1 Corinthians 13:8-10

The unperishable nature of love 1 Corinthians 13:8-10: Love is said to "never fail," though the miraculous spiritual gifts were to be made "null" or "useless" in time. "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." (1 Corinthians 13:8) Love will never cease to be even after the spiritual gifts have long ago passed away.

Paul said that prophecies would fail. To fail," means "to render idle, inactive, inoperative, no further efficiency, to cause to cease." The miraculous gift of prophecy would pass away after the New Testament was completed because at that point there would be no more need for those spiritual gifts. Tongues would "cease or "leave off" for the same reason. The sign of tongues is no longer needed now that we have our completed Bible. What is called "tongues" today is nothing akin to the miraculous gift of tongues described in the New Testament. The miraculous gift of knowledge would also vanish away. This is the same word as for "fail." These in part things were to vanish away when "that which is perfect is come." We are not left to guess what "the perfect" is describing. James wrote, "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (James 1:25) The completed Bible is the only perfect thing that we have in the world today.