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
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.
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" gifts persist to present day.
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.
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" gifts persist to present day.
Our cessationism series will examine these and other claims.
What is a Functional Cessationist?
Today we consider the "gotcha" statement made by some cessationists that charismatics are actually cessationists. That is, if a charismatic assents to the idea that any part of the contemporary expression of spiritual gifts are less than what occurred in the Bible, or if a charismatic agrees that the fivefold (Ephesians 4:11) is no longer operational in the exact same way as it was in the first century, or if they believe there are no more apostles, that makes them "functional cessationists."
John MacArthur made this statement:
Many reformed continuationists (including Wayne Grudem) readily acknowledge that apostleship has ceased. So even they admit that one of the most significant elements listed in both 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 has passed away. So, at that level at least, they are cessationists.
Phillip Johnson writes,
...if you acknowledge that the canon is closed and the gift of apostleship has ceased, you have already conceded the heart of the cessationist argument... In other words, modern charismatics have already adopted a cessationist position. When pressed on the issue, all honest charismatics are forced to admit that the "gifts" they receive today are of lesser quality than those of the apostolic era....If all sides already acknowledge that there are no modern workers of signs and wonders who can really duplicate apostolic power, then we have no actual argument about the principle of cessationism, and therefore all the frantic demands for biblical and exegetical support for cessationism are superfluous. The real gist of our disagreement boils down only to a question of degree.
Thus, the acceptance of any sort of "lesser" expression of these things is a "functional cessationist." Based on this Mr. Johnson makes the astonishing claim that he doesn't even have to make a biblical argument for his doctrine. No serious Bible student would assert such a thing, but here we have a supposed Bible teacher writing it.
But more to the point, it is very clear that a lot has changed. The New Covenant represents a total shift in the way God operates. Salvation is no longer just for the Jews (Ro. 11:13-17), God has no longer restricted His speaking to Israel through the OT prophets (He. 1:1-2), He has dealt with sin fully through His Son rather than animal sacrifices (He. 10:3-7). The very nature of Christ's life, death and resurrection is that of a total shift of heaven and earth. So it is very nearly puerile to suggest that agreeing that things have changed makes a charismatic into a "functional cessationist."
Further, this sort of argument resembles the "one less god" argument atheists make.
It is rhetorical nonsense.
Are There Other Explanations?
It isn't necessary to accept the equation as framed by Dr. MacArthur or Mr. Johnson. If indeed the supernatural expressions of prophecy or tongues are of a lesser degree in the NT (which we do not concede), it might be because of other reasons. We do not have to accept cessationist explanations when other possibilities exist, like apostasy, pride, entrenched tradition, or lack of faith.
There aren't degrees of cessationism, only degrees of faith. The charismatic employs his faith to believe that God might do more than what He is currently doing, yet accepts that God can do anything He wants (Ps. 115:3). The charismatic knows that that status quo does not have to be accepted when God has made many promises to the Church. We are simply instructed to pray (Ro. 12:12), and God acts according to His sovereignty.
So we have a responsibility to engage God on His terms, and if we don't we might find He withdraws. It is entirely possible that the diligent promulgation of cessationist doctrine for thousands of years has created an environment of lack of faith that offends the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit can be
- Grieved. Ep. 4:30 (c.f., Is. 63:10):
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- Quenched. 1Th. 5:19
Quench not the Spirit.
- Resisted. Ac. 7:51
You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
- Insulted. He. 10:29
How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
- Ignored. He. 2:3-4
...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
- Tested: Ac. 5:9
Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
- Rejected: 1Th. 4:8
Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
- Lied to: Ac. 5:3
Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
It is our responsibility to keep in step with the Holy Spirit (Ga. 5:25). We believe that the Holy Spirit intends His church to be a supernatural church, and our present lack of observed power and Presence in the Church is largely because of faithlessness. The Church has forfeited its power.
Apostles
Charismatics and cessationists would tend to agree that there are no more apostles like the 12. This must be true, because there are only 12 foundations in the new heaven (Re. 21:14). Thus definitionally there is a kind of apostle that cannot continue. But since there are 18 named apostles in the NT, it is clear that apostleship does not end at the 12.
Thus the cessationist requirement that contemporary apostles must be exactly like the 12 is not a biblical concept. We would suggest that it is obvious from the biblical testimony that there are varieties of apostles. Both Barnabas (Ac. 14:14) and Epaphroditus (Ph. 2:25) are called apostolos, but are not part of the 12. If there were apostles that were not part of the 12 in the first century, there can be apostles who are not part of the 12 in our time.
The Closed Canon
All true Christians of every stripe believes the canon is closed, that is, the Scriptures are complete and cannot be modified. This fact does not come to bear on the debate, however. Charismatics do not argue for an open canon. Believing that the canon is closed does not change any charismatic doctrine.
Cessationists like to claim that modern day prophecy violates the canon, which is a specious position, since there is no biblical requirement that a prophecy must be added to Scripture. So if prophecy does not need to be added to Scripture, then the closed canon does not come to bear on modern prophecy.
Therefore, a charismatic who assents to the closed canon is not a functional cessationist.
The Spiritual Gifts
Cessationists like to claim that present-day manifestations of the "supernatural" spiritual gifts are pale examples of the biblical gifts and therefore are counterfeit. Once again we look in vain for any Scripture that tells us that the spiritual gifts must be expressed in a manner that duplicates the NT expressions. We discuss prophecy here, Tongues here, and healing here.
The crucial issue here is that raising objection to the supposed faulty expression of the "supernatural" spiritual gifts does not speak to the biblical case. The cessationist must base his doctrine on what the Bible teaches, not what charismatics do. And it's cessationist doctrines we find faulty. We have discussed this at length in these pages.
Since every spiritual gift is a supernatural empowerment, any expression of any spiritual gift requires the Holy Spirit's ministry. There is no such thing as a natural "service" spiritual gift as opposed to a supernatural "sign" gift. There are no spiritual gifts which don't depend on the Holy Spirit's power. Thus the distinction cessationists make is artificial.
Further, "fallible" prophecy, "incomplete" healing, or "unintelligible" Tongues do not mean these gifts do not exist. The case must be made from the Bible, not contemporary expressions. We believe that God always intends to move supernaturally, but we think the Church is not living up to what it has attained (Ph. 3:16). The mature view (Ph. 3:15) is that God intends His Church to be His expression of the Kingdom on earth. We think that as the Church aligns with the NT teachings on the supernatural, it will become supernatural.
Turning the Argument Around
It is unfortunate indeed that cessationists rely on substandard arguments like those of Phillip Johnson and Dr. MacArthur. But even worse (and ironically), these arguments they can be turned back around at cessationists. Here's an example, Dr. MacArthur again:
If God wants to heal, He can heal. That’s completely, obviously, within His power. And if it’s in His purpose, He can heal. He may heal as a result of prayer. He may heal through simple processes, through medical assistance, or he may heal in a way that we can’t explain medically... Healings like that may come. He may do them; He may do them in response to prayer; He may do them just because He wants to do them.
Tom Pennington, a cessationist, tells us:
Every time someone is healed solely in answer to the prayers of God’s people in total contradiction to what the medical community has said, it’s a divine miracle, He has intervened.
Ironically, this last quote is excerpted from Mr. Pennington's attempted refutation of cessationism (we examine that here). Pay careful attention: Both Dr. MacArthur and Mr. Pennington reject the "supernatural" gifts but concede (rightly) that God is free to use Christians to heal someone if He wants.
This of course means that these men agree that the Holy Spirit can momentarily endow believers with miraculous powers of healing. A spiritual gift, temporarily bestowed.
So then, the real question is not if the Holy Spirit bestows "supernatural" spiritual gifts on believers, but rather for how long those gifts abide on a Christian. If the Holy Spirit endows a Christian with power, even if for a moment, then cessationists have a problem. If the supernatural endowment various only in duration, this makes cessationists "functional charismatics."
Conclusion
Cessationists may be well-meaning and sincere, they're just sincerely wrong. However, we want to resist the "gotcha" impulse ourselves, however, for the sake of honoring our brothers in Christ. Nevertheless, we must pull down pretensions and arguments that oppose the knowledge of God. Telling people things that aren't true is something we cannot allow to happen, and cessationists are not telling us the truth.
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