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A BALANCED LOOK AT CESSATIONISM

by Jeffrey Hagan  
8/27/2014 / Christian Living

A BALANCED LOOK AT CESSATIONISM... I THINK
By Rev. Jeff Hagan, DCE, DMin, (ThD)


Introduction:
Let me start by stating the obvious, I am NOT God. Because I am not God, I do not have the final say regarding the topic of spiritual gifts (or anything else for that matter). It's a complex issue and believers on both sides of the coin do, and should, love each other in a godly manner while in disagreement. I am very close to many "Charismatic" and Pentecostal believers and although we may differ greatly on secondary matters, we love each other and vigorously defend the truth of the Gospel message.

The topics at hand here are cessationism and continuationism. Did the miraculous gifts stop once their purpose was served, or do these gifts still operate today? Sometimes it's hard to simply align oneself with one of the two positions when so many variables are involved. For instance, must one believe all the gifts have ceased to be a cessationist? If you believe only some of the gifts have ceased are you a partial cessationist or are you a partial continuationist because you also believe some are active? I have a disdain for labels, but such is the way of life.

Me:
If you were to ask me my position I may very well answer, "I don't know." I don't mean to be flippant about it, and it's not for lack of reading Scripture, articles, books, and studying the topic that cause me to answer this way. I say "I don't know" because as I interpret Scripture I can't reach the black and white conclusion dogmatically asserting the gifts have ceased. However, with that said, in the approximate 40 years of being saved, over 22 years of ministry experience in a variety of theological environments, and while earning graduate and post graduate degrees in bible and theology, I have yet to see a single one of these miracle gifts operate in a completely identical manner as they do in Scripture.

I am going to present a position in favor of the view that the miracle gifts have ceased. I'm doing so simply because I find it to be the best understanding of the totality of Scripture, it best fits with my experience and the experience of others, it's the most logical and common sense position, and it is the view of the vast majority of support from early church fathers and church history.

Particular Periods and Purposes:
At this point I am going to rely heavily on some of the information I found in a brief answer to a question on cessationism that I came across on the Got Questions website. I will then go on to expand on the ideas and thoughts presented.

First of all, when we look at the biblical record it becomes evident that miracles happened during *particular time periods for the specific purpose of verifying a new message from God. We see this when Moses performed miracles in front of Pharaoh to authenticate his ministry (Exodus 4:1-8). The same is true for Elijah, so he could authenticate his ministry to Ahab (1 Kings 17:1; 18:24). And of course we see the apostles performing miracles in order to validate their ministry before Israel, as well as other nations (Acts 2; 4:10, 16).

As would be expected, the earthly ministry of Jesus consisted of many miracles, or "signs" as John refers to them in John 2:11, all pointing to the authenticity of the message of Jesus and his personal claims.

Once Jesus was resurrected, while the church was being brought into fruition and the New Testament was being written, the apostles performed "signs" like the power to heal and the gift of tongues. We see in 1 Corinthians 14:22, "Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that do not believe." This verse seems to make it rather clear that the gift of tongues was not meant to edify believers in the church, therefore, once the church was established why would tongues continue? In fact, Paul actually predicted the gift of tongues would cease (1 Corinthians 13:8). Following is a list presenting evidence to support the claim that tongues have already ceased:

ONE The gift of tongues came through the apostles who were a unique group in church history. Once they had completed their ministry the use of tongues was no longer needed to validate their ministry.

TWO The miracle gifts are only mentioned in the earliest of epistles such as 1 Corinthians. We find detailed lists of the gifts in the later epistles of Ephesians and Romans, oddly enough the miracle gifts are not mentioned in these, with the exception of prophecy in popping up in Romans. One must keep in mind, however, that the Greek word translated "prophecy" means "speak forth" and does not force the inclusion of predicting the future into it's meaning.

THREE We see that tongues were a sign to stubborn Israel that God's salvation was now available to the Gentiles (1 Corinthians 14:21-22; Isaiah 28:11-12).

FOUR Tongues were considered a lesser gift than prophecy. Preaching from God's Word is what edifies believers, not tongues. The emphasis is clearly for believers to seek prophecy over tongues (1 Corinthians 14:1-3).

FIVE We see from church history an indication that tongues had ceased. We do not find tongues mentioned by any of the Post-Apostolic church fathers. Also, early theologians and authors such as Justin Martyr, Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine all believed tongues to be something that took place only in the earliest stages of the church.

SIX Modern observation and experience give credence to tongues having ceased. If it were still available missionaries would not have to learn the language of those they travel to minister to. Missionaries with this gift would be able to travel anywhere and miraculously speak the native tongue of their place of service, just as the apostles spoke in Acts 2.

In considering the miracle gift of healing, Scripture clearly connects it to the ministry of Jesus and the apostles (Luke 9:1-2). We also see that as the time of the apostles started to come to a close healing, just like tongues, took place less and less frequently. The Apostle Paul himself, who once raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:9-12), did NOT heal Epaphroditis (Philippians 2:25-27), Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20), Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23), or even himself (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). The reason Paul could not heal in these cases seems to be twofold: a) the gift was never intended to make every believer well, instead it was to authenticate apostleship; and b) the authority and validity of the apostles had been firmly established, so continued miracles were not necessary.**

The Foundation Has Been Laid:
Paul tells us the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets" (Ephesians 2:20). From this we can deduce that everything we need to know for salvation and godly living has been given to us through them, and that their teachings are now forever preserved in Scripture. Since God has spoken through his Son (Hebrews 1:2), we don't need further words from him explaining what Christ accomplished in his life, ministry, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. What we are to do now is given to us in Jude 3, "contend for the faith thaw was delivered to the saints once for all" through the apostles and prophets.

The apostles are gone. There will be no more apostles as Paul makes quite clear in 1 Corinthians 15:8 that he was the last apostle. Also, when Jesus' little brother James died (Acts 12:2) he was not replaced. Not to mention the fact the apostles technically had to be witnesses of the resurrected Jesus.

So, one can reason from here that since the gift of apostle has ceased, then it is highly possible (even probable) other gifts may have ceased as well, because the foundation has been laid by the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20). Since this is so, it makes perfect sense to include the gift of prophecy among those that have ceased, as the prophets here are the same as mentioned in (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 3:5; 4:11). The earliest of churches didn't have the closed canon of Scripture as we do today, therefore an authoritative prophetic ministry was needed early on to lay the foundation.

I would venture to guess that the most used, and perhaps most significant, argument against what I have said so far regarding prophecy is the claim that the New Testament prophecy and Old Testament prophecy are different. Some proponents claim OT prophecy was without error but NT prophecy can be mixed with error. Claiming it's okay for NT prophets to make mistakes is not convincing for several reasons:

FIRST The burden of proof is on the one who would make such a claim that OT and NT prophecy are different. A prophet in the OT had to be 100 percent accurate (Deuteronomy 18:15-22), and the same is true in the NT.

SECOND Some will use the admonition to judge prophecies rather than prophets (1 Corinthians 14:29-32; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20) in an attempt to show that the gift is different in the NT. This attempt is a grasp at the proverbial last straw. The way we judge prophets in both testaments is by their prophecies. We conclude a prophet is false, and therefore not of God, if their prophecy is false or if it contradicts Scripture.

THIRD The NT contains no examples of a prophet who made a mistake. Proponents often try and make an example of Agabus, but when examined their case falls flat. Agabus made no mistake in prophesying that Paul would be "bound by the Jews and handed over to the Romans (Acts 21:10-11). To say he erred demands more precision than prophecies warrant. Furthermore, after Paul was arrested he appealed to the words of Agabus, saying he was handed over to the Romans by the Jews (Acts 28:17), so it's clear he didn't think Agabus made a mistake."*** So, Agabus spoke the words given to him by the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:28; 21:11), and therefore we have no NT example of a prophet whose prophecies contained error.

Tongues:
A large portion of the early part of this article dealt with tongues in a condensed format, so I'll try to be brief here. It's not easy to be brief in a treatment on tongues as they seem to be a bit more complex in regards to cessationism. Earlier I gave six evidences for tongues having ceased, perhaps you'd like to skim over those again at this point.

We see in Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-48; and 19:1-7, that the gift of tongues "signifies that the age of fulfillment has arrived where God's covenant promises are being realized."**** We find in 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 and Acts 2:17-18 that tongues which are interpreted are equal to prophecy. This shows us a strong connection and relationship between prophecy and tongues. If prophecy has ceased, which we already made a case for, then it makes perfect sense that tongues would have ended as well. Not only that, it is crystal clear in Acts 2 that tongues are actual languages and Peter makes it clear it's this same gift that Cornelius and his Gentile family and friends received (Acts 11:16-17).

Other attempts to rationalize tongues exist today also fall flat. A favorite is to claim the gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12-14 is different in nature. They claim it's a "heavenly" language or that it's a combination of "ecstatic utterances." "The word tongues (glossa) denotes a linguistic code, a structured language, not random and free vocalization."***** When Paul refers to the inability to understand those speaking in tongues because they are utter mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2), he's not talking about a different gift from Acts 2. It's quite simple, if no one present is fluent in the language that the tongue is being spoken in, then of course what they are is "utter mysteries." No one understands them, no one present understands the language spoken, there's nothing mystical about it. Another attempt to label tongues as "ecstatic utterances" (or something similar) is done by using 1 Corinthians 13:1 where it speaks of "tongues of angels." It should be clear to any hermeneutics, exegesis, or original languages student that Paul is clearly engaging in the use of hyperbole in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. It's hard to miss the fact he is purposely using exaggeration for emphasis.

Where does that leave us? If tongues are not for today what do we do with those close to us who claim to speak in tongues? If tongues have ceased are present tongues satanic? I do NOT believe tongues are satanic, not as they are exercised in solid, biblical, God-fearing, Christ focused churches. I'd have to say I concur with a descriptive summary used by J.I. Packer. Packer stated something along the lines that he believed the experiences to be more of a form of "psychological relaxation."

Healing:
Can God heal? Absolutely. Does God heal? I think it is clear that he does. However, he does it his way to whom he wants on his time schedule. He does not do it by throwing your white coat on someone and then pushing them over or blowing in their face. But let me be clear again, I firmly believe God still heals and does occasional miracles. I also think praying for these things is not only appropriate but Scriptural. However, attributing healing and miracles to specific people seems like a very dangerous thing to do. It is God alone who heals today.

If this gift is still in operation as in biblical times, through specific people, then where are they? The main purpose for those gifts was to display the authenticity of the gospel and show Jesus is our Lord and Savior. That's not what happens today. Where are these humble servants of God if the gift is still operational? I'm not referring to grandiose claims and/or theatrical performances on a stage where the charlatan(s) have been investigated and shown to be frauds (although they still maintain a following). I'm not talking about self-proclaimed "healers" who have allegedly been healing all of their ministry and yet cannot produce a single shred of indisputable proof. And, I'm also not talking about second and third person accounts of third world "miraculous" incidents. I want to know where the genuine articles are today? I want to know where the real deal, authentic people with this gift of healing are. It is wise to verify claims of miracles and healing, just as they did with the healing of the blind man in John 9. Thomas Schreiner refers to this as a "kind of biblically warranted skepticism."

Is it possible that in a missionary situation God may allow healing and miracles to validate the gospel as was done in apostolic times? Sure, he could. But that is completely different than members of the church having these gifts to use on a regular basis. If these gifts have returned, or never left, we should see the deaf receiving their hearing, the blind having their sight restored, the paralyzed getting up and walking, quadriplegics rising up out of their wheelchairs, complete appendages being restored (not lengthened an inch), and the dead resurrected! But this is NOT happening! Again, I know and believe God himself heals (and sometimes miraculously even), but the healing of headaches, colds, stomach aches, back pain, sinus trouble, allergies, and even cancer remission, are NOT in the same category as the healing we find in Scripture. If people have the gift today they need to exercise them in the same way as Scripture. Let's face it, a miracle is a miracle because it's miraculous, it's NOT the norm.

But What About 1 Corinthians 13:8-12?
Many continuationists insist that 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 proves the gifts will last until the Second Coming of Christ. To be honest, this passage gives credence to the idea the gifts could last until Jesus returns. There's no cut and dry, black and white, passage that says "gifts have ceased." Maybe cursory reading might give one the impression the gifts will remain until Christ returns. However, we see clear hints in Ephesians 2:20 and other passages that the purpose of the gifts were to play a foundational role and that foundation was laid long ago. In my humble opinion, this one passage (especially when compared to all of the other passages and evidences provided in this article) allows for the possibility of, but certainly does not require, the gifts to keep operating until Christ returns. With that said, let me also state that the gifts as they are carried out today are nothing like the gifts we see in operation in biblical times. They do not fit the biblical description or pattern.


RESOURCES:

*Beginning of the use of information adapted from the first resource I mentioned regarding the answer to the question on the Got questions website.

**Ending of the information from above website.

***Thomas Schreiner, unrecalled Gospel Coalition article.

****Ibid.

*****Ibid.

Jeff Hagan is the President of True Grace Ministries and Theological Institute. Interested? www.preacherjeff45.wlxsite.com/truegracetheolgical

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