The Charismatic issue has been a highly debated one, with Christians of every denomination affected by it. The issue is over the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit especially the gifts of revelation – the word of knowledge, prophecy and tongues. Overt Charismatics and Conservative Continuationists believe in the continuation of all gifts where as Cessationists do not.
Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia has a very simple, easy to read, yet very helpful and theologically astute article dealing with this issue.
Gaffin begins his article by making some clarifications about the label of “Cessationist”, for he believes this label carries a lot of baggage. He first asserts that Cessationists do not believe that God’s Spirit is no longer actively working in dynamic and dramatic ways. He also clarifies that Cessationists are not against all the spiritual gifts for the issue is the cessation of a limited number of such gifts. The continuation of the large remainder is not in dispute.
Gaffin then moves onto his major arguments for being a Cessationist. He first focuses his attention on what we mean by the apostolicity of the Church, when we quote the Nicene Creed and say that the Church is Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Gaffin’s answer is best summarized by him as, The apostolicity of the Church is not secured by an unbroken succession of officeholders that can be traced back to the apostles but by the uninterrupted possession and maintenance of their witness or tradition (2 Thess. 2:15), inscripturated in the New Testament. After establishing the temporary nature and cessation of the office of the Apostle, Gaffin challenges his readers to think through in the light of other New Testament teaching, what further implications this basic cessationist position may carry. Gaffin argues that, Ephesians 2:20 clearly implies that prophecy was a temporary gift, given for the foundation-laying period of the church. Therefore, along with the apostles, the New Testament prophets are no longer a present part of the church’s life. Regarding tongues, Gaffin first points out that, interpreted tongues are functionally equivalent to prophecy. A close tie exists between prophecy and tongues. We may even say fairly that tongues, as interpretable and to be interpreted (1Cor vv. 13, 27), are a mode of prophecy. Secondly he says, tongues are revelation is plain from verses 14-19 in 1 Corinthians 14. Thirdly he points out that, Paul calls the content of the tongues,“mysteries”, which in the New Testament, always refers to revelation, more specifically, the redemptive-historical content of revelation (e.g., Matt. 13:11; Rom. 16:25-26; 1 Tim. 3:16)
Gaffin summarizes saying, the basic thread of the argument for the cessation of prophecy and tongues is this: By divine design, apostles and prophets have a temporary role in the Church's history and do not continue beyond its foundational era. The redemptive-historical "specs" of the church-house are such that they are not permanent fixtures (Eph. 2:20), and so neither are tongues, tied, as we have seen they were, to prophecy (1 Cor. 14). They, too, pass out of the life of the Church, along with the passing of the apostles and prophets (and other means of bringing God's Word).
Gaffin then spends some time on 1 Corinthians 13, which he says is the "gotcha" text of Non- cessationists. Regarding 1 Corinthians 13, Gaffin argues that Prophecy and tongues are no doubt singled out given Paul's pastoral concern, within the wider context (chapters 12-14), with their proper exercise. But the time of their cessation is not a concern he has here. To insist on the contrary from verse 10 is gratuitous. His stress, rather, is on the duration, until Christ returns, of our present, opaque knowledge-by whatever revelatory means that knowledge may come (including, by implication, even inscripturation) and whenever they may cease.
Gaffin concludes his article with a very practical and excellent observation, A dilemma confronts noncessationists. If prophecy and tongues, as they function in the New Testament, continue today, then the noncessationist is faced with the quite practical and troublesome implication that Scripture alone is not a sufficient verbal revelation from God; the canon is at best relatively closed. Alternatively, if, as most noncessationists insist, "prophecy" and "tongues" today are nonrevelatory or less than fully revelatory, then these contemporary phenomena are misnamed and are something other than the New Testament gifts. Noncessationists are caught in a redemptive-historical anachronism, seeking within the superstructure of the Church's history what belonged to its foundational era. They are involved in the contradictory effort of trying to maintain along with a closed New Testament canon the presence of those revelatory gifts that were for the open canon period when the New Testament documents were in the process of being written. Prophecy and tongues have ceased. What remains, supremely and solely sufficient and authoritative until Jesus comes, is "the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scriptures" (Westminster Confession of Faith, 1:10).
Where Have All the Spiritual Gifts Gone? Read
