An arguement for the continuation of the Spirit’s gifts, against non-continuation

Charismatic - Believes in the continuation of the Spiritual gifts until Jesus returns.

Cessationist - Believes that the Spiritual gifts ended at the end of the apastolic era with the finished works of the Scriptures.

Scriptural Evidence:

1 Corinthians 1:4-7 
”⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Verse 7 is what I am mainly looking at here. The ‘revealing’ spoken of is about Jesus’ return. So here Paul is saying that they have every spiritual gift (not lacking any), as they wait for His return, meaning they will have them until He returns. The word ‘as’ is crucial, creating a direct link and relationship between them having the gifts and them waiting for His return. Both conditions co-exist together. The word ‘as’ then shows that they will only lose the gifts when He returns, when both conditions - gifts and waiting - end. I included verses 4 and 5 because they show that the gifts are a part of their ‘enrichment’ as a believer. All believers have the same inheritance of the cross, therefore we also have the gifts now as they did then. This will be so until He returns.

1 Corinthians 13: 8-12
^“8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Prophesy, tongues, knowledge, the gifts of the Spirit pass away! “YES!” the Cessationist cries, “THE BIBLE IS THE PERFECT!” Let’s examine that. So there is a ‘perfect’ that is coming, and we are currently in the partial. And then Paul gives us even more metaphors. For the ‘perfect’ to be the completion of the Bible, Paul must have known that there would be a canon of scripture put together including his own works called the Bible. Since Paul couldn’t have possibly known about the canon of scriptures years after his death, I’d argue that he couldn’t of possibly been referring to the Bible. However, if this were the case, what should we make of “then I shall know fully”? If the gifts ended when the Bible was put together from already existing writings, after Paul’s death, how could he say that he will know fully then? He won’t be able to know fully then, he’ll be dead. Therefore, I can only conclude that the only age after the one he’s currently in, where he will be able to ‘know’ in the perfect, will be when Christ returns and he is ressurected from the dead. He can’t be talking about when he’s dead, the ‘perfect’ must be the return of Christ. Furthermore, the descriptions of his childish ways fit the description of our imperfect living, and the manly ways fit the perfect lives in Heaven. Now we still see Jesus dimly (hence why He still needs to be ‘revealed’ to us), and at His return we will see perfectly. On earth we don’t know everything, at His return we know that everything will be revealed.

Acts 2: 17-18, 20
^“17“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
   and your young men shall see visions,
   and your old men shall dream dreams;
¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants
   in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy….
²⁰….before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.”

I quoted Peter in Acts 2 quoting Joel instead of straight from Joel because Acts 2 is where Joel’s prophesy was fulfilled. While the middle sections confirm that this is about the Spiritual gifts, it’s the bread of this sandwich that I’m interested in. Verse 17 says “in the last days” these will happen, and they happened in Acts 2. Thus Acts 2 was the start of ‘the last days’. The word ‘in’ in the context of time means ‘throughout’ the said time period, that being ‘the last days’. Therefore the gifts and the last days will always be happening at the same time. So, if the gifts have stopped now, then ‘the last days’ have also ended, and the end has already come and Jesus has returned, and this is the New Heaven and Earth. And also ’the last days’ were only the apastolic era. No. This isn’t the case. We are still in the last days, the end has not come, and Jesus has not returned, ect. In fact, verse 20 says that all of this will happen ‘before the day of the Lord comes’, before He returns. This hasn’t happened yet. So Joel gives us a neat little time frame of when the gifts will be available: starting at the start of the last days, ending when Jesus returns. Notice there is no mention of any other time frame of the gifts other than the last days, no mention of the apastolic era. Have the last days started? Yep. Have they ended and Jesus returned? Nope. So, the gifts are still available.

Acts 1:8
”8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus said that the Spirit gave them power so that they could be witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. And that was done by the apostles in the book of Acts and they witnessed to those areas (I think, my memory’s rusty on Acts - if they didn’t then it supports my point anyway). But if He meant it that they would be given power by the Spirit specifically for the purpose of witnessing to those areas, then what do we make of ‘and to the end of the earth’? The apostles didn’t go to the end of the earth; there are still unreached nations who have never heard the Gospel. So that means one of two things. Firstly that God is an idealist and didn’t have a clue what He was talking about, so why should we have any reason to trust anything else He says, His Word or even Him? Or, secondly, that Jesus didn’t mean it for just those specific people: that He meant it for all believers. That all believers would receive power from the Spirit to witness to all nations.

Also, the phrase ‘the end of the earth’ is a way of saying ‘and so on, to every other nation’ - or ‘all nations’. That’s a syndetic list, meaning there is more than just what is mentioned. So if Jesus called them to go to every nation, isn’t that the same command as the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-20? Both in Acts 1 and Mark 16 say He gave those commands right before He ascended into Heaven - the same event. And the great commission is for all of us right?

Also, it says that they will receive power when the Spirit comes upon them, that those two events will happen simultaneously, making it one event. Not ‘and’, but ‘when’. All believers receive the the Holy Spirit, so shouldn’t we all receive the same power?

If it was just for those apostles that Jesus spoke to, then how did Paul go around preaching the Gospel with demonstrations of the Spirit’s power? He wasn’t one of them, and he wasn’t even a Christian then. So if Jesus’ words extend to Paul, then why can’t they extend to us, to you and to me?

Mark 16:17
”17And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;”

‘Those who believe…’

Romans 11: 29
”²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Need I say more?

Finally, put these verses together and we conclude:
- The gifts are part of the enrichment as a believer
- The gifts aid us in the great commission to all nations, which is not yet accomplished
- The gifts will pass away
- We will have the gifts until Jesus returns and the perfect comes
They fit quite nicely!

Other comments:

One reason why Cessationists disregard the Charismatic gifts is because they believe it goes against ‘sola scriptura’, one of the Reformation’s Five Solas, meaning ‘by scripture alone.’ This was originally a respose to the Catholic’s belief that Church tradition was equal to scriptural authority, to which the Reformers said “No! Scripture, not tradition!” However, Cessationists claim as one of their arguements that there is a significant lack in records after the ‘apastolic era’ of the gifts being at use. Firstly, there are records and the ‘lack’ is largely exaggerated. Secondly, this is basing theology based on Church tradition, going directly against everything sola scriptura stands for! Just because some past Christians failed to experience the gifts, should not make us assume that God had ceased them. If we were to use Church history to determine our theology, then Catholic tradition would still be valid. But the Reformers saw that the lack of Biblical doctrine and theology, and quenching of the Spirit’s work, had grieved the Holy Spirit. So they brought back sola scriptura, returning to what was once lost. We should have a similar attitude, repenting of our experience based theology to return to our scripture based theology. We should never assume that the gulf between our experience and our Bibles is God’s fault, but that it is always our own and we’re not doing something right.
[This was written in a Reformed point of view to counter a Reformed Cessationist’s argument, so forgive me if you disagree with my Reformed beliefs]

I believe that the power the Spirit gives to believers (not just apostles) is to demonstrate the that they are sent by God, to be witnesses. Signs confirm the message (Mark 16:20), miracles point to the God of miracles, they’re for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7), for the strengthening of the Church (1 Corinthians 14:26), and for the full proclamation of the Gospel and Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 4:20, 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, Romans 15:18-20). We are just as much in need of those things as they were then.

“Scripture actually tells us what the primary purpose of the charismatic gifts is, including gifts of healing. They are not given for the authentication of Scripture. They are given “for the common good” (1Cor 12:7) and “for the strengthening of the church” (1Cor 14:26), something which is surely just as important today as it was before the canon of Scripture was completed.”
- Phil Moore

“The fact that I see fewer than the apostle Peter’s 3000 saved each time that I preach the Gospel (Acts 2:41) is not proof that the gift of evangelism has ceased! It simply shows me that as yet my faith is still immature (Rom 12:6). The same is true of [the] gifts.”
- Phil Moore

“It would also be foolish to assume that the cessationists’ unbelief about the reality of modern [Charismatic] gifts is not actually one of the reasons why they have not experienced the gifts in their own ministry!”
- Phil Moore

God bless x