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This is simply Bad Bible Teaching. There's no other way to describe it. The author doesn't quote the Bible. At all. He misrepresents Bible verses. He lies to us about the Bible's contents. He incompetently teaches about things he clearly doesn't understand.
Christians today talk a great deal about the Holy Spirit, but often with very little clarity. Questions about spiritual gifts, miraculous signs, and the work of the Spirit in the church abound. These are not abstract questions. They’re shaped by living in a time when Pentecostal movements have influenced large portions of Christianity. That influence has naturally raised one of the most debated questions of the modern church: Do all the spiritual gifts mentioned in Scripture continue today? (An interesting question, but it's a different one than the question asked in the title.)
Or to put it more specifically: Does God still give the gift of healing to individual Christians? Does he still grant the gift of prophecy? What about apostleship or speaking in tongues?
Christians across the world ask these questions not because they doubt God’s power, but because they want to understand what God promises to give his church. And that requires clarity about what Scripture teaches.
What Are the Spiritual Gifts?
Before addressing whether certain gifts continue, it helps to remember what the New Testament actually lists as spiritual gifts. Scripture gives several lists, including Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. When you gather them together, you get a helpful picture:
Encouragement, leadership, giving, faith, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, service, discernment, teaching, shepherding, evangelism, apostles, and prophets.
Christians in every tradition agree that these gifts appear in the New Testament. The question is not whether these gifts once existed—everyone agrees they did—but whether all of them continue today in the same way.
Two Views: Continuationism and Cessationism
Historically, Christians have fallen into one of two broad categories.
1. Continuationists believe all the spiritual gifts continue today. A well-known summary of this view was articulated in the Lausanne Covenant of 1974, which argued that the Spirit gives the same gifts for the same purpose today as in the Apostolic age. In other words, continuationists expect miraculous gifts (All spiritual gifts are miraculous Holy Spirit empowerments.)
Why Have Many Christians Held a Cessationist View?
Cessationism often surprises people. At first glance, it can sound like a denial of Scripture’s teaching on spiritual gifts. (What are those teachings?)
This pattern was similar in the Old Testament as well. Moses, Elijah, and Elisha perform miracles during moments when God’s word is not recognized or is being directly challenged. (Where in the OT?)
Apostleship and Prophecy: Gifts with Built-In Expiration
Two gifts in particular help illustrate this: apostleship and prophecy.
To be an apostle, one had to be a direct witness of the risen Jesus (Acts 1:21–22) (Hooray, our first actual Bible reference! Let's quote it, since the author can't be bothered:
Does God Still Work Miracles? Yes.
Does he give the gift of working miracles? That’s different.
This distinction is crucial. Cessationists do not believe God has stopped working in supernatural ways. They gladly affirm that God heals, intervenes, and miraculously directs his people today. They simply deny that he gives believers the ability to perform miracles at will, as Peter did with the lame man or Paul with Eutychus. (Ah. Someone can temporarily possess the gift of healing? Well, we are no longer talking about if "sign gifts" exist, rather, it's a matter of how long they abide?)
Some claim to possess the gift of healing today, (What people do today is irrelevant. We want the biblical case.)
A Secondary Issue, Not a Salvation Issue
It’s important to emphasize that faithful Christians disagree about this. Continuationists and cessationists can worship together, serve together, and partner in gospel ministry. This is a secondary doctrine. What Christians must agree on is that the Spirit is active in the church, that all true spiritual gifts come from him, and that Scripture is sufficient for everything we need in life and godliness. (The author has now disqualified himself. He's paraphrasing this verse:
Asking the Right Questions
Wherever you land, here are three questions worth considering:
Christians should celebrate the Spirit’s work, rejoice in his power, and pray boldly for God’s intervention. But we must also take care to understand the purpose of the gifts God gave in the early church, and the difference between God performing miracles today and God granting individuals the gift of working miracles.
The Holy Spirit is active. God still works powerfully. But Scripture also helps us see how, when, and why he chooses to act—so that our confidence rests where it belongs: on Christ, on his Word, and on the Spirit who applies that Word to our lives.
Daniel Nealon is pastor of Deer Creek Church, a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He is also the author of the Deer Creek Catechism. He and his wife Hannah live in Littleton, CO with their four children.
We don't wish to dishonor the man, but this is bad.
Christians today talk a great deal about the Holy Spirit, but often with very little clarity. Questions about spiritual gifts, miraculous signs, and the work of the Spirit in the church abound. These are not abstract questions. They’re shaped by living in a time when Pentecostal movements have influenced large portions of Christianity. That influence has naturally raised one of the most debated questions of the modern church: Do all the spiritual gifts mentioned in Scripture continue today? (An interesting question, but it's a different one than the question asked in the title.)
Or to put it more specifically: Does God still give the gift of healing to individual Christians? Does he still grant the gift of prophecy? What about apostleship or speaking in tongues?
Christians across the world ask these questions not because they doubt God’s power, but because they want to understand what God promises to give his church. And that requires clarity about what Scripture teaches.
What Are the Spiritual Gifts?
Before addressing whether certain gifts continue, it helps to remember what the New Testament actually lists as spiritual gifts. Scripture gives several lists, including Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. When you gather them together, you get a helpful picture:
Encouragement, leadership, giving, faith, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healing, service, discernment, teaching, shepherding, evangelism, apostles, and prophets.
Christians in every tradition agree that these gifts appear in the New Testament. The question is not whether these gifts once existed—everyone agrees they did—but whether all of them continue today in the same way.
Two Views: Continuationism and Cessationism
Historically, Christians have fallen into one of two broad categories.
1. Continuationists believe all the spiritual gifts continue today. A well-known summary of this view was articulated in the Lausanne Covenant of 1974, which argued that the Spirit gives the same gifts for the same purpose today as in the Apostolic age. In other words, continuationists expect miraculous gifts (All spiritual gifts are miraculous Holy Spirit empowerments.)
—including prophecy, healing, and tongues—to function today just as they did in the early church.
2. Cessationists, by contrast, agree that the Spirit continues to give gifts to the church, but they argue that certain gifts had a specific purpose that has now been fulfilled. Gifts such as prophecy, miracles, healing, apostleship, tongues, and continuing revelation ceased with the end of the apostolic era. Cessationists believe these gifts functioned primarily as sign gifts (This phrase is not found in the Bible.)
2. Cessationists, by contrast, agree that the Spirit continues to give gifts to the church, but they argue that certain gifts had a specific purpose that has now been fulfilled. Gifts such as prophecy, miracles, healing, apostleship, tongues, and continuing revelation ceased with the end of the apostolic era. Cessationists believe these gifts functioned primarily as sign gifts (This phrase is not found in the Bible.)
—visible confirmations of the authority of Jesus’ chosen messengers until Scripture was complete. (This is the author's position, though he will never document it with Scripture.)
Importantly, cessationism does not teach that the Spirit has stopped working, or that God no longer heals, intervenes, or performs miracles. Rather, cessationists believe God continues to act miraculously but no longer grants individuals the gift of performing miracles or healing at will, the way Peter and Paul did. (Hmm. A lot of provisos and conditions in this sentence.)
Importantly, cessationism does not teach that the Spirit has stopped working, or that God no longer heals, intervenes, or performs miracles. Rather, cessationists believe God continues to act miraculously but no longer grants individuals the gift of performing miracles or healing at will, the way Peter and Paul did. (Hmm. A lot of provisos and conditions in this sentence.)
Why Have Many Christians Held a Cessationist View?
Cessationism often surprises people. At first glance, it can sound like a denial of Scripture’s teaching on spiritual gifts. (What are those teachings?)
But historically, Christians who hold this view do so precisely because of Scripture. (Good. The Scriptural case. We wait with bated breath.)
When you read the book of Acts carefully, the miraculous gifts (All spiritual gifts are miraculous.)
When you read the book of Acts carefully, the miraculous gifts (All spiritual gifts are miraculous.)
always serve the same purpose: they validate the message of the gospel and the authority of its messengers. (This is false. There isn't a single NT instance of anyone performing a miracle to authenticate themselves.)
Peter heals the lame man in Acts 3 not as a general ministry of healing, but as a divine sign authenticating his preaching. (The author lies to us. The apostles were on their way to the Temple to pray [Acts 3:1], not to find someone to heal. Peter did not heal the man to gain a springboard to preach. It was only when the crowd came to see that he preached. This led to them being arrested, which led to them preaching to the rulers and priests the next day [Acts 4:5].
In the course of this Peter said:
Ac. 4:9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed...
Peter tells us why he healed him, and he contradicts the author.)
The miracle points people to Jesus, revealing the source of the power, and it calls them to repentance and faith. (This is certainly true, but we are waiting to learn how this bolsters the author's doctrinal position.)
This pattern was similar in the Old Testament as well. Moses, Elijah, and Elisha perform miracles during moments when God’s word is not recognized or is being directly challenged. (Where in the OT?)
Their miracles serve the same function as those in Acts: they testify that this messenger speaks the true word of God. (Where does Acts tell us this?)
In both the Old and New Testaments, miracles function as God’s way of saying, “Listen to him.” (Again, there is not a single NT verse that tells us the anyone did a miracle to prove who they were.)
Once we grasp that function, the cessationist argument becomes clearer: if these gifts served to authenticate apostles and prophets while God’s revelation was still unfolding, (Whoa. Sharp left turn here. This has something to do with "revelation unfolding?" What might that be? Please explain.)
In both the Old and New Testaments, miracles function as God’s way of saying, “Listen to him.” (Again, there is not a single NT verse that tells us the anyone did a miracle to prove who they were.)
Once we grasp that function, the cessationist argument becomes clearer: if these gifts served to authenticate apostles and prophets while God’s revelation was still unfolding, (Whoa. Sharp left turn here. This has something to do with "revelation unfolding?" What might that be? Please explain.)
then once the apostolic age (What's this?)
ended and Scripture was complete, the purpose of those gifts also came to an end. (Which gifts? And why doesn't the Gospel message need authentication any more?)
Apostleship and Prophecy: Gifts with Built-In Expiration
Two gifts in particular help illustrate this: apostleship and prophecy.
To be an apostle, one had to be a direct witness of the risen Jesus (Acts 1:21–22) (Hooray, our first actual Bible reference! Let's quote it, since the author can't be bothered:
Acts 1:21-22 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.
"Become a witness" is not "a direct witness of the risen Jesus." The eleven apostles had but one criteria, that the new apostle needed to be someone who they knew and trusted from the beginning. The DUTY of the new apostle was to become a witness with them.
We are no longer confident that the author is a competent Bible teacher.)
and carry the authority to write Scripture. (??? Where does the Bible tell us this? Was Luke an apostle? Jude? Mark? Which apostle wrote Hebrews?)
Paul explicitly says he was “the last” of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:8). (Wow. It just keeps getting worse. Let's quote:
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
The author thinks that seeing the resurrected Jesus is an apostolic requirement, thus reads this passage in that context. But seeing the resurrected Jesus is not an apostolic requirement, so Paul was not describing his apostolic credentials, he was merely relating a sequence of events. Why? Well, because the Corinthian church thought he was an inferior apostle. They didn't like his speaking style [2 Corinthians 10:10]. They thought he lacked power [1 Corinthians 4:19]. He wasn't as good as the "super apostles" [2 Corinthians 11:5].
One can see how a small initial error compounds into a problem.)
The death of the apostles and the closing of the biblical canon mean this gift necessarily ceased. (This is the second time the author has referenced the finished Bible, but he still hasn't told us why this is relevant.)
Even continuationists agree that there are no apostles today in the New Testament sense. (??? What other kinds of apostles might there be?)
Prophecy follows the same pattern. In Scripture, prophets declare the very words of God with the authority of “Thus says the Lord.” Their message is never tentative. It is never conditional on later review. It is never subordinate to Scripture. (??? What does this mean?)
Prophecy follows the same pattern. In Scripture, prophets declare the very words of God with the authority of “Thus says the Lord.” Their message is never tentative. It is never conditional on later review. It is never subordinate to Scripture. (??? What does this mean?)
Because Scripture is now complete, no new revelations of equal authority are being given. (This sounds like a "continuationist" position.)
If someone today claims to prophesy but insists their words are not authoritative and must be checked by Scripture, (The author is lying again.
Ac. 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.1 Corinthians 14:29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others shouldweigh carefully what is said.1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good.
When the author mentions "equal authority" he's referring to the idea that everything God would say is the same as Scripture. There is no Bible verse that tells us this. And in fact there is much prophecy that didn't get included in the Bible [King Saul [1 Samuel 10:11], Philip's four daughters [Acts 21:9], Judas and Silas [Acts 15:32], and Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul [Acts 13:1].
So it simply isn't true that prophecy must be "authoritative.")
they are not describing biblical prophecy—they are describing something altogether different. (Tell us about biblical prophesy. Where do we find this information in the Bible? Please explain.)
And if the gift of apostleship has ceased, and biblical prophecy has ceased, then at minimum the door is open for the conclusion that other sign gifts may also have ceased. (There is no such thing as "sign gifts.")
And if the gift of apostleship has ceased, and biblical prophecy has ceased, then at minimum the door is open for the conclusion that other sign gifts may also have ceased. (There is no such thing as "sign gifts.")
Does God Still Work Miracles? Yes.
Does he give the gift of working miracles? That’s different.
This distinction is crucial. Cessationists do not believe God has stopped working in supernatural ways. They gladly affirm that God heals, intervenes, and miraculously directs his people today. They simply deny that he gives believers the ability to perform miracles at will, as Peter did with the lame man or Paul with Eutychus. (Ah. Someone can temporarily possess the gift of healing? Well, we are no longer talking about if "sign gifts" exist, rather, it's a matter of how long they abide?)
Some claim to possess the gift of healing today, (What people do today is irrelevant. We want the biblical case.)
but the “healings” tend to look dramatically different from those in Scripture. In Acts, people with lifelong conditions are healed instantly, publicly, and undeniably. In modern contexts, alleged healings frequently involve unverifiable conditions such as chronic pain or temporary ailments. The difference in scale and certainty makes it clear that what we see today is not the biblical gift of healing. (Where in the Bible do we find this information? Please explain.)
A Secondary Issue, Not a Salvation Issue
It’s important to emphasize that faithful Christians disagree about this. Continuationists and cessationists can worship together, serve together, and partner in gospel ministry. This is a secondary doctrine. What Christians must agree on is that the Spirit is active in the church, that all true spiritual gifts come from him, and that Scripture is sufficient for everything we need in life and godliness. (The author has now disqualified himself. He's paraphrasing this verse:
2Pe. 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
This verse is not about Scripture, it refers to "his divine power."
The author is a false teacher.)
Asking the Right Questions
Wherever you land, here are three questions worth considering:
- If certain gifts have clearly ceased (like apostleship), is it possible others have as well?
- If prophecy continues, should such revelation be viewed as authoritatively as Scripture itself—remember that prophecy in Scripture was always authoritative and announced with the authority of “Thus says the Lord”?
- If gifts continue unchanged, why do modern expressions look so different from their biblical counterparts?
Christians should celebrate the Spirit’s work, rejoice in his power, and pray boldly for God’s intervention. But we must also take care to understand the purpose of the gifts God gave in the early church, and the difference between God performing miracles today and God granting individuals the gift of working miracles.
The Holy Spirit is active. God still works powerfully. But Scripture also helps us see how, when, and why he chooses to act—so that our confidence rests where it belongs: on Christ, on his Word, and on the Spirit who applies that Word to our lives.
Daniel Nealon is pastor of Deer Creek Church, a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He is also the author of the Deer Creek Catechism. He and his wife Hannah live in Littleton, CO with their four children.
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