Have the Spiritual Gifts Ceased?

Hello viewers, I hope that your day is going well and thanks for stopping by. In today's article we are going to be talking about the gifts of the Spirit of God and be addressing the verses and arguments for the two main camps in this issue on whether they have ceased. Before we begin I want the reader to please understand that just because we may disagree on this issue It doesn't mean either of us is lost. It is not a salvific issue. I will try and keep this article reasonably short and thusly it will only contain three sections. Which are 1. Introduction, 2. Why people believe in Cessationalism, and 3. Why I believe Continuationism is true.

Introduction: Defining the Terms

In this section I will going over what Cessationalism and Continuationism means so that new Christians or the otherwise uninformed know what we are talking about here.

Cessationism- This is the belief that the spiritual gifts have ceased (stopped) around the time of the death of the last apostle or within the first few centuries A.D. While some Cessationist at the extreme end may believe that all the gifts have ceased, usually those at the less radical end of the spectrum believe that just the more outward spectacular gifts such as tongues, prophecy, healing and miracles have ceased.

Continuationism- This is the belief that God still imparts all of the Spiritual gifts to believers today including prophecy, tongues, miracles, and healing. There are those who teach at the more extreme version of this spectrum that one must speak in tongues to be saved, i.e as confirmation of having received the baptism of the Spirit, please see my Article on Pentacostalism to refute that doctrine here.

Now that you know what Continuationism and Cessationism are let's delve into the arguments as to why some hold to each side, starting with Cessationalism.

Why People are Cessationist?

Let's go over a little more in depth as to what Cessationalist believe. Cessationalist teach that gifts such as healing and tongues were known as sign gifts in order to authenticate the apostles and OT propets as truly from God and that these gifts were uniquly for them (Act 2:22, Act 14:3, 2 Cor 12:2). Some Cessationalist teach that the gifts of the Spirit were given by the laying on of hands of Apostles and when the last Apostle died the gifts (or at least sign gifts) stopped being given to people. They will cite 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 and say that these passages are referring to the completion of the bible and that is when the tongues ceased, when the canon of scripture was closed.

Cessationalist argue that if there were still prophesy today that was actually valid then it could be theoretically be added to the canon of scripture. Thusly they may charge Continuationist with not adhering to Sola Scriptura. They may argue that since Paul didn't heal himself, Epaphroditus (Phili 2:27), Timothy (1 Tim 5:23), or Trophimus (2Tim 4:20), the gift of healing must then have ceased since we know that he had the gift of healing (Act 28:8-9).

Cessationalism  may appoint to the extreme cases of charasmania and the abuse of the gifts and use that as proof that the gifts have ceased. They may use word of faith preachers and those like Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo dollar as examples as to why "sign gifts" are false. They believe their either demonically inspired at worst or just foolish at best. Some claim that miracles were few and far between in the bible with centuries in between occurrences. They will mention Moses then much later Elijah and Elias, Then miracles through Jesus and the Apostles, and that's the only people that God used miracles through.

Some people may quote certain church fathers and use them as a reason as to why they think some of these gifts have ceased. While others may point to certain of Paul's "later" epistles and say because he didn't mention them in there it was because the gifts have already started to cease. I will address these arguments shortly.

Why I believe in Continuationism.

Before I start this section let me just remind the reader that I am a non-denominational Christian and don't ascribe to Pentecostalism or charismatic. Continuationsm is not a denomination but just a theological issue. I definitely disagree with those snake-handlers who get this practice from Mark 16. Because they are tempting the Lord (Mat 4:7, 1 Cor 10:9). Nor am I of the opinion that we can speak in angelic tongues which is also known as a private prayer language. I believe the tongues of angels paul mentions in 1 Cor 13:1, is hyperbole and that the unknown tongue of 1 Cor 14:2 could just mean there is no interpreter or that nobody who speaks that particular language is around. Although I am not going to be dogmatic about this issue because I can assure you I can be wrong sometimes.

1. Addressing the Abuses of the Spiritual gifts and the False Teachers

There is no doubt that there are many Counterfeit miracles and religious con-men out there as the bible warns of false prophets, lying wonders, and signs in many places. There was pharaohs wise men in Exodus 7:10-12, the lost who did wonderful works in Christ name in Mat 7:22, Jesus warns of false Christ and prophets  in Mat 24:24, and the man of sin is said to do them in 2 Thess 2:9, just to name a few examples. Even Satan's ministers can appear as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor 11:14-15).

The summery of this section is just because there are false teachers and miracle workers it doesn't mean the true ones don't exists today. As always we should prove all things and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thess 5:21), don't believe signs from false prophets who desire to compel you to turn to other gods  (Dt 13:1-3).

2. Regarding the Argument of "Sign Gifts" are used only to Authenticate Jesus/the Apostles

There are other reasons in scripture for miracles besides attestation/ authentication, including doxological (for the purpose of glorifying God,  Mat 15:29-11, Joh 2:11, Joh 9:3, Joh 11:4, Joh 11:40), Evangelistic (Acts 9:32-43), Pastoral (Mat 14:14, Mar 1:40-41), Edification of the church ( 1 Cor 12:7), as well as for the common good (1 Cor 14:3-5, 26). Therefore even if we concede that the spiritual gifts are not used for attestation today these gifts are still necessary for the other purpsoses listed above. 

Nowhere does scripture say that some spiritual gifts were uniquely tied to them or that the gifts passed with their passing. It is hypocritical to hold to Sola scriptura and accuse continationist of not being sola scriptura and yet add to scripture with the said statement that "some gifts were only for the apostles/early church and that those gifts passed with their passing" when that is eisegesis not exegesis.  Next let's cover the claim that the gifts were given by laying on of the Apostles hands, the truth is there is only one verse (I am aware of anyway) that speaks of one person receiving a gift by the laying on of hands and that was Timothy (1 Tim 4:14), the passage(s) were the Holy Ghost being given by the laying on of hands doesn't count because we are talking about Spiritual gifts hear not the Spirit himself. Plus because people receive the Spirit by hearing the word and believing today.

Here are some non apostolic examples of people that received  Spiritual gifts, theres the  70 commissioned by Jesus (Luk 10:9,19-20), At least 108 people on pentacost (Act 2), Stephen (Act 6-7), Philip (8:5-8),  Ananias (Act 9), (Acts 13:1-3), four virgins (Act 21:8-9), those instructions given in Rom 12:6-8, and those mentioned in Gal 3:1-5. The gift of tongues (one of the gifts that has alledgedly ceased) was definately not one of the Apostolic only sign gifts as people in Acts 10:46 and Acts 19:6 also spoke in tongues and instructions was given to the church regarding them in 1 Cor 14:5 and 1 Cor 14:39. It makes no sense to give instructions to the church about something that was exclusively for the aposltes that was to be done away with very shorty. People in the Corinthian church would be examples of non apostolic manifistation of the gifts of the Spirit.

3. The Passage of 1 Cor 13

Regarding 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 these passages could easily be interpreted to be referring to the second coming of Christ/the death of the believer, aka the receiving of the glorified body and being with Christ as opposed to the common interpretation of the completion of the word of God. Just look at the passages about seeing face to face and knowing even as i am known, this fits the continuationist interpretation better than the Cessationist. Also if that which is perfect is come is refering to the bible then doesn't that mean that knowledge has vanished away since tongues has ceased and propesies have failed?

If seeing through the glass darkely was done away with the arrival of the completion of scripture then why is there so much confusion in churches? Why is there so much division? Because obviously it hasn't yet. These passages are clearly referring to the next life. 1 Cor 1:7 is another verse that could be used to support this reading here. In this passage gift  means Charisma in the greek referring to spiritual gifts or salvation.

In summary the misunderstanding of 1 Cor 13 is the result of eisegesis the text which is putting your own ideas into scripture instead of exegesis which is explaining what the text actually says. We must compare scripture with scripture in order to understand difficult passages (1 Cor 2:13).

4. Why Couldn't the Disciples (including Paul) heal Such and Such?

One of the best arguments in my opinion that Cessationist use (at least from scripture) to refute Continuationism is why didn't Paul just heal Epaphroditus, Trophimus, Timothy, and even himself? Since we know from *Acts that he did in fact have the gift of healing. Also why couldn't even Jesus disciples themselves cast out that particular devil in Mat 17. There could be several reasons as to why this was the case I will just list a few that comes to mind

• Their Unbelief (Mat 9:29, Mat 13:58, Jam 1:5-7). 
• Perhaps Paul didn't have an unlimited ability to heal.
• Perhaps it wasn't God's will for those People to be healed at that particular time, we know that was the case with Paul, (if that even was a physical ailment, 2 Cor 12:9, 1 Joh 5:14)
• The text was clear in Matthew as to why the Disciples couldn't cast out the Devil, unbelief.

*Acts 14:8-11,Acts 19:11-12, Acts 20:10-12, Acts 28:8-9.

5. The Claim that Miracles only happened Rarely in Scripture.

Another argument that I have heard was that God only used people for miracles very rarely in scripture in clusters with hundreds of years in-between these events. To refute this idea I will do two things one, i will leave a link to my miracle article here, and two here is a small sample of how dispersed and common miracles was in scripture. Adam talked with God, Languages were confounded at Babel, Abraham and Sarah conceived in old age, Abraham's servant had his prayer's answered concerning Isaac's wife, Jacob and the gendering cattle, Joseph's dream telling. Moses & the plagues, Israel and the signs in the wilderness, The conquering of Jericho, Joshua and the sun, Samson's strength, Gideon and the Fleece, David and his harp driving off evil spirit, Solomon's wisdom, Elijah & Elisha's many miracles, Daniel and the Lion's den, Daniels' friends in the fire, Jesus' Ministry, the Apostles ministry, and the instructions in Paul's epistles regarding the gifts.

Have you ever thought that the reason why you don't see miraculous healings today might be because the way God uses these gifts might be different from the way he conducted them in the early church. Maybe those that have the gift of healing simply get the urge to pray for someone and that person gets healed soon after instead of right that second.

6. Church History

Cessationist will claim that there is no evidence of the miraculous gifts after the death of the Apostles or those on whom they laid their hands, however consider the following quotes.

Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.)- early church historyian "the prophetical gifts remain with us even to the present time. Now it is possible to see among us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God"

Irenaeus (125-200 A.D.)- "We do also hear many brethren in the church who possess prophetic gifts and through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages...The dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years."

Novatian (210-280 A.D)- "This is he [the Holy Spirit] who places prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healing, does wonderful works."

Augustine (354-430 A.D)- although he is usually cited as being in support of cessationism, however later in his life he changed his mind and in the book The City of God wrote "I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work that I cannot record all the miracles I know."

Also consider these popular historic figures as well.

William Tyndale (1490-94 to1536)- While burning at the stake prayed to God to open the king of england's eyes, it happened shortly thereafter.
George Muller (1805-1898)- Has an account of a lifetime of miracles where God supernaturally provided for him. (Paul Washer took his example for a whole year and God did the same for him).

Note: I am citing theses quotes on the off chance that Cessationist try and use "early church fathers" as evidence that certain gifts has ceased. I am well aware that these are appeals to authority (a logical fallacy), and just want to state that I could care less what someone has said if it don't line up with scripture. 

7. Believing in Cessationism could lead to sin.

In this section I have an admonition for those who cling to and teach cessationism. You better be very sure that your position is right because if it isn't you are teaching people to disobey clear commands of scripture such as:

• Despise not prophesying (1 Thes 5:20)
• Quench not the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19), 
• Covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues (1 Cor 14:39), 
• Covet the best  gifts (1 Cor 12:31)
•  Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye should propehesy (1 Cor 14:1)
•  If any man speak let him speak as the oracles *(utterance) of God (1 Pet 4:11).

Prophesy doesn't mean preaching from the word of God or else the passages would say covet to preach, despise not preaching, desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye should preach the word.
According to strongs NT (G4394 propheteia) prophesy means:
A. A discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden: esp. by foretelling future events.
B. Used in the NT of the utterance of OT prophets
I. of the prediction of events relating to Christ's kingdom and its speedy triumph, together with the consolations and admonitions pertain to it, the spirit of prophecy, the divine mind, to which the prophetic faculty is due
ii. of the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets
iii. the gifts and utterances of these prophets, esp. of the predictions of the works of which, set apart to teach the gospel, will accomplish the for the kindgom of Christ 

Also personal revelation not same as adding to canon. When God gives you a message to tell someone it will already line up with his word so in a sense God is not giving out new revelation he is just helping you do stuff such as :
A) Telling someone what sins they are doing that are interfering with their relationship with Him
B) God could be telling someone who marry, where to live, what job to take
C) God can also give people the ability to foretell future events.
D) God can Reveal to prophets people's medical conditions as well.

Those are just a few examples of ways God speaks to people today. The purpose of prophecy is to tell you how to use the concepts in the bible with situations that are not spoken of in the bible.

Scripture tells us to turn away from those that have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof  (2 Tim 3:5). The greek word for power here is Dunamis (G1411, strongs Hebrew and Greek dictionaries) and it often refers to God's miracles in numerous passages of Scripture. So isn't this passage telling us to turn away from professing Christians who deny God's miracles. It seems this way to me at least.

* Strong's Hebrew and Greek dictionary G3051 logion

8. Other Points to Consider

• God doesn't change (Heb 13;8)
•  he is not a respecter of persons (Rom 2:11)
• The Holy Spirit doesn't manifest as much of his power as before is what cessationist must argue
• Are you Called to preach, if so Continuationism is true, if not why are you doing it? 
• The gifts Characterizes not inaugurates the last days (Num 11:29, Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18).
• We must worship God in spirit and truth (Joh 4:24).
• Stating you don't believe the gifts continue because they're not in Paul's later epistles is an arguments from silence, which is a logical fallacy.
• Some people don't believe in the gifts of miracles or healing because they haven't experienced or seen it. But as Christians we are supposed to walk by faith not sight (2 Cor 5:7).
• Let's not forget the countless testimonies of Christians worldwide (especially in third world countries) who have experience the gifts of tongues, prophesy, healing, and miracles, sometimes quite frequently. 

Now I want to take a minute to explain the definition of what the word of wisdom and word of knowledge that is in 1 Corinthians 12:8. Cessationist may say that it's just knowing what to do in any given situation or being very knowledgeable about something. Those arn't the proper definitions. These aren't just learning about stuff by your own efforts or experience. These are supernatural impartations of the Spirit we are talking about here. An example of a word of knowledge is when God tells you something about someone that you otherwise couldn't have known. The case of Peter exposing Ananias and Saphira is possible one example of this (Act 5:3). A word of wisdom is when God supernaturally gives you incredible insight on how to deal with a certain situation  ..... Solomon's order to divide the child in order to find out the true mother may be considered a word of wisdom (1 King 3:25-28). Please note that I'm not 100% sure on the accuracy of those two definitions of the gifts of the word of wisdom and knowledge, if you think that you have a better one feel free to drop it in the comments below.

The Holy Bible is indeed good and sufficient to make us perfect, however there are area's in our life where we should seek God's guidance that isn't covered in scripture such as where does God want me to work, live, who does he want me to marry, etc. Have you ever felt like God was prompting you to do something? God can speak to his people in many different ways, it doesn't just have to be an audible voice. Cessationism is sorta like Deism in that it depicts God as sort of this far off God who isn't as present in the life of his children. 


Those that preach cessationism may say that healing wasn't covered in the atonement. However if  you turn to Isa 53:5. According to strong's dictionary the Hebrew word H7495 rapha. It means to mend, cure, heal, physician, to make whole. This is not talking about spiritual healing because this  Hebrew word appears throughout passages of the old testament when referring to physical healing.

We know that the Devil has his weapons which are a cheap counterfeit of the good stuff how come he still has his stuff and we don't have ours, the devil can whisper lies in your hear, your pastor and mom can talk to you but not God? I only see how the devil side benefits from cessastionist doctrine. Satan has conviced the church that they don't have their weapons anymore so how are we going to win the war without our wepons? Please don't take offense at this but Cessationist remind me of the Pharisees who charged Jesus with casting out devils by Beelzebub , because they accuse these christians of operationg under the power of satan but what was Jesus' response to them (Luk 11:18-19).

In conclusion nowhere in scripture does it  teaches that gifts have ceased,  the need for and purposes of the gifts still exist, therefore it is most reasonable to conclude that the gifts have not ceased.

Relevant link: https://www.thewordsmithblog.com/cessationism-a-failing-theology/

More Verses: 1Cor 2:4, 2 Cor 3:6, 1Jn2:27