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1 Corinthians 14:1 (ESV)

Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy

Did Paul write this exhortation only for the Corinthians who were the immediate recipients of the epistle, or for Christians in all ages at large?

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Edit: Why do I think this is not a duplicate of the Acts 1:8 question?

Unless one justifies that the promise of power (Acts 1:8) and the exhortation to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:1) are logically tied somehow, a priori there is no reason to assume that an answer to the former question automatically applies to the latter. Keep in mind also that Acts and 1 Corinthians are two different books, written by different authors (as far as I'm aware).

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    Have we not addressed this several times now? – Dottard Aug 26 '21 at 05:49
  • @Dottard - I'm not sure if this question has been asked about 1 Cor 14. I asked a similar question about Acts 1:8 in the past, but that's a different book. –  Aug 26 '21 at 05:52
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    My answer will be exactly the same! – Dottard Aug 26 '21 at 06:07
  • As @Dottard states, this question has been already addressed in the link mentioned (by the OP) in the above comment Acts 1:8 – Nigel J Aug 26 '21 at 06:44
  • There is a case for a question being cleanly asked and answered. Eg, if I wanted to know about 1 Cor 14:1, which is known for reflecting on cessationism, Id search for that, Im not saying that case is always an absolute, just that it matters. For example this is easily searchable as an answer to “biblical basis for Annihilationism” https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/84105/54533 (I digress but the answer I pulled this one’s answer from was widely upvoted and the exact same text was rapidly swarm downvoted, to the point I wondered if it might be trolls. Never wondered that about another). – Al Brown Aug 26 '21 at 07:26
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    Does this answer your question? Is the promise of "power" in Acts 1:8 only for the apostles or for Christians in all ages? – Dottard Aug 26 '21 at 09:24
  • @Dottard - unless you can justify that the promise of power and the exhortation to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts are logically tied somehow, a priori there is no reason to assume that one answer automatically applies to the other question. Notice that these are two different books, written by different authors (as far as I'm aware). –  Aug 26 '21 at 13:45
  • The moment you start this "game" of deciding that some passages apply only to the NT time or NT recipients and to no one else, then it becomes irrelevant for everyone else and should be removed from the canon of Scripture. I have seen this many times - people removing big chunks of the Bible because it is no longer applies! – Dottard Aug 26 '21 at 21:11
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    While this could perhaps be closed as a duplicate of some question also asking about Paul's letters, I think this is of a different enough context to Jesus's words in Acts 1 that it's not a duplicate of that question. Remember that we don't assume canonicity in all questions. And I can conceive of cessationists saying that such teachings only applied while the miraculous gifts were being given to the church. – curiousdannii Aug 27 '21 at 02:51

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Berean Literal Bible 1 Corinthians 14:1

Earnestly pursue      love, and 
earnestly desire      spiritual gifts

Did Paul write this exhortation only for the Corinthians who were the immediate recipients of the epistle, or for Christians in all ages at large?

Yes, universally for all Christians at all times. Earnestly desiring spiritual gifts is placed on par with earnestly pursuing love for all Christians at all times.

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The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthian believers, included a section regarding spiritual matters that we reference today as Chapters 12, 13, and 14. Chapter 14 begins:

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. I Corinthians 14:1

The believers in Paul's day appear to have understood and lived with the power of the holy spirit to a much greater extent than we do today. Despite this teaching having been, for the most part, forgotten over the centuries, it continues to apply today. This fact is verified in Chapter 1, as it begins by listing to whom I Corinthians is addressed.

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: I Corinthians 1:2