What saith the word?
Confirmed Unto the End11/29/2016 1 Corinthians 1:8 (KJV) Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The power to perform miracles was a gift present in the first century church of Christ. How long was this miraculous phenomenon to abide? We cannot know exactly. At the very least, miracles died with those who possessed them once there were no more apostle to bestow gifts “through the laying on of hands” (Acts 8:17-18). Some suggest they will last until Christ returns. One of the passages used in attempting to establish this idea is 1 Corinthians 1:8 where Paul, addressing the saints in Corinth, declared that God “shall confirm you unto the end, that you may be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here is the argument some make. Miracles were designed to confirm (Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:3,4), and since the confirmation was to continue to “the end” (1 Corinthians 1:8), it is obvious that miracles were continue to the end, i.e., until the coming of Christ. The argument is flawed in several ways. The purpose of miracles was to confirm the truth of the gospel (Mark 16:20; Hebrews 2:3,4) – not people per se; yet this passage speaks of confirming Christians. Obviously the confirmation here suggested is not the same as in these other contexts. The passage no more asserts that miracles will continue to the end of time than it argues the Corinthians themselves would continue to live unto the end of time. The term “end” (telos) can mean “to the uttermost” (ex. John 13:1), and therefore is not confined to a reference of specific time. Later in this same book Paul contends that supernatural gifts will continue only until “the perfect thing,” i.e., the completion of New Testament revelation, comes (1 Corinthians 13:8ff). We know logically, that the apostle writing through inspiration does not contradict himself in 1 Corinthian 1:8 and 13:8ff. Some of the Corinthians had miraculous gifts which could confirm the miraculous gifts given by the Apostles, and the authenticity of their faith. However, the point is that Christ would confirm them to the “uttermost” in the “day of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Christ’s confirmation of the faithful Christian is far superior to the earthly confirmation of Miraculous gifts which were available in the first century. Not only does this verse not teach the continuance of gifts, it teaches there is a greater confirmation by our Lord at the judgment of all men (John 12:48).
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