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Did the gift of healing continue after the apostles?

Contested

Texts of equal or higher authority genuinely pull both ways, and SAM names both sides.

The text does not settle this, same-tier texts pull in opposite directions, and the key phrase "when the complete comes" (1 Corinthians 13:10) is left undefined, making the question genuinely contested within the New Testament itself.

Paul's own letter both lists healing as an ongoing Spirit-distributed gift (1 Corinthians 12:9, 11) and says gifts will cease "when the complete comes" (1 Corinthians 13:10), without defining what "the complete" is. James 5:14–16 commands elders of any assembly to pray for healing with no apostolic restriction. No text explicitly states the gifts have ceased.

The unresolved tension: The text does not define what "the complete" (to teleion, 1 Corinthians 13:10) refers to, whether the completed canon, the return of Christ, or the resurrection state, and therefore does not state when the gifts of healing will cease.

Key texts:
1 Corinthians 12:7-11Tier 4 · Apostle
“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Sp…”
1 Corinthians 12:28-30Tier 4 · Apostle
“God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. Are all apostles? A…”
1 Corinthians 13:8-10Tier 4 · Apostle
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in p…”

…and 11 more verses weighed in the full analysis.

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Original-language words behind this answer:
aleíphō (Greek G218)poikílos (Greek G4164)nósos (Greek G3554)symphérō (Greek G4851)oikodomḗ (Greek G3619)méchri (Greek G3360)génos (Greek G1085)iáomai (Greek G2390)árti (Greek G737)kainós (Greek G2537)

SAM answers from primary-source texts only, weighing each verse by its authority tier. Every quotation is verified word-for-word. How the method works →

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