An evaluation of Church history is now in order. It is evident from the writings of the apostolic fathers up to Tertullian that speaking in tongues was still practiced (though the genuineness of these practices has been questioned) after the passing of the apostles. However this is explained, it seems clear that the Church did not practice it after that time until the 1900's. Some Cessationists explain (or otherwise believe) that the gifts were still necessary until the Canon was established, and they reference 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 for support. A closer look at this passage will reveal no positive support for their case, but it does lend itself to the possibility.
In 1 Corinthians 13:8 three gifts are mentioned and thereafter only two. The one not mentioned later is speaking in tongues. It is unconvincing to assert that glwssa here does not represent "speaking in tongues" for three reasons:
1. It is mentioned here with prophecy as it is in chapter 14.
2. All knowledge will surely not be abolished in light of the eternality of the Word and the knowing as everyone is fully known.
3. The overarching topic at hand in chapters 12-14 is spiritual gifts.
In 13:8 it is declared that tongues will cease (pausontai), but not under their own power as the voice of the verb would seem to suggest. The voice should be understood in the same way that the voice is taken in Luke 8:24 when Jesus rebuked the wind and the water, and the storm ceased (epausanto, aorist middle voice) (Carson 67). Since speaking in tongues does not require an outside force to stop it as prophecy and words of knowledge do, and since it is not mentioned again in chapter 13, the time of its cessation need not be the same as that of prophecy and words of knowledge.
Many have speculated as to the time of and even the reason for this ceasing. Matthew Henry offers the layman's answer that tongues will no longer be needed in heaven because there will be only one language, perhaps thinking that "tongues" here means "native languages" (576). Henry Alford suggests that tongues will be "absolutely superceded" when the Lord has come (588). David Lowery states that some take perfection in verse 10 to mean the condition once the new heaven and new earth are established (536). Henry Jacobs and others conclude that tongues are no longer needed once men have been brought to faith in Christ (98). Brian Schwertley implies a stopping point at the completion of the Canon (8).
The time of cessation for speaking in tongues cannot be rendered with any dogmatism from 1 Corinthians 13. However, its tight association with the other gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 ties its cessation closely to the withdrawal of the other supernatural gifts. According to the aorist ebebaiwqh ("was confirmed") in Hebrews 2:3, so Ken Sarles writes, this withdrawal may have happened as early as before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (75-76). Other support for this is commonly mustered from 2 Corinthians 12:12 and Acts 2:43 and 5:12 where miraculous signs are closely associated with the apostles, who all died by the end of the first century, save perhaps John. The true test for any theory in this debate is the historical record, though no one should base his or her theology on even the experience of the entire Church.
Tongues Section 2: The Role and Duration of the Gift, Part 3
Papers
