At the beginning of 2018 I suggested this would be one of the themes of the year and I continue to believe this will prove to be the case. My cause is helped by Tom Schreiner’s new defense of cessationism, Spiritual Gifts: What they Are and Why they Matter.
The movement called the New Calvinism has been around for quite a long time now, but still hasn’t solved one of its most basic questions: Do the miraculous or revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit continue to the present time or have they ceased (positions that are generally labeled “continuationism” and “cessationism” respectively)? And is there room within the movement for people who hold to opposite positions? At the beginning of 2018 I suggested this would be one of the themes of the year and I continue to believe this will prove to be the case. My cause is helped by Tom Schreiner’s new defense of cessationism, Spiritual Gifts: What they Are and Why they Matter.
Schreiner sets the book’s tone in its dedication: “To Wayne Grudem, John Piper, and Sam Storms. Beloved friends and coworkers in the gospel of Christ.” These men are among the leading Reformed, continuationist theologians, and this dedication proves that Schreiner means to speak as a friend to friends. An eminently gentle man, he never comes close to being harsh or offensive. He very much wants to position this as a discussion between friends on a matter of secondary importance.
After the dedication and introduction, Schreiner commits a chapter to expressing the strengths and weaknesses of the charismatic movement and here he draws largely on J.I. Packer’s Keep in Step with the Spirit. He then defines spiritual gifts as “gifts of grace granted by the Holy Spirit which are designed for the edification of the church.” These must be carefully distinguished from ministry roles, desires, and skills, even though there may be a large amount of overlap between them. He looks at each one of the gifts described in the New Testament and provides a brief definition. It will later prove key that he defines prophet and apostle (as used in Ephesians 4:11) as spiritual gifts.
Through the next two chapters he lays out 10 important pastoral truths about spiritual gifts: they fall under the Lordship of Jesus Christ; we must think reasonably about our gifts; it is God who distributes gifts in a diverse way; our gifts don’t make us superior or inferior to others; our gifts are useless without love; and so on. As he does this, he provides a brief theology of spiritual gifting and little of what he says will be controversial among Reformed Christians (though a few may disagree that we are baptized with the Spirit at conversion or with the level of importance he places on the mind—“The way the church is edified is through understandable words.”).
After a chapter of questions and answers (Does every Christian have a spiritual gift? How do we discover our spiritual gifts? Why does Paul say to desire the greater gifts? Etc.), he has finally laid enough of a foundation that he can get to the real reason people are reading this book.
In chapter six he defines the gift of prophecy. He denies the views that it is either charismatic exegesis of existing revelation or simple preaching of the Scriptures. Rather, a prophecy is a spontaneous message from God delivered through a human being that is meant to instruct, encourage, or warn God’s people. “Those who prophesy bring to light what is hidden and reveal what isn’t accessible to ordinary human beings.” In the chapter that follows he looks at the view held by leading continuationists like Wayne Grudem and Sam Storms who insist that New Testament prophecy differs from its Old Testament counterpart in that it may now err. Where Old Testament prophecy was inerrant and demanded immediate obedience, New Testament prophecy is potentially-flawed and demands discernment, evaluation, and sometimes rejection. He insists, though, this position is wrong and that the New Testament standard for prophecy is no different: It is equally inerrant and authoritative as it was before Christ.
Key to his argument here is the role prophecy played in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:20 says the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” There is an important implication: “The foundational role of the apostles and prophets points to the authority of their words, suggesting that prophecy in the New Testament has the same authority as prophecy in the Old Testament. If prophecy still exists today, it is hard to resist the conclusion that the foundation established by the apostles and prophets hasn’t been completed, and that the New Testament prophets are still adding to the foundation of apostolic teaching.” He also shows that it is a mistake to distinguish between the prophet and his prophecy as if a true prophet can bring a false prophecy—something continuationists must permit.