Guilty here, too.
YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTER SHALL PROPHECY: Prophet Gifts in Ministry Today by Earnest B. Gentile; Forward by C Peter Waqgner
CHAPTER 14
Concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. --1 Corinthians 12:1, NKJV
OVER THE YEARS scholars have attempted to establish sound principles and rules of interpretation to guide Bible students—a science and art we call hermeneutics. Generally these guidelines are helpful, but a biased rule or application produces a faulty theology and alters the perception of Bible truth.
A student approaching the Bible with an anti-supernatural hermeneutic, for instance, will automatically eliminate the supernatural elements of the Bible, including prophecy. Bultmann and other German theologians carried this approach to the extreme as they "demythologized" the New Testament. Its recorded miracles were not miracles at all, they argued, but merely symbolic stories. This liberal attitude has claimed many unfortunate disciples today.
A more subtle approach is used by some evangelical, ostensibly Bible-believing Christians. They freely accept the miracles and spiritual happenings of Bible days but say such events are not meant for today. This approach is still an anti-supernatural hermeneutic, merely in a different guise. P231 •
The adherents of this view reject any possibility that miraculous Bible stories or teachings might find literal application or expression in our day. Thus they deftly eliminate the possibility of prophecy in today’s, Church.
We have already mentioned cessationism, the belief that prophecy and other spiritual gifts no longer exist and are no longer needed. This view purports that prophecy and other miraculous gifts ceased functioning once the New Testament was written. 1 The demise of prophecy was simply part the disappearance of all spiritual gifts from the Church in the post-apostolic age. This position is stated by Charles C. Ryrie, a leading cessation:
“The gift of prophecy included receiving a message directly from God through special revelation, being guided in declaring it to the people, and having it authenticated in some way by God Himself. The content of that message may have included telling the future (which is what we normally think of as prophesying), but it also included revelation from God concerning the present.”
“This too was a gift limited in its need and use, for it was needed during the writing of the New Testament and its usefulness ceased when the books were completed. God's message then was contained in written form, and no new revelation was given in addition to the written record. 2 (emphasis added [by bk author])
The cessationist faces a most difficult task: to prove from the Bible that prophecy and spiritual gifts ceased. The following four arguments are the ones most commonly used to substantiate cessationism:
1. The Bible teaches that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased when the original apostles died.
2. Such so-called prophecy becomes a substitute for or addition to apostolic teaching and Scripture.
3. Church history does not confirm the continuance of miraculous gifts.
4. Prophecy and spiritual manifestations are dangerous and to be avoided because they are easily exploited and misused.
Before answering these four arguments, let me pose an illustration.
If a person was marooned on a desert island and the only book he had was a Bible, the contents of which were unknown to him, what conclusions would he draw about Christ and the Church as he began to read?
He would understand the great purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. From the gospels, Acts and the epistles he would gain a picture of the miracle-working power of God. [end p 232]
He would also see that the miraculous ministry of Jesus in one small nation was then carried forth by the Church to reach all nations.
Would this new Bible reader find anything to indicate that the miracles and gifts of the Spirit ceased after the early Church? Quite the contrary. Our reader would find lists of spiritual gifts and ministries scattered throughout the New Testament. 3 He would acknowledge the assumption of the apostles that the spiritual gifts were standard ministries in the Church. [added paragraphing per Quix]
He would affirm statements like the one by Peter in Acts 2:39 about Gentiles: "The promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." Our friend would find no teaching about the cessation of prophecy anywhere in Scripture. This marvelous book filled with miraculous stories and statements would register only one thought in his mind: that the early Church believed in the miraculous and that miracles are normative in the lives of God's people today.
Once rescued and brought back to civilization, our friend would seek to find the church he had read about in the Bible. Instead he would find, to his amazement, that many Christians do not believe in the miraculous at all, while others conclude that signs and wonders were only for Bible days and not for modern believers. Although he had discovered on the island that Scripture teaches the existence of miracles and the gifts of the Spirit, he would find a strange situation: Many purport to revere the Bible but do not believe what it says. These people have a conviction based not on Scripture but on their own bereft experience.
[QUIX COMMENTARY: This illustration alone shows the lack of internal consistency in the cessationist argument. Whether blindness or willful deception, it is obvious to any fair-minded person from the illustration above that THE CESSATIONIST MUST HAVE EXTRA BIBLICAL CONSTRUCTIONS ON REALITY enter the equation OR THERE IS NO CESSATIONISM FROM THE BIBLE TAKEN ALONE AND APPLIED.]
Answer 1: The Bible Does Not Teach Cessationism
Five Scripture passages are used by prominent cessationists in their contention that the gift of prophecy no longer operates: Romans 15:18-19; 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 22:18-19. 4 We will look at each passage, then consider some brief, cogent thoughts about the meaning of the text that will set the tone for the rest of the book.
1. Romans 15:18-19 (Niv)
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. P. 233
p. 234
Modern-day cessationists argue that the main purpose of miracles is to authenticate the apostles as trustworthy authors of holy Scripture. Once these authors wrote their material and died, goes the theory, miracles were no longer needed because there is no more Scripture to be written or authors to authenticate. The possibility of prophecy in today's Church is thereby eliminated.
A more immediate purpose for signs and wonders, however, is shown in the above text. The miracles authenticated the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, which Paul preached to the Gentiles [Bold & color emphasis added by Qx]. At that moment those heathen did not even know Paul would be a writer of New Testament books. It was the message that gripped their hearts— but only after the miraculous had gained their attention! [emphasis Qx added above and below wherever bold or color is] We preach the very same message to the people of our day. Miracles are needed as much today as they were then.
The purpose of signs and wonders is scarcely mentioned in the New Testament. But a thoughtful examination of all possible references shows only two reasons for miracles: to authenticate the character of the Lord Jesus and His relationship with His heavenly Father; and to authenticate the message proclaimed about Him. 5
2. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect 6 comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Everyone agrees that verse 10 of this chapter identifies prophecy and other gifts as temporary. The main issue is when these gifts will cease. The answer lies in the meaning of the phrase when the perfect comes. Various interpretations have been drawn from Paul's statement.
The meaning that came to my mind as I read this remarkable text for the first time remains unchanged more than fifty years later. I believe the coming of "the perfect" refers to the Second Coming of Christ, when we shall see the Lord "face to face." 7 Some cessationists agree with this interpretation but must then compensate by making the time of the cessation of prophecy an open question, to be decided on the basis of other passages. 8 end• p.234 p. 235 Other cessationists believe "the perfect" (or "perfection") refers to the New Testament writings that completed the canon of Scripture. Since the Church now possesses the full message of God—that is, the completed Bible—we no longer need prophecy. 9 But this position disregards the function of continuing prophecy as described in New Testament churches: for comfort, edification, exhortation and future prediction (1 Corinthians 14:3; Acts 11:28). The written scriptural record is complete but the activity of the Spirit in applying the principles of Scripture to our current needs continues just as it did in the early Church.
F. David Farnell feels that the most viable interpretation is to translate to teleion as "mature" or "complete" rather than "the perfect state." 10 He stresses the growing up of the collective Church of Christ during the Church age. This view is comprehensive enough to embrace the relative maturity implied by the illustration in verse 11, Farnell believes, as well as the absolute maturity depicted in verse 12. 11 Eventually, according to this position, we will arrive at complete maturity, but we are sufficiently mature enough now not to need prophecy and spiritual gifts.
This argument neglects Paul's strong teaching on the place of prophecy in the church program. Since he boldly includes prophecy with other doctrinal teachings (which [ARBITRARILY--Qx] are not ignored, incidentally, by the cessationists), we are not at liberty to cut and paste doctrines according to personal prejudices or to turn a cold shoulder to significant information.
Paul wanted no church of his day to be deficient in spiritual gifts. His comment to the Corinthians is significant. He did not want them [QX: WHO? BELIEVERS!] to be "lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation [the Second Coming] of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7). This indicates to me that all charismata can and will be in effect until the Second Coming of Christ.
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TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST
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