Only for a Time - by NICK BATZIG

Found here. My comments in bold.
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My quest for a biblical argument on the cessation of the supernatural gifts continues. Mr. Batzig tries and fails. I should mention that this is not a defense of Matt Chandler. I know very little of him, and in fact heard him preach for the first time in the linked video.
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I was interested to see that the cessationism/continuitionism issue is surfacing again--due to Matt Chandler's recent sermon, "A Supernatural Community and a Personal Word." Matt's introductory argument is as follows: Many Christians do not experience the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (i.e. tongues, prophecy, knowledge, healings, etc.); therefore, they have wrongly concluded that the extraordinary gifts have ceased and that everything in the book of Acts is merely history. Without wanting to analyze and critique Matt's arguments here in any sort of detailed way, I do want to make a few important observations about the fallacy of that argument in particular, based on the biblical rationale for cessationism.

First, it is unfair and uncharitable for someone to insist that brothers and sisters in Christ have adopted a cessationist understanding of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit simply because they have not experienced them in their lives. (The author begins by putting a twist on Chandler's presentation. Chandler simply offers it as a possibility, and not that it's every cessationist's sole reason.)

In fact, all the cessationists I personally know are convinced by the teaching of Scripture that tongues, prophecy and mediated extraordinary healings have ceased. (First, "all the cessationists I personally know" is a subset of all cessationists, which is a subset of all Christians. Thus the author's personal experience is not representative of all cessationists or all Christians.

Second, the author's statement is an evasion. The author's rejoinder is not relevant to Chandler's statement.

Third, the author is himself "unfair and uncharitable" by implying that his side has done the studying of Scripture, while the likes of Chandler has not.) 

After all, the word "cease" comes straight out of 1 Corinthians 13:8, where the Apostle Paul said, "As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away." (Every charismatic agrees these things will "cease." The actual debate is, when?)

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul contrasts three of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (i.e. tongues, prophecy and knowledge) with three of the ordinary gifts of the Spirit (i.e. faith, hope and love). He then says that the extraordinary gifts would cease and pass away, while the ordinary gifts would remain. Finally, Paul teaches that love is the greatest because love endures forever. Elsewhere, Paul teaches that "faith will be turned to sight," and "hope that is seen is not hope." He is clearly intimating that during the New Covenant era of redemptive history, faith, hope and love would continue, while, at some point, tongues, prophecy and knowledge would cease. ("Clearly?" This is an unjustified assumption based on no scriptural evidence. Honest cessationists will admit that this Scripture is not definitive. Cessationist Tom Pennington admits their case isn't definitive:

First of all, they’ll (continuationists) say the New Testament nowhere directly states that the miraculous gifts will cease during the church age. But that argument cuts both ways because the New Testament doesn’t directly say they will continue either.

That is, Mr. Pennington concedes that neither side gets to claim a definitive solution.

Tom Schreiner is another respected cessationist, who writes this here: 

I am not writing on this topic because I have the final answer on spiritual gifts, for the matter is difficult and Christians who love God and the Bible disagree.

So Mr. Schreiner is no more certain than Mr. Pennington. 

And Prof. Thomas R. Edgar agrees here: 

No Bible verse specifically states that tongues, signs, and wonders will continue throughout the Church Age. Nor is there a verse that specifically states they will cease at the end of the apostolic age.

We might therefore suggest that Mr. Batzig likewise be a little more circumspect.

For a more detailed examination of  1 Cor. 13:8, see my article here.)

Then, after the consummation, only love would remain. That's why love is the greatest of the gifts of the Spirit!

Believers should be far more zealous for a manifestation of the Spirit's power in their lives resulting in the formation of the ordinary gifts of the Spirit (i.e. the fruit of the Spirit) than they should be for temporal and foundational extraordinary gifts. (Is that what Paul counsels us to do? Nope. 1Co. 14:1: Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.)

To reverse the order is to fall into the same error as that which the Corinthians had fallen into. In so doing, we may inadvertantly (sic) be undermining the force of the argument Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 13.

Concerning the foundational nature of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, the Apostle Paul employed the word foundation when he says in Ephesians 2:20, that the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone."1 The Apostles and NT prophets were instrumental in laying the foundation of the New Covenant church. In Ephesians 3:4-5, the Apostle explains that the setting forth of the mystery of Christ in the Scripture was the end goal of the foundational work of the Apostles and prophets. He explained this when he wrote:

"When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." (None of this speaks to the cessation of these. "Foundational" does not mean "that's all there was.")

Finally, Paul lists the Apostles and prophets among the gift officers that Christ gave His church after ascending to heaven. In Ephesians 4:11, Paul writes, "He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." In short, if there are no more Apostles (and Paul made it clear that he was the last Apostle - see 1 Cor. 15:8), (All of the sudden the author is reluctant to quote the Scripture, so we shall do so in his stead. ...and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally
born...  Hmmm. Nothing here about Paul being the last apostle, only that he was the last apostle to whom Christ appeared.)

then there are no more prophets either. The grammatical construct "Apostles and prophets" was used to delineate a special redemptive-historical provision for the foundation of the New Covenant church. Anyone who has ever built a house knows that you only lay a foundation once! (So once the foundation is laid, it is okay to take away the foundation? What then will the building rest upon?

The great fallacy of the author's line of thinking is that the apostles and prophets were only foundational. There is no Scripture that says this.)

Second, the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, given in the Apostolic age, were in fact (contra to Chandler's instance) signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the nations. The Apostle Paul explicitly highlighted the sign nature of the gifts, as being attached to the Apostolic ministry, when he wrote, "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works" (2 Cor. 12:12). (Note that this Scripture

• does not describe spiritual gifts.
• does not establish the idea that authentication of apostleship is the only purpose.
• does not imply that these would cease at some point.
• does not say that only the apostles did these things.

Further, we need to query the author for the Scripture that tells us "the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, given in the Apostolic age, were in fact signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the nations." In actual fact, we find Paul instructing us that 

...everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 1Co. 14:3-4

Chandler mentioned this in the referenced video. I'm guessing the author only bothered to watch it long enough to get a kill quote.)

This is also the reason why we find the Apostles giving the Spirit and the gifts by the laying on of their hands. (Hmmm. Chandler again refutes the author in the video. Chandler quotes 1Ti. 4:14:

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Notice that it was the elders, not the apostles, who laid their hands and imparted gifts.)

While there has been much debate over whether John Calvin was a cessationist or a continuationist, (Who cares what Calvin believed? It is completely irrelevant to the matter at hand.)

Calvin's comments on Acts 2:38 should suffice to help settle the question. There, Calvin explained that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit "lasted only for a time:"

"Because Christ meant to set forth the beginning of his kingdom with those miracles, they lasted only for a time; yet because the visible graces which the Lord did distribute to his did shoe, as it were in a glass, that Christ was the giver of the Spirit, therefore, that which Peter saith doth in some respect appertain unto all the whole Church: ye shall receive the gift of the Spirit. For although we do not receive it, that we may speak with tongues, that we may be prophets, that we may cure the sick, that we may work miracles; yet is it given us for a better use, that we may believe with the heart unto righteousness, that our tongues may be framed unto true confession, (Romans 10:10) that we may pass from death to life, (John 5:24) that we, which are poor and empty, may be made rich, that we may withstand Satan and the world stoutly."

Concerning the laying on of the hands of the Apostles in the imparting of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, Calvin explained, in his comments on Acts 19:6, that it was "a grace which was to last only for a time." He wrote:

"This laying on of hands...was a grace which was to last only for a time, which was showed by that sign, it is a perverse and ridiculous thing to retain the sign since the truth is taken away. There is another respect of baptism and the supper, wherein the Lord doth testify that those gifts are laid open for us, which the Church shall enjoy even until the end of the world. Wherefore we must diligently and wisely distinguish perpetual sacraments from those which last only for a time, lest vain and frivolous visures [semblances] have a place among the sacraments."

Knowing full well, that I haven't even scratched the surface of this unceasing debate (pun intended), I do hope that what I have written will disabuse anyone of the notion that cessationists, simply on account of a lack of personal experience, have convinced themselves that the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have ceased--and, that they have, therefore, misread the Bible. One could argue by way of sanctified biblical logic that a lack of experiencing the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit is squarely in keeping with the biblical teaching about their cessation!

1. For a fuller defense of the exegesis of the grammatical construct, see R. Fowler White's article, "Graffin and Grudem on Ephesians 2:20".