To protect its teachings from historical cross-examination, Protestantism not only rejected the authority of the Fathers and councils of the Church but also the miracles God had given down through the centuries in confirmation of the Catholic faith. All miraculous gifts after the apostolic age were denied reality. In the new view, the only purpose of miracles had been to testify to Scripture when it was being given, not to help God’s people or confirm their faith down through history.
The new view was challenged after the founding of the United States, where there was no effective way to control religious phenomena. New American religious movements began preaching and ostensibly experiencing a wide range of spiritual phenomena.
Traditional Protestants were in an uncomfortable position. Now that there were miracle reports in the Protestant community, no longer could post-apostolic miracles be dismissed as “Romish superstitutions,” nor would embracing them require one to embrace “the errors of Romanism.” A new anti-miracle apologetic was needed. Many in the Protestant flock could be insulated from the new phenomena by pointing to the erratic behavior of the enthusiasts, but the “they’re all a bunch of crazy weirdos” argument could go only so far. A Scripture-based argument was needed.
Presbyterian theologian B. B. Warfield came up with the idea of using 1 Corinthians 13:8–12 to claim that miracles stopped early on. Verse 8, with its declarations that prophecies and knowledge will pass away, and especially with its declaration that the practice of “tongues . . . will cease,” was too good to pass up. Verse 11, with its reference to putting away “childish things,” was equally juicy (by implication, prophecy and tongues would be “childish”). Verse 10 ties the passing away of present imperfect (incomplete) knowledge and prophecy to the time “when the perfect comes.” Verse 12 further explained this time as when “we see . . . face to face” and when “I [Paul] shall understand fully.”
When was this time? Since the traditional Protestant knows that the gifts were given only to confirm Scripture until it was finished—so that afterwards we could rely on Scripture alone—the completion of the New Testament books must have been the time. Of course, this is completely implausible. Not only is it contingent on two erroneous premises—that the miraculous gifts were given only to confirm Scripture and that we are meant to operate on Scripture alone—but it flies in the face of the text itself.
It would be difficult to portray Paul’s then-present knowledge as “imperfect” (v. 9) relative to when the New Testament was finished. Paul wrote most of the New Testament, and every author knows more than he writes. His understanding of Christian doctrine no doubt far exceeded what was eventually enscripturated, the only exceptions being certain details of prophetic chronology.
Further, it is impossible to square verse 12 with the anti-miracle argument. Paul declares ” now we see in a mirror dimly.” Compared to the completion of the New Testament? Hardly! When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, the faith already had been delivered to the saints “once for all” (Jude 3); the key doctrinal disputes of the apostolic age had been settled. Not much substantive new revelation was left.
The only stage of knowledge that could make Paul’s present knowledge look like a dim glance in a mirror would be the fullness of revelation that will come when we see God face to face and are not dependant on Scripture and other mediate modes of knowing God. Not surprisingly, Paul specified the time in question as when “we see . . . face to face.” That’s not the completion of the New Testament. It is the Second Coming or our own personal encounter with God upon our deaths.
Paul next states, “Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully.” Again, this is not likely the remark of a man who wrote most of the New Testament saying that he is looking forward to what he will learn when it is completed. This is reinforced when he explains what he means by “I shall understand fully”— “even as I have been fully understood.” By whom? By God. Once more we have the language of intimate encounter with God that surpasses the modes of knowing available in this life.
All this was recognized by Protestants down to the time of Warfield. The Protestant Reformers did not try to use this passage to attack the continuation of miracles. They recognized that the time Paul was speaking of was the Second Coming (from the perspective of the Church as a whole, not an individual member). What they failed to do was to draw the consequence that follows: If the time our present knowledge, prophecy, and tongues pass away is the Second Coming, then these gifts will continue until that time. Thus the passage of Scripture used most frequently by Protestants boomerangs and proves the reverse of their position!