Does Jesus’ Return End Spiritual Gifts?

Scripture tells believers to eagerly desire spiritual gifts. Paul writes: “Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy” (1 Corinthians 14:1 BSB). This command appears in the New Testament for the church. Nothing in Scripture clearly cancels it for later generations.

The Common View of 1 Corinthians 13

Many Christians read 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 and conclude that spiritual gifts such as prophecy, tongues, and special knowledge will stop when “the perfect” comes. Preterists often see “the perfect” as Jesus’ return, which they believe happened in the first century (around AD 70).

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 (BSB) 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. … Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

If Jesus returned in the first century, shouldn’t the gifts have ended then? Some preterists argue that the gifts either stopped or became much less common afterward. They say God gave more miracles in the first century to help the gospel spread quickly before His return. Once that urgency passed, they claim, fewer miracles were needed.

However, historical accounts from the early church fathers show that miracles, healings, prophecy, and other gifts continued well after the first century. Their purpose was not only for spreading the gospel but also for the “common good” of believers in the church (1 Corinthians 12:7). Because Scripture encourages believers to desire spiritual gifts, we should carefully consider whether this instruction still applies to Christians today.

What Is The “Perfect”?

In this passage, consider that Paul is not predicting the end of spiritual gifts during this present age. He is correcting the Corinthian church, which was misusing gifts out of pride and competition (see 1 Corinthians 12–14 and the similar teaching in Romans 12:3-5). He urges them to pursue love as “the most excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31). Without love, even the greatest gifts are worthless (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Paul explains that gifts are temporary vehicles for this life to deliver God’s love. A prophecy looses value after it is fulfilled. In heaven, with perfect communication, tongues will not be necessary. With full understanding, our partial knowledge will no longer matter. He wants believers to focus on what lasts forever. Performing gifts with pride, envy, or competition misses the point—love is the whole purpose.

Gifts are valuable now for building up the church. But love lasts forever (1 Corinthians 13:13). This view fits the context of 1 Corinthians 12–13 well.

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

Gifts are not only for evangelism. Paul says: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7 BSB). He lists wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation—all for the benefit of believers.

Paul adds that prophecy especially strengthens believers (1 Corinthians 14:3, 22-25). Even when no unbelievers are present, gifts still serve the church. Wisdom, healing, encouragement, and guidance remain useful long after the gospel has reached new places. The church always needs building up, comfort, and practical help.

Gifts Have Continued Through History

Early church leaders who wrote long after the first century reported that miracles, healings, prophecy, and other gifts were still happening.

Justin Martyr (around 150 AD) stated: “For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time.” He listed gifts operating in the church—understanding, counsel, strength, healing, foreknowledge, teaching, and the fear of God.¹

Irenaeus (around 180–200 AD) wrote that true disciples “do in His name perform miracles” for the good of others. He described people healing the sick by laying on hands, raising the dead (who then lived for years among them), receiving foreknowledge, seeing visions, uttering prophecies, and speaking in various languages (tongues). He said it was impossible to count all the gifts the church “exerts day by day” around the world in the name of the crucified Jesus.²

Augustine (early 5th century) recorded many miracles in his own time in Hippo and Carthage. These included healings of blindness, paralysis, cancer, and gout—sometimes instantly after prayer, baptism, or contact with relics of martyrs. Augustine stated that “even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ” through sacraments, prayers, and the relics of saints, performed by the same God as in earlier days (though often less widely publicized).³

No major church father before roughly 400 AD taught that the miraculous gifts had ceased after the apostles. They described them as ongoing realities in the life of the church.

Modern Evidence

Documented reports of healings and other gifts continue today. New Testament scholar Craig Keener has compiled hundreds of medically supported cases from around the world in books such as Miracles Today. These include people blind from birth or advanced disease suddenly seeing, the deaf hearing, the paralyzed walking, and advanced cancers disappearing—confirmed by before-and-after medical records, scans, and physician testimony. Many occur in ordinary church settings through prayer in Jesus’ name.

One well-documented example is Barbara Cummiskey Snyder. She suffered severe multiple sclerosis from age 15. By age 31 she was bedridden for years, unable to walk or breathe on her own, with a “do not resuscitate” order in place. On Pentecost Sunday 1981 she heard an audible voice say, “My child, get up and walk.” She stood and walked immediately; all symptoms vanished. Doctors who treated her documented the case. Decades later she remained free of MS.⁴

Reports of prophetic gifts also persist—accurate words of knowledge that reveal hidden details, bring conviction, or guide people toward healing or repentance, consistent with 1 Corinthians 14:24-25. While every individual claim requires testing, the overall pattern of gifts operating for the church’s good matches the New Testament description and continues globally, especially in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, but also in the West.

Conclusion

Scripture encourages us to desire spiritual gifts. Their purpose—for the common good of believers—has not expired. History, from the second-century fathers through Augustine to credible modern accounts, shows these gifts have continued long after Christ’s return. When 1 Corinthians 13 is put in context, the “perfect” more readily points to heaven rather than Christ’s arrival.

Therefore, it is reasonable and faithful to Scripture to believe God still distributes spiritual gifts today. We should eagerly desire them, practice them in love and order (as Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians 12–14), test everything (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21), and use them to build up the body of Christ. Love remains the greatest and most enduring gift of all.

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