Why i am a Cessationist: 7 Biblical Reasons

I’m writing this blog post not with a final answer on this subject, for I would say it’s a difficult issue for all Christians who love God and the Bible. I have plenty of continuant friends who have a great love for Christ, church and the bible. I thoroughly believe this is not a issue that should cause division and divisiveness, nor should it be brushed under the rug due to its sensitivity, but should be lovingly discussed, and if needed, agree to disagree.

Now I’m not some theological Muppet who has no clue what he is talking about on the subject at hand, for I got to know the Gospel in a Pentecostal church and in my youth attended a health-wealth full on Charismatic church. I even attended a Pentecostal bible college doing my pastoral degree. So I am well informed. But here is the kicker, I entered bible college and university as a Pentecostal full on charismatic Arminian, and left a Reformed Calvinist finally taking on a Cessationist view. This had nothing to do with the place of study, but more like acts 17:11. I was receiving theology upon theology with great eagerness and I examined it everyday in scripture, testing to see if what I was taught was true, and scripture lead me to the doctrine I hold today.

Now I must point out, as Tim Challies comments, ‘’ The label “Cessationism” is negative, but the real problem is that it has been easily caricatured as believing that the Spirit has ceased his work. But the fact is that we who are cessationists believe the Holy Spirit has continued his work. Nothing eternal happens in a person apart from the Holy Spirit. Temporal things can happen, but nothing eternal. We only believe the Spirit has ceased in one function: the miraculous gifts, such as tongues, prophecy, and healing.’’ Challies goes on to say, ‘’ Cessationism does not mean that God no longer does anything miraculous. As a pastor I see miracles often. Every time a spiritually dead person comes to faith is a miraculous work of grace. Every time a person is healed solely in answer to the prayers of God’s people totally in contradiction to the medical science predictions, it is a divine miracle. If God so chose, he could allow someone to speak today in a language they didn’t previously know. Cessationism means the Spirit no longer gives believers miraculous spiritual gifts as a normative Christian experience as it was for the apostles.’’

I’d like to emphasis what Challies has just said. We Reformed theologians believe that God in his sovereignty can choose to heal or let a man prophecy or speak in a language unbeknown to him, but it is not and should not be a normative experience for the church today. 

Seven Biblical arguments

Now why do I believe in this? Well here are 7 biblical arguments for why I am a Cessationist. Now again, I will be using Tim Challies because he has done a great job in this areas of defence:

1) The unique role of miracles. There were only 3 primary periods in which God worked miracles through unique men. The first was with Moses; the second was during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha; the third was with Christ and his apostles.

The primary purpose of miracles has always been to establish the credibility of one who speaks the word of God—not just any teacher, but those who had been given direct words by God. Notice in Exodus 4:15-17 that for Aaron to be Moses’ prophet he could not speak for himself. He could only speak what Moses told him to. This is what it means to be a prophet. But how were the people to know if a man who claimed to be a prophet was in fact speaking God’s own words? Moses brings this dilemma up with God at the beginning of chapter 4, and God answers by giving him signs.

God enabled Moses to perform miracles for one purpose only: to validate his claims to speak for God. This continues to be the purpose of miracles throughout the Old Testament. Only those who spoke authoritatively and infallibly for God were given the power of miracles.

When we come to the New Testament we discover this same pattern. The primary purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to confirm his credentials as God’s final and ultimate messenger (John 5:36; 6:14; 7:31; 10:24-26, 37-38). Jesus’ miracles were not primarily a tool for effective evangelism or about alleviating human suffering. The main reason the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus to perform miracles was to confirm that he was everything he claimed to be and that he spoke the words of God (Acts 2:22). Jesus gave this same power to the apostles, and their miracles served exactly the same purpose (Acts 14:3; cf. Hebrews 2:3-4).

Far more can be shown and said about this, but because we see this pattern throughout Scripture, it is reasonable to conclude that with the death of the apostles and end of their ministry, miracles ceased. Just as they ceased when Moses passed and Elijah and Elisha passed.

2) The end of the gift of apostleship. In two places in the New Testament Paul refers to the apostles as one of the gifts Christ gave his church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4). Although not all spiritual gifts are offices, all offices are gifts to the church.

One of the gifts Christ gave his church was the apostles, but they were a temporary gift. Most agree that there are no more like the original apostles. No one meets the qualifications anymore, which included being an eye-witness of the life of Christ and his resurrection. You also had to be personally appointed by Christ and be able to work miracles (Matthew 10:1-2). According to these three qualifications, there is no one alive today who is an apostle in the sense that the original 12 were. This gift of Christ to the church disappeared after the apostolic age.

This indicates there has been a major change in the gifting of the Spirit between the apostolic age and today.

3) The foundational nature of the New Testament apostles and prophets. The New Testament identifies the apostles and prophets as the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20-22). In the context, it is clear that Paul is referring here not to Old Testament prophets but to New Testament prophets. Once the apostles and prophets finished their role in laying the foundation of the church, their gifts were completed.

4) The nature of the New Testament miraculous gifts. If the Spirit was still moving as he was in the first century, then you would expect that the gifts would be of the same type.

Consider the speaking of tongues. At Pentecost, the languages spoken were already existing, understandable languages. The New Testament gift was speaking in a known language and dialect, not an ecstatic language like you see people speaking in today.

Consider also the gift of prophecy. Nowhere does the New Testament distinguish Old Testament prophecy from New Testament prophecy. Just as the Old Testament prophets spoke direct, infallible revelation from God, so did the New Testament prophets. And once it was checked against previous revelation and approved, it was added to the church’s revelation. New Testament prophecy is direct, infallible revelation. Today, however, prophecy is understood differently. Wayne Grudem, who is the most able defender of this position, says modern prophecy should be prefaced with “I think this is what the Spirit is saying.” This is not New Testament prophecy.There is a disparity between New Testament and modern day healings as well.

5) The testimony of church history. The practice of apostolic gifts declines even during the lifetimes of the apostles. Even in the written books of the New Testament, the miraculous gifts are mentioned less as the date of their writing gets later.

After the New Testament era, we see the miraculous gifts cease. John Chrysostom and Augustine speak of their ceasing. Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and B. B. Warfield all agree that the gifts ended after the 1st century and had been given only to confirm the message when it first appeared.

This raises a huge problem for our continuationist friends. How do they explain the ceasing of miraculous gifts throughout such long periods of church history?

6) The sufficiency of Scripture. The Spirit speaks only in and through the inspired Word. He doesn’t call and direct his people through subjective messages and modern day bestsellers. His word is external to us and objective. Steve Lawson will have more to say about this.

7) The New Testament governed the miraculous gifts. Whenever the New Testament gifts of tongues was to be practiced, there were specific rules that were to be followed. There was to be order and structure, as well as an interpreter. Paul also lays down rules for prophets and prophecy. Tragically most charismatic practice today clearly disregards these commands. The result is not a work of the spirit but of the flesh.

Conclusion

In closing, I’d like to argue that both the Reformed church and the Pentecostal/Charismatic Church need each other. The Gospel of Christ needs to be preach. Reformed brothers and sisters, we may be the the minority but we do hold to the historic position of the church and the sufficiency of scripture. Respond wisely and kindly. To my Pentecostal/Charismatic brothers and sisters, if you have sink deep into the word-of-faith, health wealth and experience based charismaticism found in many churches today, confront your beliefs with the biblical truth. Do not go with what is popular or cultural but question and test your faith, see if it is found in Christ alone. 

Sean Chalmers de Villiers is the editor of Christo Semper Blog. He has a B.A. In Theology and Pastoral Studies From the University of Wales. He lives in Keuruu, Central Finland, with his wife and two kids.