A Brief Note on Cessationism

While the purpose of this series is not to argue that prophecy still exists, a brief word on the topic of cessationism is pertinent. It is expected that most reading these posts already lean heavily towards a belief that the gifts of the Spirit are active today. And the purpose of these posts is to aid those who are on that journey to understand the nature of the gifts and to hear God more clearly. The purview of these posts are not to convince others that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still alive and well today.

However, anyone who is attempting to grow in their understanding of the movement of the Holy Spirit in re-creating mankind will run into those who have a very different view of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. A deep dive into this issue is not at the heart of this series, but an overview of some of the common arguments will be helpful and appropriate.

Cessationism is the belief that the gifts and miracles that existed in the early church ceased to be given to humans. Accordingly, the powerful displays of God’s might throughout the early church were relegated to that time and mainly to the Apostles. (On a side note, many cessaionists believe that God can still heal today, but are very wary of those who claim a gift to heal or to hear from God). Why has the activity of spiritual gifts ceased (according to cessationism)? Because the revelation of God has been given to the church. As such, we have no need of any further revelation.

This is largely a post-enlightenment viewpoint. The effect enlightenment philosophy had upon the church from the late 17th century onward cannot be understated. The wars, in-fighting, disease and all the tragedy of middle ages created a ripe environment for mankind to lose faith that the church was the way to understand the world. The church had lost her prominence and the age of enlightenment philosophers had begun.

The seeds of rationalism and the religious infighting of the day made way for a radically different view of humankind than what the Bible had taught. Descartes’ “ego cogito, ergo sum” (I think therefore I am) paved the way for mankind to find meaning and value apart from any revelation of a higher Creator. To Descartes, mankind was rational and capable of thought and such needed no external validation of truth. Mankind could think and mankind could reason, was that not enough? If we no longer have need of religion to give us meaning, and a Creator to give us purpose, then what would be the need for spiritual gifts? Philosophical reasoning, from Kierkegaards musings on the irrationality of faith, to Descartes’ ideas of reason leading to truth led to a weakening of reliance upon the Bible and Christianity.

Cessationism is largely a result of this growing rift between enlightenment philosophy and theology. No one in their right mind would ever have claimed that a direct agency of God’s revelation had ceased up until this point. There was just too much evidence that pointed to the contrary. Men and women throughout history have had a knack for experiencing the supernatural in-breaking of God into this world. In fact, according to scripture, there is no where that God is not.

There are four main arguments given to support the idea that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. What follows is an explanation of each one, and a rebuttal on the particular viewpoint.

Objection to the gifts #1: When the perfect has come…

Cessationists tend to argue from 1 Corinthians 13:10:

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

The “perfect” according to this viewpoint is thought to be the canonization of scripture. As scripture is the revelation of God to humanity, there is no further need for spiritual gifts to reveal God. The canonization of scripture was largely solidified during the latter half of the 4th century. As the canonization of scripture “closed” so did the activity of the Holy Spirit in dispensing gifts and revelation to humankind.

Seems nice and tidy, right?

Though canonization was pretty much set by the end of the 4th century the rough sketch was well established by about 150 AD. The process of canonization continued over time, with the subtraction of the Apocrypha in Luther’s age. To try and find a demarcation point of canonization being the “perfect” that has come is folly. The process was not “perfect” by any stretch of the imagination. And which canon would the “perfect” point to? The Evangelical? Catholic? Lutheran? Canonization has not remained the same over all of church history, how could it be called the “perfect” that would do away with the need for God to reveal himself?

And furthermore, the language of 1 Corinthians 13 is looking forward to a time when we will be with the Father:

Can we say that we see God face to face and perfectly? Am I fully known, and do I fully know God? Paul did not have in mind the canonization of scripture when he wrote this. Suffice it to say, this is cannot be a strong point of emphasis.

Objection to the gifts #2: Gifts were necessary to validate the apostles but are not necessary today.

To some, the purpose of the gift was to validate the messenger. They would look at the miracles of Jesus as validating his message (not to mention that Jesus did not see his miracles that way). The veracity of the gospel was proved through the miracles that were wrought at the hand of the apostles.

Since, according to this belief, the miracles of Jesus proved his divinity, the miracles of the apostles validated their heavenly authority in writing the letters to the early churches. Further to that, this viewpoint would criticize anyone who claims a gift of healing but does not have a 100 percent track record. If the gift was given shouldn’t it be at the whim of the one who has the gift?

Objection two holds that the miraculous gifts died with the apostles as they were no longer necessary to validate the message. The problem with this is that the disciples of the apostles did not agree with this sentiment. Many of them continued to operate in prophecy, healings, signs, and wonders. This is a matter of historic record within early church writings. These examples stretch easily throughout the first 500 years of church history, and continue unabated through today.

In the 4th century, the Desert Father Abba Nesteros taught that a spiritual gift could come as a result of the character of the person or because of the need in a situation:

The language may shift over time in how we talk about the gifts of the Spirit, but the evidence in church history has never ceased. The belief of cessationism is a modern invention.

Stay tuned for part 2…