Cessationism, Episode 5: Extra-biblical reasons

Our next Episode in the cessationism series.

Additional Episodes:

• Episode 1, the Perfect.
• Episode 2, the apostles.
• Episode 3, prophecy.
• Episode 4, the closed canon.
• Episode 5, extra biblical reasons.
• Episode 6, only the apostles had all truth.
• Episode 7, there were only limited periods of miracles.
• Episode 8, tongues.
• Episode 9, the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Episode 10, does God speak only through the Scriptures?
• Episode 11, what about impressions?
• Episode 12, what is discernment? 
• Episode 13, the sufficiency of Scripture.
• Episode 14, Was the purpose of miracles restricted to the authentication of the apostles?
• Episode 15, Is revival excluded because of apostasy?
• Episode 16, is prophecy subjective?
• Episode 17, Could only the apostles confer miraculous powers or gifts?
• Episode 18, are charismatics functional cessationists?

Our criteria for the cessationism debate is that the argument must

1. be from the Bible
2. Not appeal to contemporary expressions of charismata
3. Not appeal to silence
4. Not appeal to events or practices of history

That is, any defense of cessationism must be Sola Scriptura.
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Introduction

A cessationist is a Christian who believes that the "supernatural" gifts of the Spirit, including prophecy, tongues, words of knowledge, as well as signs and wonders, did not continue after the death of the last apostle. This is contrasted with a charismatic, or perhaps, a continuationist, who is a Christian who believes the Bible's descriptions of the "supernatural" gifts of the Spirit apply to today's church and should be embraced.

Cessationists also believe that the supernatural existed largely or solely to validate the apostle's ministries, so that their teaching, eventually contained in the NT, would be attested to. With the completed canon of the Bible, there would be no longer a need for these supernatural validations, and thus these things ceased. The reason, they say, is that since signs and wonders had the sole purpose of validating the ministries of the apostles, they are no longer needed because the apostles are gone and we have the completed Bible.

From this they conclude that the Bible is the complete and final revelation of God, and thus He speaks only through the Scriptures today.

Part of the reason they make this claim is if they can restrict the supernatural only to the apostles' ministry, they can invalidate the idea that the supernatural persists to present day.

This series will examine these and other claims.

Extra-biblical Reasons for Cessationism

Our first four episodes dealt with Scriptural claims, but today we turn to the appeals cessationists make that are based on things apart from what the Bible says.

On one hand these claims need to be addressed, but on the other hand, trying to bolster a doctrinal claim apart from the Bible seems inappropriate. Doctrine comes from the Bible. And we note that there is a marked tendency for the Sola Scriptura cessationists to be reluctant to quote Scripture in their defenses. In fact, they spend an inordinate amount of time discussing extra-biblical things.

Here are some extra-biblical reasons cessationists typically use to assert the supernatural gifts have ceased:

1. The failures of present-day charismatics
2. History shows an absence of the supernatural gifts
3. Azuza Street only happened a few decades ago
4. There is a gradual tapering off of the supernatural in the later epistles which shows the gifts were ending

The Failures of Present-day Charismatics

This is a curious argument (if you can call it that), because it suggests that when considering the biblical case as to whether or not the gifts have ceased, cessationists think we should consider the practices of present-day charismatics.

However, "the gifts have ceased because Benny Hinn is a false teacher" is not an argument. It isn't even logical. It speaks to no spiritual principle or biblical stance. It's simply invective. Similarly, "speaking in tongues is nonsensical babble" isn't an argument, it's a conversation-ender. "Contemporary prophecy is nothing like New Testament prophecy" is not an engagement with what the Bible teaches.

No appeal to contemporary expressions of the gifts in charismatic churches, whether they're properly expressed or inadequate or faulty or on the level of N.T. events, is even relevant.

Why?

First, because the biblical case for the continuation of the "supernatural" gifts is not contingent on the present-day expression of them. Even if there weren't a single person on earth today properly expressing the "supernatural" gifts, it would say nothing about what the Bible teaches.

Second, we derive doctrine from the Bible, not from what people are doing or not doing. Thus, this cessationist focus on contemporary charismatics is completely irrelevant.

History Shows an Absence of the Supernatural Gifts

This is discussed in more detail here.

The second reason cessationist offer is built on the same foundation as reason one, with a slight twist. But rather than appeal to what is going on now, the cessationists appeal to what they suppose was not going on over the course of history.

So because they think nothing was happening over the intervening centuries, the resurgence of the charismatic manifestations shouldn't have happened and are therefore not of God.

They conclude that the nothingness was normal and God's will.

The premise is an Argument from Silence, that is, the silence of history somehow proves the cessationist case. But of course, one cannot prove anything from what is not there.

The questions we need to ask are, what if the lack of historical occurrence was a violation of what God intended? What if the supernatural gifts shouldn't have died out, but the Church instead went apostate?

Or, what if history simply didn't report the supernatural occurrences in the Church?

To this last question, there is actually a testimony of history to consider:

Justin Martyr (100-165): “For the prophetical gifts remain with us even to the present time. Now it is possible to see among us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God.”

Irenaeus (125-200): “In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the church who possess prophetic gifts and through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages. ... Yes, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years.”

Tertullian (150-240): “For seeing that we too acknowledge the spiritual charismata, or gifts, we too have merited the attainment of the prophetic gift ... and heaven knows how many distinguished men, to say nothing of the common people, have been cured either of devils or of their sicknesses.”

Novation (210-280): “This is he [the Holy Spirit] who places prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works ... and arranges whatever gifts there are of the charismata; and thus making the Lord’s church everywhere, and in all, perfected and completed."

Origen (185-284): “Some give evidence of their having received through this faith a marvelous power by the cures which they perform, invoking no other name over those who need their help than that of the God of all things, along with Jesus and a mention of his history.”

Augustine (354-430): In his work The City of God, Augustine tells of healings and miracles that he has observed firsthand and then says, “I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work that I cannot record all the miracles I know.”

Of course, we run the risk ourselves of being accused of appealing to history. Nevertheless, perhaps the supernatural gifts didn't end with the death of the last apostle. More likely, the above documentation just didn't end up in the history books of the cessationists.

We would suggest that the supernatural was to continue through the centuries. Maybe in "these last days" we really will see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. We are still in the last days. We therefore should still see evidence of Joel's prophecy in the contemporary church.

Azuza Street Was Only a Few Decades Ago

Some cessationists claim that the charismatic viewpoint is a relatively new development, beginning at the Azuza Street revival, which occurred shortly after the turn of the 20th century. This is used as evidence that the "supernatural" gifts are invalid in the face of centuries of church history where such things were supposedly not in evidence.

In actual fact, the church dealt with the Montanists early on. Round about 177 A.D. the church concerned itself with the Montanists:

…this person was carried away in spirit; and suddenly being seized with a kind of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to speak and to utter strange things, and to prophesy in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church, as handed down from early times and preserved thenceforward in a continuous succession.”— Asterius Urbanus, The Extant Writings

Notice the writer did not deny the existence of prophecy, but rather the character of it. There remained a custom in the church for proper prophecy.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was written in 1646, and article 1.6 states:

The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.

Hundreds of years ago this Confession addresses the issue, so it is false to assert that Charismaticism is a relatively new phenomenon.

We also would note that if the recent arrival of something disqualifies it, we would like to consider premillenial pre-trib dispensationalism, a doctrine many cessationists are likely to believe. This was first taught by John Nelson Darby in the mid 1800s. If the recent advent of charismatic doctrine is a disqualifier, we wonder if the recent advent of premillenial dispensationalism similarly disqualifies it.

There is a Gradual Tapering Off of the Supernatural

We discuss this in more detail here.

This is an argument from the silence of Scripture, rather than the silence of history. Thus, it is an argument based on what isn't written, which of course is a dubious method of determining doctrine.

It's similar to the Church of Christ position that because musical instruments aren't mentioned in the N.T. there shouldn't be any in the church. Using such reasoning, one could then embark on a long list of things that aren't mentioned (gay marriage, Sunday school, abortion, automobiles, etc., etc.) and thus proclaim that because the Bible is silent it isn't permitted, or conversely, the Bible didn't forbid it so we can do it.

All sorts of aberrant doctrines could develop. That's why it's dangerous to argue from silence.

Tim Challies presents the cessationist argument for the fading of the supernatural:

I see that those miraculous gifts were given for a specific time and purpose—they were given to accredit the message of the gospel when it was first going forth and before the Bible had been completed. 

As that time and purpose drew to a close, so too did the gifts.

This is easily seen when we read the New Testament with an eye to when the different books were written. While an early book like 1 Corinthians has a lot to say about miraculous gifts, later books have far less to say. In fact, by the time Paul is writing to Timothy he is not expecting that Timothy will experience a miracle and not instructing him to pursue one, but rather prescribing a very ordinary cure for an ailment—“have a little wine for the sake of your stomach.” Paul himself suffered with physical pain but was unable to receive a miraculous cure. As we read through the New Testament we see these gifts slow and cease over the course of decades.

We note that the various epistles are written for a variety of purposes with a variety of objectives. There is correction, instruction, encouragement, and doctrine, depending on what the writer felt the need to address. So we ask, why would Paul, for example, write to Timothy about the operation of the spiritual gifts when his stated purpose was to instruct Timothy on how the church was to be governed? Does his failure to mention certain things mean they aren't in existence anymore, or rather, is it because he's focused on the matter at hand?

There is no burden on Paul to discuss things other than we he considers important. That does not grant us the privilege to formulate theories on what Paul did not write. Nor is there a burden on us to conclude that because Paul didn't write about certain things at certain times that those things were fading away. 

Paul was writing about what he wanted to write about.

Otherwise we would be forced to conclude that Paul didn't think much of

• The Cross because it isn't mentioned in Romans, 1 or 2 Thessalonians, 1 or 2 Timothy, or Titus. 
• Baptism because it isn't mentioned in Philippians, 1 or 2 Thessalonians, 1 or 2 Timothy, or Titus. 
• His own apostleship because Paul does not identify himself as an apostle in Philippians or 2 Thessalonians. 
• The Holy Spirit because Colossians and Philemon don't mention Him; Neither does John in 2 John and 3 John 

Mr. Challies referenced Paul's affliction. So why wasn't Paul healed? Our first answer is, why would God be required to heal him or anyone else?

Cessationist might appeal to a Scripture like Ac. 5:16:

Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

So everyone got healed, therefore cessationists would presume the existence of non-healed individuals means the power to heal was fading.

 The Acts narrative shifts in Ac. 6::1

 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing...

This could be a hint that this is a later time, and thus the power to heal was indeed fading with the passage of time. However, we read this in Ac. 6:8:

Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.

Here's a non-apostle still doing miracles. Hmm. That's when we arrive at Ac. 8:7:

With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.

"Many." So not everyone was healed. Ironically, the supposed increasing incidents of unhealed people was an indicator that the "supernatural" gifts, as well as signs and wonders, were diminishing even before the Apostles' deaths. 

Yet everyone got healed.

 
Thus cessationists want to have it both ways. "The apostles healed everyone" except when "the ability to heal was fading."

Although we would argue that there is no requirement that everyone must get healed all the time, cessationists believe this is evidence that the miraculous was fading away. But,

• Philip teleports away from the eunuch (Ac. 8:39).

• Paul has his Damascus Road encounter (Ac. 9:3).

• Ananias lays hands on Paul and he is healed (Ac. 9:17).

• Aeneas gets healed (Ac. 9:34).

• A cripple gets healed (Ac. 14:9).

• Publius' father gets healed (Ac. 28:8).

• Paul explains the gift of healing (1Co. 12:9).

• The lame can still get healed (He. 12:13).

• The sick will be made well by the prayer of the elders (Ja. 5:15).

We don't wish to belabor the point, but we cannot allow ourselves to draw doctrinal conclusions based on presumption.