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My understanding and belief isn't The Completeness, or The Perfect, but Mature.
I previously posted this, but I re-post it now so that my position may be made clear.
Mar 16:15-18
15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
I find it interesting, the Believers are the ones spoken of, therefore it wasn't only the Apostles with the Gifts, they were for the Body of Christ.
Rom 12:4-6
4) For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
5) So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
6) Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Now about being Mature.
Eph 4:11-13
11) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12) For the Perfecting (MATURING) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a Perfect (MATURE) man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
Here is my theory, how about the Body of Christ being,
"When That which is (MATURE) is Come"
1Co. 13:10
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When the Body of Christ has been Perfected (Become Matured), there will be no more need, for the Gifts of the Spirit....Just something else to consider.
I have used the word Perfect, only because that is Scripture, and holding to Sola Scriptura to validate what Scripture says and shows us, but I fully believe the word should be understood to mean (MATURE, MATURED,).
As that being the Maturity of the Body with Jesus being the Head.
It is my belief, the Body of Christ has not been Matured, I do not see a Mature Church of Christ, there is absolutely nothing which would provoke the Jews to Jealousy.
The word teleios also meaning 'maturity' is one that many cessationist theologians recognize as well as the 'completeness' aspect of the word. The argument being that the completion of the canon also results in the maturity of the church. A Church with the NT canon is certainly vastly more mature than one without it. Maturity is certainly in view in the analogy of a child becoming an adult in v11. This is probably why Paul chose the word teleios as it carries both meanings and so describes both actions. However maturity is a gradual process, so it would hardly a good word to describe the immediate change that occurs at the return of Christ. It fits more with the maturing of the Church over a number of decades as the canon is distributed, as the child-adult analogy would illustrate. Eph 4:12 certainly sees maturity as something achievable in this life.
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