analogies from their own time period that they would under\u00adstand as he compares the partial revelatory gifts, which are like a mirror with a poor reflection, with the final completed canon which gives you a perfect visions of yourself.\n\nRobert Dean says, \u201c\u201cPaul envisioned a time, yet future when believers would have the entire realm of mystery doctrine to objectively know themselves as never before and be spiritually self-sustaining. Only God has a complete knowledge of the believer and only with a complete canon can the believer have sufficient, objective knowledge of himself. Through learning and applying doctrine from the completed and sufficient Scripture a mirror is constructed in his soul. This mirror of truth enables the believer to accurately and objectively evaluate his own life and circumstances from the divine viewpoint. Prior to the completed canon the believer could only have an incomplete understanding of who he is and what he possesses as a member of the royal family of God, and all the vast assets that God has provided for him. It is the completed Word of God that provides this sufficient, perspicuous understanding of ourselves as we truly are. Prior to the revelation of the mystery doctrine the believer looked into the mirror of God\u2019s Word dimly and saw a riddle, due to incomplete revelation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [Robert Dean, \u201cThree Arguments for the Cessation of Tongues\u201d (paper, Conservative Theological Society, Fort Worth, TX, 2002), 11.]\n\nThe revelations in part were just riddles; they were mirrors that didn\u2019t do their job correctly.\u00a0 They did their job partially but the completed canon is that accurate mirror which is necessary for self-assessment.\n\nMyron Houghton says, \u201cBecause believers today possess complete revelation, they are able to understand what God\u2019s Word teaches about themselves, their potential, their limitations, and the means that God has made available for them to obtain victory over sin in a clear and detailed manner that was not possible before the completion of the canon. The Scriptures equip a believer for every good work by being profitable for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training\u201d in righteousness.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0(2 Tim\u00a03:16\u201317).\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [A Reexamination of 1 Corinthians 13:8\u201313,\u201d BibSac 153 (July-September 1996): 353]\n\nSo the canon view also handles the mirror example really well; it also handles the\u00a0 face to face example well because face to face everybody says well, that\u2019s when I\u2019m going to see God face to face.\u00a0 You see God in verse 12?\u00a0 \u201cFor now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face,\u201d you see the word God there before \u201cface to face\u201d?\u00a0 It\u2019s not even talking about seeing God face to face.\u00a0 It\u2019s seeing your own face in a mirror, that\u2019s what it is talking about, which was an accurate impossibility before the canon of Scripture was completed.\n\nDoes the Scripture give us an honest assessment?\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 I mean, sometimes reading the Bible can be very depressing because you see yourself as how you are without resources for grace and the need for grace.\u00a0 But you\u2019ve got to get the bad news before you can get the what?\u00a0 The good news.\u00a0 A mirror doesn\u2019t lie.\u00a0 Romans 5:20, jot that down, Romans 7:7, Galatians 3:24 and I\u2019ve already given you James 1:20-25.\n\n[Romans 5:20, \u201cThe Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Romans\u00a0 7:7, \u201cWhat shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, \"YOU SHALL NOT COVET.\u201d\u00a0 Galatians 3:24, \u201cTherefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 James 1:20-25, \u201cNow in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) [21] Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. [22] I was still<\/em> unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; [23] but only, they kept hearing, \u201cHe who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.\u201d [24] And they were glorifying God because of me.\u201d\n\nOne other thing is the canon view handles really well the \u201cnows,\u201d there\u2019s a \u201cnow\u201d in verse 12 and another \u201cnow in verse 13.\u00a0 Look at what verses 12 and 13 says.\u00a0 \u201cFor 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.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cBut now\u201d verse 13, \u201cfaith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d\u00a0 See the \u201cnows\u201d there?\n\nWhat we\u2019re saying is the \u201cnow\u201d in verse 12 was immediate, it was coming at any minute.\u00a0 But the \u201cnow\u201d in verse 13 would continue on up until the second coming, because even though the canon has been completed and the revelatory gifts in part has ceased, faith and hope continue today.\u00a0 Right!\u00a0 So if that\u2019s true why am I taking the \u201cnow\u201d in verse 12 in the immediate sense but the \u201cnow\u201d in verse 13 in more of a sense describing something larger, the time period between the two advents.\u00a0 How could I do that?\u00a0 Because you\u2019ll notice in Greek that the \u201cnows\u201d are different.\u00a0 The English doesn\u2019t tell you this; the Bible wasn\u2019t written in English. But the Greek does; the immediate \u201cnow\u201d verse 12, is arti<\/em>.\u00a0 The \u201cnow\u201d which is talking about a larger period of time between the two comings of Christ is nun<\/em>, or nuni<\/em>.\n\nYou say wow, you\u2019re really getting microscopic on us, is it that big a deal?\u00a0 What\u2019s our doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture?\u00a0 The Scripture is inspired right down to what?\u00a0 Every word!, Matthew 4:4.\u00a0 [Matthew 4:4, \u201cBut he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.\u201d]\n\nThe Scripture is also inspired right down to the smallest letter or strokes of the pen that make up the words.\u00a0 That\u2019s the claim of the Bible.\u00a0 The claim of the Bible is you have to pay attention to the words and even the smallest stroke of the pen, because the doctrine of inspiration goes right down to that detail level.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why you have to pay attention to the shift in \u201cnows\u201d\u00a0 Why in the world would Paul say arti<\/em>, verse 12,and then verse 13 switch to a totally different word?\u00a0 A lot of people say well, it\u2019s just stylistic.\u00a0 NO, it\u2019s not just stylistic.\u00a0 When the Holy Spirit was guiding Paul to write the Holy Spirit was guiding Paul\u2019s pen right down to the very words and the very strokes of the pen.\u00a0 You cannot dismiss something like this as stylistic.\u00a0 Now when inspiration is involved.\n\nSo what\u2019s the bottom line?\u00a0 When arti<\/em>, verse 12, and nun<\/em>, verse 13, are used together, arti<\/em> means something imminent, something that\u2019s going to happen very quickly, very shortly, maybe within the lifetime of the apostle Paul.\u00a0 The nun<\/em> is talking about something that is much broader.\u00a0 You say well where are you getting this from?\u00a0 I have the quote for you there in a very refutable book called The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament<\/em>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have time to read you the whole quote but what you\u2019ll see is when arti<\/em> and nun <\/em>are used simultaneously together arti<\/em> means something that\u2019s going to happen very fast, nun<\/em> means something that\u2019s much more extensive in terms of time.\n\nYou say well, what\u2019s your point?\u00a0 My point is that is what Paul is doing, when he says \u201cfor now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face,\u201d he\u2019s talking about a shift that\u2019s probably going to occur within his own lifetime.\u00a0 But then the canon of Scripture is shut, the revelatory gifts cease and then he says, \u201cbut faith hope and love abide, the greatest of these is love.\u201d\u00a0 Now he uses a completely different word and he\u2019s talking about faith, hope and love continuing right on through the second coming, and yet when Jesus comes back will faith and hope be necessary?\u00a0 It will not.\u00a0 But what will always be necessary?\u00a0 Love.\n\nSo what am I trying to get at here?\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to get at the fact that the canon view pits two quantitative ideas.\u00a0 It\u2019s faithful to the meaning of the word telios <\/em>as revealed in the first book of the New Testament. It\u2019s faithful to the concept of a mirror; the word \u201cmirror\u201d is only used one other place (in James).\u00a0 And it also handles really, really well the shift from the arti to the nun in verses 12 and 13.\u00a0 And you say well, pastor, are there any problems with the canon view. And yes there are and so next week I\u2019m going to give you what many consider to be the major problems including the problems with cessationism in general and I\u2019m going to show you how all of those problems can be overcome. And that\u2019s kind of the direction that we\u2019re going next week.\u00a0 I just want you to have time to digest this information.\u00a0 This is kind of high powered stuff, amen.\n\nLet\u2019s pray.\u00a0 Father, we are grateful for what we have in Scripture, maybe we walked in here not understanding everything but we can understand this, the Scripture is a tremendous gift You\u2019ve given us, it\u2019s a completed sufficient revelation.\u00a0 And help us here at Sugar Land Bible Church to honor that, not to deify the Scripture or to worship the Scripture but to see it as a great gift from\u00a0 You which is communicative, you\u2019ve communicated to us already and we\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t