Does Paul NEED TO say that "this is for the first century only"? That's like a Muslim asking, "Where does Jesus say, "I'm God, worship Me!"...
Yeah, I know this is a pretty tough one if we're being honest but....
While Paul brings this up:
And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:28 (LSB)
He then says THIS:
Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (LSB)
WHY?? Why does he say, SPECIFICALLY, prophesy and tongues will be done away with?
I won't be dogmatic about any of this. But you would have to assume there's something different about the manifestation of the Spirit in believer's lives TODAY and what we see in scripture (of) the past. Let's be honest.
While I believe God can repeat anything that He has done in the past TODAY, nevertheless, it is still very possible that those manifestations of the Spirit were for the sake of SIGNS during the early church.
And it DOES NOT help that much of what has been deemed as evidence of the continuance of the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" today... is just not very convincing.
