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It's almost become a quest of ours to find a genuine biblical argument for the cessation of the supernatural gifts. John MacArthur has failed. George Faull fell short. Steve Finnell couldn't step up. Tom Pennington, Phil Johnson, David Vaughn Elliot, Nathan Busenitz, and Lyndon Unger didn't make the cut.
We are not a biblical scholars. Nor are we particularly smart. We are not here to decimate theological enemies and proclaim our superiority. We simply want to know the biblical case for cessationism. Not the failings of contemporary charismatics. Not the extrapolations from the silence of the Bible. Not the error of prosperity teachers or televangelists. No, we want the biblical case.
Let's see what Ms. Guthrie is able to do for us:
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When someone begins a sentence with “God told me . . .” I have to admit a silent alarm goes off somewhere inside me—unless the phrase is followed by a verse of Scripture. I know that many see this as the way the Christian life is supposed to work—that if we are really in fellowship with God we will be able to sense him speaking to us through an inner voice. But I'm not so sure. And it's not because I think God is incapable of or uninterested in speaking to his people today. In fact I resist this language precisely because God is speaking to his people today. He speaks to us through the Scriptures. (So the author's premise is that God speaks today only through the Scriptures. Let's see if she supplies us with the biblical case for her assertion.)
When we read the Scriptures we are not just reading a record of what God has said in the past. God actively speaks to us in the here and now through the words of this amazing book. The writer of Hebrews makes this point clear when he quotes Old Testament passages and presents them not as something God said to his people sometime in the past, but as something God is currently saying to his people (Hebrews 1:6,7,8, 2:12, 3:7, 4:7). He writes that “the word of God is living and active” (4:12). It is exposing our shallow beliefs and hidden motives. This word is personal. You and I hear the voice of God speaking to us—unmistakably, authoritatively, and personally—when we read, hear, study, and meditate on the Scriptures. (The author states what no one denies, that the Holy Spirit speaks through Scripture. Now her burden is to demonstrate this as the only way God speaks in these days.)
Something More, Something Different
But many of us want something more, something different. We read the Scriptures and witness God speaking to individuals in amazing ways throughout the history of redemption. Job heard God speaking from the whirlwind. Moses heard him calling from the fiery bush. Samuel heard him calling in the dark. David heard him speak through the prophet Nathan. Isaiah felt the burning coal and heard assurance that his guilt was taken away and sin atoned for. Saul and those traveling with him on the road to Damascus heard Jesus asking why Saul was persecuting him. Prophets and teachers at Antioch heard the Holy Spirit tell them to set apart Barnabas and to send out Saul. John felt the glorified Jesus touch him and heard his assurance that he didn't have to be afraid.
Many of us read these accounts and assume that the Bible is presenting the normal experience of all who follow God. But is it? Graeme Goldsworthy speaks to this question in his book Gospel and Wisdom. He writes, “Every case of special guidance given to individuals in the Bible has to do with that person's place in the outworking of God's saving purposes.” He adds, “There are no instances in the Bible in which God gives special and specific guidance to the ordinary believing Israelite or Christian in the details of their personal existence.” (Hmm. We had to read this a few times to figure out what was being asserted. There is apparently a distinction between "God's saving purposes" and "details of personal existence."
Upon what basis does Mr. Goldsworthy make this distinction? Are the two actually different? In what way? And why exclude "God's saving purposes" as a possibility for "ordinary" believers?
Further, this is an argument from silence. We cannot make determinations from what the Bible does not say. Indeed, "ordinary" people are ordinary because they are not mentioned, for when the Bible mentions people they are no longer in the "ordinary" category.)
Are there instances in the Scriptures in which people describe a sense of God speaking to them through an inner voice? We read accounts of God speaking in an audible voice, through a supernatural dream or vision, a human hand writing on a wall, a blinding light, or a thunderous voice from heaven. This is quite different from the way most people who say that God has told them something describe hearing his voice—as a thought that came into their mind that they “know” was God speaking. One prominent teacher who trains people on how to hear the voice of God writes, “God's voice in your heart often sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts.” (So according to the author, God never speaks in "an inner voice" to a person. It falls to the author to demonstrate that biblically, and we have yet to read any Scriptures that bolster her case. In fact, the author will mage to quote only two partial Scriptures in her entire article. This is a travesty.
So, we will actually quote Scripture. Let's look and see if there are any instances of God communicating in this "inner voice."
But where in the Bible are we instructed to seek after or expect to hear God speak to us in this way? (This is a curious demand. We are expected to believe that we hear God through Scripture only, but the author has not supplied us with Scripture to support her position. Yet she demands it from us?
So let's answer her challenge with additional Scriptures:
Some who suggest that a conversational relationship with God is not only possible but even normative point to John 10 in which Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, saying, “My sheep hear my voice.” However, in this passage Jesus is not prescribing a method of ongoing divine communication. He is speaking to the Jews of his day using a metaphor they understand—a shepherd and his sheep. His point is that the elect among the Jews will recognize him as the shepherd the prophets wrote about and will respond to his call to repent and believe, as will the elect among the Gentiles so that they will become one flock, one church, with him at the head. (Finally a Scriptural reference, unfortunately ripped from its context and twisted beyond recognition.
Are there instances in the Scriptures in which people describe a sense of God speaking to them through an inner voice? We read accounts of God speaking in an audible voice, through a supernatural dream or vision, a human hand writing on a wall, a blinding light, or a thunderous voice from heaven. This is quite different from the way most people who say that God has told them something describe hearing his voice—as a thought that came into their mind that they “know” was God speaking. One prominent teacher who trains people on how to hear the voice of God writes, “God's voice in your heart often sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts.” (So according to the author, God never speaks in "an inner voice" to a person. It falls to the author to demonstrate that biblically, and we have yet to read any Scriptures that bolster her case. In fact, the author will mage to quote only two partial Scriptures in her entire article. This is a travesty.
So, we will actually quote Scripture. Let's look and see if there are any instances of God communicating in this "inner voice."
Ac. 13:2 "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'”Was there an audible voice booming from heaven? Most likely this direction from the Holy Spirit was discerned and not audible, but we don't know. In any case, we must not argue from the silence of Scripture.
Ac. 15:28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements..."Was the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking audibly here, in a manner that He "seemed" to say this? Again this appears to be a matter of discerning a direction. And again, we are faced with a situation outside the author's parameters.
Ac. 20:23 "I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me."Again we ask, is this audible speech by the Holy Spirit?
Ac. 21:10-11 "After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, `In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’"Did Agabus hear an audible voice?
Ro. 9:1 "I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit..."Hmm. This is clearly not an audible voice.)
But where in the Bible are we instructed to seek after or expect to hear God speak to us in this way? (This is a curious demand. We are expected to believe that we hear God through Scripture only, but the author has not supplied us with Scripture to support her position. Yet she demands it from us?
So let's answer her challenge with additional Scriptures:
2Co. 8:16 "I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you."
Ep. 1:18 "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you..."
Ep. 3:17-19 "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God."
2Th. 3:5 "May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance."
He. 3:7-8 "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion...'"
1Jn. 3:19-22 "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him."
Re. 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."Now, unless the author is willing to assert that each of these things only involve the audible voice of God, she will need to produce something, anything, that contravenes the fact that God has access to all parts of the inner man and communicates to us that way.)
Some who suggest that a conversational relationship with God is not only possible but even normative point to John 10 in which Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, saying, “My sheep hear my voice.” However, in this passage Jesus is not prescribing a method of ongoing divine communication. He is speaking to the Jews of his day using a metaphor they understand—a shepherd and his sheep. His point is that the elect among the Jews will recognize him as the shepherd the prophets wrote about and will respond to his call to repent and believe, as will the elect among the Gentiles so that they will become one flock, one church, with him at the head. (Finally a Scriptural reference, unfortunately ripped from its context and twisted beyond recognition.
"Hear" is ἀκούω (akouó), I hear, listen, comprehend by hearing... to yield obedience to the voice... This is beyond a metaphor, it is an ongoing listening and yielding.
It is interesting that John inserts an editorial comment after Jesus claimed to be the Good Shepherd. Verse 6: "Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them." Sadly, it seems the author has the same problem.
Given this lack of understanding, Jesus elaborates on his "figure of speech" and says in verse 9: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." Not just Jews, Jesus says "whoever." Jesus is specifically talking about the nature of salvation. Thus, "whoever" enters this gate is not only saved, but hears His voice.
The final nail in the author's rhetorical coffin is Jn. 10:16: "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." So there are other sheep, whoever they might be, and they will listen to His voice as well.
Case closed.)
Longing for God's Guidance
So why do we speak about hearing God in this way? We grew up being told that we must have a “personal relationship with God,” and what is more personal than hearing him speak to us about our individual issues and needs? (We note here that she artificially restricts the "inner voice to "our individual issues and needs.")
Sometimes if we dig deep we realize we speak this way because we want to impress others with our close connection to God and make sure they know we've consulted with him on the matter at hand. (Certainly there can be a sinful motive, just as there is in many other parts of our Christian walk.)
Another reason may be that to say, “God told me . . .” can prove useful to us. If you've asked me to teach children's Sunday school this fall, it sounds far more spiritual and makes it far more difficult for you to challenge me if I say that God told me I need to sit in adult Sunday school with my husband than if I simply say that I don't want to or have decided not to teach. (It almost sounds like the author is trying to establish that this "inner voice" is always sin-based.)
But I think there is something more at work here than simply our desire to sound spiritual or to make it difficult for someone to challenge our preferences or decisions. We genuinely long for God to guide us. We genuinely long for a personal word from God, a supernatural experience with God. Yet we fail to grasp that as we read and study and hear the Word of God taught and preached, it is a personal word from God. Because the Scriptures are “living and active,” (No, the Word is living and active.)
Given this lack of understanding, Jesus elaborates on his "figure of speech" and says in verse 9: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." Not just Jews, Jesus says "whoever." Jesus is specifically talking about the nature of salvation. Thus, "whoever" enters this gate is not only saved, but hears His voice.
The final nail in the author's rhetorical coffin is Jn. 10:16: "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." So there are other sheep, whoever they might be, and they will listen to His voice as well.
Case closed.)
Longing for God's Guidance
So why do we speak about hearing God in this way? We grew up being told that we must have a “personal relationship with God,” and what is more personal than hearing him speak to us about our individual issues and needs? (We note here that she artificially restricts the "inner voice to "our individual issues and needs.")
Sometimes if we dig deep we realize we speak this way because we want to impress others with our close connection to God and make sure they know we've consulted with him on the matter at hand. (Certainly there can be a sinful motive, just as there is in many other parts of our Christian walk.)
Another reason may be that to say, “God told me . . .” can prove useful to us. If you've asked me to teach children's Sunday school this fall, it sounds far more spiritual and makes it far more difficult for you to challenge me if I say that God told me I need to sit in adult Sunday school with my husband than if I simply say that I don't want to or have decided not to teach. (It almost sounds like the author is trying to establish that this "inner voice" is always sin-based.)
But I think there is something more at work here than simply our desire to sound spiritual or to make it difficult for someone to challenge our preferences or decisions. We genuinely long for God to guide us. We genuinely long for a personal word from God, a supernatural experience with God. Yet we fail to grasp that as we read and study and hear the Word of God taught and preached, it is a personal word from God. Because the Scriptures are “living and active,” (No, the Word is living and active.)
God's speaking to us through them is a personal, supernatural experience. (Hmm. Do you remember the author quoting Mr. Goldsworthy: “There are no instances in the Bible in which God gives special and specific guidance to the ordinary believing Israelite or Christian in the details of their personal existence.” The author used this quote to establish her case against the "inner voice." But now she assents to the idea that God personally guides us through the Scriptures.)
God has spoken and is, in fact, still speaking to us through the Scriptures. We don't need any more special revelation. (The prophetic is not "special revelation."1Co. 14:3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.)
What we need is illumination, (Illumination vs. revelation is a distinction without a difference. Something illumined was previously in darkness and is revealed in the light. Revelation is the unveiling of something previously obscured.
That's the same thing!)
and this is exactly what Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit will give to us as his word abides in us. The Holy Spirit of God works through the Word of God to counsel and comfort and convict (John 16:7-15). (Again, here is the passage, since the author seems reluctant to quote Scripture:
Through the Scriptures we hear God teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training us in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17). (Once again we will quote it:
God has spoken and is, in fact, still speaking to us through the Scriptures. We don't need any more special revelation. (The prophetic is not "special revelation."1Co. 14:3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.)
What we need is illumination, (Illumination vs. revelation is a distinction without a difference. Something illumined was previously in darkness and is revealed in the light. Revelation is the unveiling of something previously obscured.
That's the same thing!)
and this is exactly what Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit will give to us as his word abides in us. The Holy Spirit of God works through the Word of God to counsel and comfort and convict (John 16:7-15). (Again, here is the passage, since the author seems reluctant to quote Scripture:
5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.We challenge you to find in that passage anything about "The Holy Spirit of God works through the Word of God...")
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Through the Scriptures we hear God teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training us in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17). (Once again we will quote it:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Do you see anything in this passage that excludes the "inner voice?"
Now comes a couple of Appeals to Authority...)
I appreciate the way John Piper (Unfortunately for the author, John Piper is a self-avowed continuationist, that is, he believes the gifts have continued to today.)
described his experience in hearing God speak through the Scriptures in his message “How Important is the Bible?” given at Lausanne 2010:
Does it really make a difference when we expect God to speak to us through the Scriptures rather than waiting to hear a divine voice in our heads? I think it does. When we know that God speaks personally and powerfully through his Word, we don't have to feel that our relationship to Christ is sub-par, or that we are experiencing a less-than Christian life if we don't sense God giving us extra-biblical words of instruction or promise. ("We don't have to feel..." The author appeals to emotional status. What kind of biblical defense is this??)
When we know God speaks through his Word we are not obligated to accept—indeed, we can be appropriately skeptical toward—claims by any book, teacher, preacher, or even friend when they write or say, “God told me . . .” (This is a false binary choice, and a completely spurious assertion. One thing does not ensure the other, nor do they exclude other, unnamed elements.
Now comes a couple of Appeals to Authority...)
I appreciate the way John Piper (Unfortunately for the author, John Piper is a self-avowed continuationist, that is, he believes the gifts have continued to today.)
described his experience in hearing God speak through the Scriptures in his message “How Important is the Bible?” given at Lausanne 2010:
God talks to me no other way, but don't get this wrong, he talks to me very personally. I open my Bible in the morning to meet my friend, my Savior, my Creator, my Sustainer. I meet him and he talks to me. . . . I'm not denying providence, not denying circumstances, not denying people, I'm just saying that the only authoritative communion I have with God with any certainty comes through the words of this book.And if we want to go back a little further, Jonathan Edwards warned:
I . . . know by experience that impressions being made with great power, and upon the minds of true saints, yea, eminent saints; and presently after, yea, in the midst of, extraordinary exercises of grace and sweet communion with God, and attended with texts of Scripture strongly impressed on the mind, are no sure signs of their being revelations from heaven: for I have known such impressions [to] fail, and prove vain.What Difference Does It Really Make?
Does it really make a difference when we expect God to speak to us through the Scriptures rather than waiting to hear a divine voice in our heads? I think it does. When we know that God speaks personally and powerfully through his Word, we don't have to feel that our relationship to Christ is sub-par, or that we are experiencing a less-than Christian life if we don't sense God giving us extra-biblical words of instruction or promise. ("We don't have to feel..." The author appeals to emotional status. What kind of biblical defense is this??)
When we know God speaks through his Word we are not obligated to accept—indeed, we can be appropriately skeptical toward—claims by any book, teacher, preacher, or even friend when they write or say, “God told me . . .” (This is a false binary choice, and a completely spurious assertion. One thing does not ensure the other, nor do they exclude other, unnamed elements.
Acknowledging that "God speaks through his Word" is not a defense strategy, for many have twisted the word of God for their own ends. And as we noted, charismatics assent to God speaking through the Bible.)
We don't have to wait until we hear God give us the go-ahead before we say “yes” or “no” to a request or make a decision. We can consult the Scriptures and rest in the wisdom and insight the Holy Spirit is developing in us and feel free to make a decision. (Really? We don't have to wait? Once again we appeal to the author for a single scrap of Scripture.
In the meantime, we will document our position:
So we are disappointed yet again that the biblical case is absent.)
We don't have to wait until we hear God give us the go-ahead before we say “yes” or “no” to a request or make a decision. We can consult the Scriptures and rest in the wisdom and insight the Holy Spirit is developing in us and feel free to make a decision. (Really? We don't have to wait? Once again we appeal to the author for a single scrap of Scripture.
In the meantime, we will document our position:
Ps. 27:14 "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."
Ps. 37:7 "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him..."
Ps. 38:15 "I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God."\
Ro. 8:25 "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
He. 6:15 "And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised."As we delight ourselves in the law of the Lord day and night, we can expect his Word to be living and active in our inmost parts. As that Word transforms us by the renewal of our minds, we will find that our thoughts and feelings, dreams and desires, are being shaped more by his Word than by our flesh. We will find that we are more drawn to obey his commands than to follow the culture. We will ask him for wisdom and receive it out of his generosity. (Of course, and no charismatic denies this.
So we are disappointed yet again that the biblical case is absent.)
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