Are the gifts of the Holy Spirit for today?

1 Corinthians 13:8-10.  In light of doctrine that is taught in different church organizations, there can be questions about these verses.

Christ followers and Bible teachers should  strive to understand and teach all scripture in context and apply it as it was originally intended.  These specific verses, along with verse 12,  are spoken in a future tense.  Paul was explaining the power of God’s love being eternal, even greater than temporary gifts we are given by God to be used while we live on this earth.  If we read this letter without the chapter divisions, which were inserted to make the reading easier, the context is specifically dealing with the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in an individual’s life and in a local church body (see chapters 12 & 14).  In chapter 14:2-5, Paul uses the present tense of speaking in tongues, not a past or future. 

Paul is stating that the Love of God is eternal and should be applied in and flow out of every believer’s life;  he is showing the contrast of eternal love (that empowers these gifts working in our life) with temporary gifts that are also subject to the believer’s use of them (see 14:32).   The emphasis is that believers in Christ  can ‘operate’ in these gifts of the Holy Spirit, yet the power of the gift can be nullified  by our carnality and lack of godly love.    

So Paul is saying we need God’s love to flow through our lives as we operate in these gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Only when the “perfect” will come will the gifts not be needed anymore;  he is not referring to the Messiah, for Jesus had already come and died.   He is referring, as in other statements throughout his letters, of the coming of the Lord in what we call the ‘rapture’ and then the 2^nd Coming.  After the physical earth is no longer of importance to us, we will not need the gifts working in our life.