IS THE CESSATIONIST VIEW CORRECT?
Have Tongues
and Prophecy Really Passed Away?
By Paul
Christensen
The cessationist view is based on 1Cor13:8 where is says that when the
perfect is come, the partial shall be done away. It seems
that a whole doctrine has been formed on the basis of this one verse of
scripture. Most Bible scholars would cast doubt on any doctrine
based on just one verse of the Bible, let alone an important one where gifts of
the Holy Spirit are withdrawn from the church.
Paul was always clear and straightforward in his doctrinal
statements. He makes reference to this where he says that although his
actual presence is weak and contemptible, his letters are weighty and powerful.
(2 Corinthians 10:10). What made his letters this way was the forcefulness and
directness of them. Look at this Scripture:
Since we have such [glorious] hope –such [joyful and confident]
expectation – we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly. (2 Corinthians 3:12)
This was Paul’s manner of speaking: freely, fearlessly, and
openly. He did not speak in riddles, or double meaning words. When
he had something to say, he said it clearly and without ambiguity.
This would clearly show that if Paul really believed that the gifts
would pass away one day, he would have said so quite clearly. He
would not have said something in riddles or with words that could be
interpreted different ways. He would have said something like
this: “Tongues, prophecy and knowledge will cease when all the Apostle’s
letters and gospels are gathered together as one book, because once believers
have that book which contains the whole revelation of the gospel of Christ,
then these gifts will have served their purpose and will pass away.”
We know that Paul did not say that. Therefore it would be
out of character for him to establish an important doctrine like the cessation
of tongues and prophecy with one or two non-contextual sentences in the middle
of his teaching about the ministries and gifts of the Spirit. If
Paul has clearly set out his other doctrinal points, why not set this one out
the same way?
One thing we do know clearly is that tongues and prophecy will cease one
day. Paul makes that quite clear. The important issue is the
timing of the event. He says it will be when ‘the perfect is
come’. To find out what he means by that, we need to find out the
definition of the term ‘the perfect’.
One possible interpretation may be around the theme of ‘love’.
Paul may very well be comparing the gifts of tongues and prophecy with the
perfection of agape love. Therefore, one interpretation could be
that when the perfect (agape love in its pure form) comes, the imperfect (by
comparison) gifts will pass away. This interpretation makes better
sense in the context of the rest of the chapter.
The problem with assuming that ‘the perfect’ means the completion of the
Canon of the New Testament is that none of the Apostles, including Paul, had
any conception that there was going to be such a thing. The
formation of the Canon is to be 300 years into the future. Once
again, if Paul had any knowledge of it through his natural ability or by
revelation, he would have stated it somewhere in his letters. But
there is no mention anywhere in his letters that he is aware that there is going
to be a Canon, so it is unreasonable to assume that this is what he meant when
he wrote 1 Corinthians 13:8.
Of course, he would be very aware that all the Spiritual gifts would
pass away at the Second Coming of Christ. He implies that in his
writing in different places, so that there is more than just one verse of
Scripture that expresses that point. But there is a reasonable
doubt that this is what he is saying at the end of 1 Corinthians 13.
Although the Second Coming of Christ is hinted at in a round about way, Paul
does not specifically mention it in clear terms.
What he does make clear, however, is that the gifts of the Spirit are
imperfect compared to ‘perfection’ (needs to be defined). There is going to
come a day when perfection will come and the imperfect gifts will disappear to
make way for something that will more perfectly express the love of Christ to
believers. Paul says “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then
face to face.” This says that now, through the gifts of the Spirit,
we get a vague image of the love of Christ working through them; but when
the perfect love of Christ comes, we will no longer be looking through a veil,
but we will see clearly, and will know more perfectly, and we will have no
further use for the imperfect gifts because we will have direct access to the
Giver of the gifts, and will have open fellowship with Him, having all our
needs met through a much deeper personal, face to face, relationship with the
Saviour.
Paul expresses it as playing around with toys like children at the
present time, but when the perfect love of Christ appears, it will be as if we
have grown up and no longer need the toys that once satisfied us. We move
to adulthood in the Spirit and leave the childish instruments and tools behind
us. The crux of the matter depends on the definition of ‘the
perfect’. Once we have that sorted out, we will know how to interpret 1 Corinthians
13:8 correctly.
The central expression the cessationist relies on is ‘when that which is
perfect has come’. He defines it as the formation of the Canon of
Scripture which he views as the ‘perfect’ Word of God. As we now have the
perfect Word of God, so he says, we no longer have need for the imperfect
gifts. Therefore they have now served their purpose and have ceased.
This is the basis of the cessationist’s position.
Here is an extract from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on 1Corinthians13:8:
From its longer continuance and duration: Charity never faileth. It
is a permanent and perpetual grace, lasting as eternity; whereas the extraordinary
gifts on which the Corinthians valued themselves were of short continuance.
They were only to edify the church on earth, and that but for a time, not
during its whole continuance in this world; but in heaven would be all
superseded, which yet is the very seat and element of love. Prophecy
must fail, that is, either the prediction of things to come (which is its
most common sense) or the interpretation of scripture by immediate inspiration.
Tongues will cease, that is, the miraculous power of speaking languages
without learning them. There will be but one language in heaven. There
is no confusion of tongues in the region of perfect tranquility.
Matthew Henry is in no doubt that the time when prophecy and tongues
will cease will be when we get to heaven.
Let us look at what he says about verse 10:
When that which is perfect shall come, then that which is in part shall
be done away. When the end is once attained, the means will of
course be abolished. There will be no need of tongues, and prophecy, and inspired
knowledge, in a future life, because then the church will be in a state of
perfection, complete both in knowledge and holiness. God will be known then
clearly, and in a manner by intuition, and as perfectly as the capacity of
glorified minds will allow; not by such transient glimpses, and little
portions, as here.
Matthew Henry continues to state that the time when tongues and prophecy
are to abolished is in heaven. He says that there the church will be in
‘a state of perfection, complete both in knowledge and holiness.’ Nowhere
does he mention the formation of the Canon of Scripture. He sees
the state of perfection as being the state of the church. Until
the church reaches that state of perfect knowledge and holiness, the gifts of
tongues and prophecy will remain and be a part of it.
Looking at the present state of the church, we all, including the
cessationists, have to admit that the church is still in a state of confusion
and division, far from the perfect standard that God expects of it.
Therefore, on that basis, there is no reason to believe that the miraculous
gifts of the Spirit have ceased.
Kretzmann’s Popular Commentary has this to say about 1Corinthians 13:9:
Since the assertion that the gifts of knowledge and prophecy will cease
might seem strange, Paul explains his statement: For in part we know, and in
part we prophesy; but when there comes the perfect, the imperfect will be
abolished. Our knowing in this world is imperfect, inadequate for a complete
understanding of God, of His essence, of His will. There are only small
parts of the eternal, heavenly truth that we understand, even with our
enlightened Christian reason. We have no comprehensive view of the total, of
the connection of the divine thoughts and counsels; the fullness of God's
greatness and majesty is still hidden from us. We know only so much of God's
essence and will as is necessary for our salvation. And the most enlightened
and inspired commentators of the Bible are able to get only glimpses of the
mysteries of the spiritual world, of the heavenly glories, through the
revelation given to us in the Gospel. But this imperfect condition will cease,
the knowing and prophesying in part will come to an end, as soon as the perfect
appears, just as the blush of dawn disappears when the sun rises above the
horizon in full splendour. When Christ will return in glory, when we shall
be glorified with Him in heaven, then all the imperfections of this present
knowledge will be left behind.
This is another witness to the view that perfection involves Christ
returning in glory and we bring glorified with Him in heaven.
John Calvin’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:10 witnesses the same as
the other two commentaries:
When that which is perfect is come,“ when the goal has been
reached, then the helps in the race will be done away.” He retains, however,
the form of expression that he had already made use of, when he contrasts perfection
with what is in part “Perfection,” says he, “when it will arrive,
will put an end to everything that aids imperfection.” But when will that
perfection come? It begins, indeed, at death, for then we put off, along
with the body, many infirmities; but it will not be completely manifested until
the day of judgment, as we shall hear presently. Hence we infer, that
the whole of this discussion is ignorantly applied to the time that is
intermediate.
So here we have three reliable witnesses, representing men of God who
have prayed and consider what these verses mean, agreeing on what they view
‘the perfect’ is. The Scripture says:
…so that every word may be confirmed and upheld by the testimony of two
or three witnesses. (Matt18:16)
So the testimony of the three witnesses that we have provided shows that
they believe that the ‘perfection’ is that perfect state of the believer when
he gets to heaven and fellowships with the Lord face to face. They
also speak of the perfection and holiness of the church when it goes into
eternity as the holy Bride of Christ.
These would now bring reasonable doubt on the interpretation that the
cessationists propose about verses 8 and 10 of 1Corinthians. Three
highly respected commentaries contradict them, and although the only really
reliable way to get a totally accurate interpretation of the verse is to ask
the original author, St Paul, and we cannot do that, the next best thing is to
take the word of our most respected and scholarly commentators.
Also, it is noteworthy that Paul does not mention anywhere in his
letters anything about a future time when the literature of the early church
would be gathered together and a Canon decided upon. Neither does
Peter or John in their epistles. In fact, the concept of a New Testament
Canon is unknown until the Second Century.
But when we study the writings of Paul concerning the time when the
Church was going to reach perfection, we see that he fully understands the
concept and frequently refers to it elsewhere. Let’s look at some of the
places where he talks about the Church reaching full perfection and holiness.
That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendour,
without spot or wrinkle or any such things – that she might be holy and
faultless (Ephesians 5:27)
Paul is comparing the relationship between husband and wife to Christ
and His church. He is seeing forward to a time when the Church will
be without spot or wrinkle; in other words, perfect. This is
what he is thinking of when he says when that which is perfect is come.”
He is talking about the emergence of the Christian Church, holy and faultless,
standing with Christ when He comes again.
The perfection of the Church is inseparably linked to the Second Coming
of Christ in the mind of Paul. This is exemplified in the following
Scripture:
But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in
heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, [as] Saviour. Who will transform and fashion
anew the body of our humiliation to conform to and be like the body of His
glory and majesty, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject
everything to Himself.
This talks not only of us as individuals, but us as the Church, the Body
of Christ. This is all part of the emergency of the perfect Church that
is to reflect His glory and majesty.
The purpose of God is that Christ is going to present us before the
Father as faultless. This started with our conversion to Christ, and is
continuing through the process of progressive sanctification as we go through
the journey of our lives, But there will come the day when we as
individuals and as a Church will be presented to the father having been made
perfect in Christ as set out in the following Scripture:
You now has [Christ, the Messiah,] reconciled [you to God] in the body
of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and
irreproachable in His [the Father’s] presence. (Col 1:22)
We know that the whole creation as been moaning together in the pains of
labour until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who
have and enjoy the first fruits of the (Holy) Spirit – a foretaste of the
blissful things to come- groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our
bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our
manifestation as God’s sons). (Romans 8:22.23)
Paul is saying that the whole creation is groaning as it waits
impatiently for that time when we will be manifested as God’s children.
This is a clear image of the future emergence of the faultless and holy Church
of God.
He says that we are presently enjoying the first fruits of the Holy
Spirit. This speaks of the present gifts and ministries, set out in
1Corinthians12. Part of those first fruits are the gifts of tongues and
prophecy. But once the Church emerges in the glory of Christ and is
presented to the Father, the first fruits will fade away.
Therefore, we see the present gifts and ministries of the Spirit serve
to build up and develop the Church in its journey of progressive
sanctification, looking forward to that day when it will be made perfect in
Christ.
This is enough to show us that Paul had a more clear view of the Church
being made perfect at the Second Coming of Christ, than he had of the emergence
of the Canon of the New Testament. Paul would never have viewed the
collective writings of the Apostles as having such perfection that they would
replace the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. But it is easy to see
that he would certainly believe that the emergence of the perfect Church of
Christ would cause the gifts and ministries of the Spirit to fade into
insignificance.
Paul is quite clear that the present Church is a work in development:
In Him (Christ) the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together
harmoniously; and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in
the Lord – a sanctuary dedicated consecrated and sacred to the presence of the
Lord. (Ephesians 2:21)
This talks of the structure of the Church, which is growing and increasing
until at last it becomes a holy sanctuary dedicated to the Lord. At
the present time, the Church is growing and developing. It is not perfect
yet. Perfect has yet to come.
Finally, we see that Paul combines the gifts and ministries with the building
up of the Church:
And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appoint and gave men to us,] some
to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers. His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the
saints, [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up
Christ’s body (the church). [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness
in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the
Son of God; that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood – the measure of
the stature of the fullness of the Christ, and the completeness found in Him.
(Ephesians 4:11-13).
When we couple these references to 1Corinthians13:8,10 we then see that
Paul is further emphasising the perfection he is looking forward
to. It is the emergence of the perfect Church. He sees
the gifts of tongues and prophecy as tools in the building up and development
of our present church, and these tools will be set aside once the Church has reached
perfection. This is the only possible interpretation, given these other
references.
So now we see the absurdity of the cessationist interpretation of 1 Corinthians
13:10 as the perfect thing being the Canon of the New Testament. To
use this interpretation is to pluck this verse right out of the natural context
of Paul's thinking about what is actually perfect. The verse fits
comfortably with Paul’s other sayings about the Church developing towards
perfection in Christ, but the Canon interpretation is in sharp discord with
them.
So though this we have shown that the gifts of tongues and prophecy are
still part of the present developing Church and will only be made redundant
when it emerges as the holy and faultless Church standing in the full light of
the knowledge of Christ, being presented to the Father.
But the cessationist maintains that tongues were a sign to
unbelievers; and the ‘unbelievers’ are defined as ‘unbelieving’
Israel. Therefore, they say that the gift of tongues were meant to be
spoken in front of Jews in order to show them that the gospel was true and that
they were under the judgement of God. Well, this is partly true.
When Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 14:22, he first gives an example
from Isaiah 28:11,12.
It is written in the Law, By men of strange languages and by the lips of
foreigners will I speak to this people, and not even then will they listen to
Me, says the Lord. (1 Corinthians 14:21)
The Jews would have known about this because after Isaiah prophesied
this, the Assyrians invaded Israel and took over the government of the
nation. But instead of repenting and allowing God to become their
Deliverer to put things back under His Lordship, they made alliances with the
Assyrians and adopted much of their culture. So the Lord stopped speaking
to them in their native language, and chose to speak to them through the
Assyrians. This was to show them that the Lord was no longer their
Lord and that they were under His judgement. But even then, they would
not turn back to the Lord and make Him their Lord and their God.
But Isaiah’s prophecy was never meant to be a prophecy concerning the
New Testament gift of tongues. When Isaiah made mention of ‘this people’,
he meant the people of his time, not the Jews of any later age.
Peter quoted the prophecy that foretold this when he preached to them in
Acts 2:
This is [the beginning of] what was spoken through the prophet
Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I
will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy...” (Acts 2:16,17, quoting Joel 2:28-32)
Although the Joel prophecy does not expressly mention tongues, Peter
quotes it in the context where the listeners had heard the gift of tongues
being manifested and their own native dialects being spoken. Peter
obviously included the manifestation of tongues, by implication, in his quote
of the Joel prophecy.
But Paul’s example has a different purpose, he is showing that in the
same way as in Isaiah’s time when the Jews were under judgement because God
spoke to them through the Assyrian tongue, which by comparison to Hebrew
sounded like ‘stammering’, so the present day unbelievers who at first were
Jews and afterward were Gentiles as well, when they heard the gift of tongues
being manifested, would know that they were under the same judgement of
God. The gospel was the only thing that was going to give them hope of
salvation. This is what Paul meant in verse 22 of 1Corinthians:
Thus [unknown] tongues are meant for a supernatural sign, not for
believers, but for unbelievers [on the point of believing]…
The Jews would readily understand this, because they would know the
background of the Isaiah quote. With the correct teaching (which Paul
would have given), the Gentile unbelievers would have been made aware of it
also.
The point is, that unbelievers would not be able to understand the
language when it was being spoken near them. This is why quoting
the manifestation of Acts 2 where Jews from the different countries heard in
their own native dialects the disciples speaking of the wonders of God, to give
an example of tongues being a ‘sign’ to unbelievers is right out of context to
what Paul was actually saying. The fact that the listeners on the Day of
Pentecost could actually understand the languages meant that tongues for them
was not acting as a ‘sign’ at all.
For tongues to act as a sign for unbelievers, according to Paul, the
languages were not to be understood. It was meant to show that
while God was speaking to them in languages they could not understand, they
were under His judgement, and it was a signal that they needed to get right
with Him and become believers. Then the Word of God to them would come as
prophecy in a language they could understand.
This is linked with Paul saying that
unbelievers had their minds blinded so that they would not see the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ (2Corinthians4:4). Paul also said that
the things of God could not be understood by unbelievers because they were
spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14). So when unbelievers
encounter Spirit filled believers speaking in tongues their very lack of
understanding is a sign that they do not understand spiritual things because
their spirits are dead and they are under the judgement of God.
CONCLUSION
What we have done is to dismantle, through a
careful study of Scripture, two of the main foundations of cessationist
belief. We have clearly shown that they have seriously misquoted the
Scripture to make out that tongues and prophecy are longer part of the Church’s
toolbox. We have also shown that even if they believed that tongues
was still existent, it would be limited as a sign to unbelieving
Jews. We have shown that this is also a misquote of the Scripture.
If cessationists have made these two glaring
errors as part of their teaching on the ministry of the Spirit and the gifts of
tongues and prophecy, then it would be reasonable to assume that the other
principles they are promoting could also be in error. We think that there
is a reasonable doubt about the veracity of their teaching on tongues and
prophecy. They are using a completely defective premise, and are teaching
their disciples error.
Some cessationist writers even go as far as to
say that people who speak in tongues and prophesy are being motivated and
inspired by a wrong spirit. This implies that tongues speakers are
inspired by demons instead of the Holy Spirit. We would counter
that by maintaining that because we have shown that they themselves are in
error, through misquoting and twisting the Scripture, they themselves might be
in bondage to a spirit of error themselves.
We would go a little further, and quote from 2
Chronicles 18: 18-21 where the prophet Michaiah gave the Word of God in
prophecy to King Ahab in front of his 400 prophets who had prophesied that he
would win the battle that he was about to fight.
Michaiah said, therefore
hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the
host of Heaven standing at His right hand and His left. And the Lord
said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at
Ramoth-gilead? And then there came a spirit and stood before the Lord,
and said, I will entice him. The Lord said to him, By what means?
And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his
prophets. And the Lord said, You shall entice him, and also
succeed; go forth and do so.
This is an object lesson to those who start
with a premise that is not clearly part of God’s Word and then try to twist and
stretch it to fit their preconceived idea. The 400 prophets of Ahab
had a preconceived idea that Ahab was a strong king who would win against his
enemies. They prophesied the things that the king wanted to hear,
instead of really seeking to hear what the Lord was really saying.
Genuine Bible teachers start with what the
Scripture actually says. They do not start with a premise and make the
Bible fit into it. They do it the other way around; they form their
premise on what the Bible tells them.
In our experience, when a lying spirit starts
to influence the teaching, it is because the Bible teacher has tried to make
the Bible fit his ideas. Jesus is not Lord of his teaching, and this opens
the way for a lying spirit to gain access. Once it is in place, it is
very difficult to detect and remove. The teacher is totally convinced
that his error is truth. It is as if his eyes and mind are blinded
to the fact that he is teaching error.
We have many pseudo-christian sects that
started with people who genuinely believed in the Lord and preached the
gospel. Then for a number of reasons they developed a theory and started
to try and fit the Scripture into their theory. Ultimately, they were the
founders of sects that departed completely from the purity of the gospel and
adopted all sorts of doctrines, some of which were doctrines of devils (1 Timothy
4:1)
The gift of tongues is a very powerful tool
for preparing the Christian for ministering in the Spirit and preaching the
gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. The devil knows this, and has
worked hard to talk two thirds of the Church out of using it as a tool for
personal growth, intercession and as a preparation for evangelism and healing ministry.
He has used the defective doctrines of cessationists to achieve that end.
We need to turn away from cessationist
teaching, and take God at His Word. His Word tells us that there is
a gift of tongues, and it is available to us as a tool for our Christian lives
and ministry. Paul gives us the ‘instruction manual’ in
1Corinthians14. It is up to us to use the resources that God has given
us.
The gift of tongues was very important to
Paul, and he used it as much as he possibly could. We can see the
results of that. His letters are the basis of our New Testament
doctrine. We have the choice to follow his example and see the same
power of the Holy Spirit working through our lives as well.
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