Friday, November 11, 2005
CESSATIONISM REVISITED
Phil Johnson over at Pyromaniac has generated a lot of feedback on cessationism (the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit--such as prophecy and tongues--have ceased). As a non-cessationist, I have been in settings where charisms of the Holy Spirit have been exercised in a biblical manner--God was indeed glorified and His people were edified. I hasten to add, however, that I decry much of the fleshly flakiness and spiritual silliness I see in too many charismatic settings. No more purported leg lengthenings and "shammalammabowtie" parrotted utterances, please! Moreover, I am very concerned that personal visions and revelations come dangerously close to trumping Holy Scripture in some charismatic settings.Okay, enough of my pet peeves. I acknowledge that earlier in my Christian experience I allowed my presuppositions to affect the way I interpreted the Bible's teaching on spiritual gifts. I was a cessationist, believing that way not because of an honest engagement with Scripture, but because I listened to Christian tapes and read books from a cessationist perspective. Although I would not have admitted it at the time, I filtered biblical teachings through what I read and heard from Christian leaders who denied the present-day miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. Because of my theological bias and negative reaction to what I perceived to be flakiness in some charismatic settings, I concluded that certain spiritual gifts were not really being given today. In all honesty, I did not come to my conclusions on the basis of an unbiased reading of Scripture. I can now look back and see the power of my earlier presuppositions and how they kept me from correctly interpreting the Bible's teaching on spiritual gifts. Eventually, I came to see that Scripture nowhere teaches cessationism; indeed, I have yet to encounter one biblically valid reason for the belief that miraculous gifts of the Spirit ceased with the close of the biblical canon.
In any event, check out the numerous cessationist comments (both for and against) that follow Phil Johnson's November 11 blog entry titled Whole lotta shakin' (http://phillipjohnson.blogspot.com/).
Comments:
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That's a good post!
I think the challenge for those of us who are non-cessationists is to biblically define the gifts. I tried to do this a little with the gift of prophecy but I honestly haven't given enough thought and effort ot define the others. I think that maybe what Charismatics have done in some sense is define the gifts outside of the biblical parameters. Like the gift of prophecy. Phil Johnson is right on the money to ridicule that view of prophecy in his blog. But to dismiss prophecy on the basis of false prophets is wrong. Just like dismissing baptism or the Lord's supper because some do not practice it biblically is wrong.
Anyway, sorry for the long comment.
I think the challenge for those of us who are non-cessationists is to biblically define the gifts. I tried to do this a little with the gift of prophecy but I honestly haven't given enough thought and effort ot define the others. I think that maybe what Charismatics have done in some sense is define the gifts outside of the biblical parameters. Like the gift of prophecy. Phil Johnson is right on the money to ridicule that view of prophecy in his blog. But to dismiss prophecy on the basis of false prophets is wrong. Just like dismissing baptism or the Lord's supper because some do not practice it biblically is wrong.
Anyway, sorry for the long comment.
I second doxo -- I am all for a spirited, albeit Christian, discussion of the gifts, and I look forward to Phil's continuation of this, and I appreciate both of you bringing some sanity to the non-cessationist argument without any of the hand-wringing and posturing that is common amongst those who believe that the gifts are still active...
I still stand by my defintion of non-cessationist vs. Charismatic that I posted on Phil's blog. Charismatic (the name) has been hijacked by the fringe elements who now cause so much grief in the Body of Christ. I do not, therefore, call myself 'Charismatic' for that reason.
I still stand by my defintion of non-cessationist vs. Charismatic that I posted on Phil's blog. Charismatic (the name) has been hijacked by the fringe elements who now cause so much grief in the Body of Christ. I do not, therefore, call myself 'Charismatic' for that reason.
I guess I fall more into the cessasionist camp, although there seems to be little biblical weight on either extreme.
Is R.C. Sproul cessatinist? I seem to remember that he was. Or was that Hannegraf? Well anyway, the question is whether or not the Bible speaks definitively. Calvin's warning about "idle speculation" seems relevant on this one.
Surely good Reformed people could fall on either side of the argument (within limits) and still worship together and be in one denomination.
---EPC, for example?
Is R.C. Sproul cessatinist? I seem to remember that he was. Or was that Hannegraf? Well anyway, the question is whether or not the Bible speaks definitively. Calvin's warning about "idle speculation" seems relevant on this one.
Surely good Reformed people could fall on either side of the argument (within limits) and still worship together and be in one denomination.
---EPC, for example?
# posted by 
: 4:42 PM
: 4:42 PM
Good point, R&B. I am reminded of God's rebuke in Haggai 1, where he talks about people building their own house while the house of the Lord goes neglected. One of the dangers to guard against in any ministry is the temptation to advance our own little kingdoms rather than The Kingdom!
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