When that which is Perfect
comes . . .
By Michael
A. H. Back
Paul says (I Corinthians
13:10), "When that which is perfect comes, that which is in part
shall pass away. " What does Paul mean "that which is
perfect"? Is there any way to know? First, it helps to know that
the Greek word translated "that which is perfect" actually
means "complete thing." While in certain contexts, it can
mean "perfect," contrasting it with things that are "in
part" (rather than things that are "imperfect")
strongly points to "complete thing" as the proper translation.
Which of the following
common interpretations for "that which is perfect" could be true?
A) The full Bible
B) Baptism in the Spirit
C) The Holy Spirit Itself
D) The Body of Christ
(the church)
E) Jesus Himself
One of the rules in Greek
is that when an adjective refers to another word, it has to match
that word in gender. There are three genders in Greek (masculine,
feminine, neuter), and all adjectives can be any of the three (while
nouns can never change their gender). In this passage, "complete
thing" is a neuter adjective, which rules out
A) The full Bible (graphe
is feminine)
B) Any kind of Baptism
(baptisma is feminine)
F) Jesus Himself (Iesuos
is masculine).
Only C) Holy Spirit
(hagion pneuma) and D) Body (soma) of Christ are both neuter. Of the
two, the Body of Christ fits the "completed" description
best. This is not to say that "Body of Christ" is the
correct interpretation, simply that of the options listed here,
"body of Christ" fits best, while it definitely cannot be
A, B, or E.
