This is not core doctrine. Both readings below are held by faithful, Bible-believing Christians across denominations, and neither one is required to affirm the gospel. Formation presents both fairly and does not take a position for you.
The tension, stated plainly
Paul writes that prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are partial gifts that will one day be replaced by something greater:
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10, BSB.
Two chapters earlier, Paul had already told the same church they were not lacking any gift while they waited for something specific:
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:7, BSB.
Everything hinges on one identification: what is "the perfect" in 13:10, and has it already come? Careful readers who agree on inspiration, inerrancy, and the gospel disagree on the answer — which is exactly the kind of question this page exists to compare rather than settle.
Two responsible readings
The gifts continue until Christ returns
"The perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10 refers to Christ's second coming or the eternal state — not the completed New Testament canon. Until then, prophecy, tongues, healing, and the rest remain active and available, though always subject to the testing and order Paul lays out in chapter 14.
1 Corinthians 1:7 — the Corinthians "eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ" while already possessing every gift, tying the gifts' relevance to Christ's return, not to a future canon.
1 Corinthians 14:39 — Paul tells the same church, later in the same letter, to "be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues" — regulating the gifts, not predicting their imminent end.
1 Corinthians 13:12 — the same "perfect" that ends "knowing in part" also brings seeing "face to face," language continuationists read as final, unmediated sight of Christ, not a book arriving.
The gifts described in Acts and 1 Corinthians were understood as ordinary features of church life in the earliest congregations, without any stated expiration date attached to them in the text itself.
If this reading is correct, a modern believer should expect to encounter these gifts in church life today, tested against Scripture and exercised in the orderly way 1 Corinthians 14 describes — not assume their absence is the default.
The revelatory gifts ended with the apostolic era
"The perfect" refers to the completed state of God's revelation — either the finished New Testament canon or full apostolic-era maturity of the church. Once that arrived, the sign-gifts tied to confirming new revelation (prophecy, tongues) had served their purpose and ceased, though the Spirit's ordinary work continues.
Hebrews 2:3-4 — the message of salvation "was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit" specifically to confirm the apostles' testimony — evidence read as tying sign-gifts to a specific confirming purpose, not an open-ended one.
1 Corinthians 13:8's own grammar distinguishes tongues, which "will be restrained" (a decisive stop), from love, which simply "never fails" — a contrast cessationists read as marking tongues for a definite, not gradual, end.
The concentration of documented sign-gifts in Acts clusters heavily around the apostles and those they personally commissioned, a pattern cessationists read as tied to apostolic authentication rather than a permanent church function.
Widespread claims of the revelatory sign-gifts become markedly less common in church history after the apostolic generation, a pattern cessationists point to as consistent with this reading, though continuationists dispute how much weight silence in later sources should carry.
If this reading is correct, a modern believer should locate the Spirit's ongoing work in illumination, conviction, and the "ordinary" gifts (teaching, service, mercy) rather than expecting new prophecy or tongues, without this implying those who report otherwise are acting in bad faith.
What both readings actually agree on
Both sides affirm the Holy Spirit is fully active in believers' lives today. Both affirm Scripture is complete and sufficient. Both affirm 1 Corinthians 14's call to order, testing, and love over spectacle applies regardless of which reading is correct — Paul's own instruction that "everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner" (1 Corinthians 14:40) binds a continuationist congregation just as much as a cessationist one.
Why Formation doesn't pick one
This disagreement runs through denominations that all affirm the gospel, biblical inerrancy, and the deity of Christ — it is not a first-order doctrinal line the way the resurrection or justification by faith are. Presenting one side as simply correct would mean Formation quietly taking a denominational position on a question sincere, careful readers of the same text have held differently for generations. The goal here is a fair, sourced comparison — not a verdict.
Practicing this in Formation
If this question comes up in your own group study — most naturally while working through 1 Corinthians 12-14 — Formation's own guide to handling disagreement in group covers exactly this kind of idea-conflict: name it as a real, legitimate disagreement, point to a resource like this one, and keep moving without forcing the room to a single conclusion that night.