Program / Course 9: Christology and Pneumatology / Lesson 7.2
What you will learn
- Define cessationism, continuationism and Pentecostalism and distinguish them.
- State the main arguments of cessationists in their own terms.
- State the main arguments of continuationists and Pentecostals in their own terms.
- Describe how Catholic and Orthodox Christians approach miraculous gifts.
The big idea
Christians agree that the Spirit gives gifts to the church. They disagree about whether all the gifts named in the New Testament, especially tongues, healing and prophecy, continue today. Cessationists hold that the miraculous sign gifts ended with the apostolic age. Continuationists hold that no text says they ended and that they may be expected today. Pentecostals, a movement since 1906, hold that they should be sought and often teach a special experience of Spirit baptism. Catholic and Orthodox churches accept the continuing action of the Spirit in other ways. Each view has serious arguments.
Key terms
- Cessationism
- The view that certain miraculous gifts, such as tongues, healing and new prophecy, ceased when the apostolic age ended or when the New Testament was complete.
- Continuationism
- The view that all the gifts of the Spirit continue throughout the church’s history until Christ returns.
- Pentecostalism
- A movement that began in the early twentieth century, emphasizing baptism in the Holy Spirit, tongues and other gifts as normal Christian experience.
- Baptism in the Spirit
- A phrase from Acts 1:5. Pentecostals teach it is an experience after conversion, often marked by tongues. Most other Christians say it happens at conversion or in baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13).
- Charismatic movement
- Renewal movements from the 1960s that brought Pentecostal-style gifts into Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches without forming new denominations.
- Sign gifts
- A term used by cessationists for gifts such as miracles, tongues and healing, which they say served as signs authenticating the apostles.
- Charism
- The Catholic term for a gift of the Spirit, including ordinary and extraordinary gifts, for the good of the church.
Background
The disagreement is not about whether God can do miracles. Almost all Christians say he can. It is about whether the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 are meant to continue as a normal feature of church life, and about what counts as evidence. People on every side have devotion and Scripture to cite.
The question has a long history. Writers of the second and third centuries, such as Justin and Irenaeus, mention gifts of healing, exorcism and prophecy in the church. Later writers speak differently, and Augustine, who in some earlier writing seems to treat miracles as rare, described many miracles in his own day near the end of his life (City of God 22). Historians disagree about how to read these shifts.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The cessationist case
Cessationists point to the purpose of miracles in Scripture: they confirm a messenger and his message. Paul calls signs and wonders and mighty deeds “the signs of an apostle” (2 Corinthians 12:12), and Hebrews 2:3-4 says the message was confirmed by those who heard the Lord, with signs and wonders. When the apostles died and the New Testament was complete, they argue, the need for such confirmation ended.
They add that 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 says tongues will cease and prophecy will pass away when the perfect comes, which they read as the completed Scripture. They worry that claims of new revelation threaten the sufficiency of Scripture. The view was held by B. B. Warfield in his Counterfeit Miracles (1918) and is common among Reformed and dispensationalist Protestants. Cessationists do not deny that God heals in answer to prayer.
Step 2: The continuationist case
Continuationists reply that no verse says the gifts will end with the apostles. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that these gifts will pass away when believers see face to face, which they read as the return of Christ, not the closing of the canon. Peter at Pentecost quotes Joel that the Spirit will be poured out in the last days, a period that includes the present (Acts 2:17).
They argue that miracles served purposes beyond authenticating apostles, such as mercy and building up the church, and that the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 are described for the whole body. They distinguish prophecy that is fallible and tested from the infallible Scripture. Careful continuationists, such as Wayne Grudem and John Piper, say that prophetic words never replace Scripture.
Step 3: Pentecostalism
The modern Pentecostal movement is often dated to 1901 in Topeka, with Charles Parham, and especially to the revival in Los Angeles in 1906 at Azusa Street, led by the African American preacher William Seymour. It spread worldwide and is now one of the largest streams of Christianity, particularly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ are among its denominations.
Classical Pentecostals teach that baptism in the Spirit is a distinct experience after conversion, and many say that speaking in tongues is its first evidence. They cite Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19. Other Christians, including many continuationists, answer that Acts describes the church’s history in transition and does not give a rule, and that 1 Corinthians 12:13 says all believers are baptized in one Spirit. Pentecostals themselves differ on some points.
Step 4: Renewal in other churches
From the 1960s, charismatic renewal reached the Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox communions. In the Catholic Church a retreat at Duquesne University in 1967 began the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which has been welcomed by several popes with guidance. A third stream, sometimes called the third wave, includes the Vineyard movement, which seeks signs and wonders without the Pentecostal teaching on a second experience.
Catholic teaching holds that charisms of every kind are real and are to be received with thanks and tested by church leaders (Lumen Gentium 12). Orthodox churches affirm the gifts and recognize holy people who heal or give counsel, while treating public displays with caution and stressing humility and obedience.
Step 5: How to assess the debate
The disputes are partly about exegesis and partly about experience. Cessationists ask for scriptural warrant for new revelation. Continuationists ask for scriptural warrant for the end of the gifts. Pentecostals appeal to experience read through Acts. Critics of all sides observe that experience can mislead and that Scripture can be read selectively.
A fair student notes the points of agreement: the Spirit is active, gifts are for the common good, love is the test, and Scripture is the norm. Disagreement remains about frequency, about the nature of tongues and about the need for a second experience. These differences have caused sharp conflict in some places and warm cooperation in others.
- What is the strongest scriptural argument in favor of cessationism, and what is the strongest reply?
- How do cessationists and continuationists read 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 differently?
- Why do Pentecostals read Acts as describing a pattern?
- How is a fallible prophetic word different from Scripture, according to continuationists?
- What do Catholics and Orthodox share with Pentecostals, and where do they differ?
- What kinds of evidence could count for or against a claim of a miracle?
Examples
Azusa Street
The mission on Azusa Street in Los Angeles drew black and white worshipers together at a time of strong racial segregation. Its leader William Seymour taught that the Spirit’s gifts were meant for all. Historians cite it for both its spiritual and its social significance.
Catholic Charismatic Renewal
In 1967 a group of lay people and faculty at Duquesne University prayed for the Spirit and experienced what they described as a new outpouring. The renewal spread to millions of Catholics and is organized with the approval of the church.
A constructed congregation
A Presbyterian church that is cessationist in doctrine prays for the sick with anointing and expects God to heal if he wills. A Pentecostal church down the road does the same with greater expectation. The two congregations differ in theory more than might be expected, and in practice more than they would expect. (A constructed example.)
Different perspectives
Cessationist Protestant
These Christians hold that the Spirit gives gifts to every believer but that the sign gifts ended with the apostles. They stress the completeness of Scripture and are wary of claims of fresh revelation. Many are Reformed or Baptist.
Continuationist Protestant
These Christians hold that all gifts continue, with care and testing. They read 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 as a pattern for today, and say Scripture alone is infallible.
Pentecostal and charismatic
These Christians hold that Spirit baptism and the gifts are a normal part of Christian life. Classical Pentecostals teach tongues as initial evidence of Spirit baptism. They believe the church should expect signs, and many value healing and prophecy.
Catholic
The Catholic Church holds that charisms are real and varied and are subject to discernment by the church’s pastors. It welcomes the charismatic renewal while holding that all gifts serve the church’s unity and are tested against doctrine.
Orthodox
The Orthodox Church holds that the Spirit’s gifts are ever present, seen above all in holiness, spiritual fatherhood and healing. It is cautious about ecstatic display and about movements outside the church’s order.
Why it matters
Questions about gifts affect worship, prayer for healing, church leadership and relations between churches. A student who knows the main positions can read church debates with fairness and see that the sharpest disagreements often rest on shared concerns.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Cessationists do not believe in miracles or the Spirit’s power.
Correction: They affirm God’s power and answer to prayer. They hold only that certain gifts, as a regular endowment of persons, ended.
Misunderstanding: Pentecostals are all alike.
Correction: The movement is diverse. Some teach tongues as necessary evidence; others do not. Practices and doctrines differ across denominations and countries.
Misunderstanding: Catholics and Orthodox have no place for gifts.
Correction: Both traditions affirm gifts and miracles, in their own way. They place them within sacramental and ecclesial life and test them by it.
Knowledge check
State the cessationist argument and one reply.
Cessationists argue that miracles authenticated the apostles and their message (2 Corinthians 12:12, Hebrews 2:3-4), so they ended when the apostolic age and the New Testament were complete, and that 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 refers to the completed Scripture. A reply is that no text says the gifts end then, and the perfect in chapter 13 refers to the return of Christ.
What does classical Pentecostalism teach about the baptism in the Spirit?
It teaches that baptism in the Spirit is an experience distinct from conversion, often with tongues as its initial evidence, and it appeals to Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19. Others reply that Acts describes a period of transition, not a rule, and that 1 Corinthians 12:13 speaks of all believers being baptized in one Spirit.
How do Catholics approach spiritual gifts?
The Catholic Church teaches that charisms, ordinary and extraordinary, are real gifts for the good of the church, and that they are to be received with thanks and tested by those who lead. Lumen Gentium 12 states this. It has welcomed the charismatic renewal within the Church since 1967.
What common ground do the views share?
All hold that the Spirit is active, that gifts are for the common good, that love is the measure of their use, and that Scripture is the norm for testing. They differ about whether certain gifts continue, about the nature of tongues, and about whether a second experience of the Spirit should be expected.
Think it through
- What would make you change your mind on whether tongues continue?
- How can a church test a prophetic word without quenching the Spirit?
- What is the role of experience in judging a doctrine?
- How can churches that disagree on gifts worship together or work together?
Independent assignment
Three positions fairly stated
In your own notebook, write 500 to 700 words. State the cessationist, continuationist and Pentecostal positions as each would, with two texts per position. Then write one paragraph on which questions are about exegesis, which about experience and which about authority. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) Read paragraph 12 on the charisms of the people of God.
- Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology A Reformed view of the Spirit’s work. Read selectively.
- John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions Read selectively for the Methodist emphasis on the Spirit’s witness.
- Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church Read for the place of the Spirit and holiness in Orthodox life.
- 1 Corinthians 13:8 Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease.
- 2 Corinthians 12:12 The signs of an apostle.
- Acts 2:17 In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit.
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.