CESSATION OF THE GIFT OF HOLY SPIRIT: BIBLICAL OR UNBIBLICAL

Introduction

Holy Spirit is indispensable for kingdom project. Bieder

(1953:300) sees “ruah” in Old Testament as the life giving entity

or the breath of life. In New Testament Holy Spirit is known as

“Pneuma hagion” that quickens mortal body (Onuoha 2013:4). The

sudden reappearance of the prophetic spirit which has ceased

with Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi according to Danker (1972:

22), marks the beginning of a new age which dawned with the

birth of Jesus.

Onwu (1991:144) states that Luke speaks of John the Baptist as

acting in the spirit and power of Elijah but only Jesus is “in

the power of the Holy Spirit”. The conception was by Holy

Spirit, after his baptism Holy Spirit descended upon him and

empowered him, he was led by the Spirit to the wilderness to

undergo temptation. It caused him to return to Galilee to begin

his earthly

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ministry. Luke envisioned Jesus as anointed with the Holy Spirit

in a special way. Jesus was

enabled by the Holy Spirit to teach and do miraculous works.

(Onuoha 2013:11). Hence

‘charismata’ are the divinely ordained manifestations of the risen

and exalted Jesus; indeed,

they are the “power of God unto salvation.

Cessationism is the position which holds that miracles or

charismata were terminated at the end of the apostolic age. This

position recurs consistently in the Church history and even

within rabbinic Judaism. This according to Ruthven (1993:4)

emerged in its modern form most prominently during the

Enlightenment in “the great debate on miracles,” and presently

in the twentieth-century opposition to the Pentecostal-

charismatic movement. Numerous fundamentalists such as Berkhof,

(1968:177-78), Kuyper, (1979:184-188) and others posit that

miraculous spiritual gifts, including prophecy, were in some

sense “foundational” in that they were essential for the

initiation and spread of the Christian faith, but, they were no

longer required after the viable structure and doctrines of the

church had been established. 1

However, the emergence of Pentecostalism in twentieth century

and its ‘charismata’ become a tangible challenge to this

theological position maintained in the church history for

centuries that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit had

ceased. In fact, it provoked the renewal of cessationists

arguments especially among fundamentalists who saw Pentecostal

emphasis of manifestation of spiritual gifts such as miraculous

healing, prophecy and tongues as theologically aberrant and as

compromising the value of the scriptures.

To Evangelical movement, the tongues and miracles today are not

original, they are being influenced by devil to lead the church

astray. The basis of their argument is found in (1 Cor. 13:8-

10) RSV. "Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass

away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will

pass away. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is

imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass

away." Moreover, an assertion that miracles were the “signs of

an Apostle” in (2 Cor. 12:12). “The signs of a true apostle were

performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and

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mighty works. This implies that only the original Apostles has

the authority to perform the miraculous signs.

This is an historical issue that needs clarification for better

understanding. Without doubt, it has created gap in theological

understanding of the scriptures. The questions then arise; did

God intend, and did the apostolic authors of Scripture expect,

that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit would be a continuing

manifestation of the presence of God in the Church until the

Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the end of the age?

Or did God intend the Gifts to die out with the Apostolic Age?

If biblical tongues have really ceased according to

cessationists, how are we sure the tongues and miracles today

are not influenced by devil?

Gene L. (2001:107) posits that Cessationism did not originate

within orthodox Christianity, but from within contemporary

paganism, normative Judaism and in Christian sects during the

first three centuries of the Common Era. Ruthven {1993:58) says

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the second source of cessationism arose within Montanism.Some church fathers reacted against an alleged cessationiststatement by a Montanist prophetess. They cite her asclaiming, “After me there will be no more prophecy, but theend” Eusebius describes the frenzy of Montanus as follows:“He was carried away in spirit and wrought up into acertain kind of frenzy and irregular ecstasy, raving, andspeaking, and uttering strange things, and proclaiming whatwas contrary to the institution that had prevailed in thechurch.” hence termed them a heretical group. (Ruthven1993:58).

Historical antecedent

Cessationism stems out of Judaism, Christian sects during the

first three centuries of the Common Era and contemporary

Evangelical fundamentalists. In Judaism, from the Maccabaeus

period onward, Judaism lamented the loss of prophets and God’s

miraculous interventions and at the other hand conceived the

persisted feeling that the highest level of the Spirit’s

activity had ended; hence Prophecy and miracle working were

replaced by study of the Torah and its scholarly

interpretations. (Meyer, 1982:31-37).

Consequently, an early form of cessationism was directed at

Jesus. Unaware to the cessationists Jews of the resurgence of

the spiritual gifts, they aggressively attacked Jesus and his

disciples. One of the accusations which led to his execution was4

that he had violated the commands of Deuteronomy 13 and 18,

which forbid performing a sign or a wonder to lead the people

astray after false gods. The Jewish admission that prophecy and

miracles had ceased among them, however, proved an irresistible

aggressive attack on Christians as well. (Ruthven, 1993:58).

Christian theologians at first attacked Jews with their own

cessationism, but not until the fourth century did they employ

the polemic against other Christians. Apologists like Justin and

Origen, argued that God had withdrawn the Spirit of prophecy and

miracles from the Jews and transferred it to the church as proof

of her continued divine favour.

Despite the abundant appeals to contemporary prophecies,

visions, miracles and especially exorcisms performed to

evangelize pagans, and despite the growing interest in miracles

as aids to piety, a few leaders of the church occasionally

trapped with cessation theology. Church fathers such as Clement

of Rome, Justin Martyr, Origen, Chrysostom and Augustine having

seen manifestation of charismata in their time but because their

theological carries stated with cessationist setiment, they

still agreed that charismata were something that happened only

in the early days of the church to establish it.5

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921) is a contemporary

outstanding theologian of nineteen century however influenced.

Ultimate statement of cessation theory came from his ‘Counterfeit

Miracles’, in an attempt to withstand the rising tide of Liberalism

which had, he thought, denied the divine inspiration and

inerrancy of Scripture. The theology that is traceable to

Calvinism. John Calvin popularized the restriction of miracles

to the accreditation of the apostles and specifically to their

gospel.

Warfield’s ‘Counterfeit Miracles’ has the historical culmination of

the cessationist tradition and because he was the most prominent

modern evangelical advocate for the position, he is seen as the

final, authoritative and representative expression of

cessationism for conservative American Evangelicalism. Ruthven,

J. (1993:10) says

Warfield’s polemic is expressed in the traditionalProtestant cessationist propositions about miraculouscharismata, e.g. 1) The essential role of miraculouscharismata is to accredit true doctrine or its bearers. 2)While God may providentially act in unusual, even strikingways, true miracles are limited to epochs of special divinerevelation, i.e., those within the biblical period. 3)Miracles are judged by the doctrines they purport toaccredit: if the doctrines are false, or alter orthodox

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doctrines, their accompanying miracles are necessarilycounterfeit.

However, Warfield polemic to miracle fails because of internal

contradictions in his concept of miracle and because of weakness

in his historical method and biblical hermenuties. (Ruthven,

1993:44). Despite Pentecostalism manifestations of the gifts of

the Holy Spirit, cessationism is still ongoing. Numerous numbers

of scholars are still restating the stand of cessationists and

daily expounding the disappearance of the religion of the spirit

and of power. (Ash, L. 1976:227-52).

Evidence of Miracles in the Church History

After the New Testament age, the understanding of spiritual

gifts in the church gradually shifted. There was a diminish

emphasis on gifts and tendency to identify a particular gifts

with ecclesiastical offices. Clement of Rome wrote a letter to

the Corinthians in 95 AD discussing all of their spiritual

problems. Tongues were never mentioned even though Corinth is

the one place in the New Testament where tongues were commonly

used.

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Origen (AD 185–253) never mentioned tongues and even argued that

the "signs" of the Apostolic Age were temporary and that no

contemporary Christian exercised any of these early "sign"

gifts. He professes to have been an eye-witness to many

instances of exorcism, healing, and prophecy, although he

refuses to record the details lest he should rouse the laughter

of the unbelievers.

Chrysostom (AD 347–407) writing on 1 Corinthians and the gift of

tongues said, "This whole place is very obscure; but the

obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to

and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now

no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look

now, the cause of the obscurity hath produced us again another

question: namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no

more?".

Augustine – In a homily on the 1st Epistle of John, Augustine

commented that speaking in tongues was a miracle suitable for

the early church, but that it was no longer evident in his own

time. In chapters 8 and 9 of Book XXII of his City of God,

written in AD 415, Augustine noted that miracles in his own day8

were not as spectacular or noteworthy as those at the dawn of

Christianity. However, in chapter 22 of his City of God provides

samples of over seventy miracles he recorded in and around his

churches. Still in chapter 22, Ruthven (1993:71) says, Augustine

“bitterly complains” that so little was made of the innumerable

Christian miracles when they occurred in his time. The

implication here could be that Augustine was only imagining

miracles his contemporaries would, or could not confirm. The

emotional and mental states of witnesses affect their

credibility.

Warfield was inconsistent, throughout his study notes how

reports of miracles may be generated by “brutal persecution”

Warfield’s historical methodology reveals that the literature

from the early second century is scanty “there is little or no

evidence at all” for asserting the presence of miracles during

the first fifty post-Apostolic years. But numerous recent

studies on this point have demonstrated the presence of such

charismata. (Beker 1955:8, 12).

The Decline of Miracles during the Apostolic Age Used As a Basis

for Cessation Theory

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Acts 5:16 -- everyone is healed, II Cor 12:7-10 -- Paul has a

thorn in the flesh that could not be healed, I Tim 5:23 -- Paul

tells Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach problems II

Tim 4:20, Paul left Trophimus sick at Miletus, In the early

pages of Acts of th Apostles, Jerusalem is filled with miracles,

but no miracle is recorded in Jerusalem after the martyrdom of

Stephenen.

The Dawn of Pentecostalism

The rise of Pentecostalism in twentieth century provoked a

renewal of cessionsts arguments, particularly among

fundamentalists who saw Pentecostal emphasis on tongue speaking,

prophecy and healing as theologically aberrant and as

compromising the unique authority of the Scripture. However,

Pentecostalism known as renewal movement emerged in the early

20th century among radical adherents of the Holiness movement,

who were energized by revivalism and expectation for the

imminent Second Coming of Christ. Believing that they were

living in the end times, they expected God to spiritually renew

the Christian Church thereby bringing to pass the restoration of

spiritual gifts and the evangelization of the world.

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In 1900, Charles Parham, an American evangelist and faith

healer, began teaching that speaking in tongues were the Bible

evidence of Spirit baptism. The three-year-long Azusa Street

Revival in Los Angeles, California, resulted in the spread of

Pentecostalism throughout the United States and the rest of the

world as visitors carried the Pentecostal experience back to

home churches.

Biblical Critique of Cessationism

The largest theological support for the idea of Cessation has

been from those who have been influenced either by

Dispensationalism or by Benjamin Warfield who taught that

supernatural signs, wonders, and healings had ceased in the

ministry of the Church with the end of the apostolic age and the

close of the canon of Scriptures.

Three arguments were used in support of this 1. The Gifts Have

Ceased Because the Canon Has Been Written Down. 2. The Miracles

Were Only Done by The Apostles and Were Done Only to Confirm

Their Ministry and Message. After the Apostles, the Miracles

Ceased. 3. Dispensationalism: The Laodicean Age of the Church

Means All Miracles are Signs of Deception and the Anti-Christ.

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Argument 1: The Gifts Have Ceased Because the Canon Has Been

Written Down.

"Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for

tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;

but \when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away." 1

Corinthians 13:8-10, RSV.

The traditional argument for the Cessation of the Gifts is that

the Canon of Scriptures is the "perfect" thing that has come.

Once the perfect has come, there is no need for the gifts of the

Spirit, miracles, healings, or tongues. By implication, with the

death of the founding Apostles and the availability of the New

Testament writings, the church now had the Apostolic witness

embedded in scripture. Thus by God’s design, the original

Apostleship and other charismatic gifts disappeared or were

withdrawn from the church.

MacArthur (1994), recognizes that the "perfect" cannot be the

Canon of Scripture: 12

"…that idea would have been meaningless to the Corinthians.Nowhere in this letter does he mention or allude to such a scripturalcompletion. The Corinthian believers would have taken Paul's meaning in the plainestand simplest way: as a reference to spiritual and moral perfection…By process ofelimination, the onlypossibility for the perfect is the eternal heavenly stateof believers.

‘The perfect’ according to Nunnally (2006) does not refer to the

New Testament, as they claim, but to the return of Jesus, as is

clear from verse 12. ... It is interesting, however, to note

that the gender of “the perfect” ‘teleion’ is neuter, whereas the

word translated “testament” ‘diatheke’ in other places is feminine.

Had Paul intended the reader to understand that this adjective-

used-as-a-noun represented the New Testament, he would have

placed ‘the perfect’ in the same gender feminine.

It is important to establish that the spiritual gifts ‘charismata’

are grace from Christ and not personal achievements and are

limited to the period of the ultimate revelation of Christ. To

some, perfect is not an eschatological time of “the end”. This

interpretation contradicts the parallel context of 1 Cor 1:7

‘Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly

wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed’. which points to

a clear eschatological goal: “awaiting the revelation of our13

Lord Jesus Christ. ” Moreover, in 1 Cor. 1:8, the “maturity” is

described as “blameless,” which, while it is sometimes applied

to persons in this present age (1 Tm.3:10 and Tit. 1:6, cf. Phil.

3:6; though see Col. 1:22 for a closer parallel), is here

appositionally connected with “blameless in the day of our Lord

Jesus Christ,” an expression which could be more eschatological.

Indeed the commitment of the author, in verse 8 is a promise:

“Christ will confirm/strengthen you by means of all the

charismata until the end ‘Parousia’.

Given the canonical normativity for the Church, one ought not

limit this promise to the Corinthian readers. So then, Paul

promises that Christ, through his spiritual gifts will continue

the action of progressively “strengthening/confirming” believers

morally, spiritually and physically “until the end,” that is,

until the point that the readers are “blameless in the day of

our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gifts continue confirming Christ,

progressively strengthening the believers morally and

spiritually until the ‘eschaton’ which is described as “the end,”

that is, the point at which the readers are “blameless,” not in

this age, but “in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ

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Throughout the universe where Pentecostal movement is found, the

Gifts of the Holy Spirit are

still in operation because the gifts are given by God through

the exalted Christ Jesus, continuously

to confirm the “testimony of Christ,” not the testimony of the

Apostles. In as much that the

kerugma is ongoing, charisma cannot cease until the Lord Jesus

Christ is revealed, in the day of

the Lord Jesus Christ. Nigeria as a study case; The Apostolic

Church, Christ Apostolic Church,

Redeemed Christian Church of God, Mountain of Fire Ministries,

Deeper life Ministries to

mention but few are example of pentecostalism. The sustaining

power of these denominations is

the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Prophecy, healing and speaking in

tongues advocated as being

ceased are still very active with testimonies of miracles.

The eschatological termination of the gifts of Holy Spirit can

be established in the following

verses Eph 1:13-14 In him you also, who have heard the word of

truth, the gospel of your 15

salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the

promised Holy Spirit, which is the

guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,

to the praise of his glory. 1 Cor.

1v.7 teaches that all of the spiritual gifts are to continue

until “the revelation of our Lord Jesus

Christ.” Also Eph 4:3 says And grieve not the holy Spirit of

God, whereby ye are sealed unto

the day of redemption. Conversely, while we dwell in this body

awaiting the glory of Christ and

the eternal state of blessedness, these gifts remain and are

necessary. They are needed because of

our distance from the presence of God while we dwell in the body

(2 Cor. 5:8). There is

nowhere in the Scriptures where any of the gifts of the Spirit

have passed away or will pass

away before the epiphany of Christ.

Argument 2: The Miracles Were Only Done by The Apostles and Were

Done Only to Confirm Their Ministry and Message. After the

Apostles, the Miracles Ceased.

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This argument is not far from the first. It says miracles were

the “signs of an Apostle” in (2 Cor. 12:12) "The signs of a true

apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and

wonders and mighty works." 2 Corinthians 12:12, RSV. That is,

the only legitimate workers of miracles were the apostles.

Since the apostles have all died, there can be no more

legitimate miracles because the purpose of miracles according to

cessationists was to give authentication to the apostles. B.B.

Warfield argued this extensively in his book, counterfeit

miracles. (Grudem 2003:1043). But this cannot be true. It is

clear that Jesus sent out the seventy seventy to heal the sick

(Luke 10: 1-9, 17). The deacons, Philip and Steven, did miracles

as well (Acts 6:8; 8:6).

However, there is increasing historical facts that miraculous

gifts throughout the history of the church is in greater degree.

Healings and other kinds of miraculous answers to prayer are

often recorded through men and women of God. People like John G.

Lake (1870-1935) “a man of healing” born in Ontario Canada,

shook America with over hundred thousand healed. Aimee Semple

McPherson (1890-1944), “a woman of destiny” she preached

thousands of sermons with outstanding miracles and healings. She17

graduated over 8,000 ministers from L.I.F.E Bible College, over

a million people received aids from her ministry. And today

Foursquare denomination is continuing where she stopped. Kathryn

Kuhlman (1907-1976) “The woman who believed in miracle”

“Hundreds were healed just sitting quietly in the audience

without any demonstration whatsoever, Though there were

thousands of upon thousands of miracles performed in her

ministry but, the greatest miracle to Kathryn was when a person

became born again”. (Roberts L. 1996:167-269)

Moreover, Just to mention few more, people like Late Pastor T.O.

Obadare of Christ Apostolic Church, Pastor D.K. Odukoya, the

general overseer of Mountain of Fire Ministries, Pastor Here in

Nigeria, Enoch Adeboye of Redeemed Christian Church of God,

Pastor T.B. Joshua of Synagogue, the Church of all Nations and

other great men of God in Nigeria are with records of

outstanding miracles that have brought pagans to Christ. In

these denominations, manifestation of the gifts of the Holy

Spirit is the pivot on which their ministries rest. Based on

these records of these testimonies, it is glaring that signs and

wonders were not limited only to the Twelve.

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Now the word "apostle" merely means "one who is sent," and in

the Church, apostles went and preached the gospel in new

territories and established the Church in foreign lands. While

the ministry of The Twelve has certainly been fulfilled, the

ministry of the apostle is still active in the Church: they are

called missionaries. Missionaries go and preach the Gospel,

establish churches and oversee them. Many missionaries today do

indeed report signs and wonders that bring pagans to Christ.

What's more, Jesus promised that the miracles would not just

follow the apostles, but believers who preached the gospel:

"And he said to them, "Go into the world and preach the gospel

to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be

saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these

signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will

cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick

up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not

hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will

recover." So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them,

was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord

worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that19

attended it. Amen." Mark 16:15-20, RSV. The signs and wonders,

the miracles and healings, are not just to confirm the message

of the Apostles and establish the Scripture. God has a covenant

with his Word, that he will confirm his Gospel with signs and

wonders. This covenant with his Word is not just for the

apostles, but for all believers. By these signs, the scripture

says, the Lord confirms his message.

If miracles are indeed part and parcel of the evidences of God

on the earth and are to be accepted as historical, then why

should they also not be expected to occur today? The Scriptural

record should be consistent with present experience. After all

God is the same "yesterday, today, and forever," and if he

worked miracles in the past, and he is the same as yesterday,

will he not do so today? 

Argument 3: Dispensationalism: The Laodicean Age of the Church

Means All Miracles are Signs of Deception and the Anti-Christ.

Dispensational theology holds that the gifts of the Holy Spirit

were intended for the New Testament dispensation only. Moreover

it predicated a type of fatalism that may likely befall the

church that is some of the Church will commit apostasy, become20

exceedingly weak during the last days, and will be defeated by a

worldwide government headed by an anti-Christ. The

Dispensationalist believes we are in the last days. Therefore,

any sign of the Church's present or miraculous power in bringing

testimony to Jesus is only part of a strong delusion sent to

lead believers astray.

Dispensationalism combines various passages of apocalyptic

scriptures {Daniel, Revelation, 2 Thessalonians} to justify the

fatalistic scenario of a weak and powerless Church. One of the

most questionable justifications for this view is the use of the

Seven Churches of Revelation as a typological representation of

the Church Ages. Although the Scriptures give no evidence of the

Seven Churches of Revelation being seven ages of the Church,

Dispensationalists have latched onto this interpretation of

scripture as if it were the Gospel itself.

This cannot be true, the present Church in the West may indeed

be compared with Laodicean corrupted by money and spiritually

compromised (Rev. 3:14), the Church in China, Nigeria and in

other developing countries where the Church is suffering, and

facing persecutions, is vital and alive. There, the people are21

willingly giving their lives away for the Gospel, enduring

beatings and hardships, imprisonments, poverty, Boko haram

attacks and so on. The Church in these places cannot be likening

to Laodicea but more like the Church in Smyrna (Rev 2:8), where

believers suffered and died for the faith. It is surely unjust

to class them with the Laodicean church. The fact is that during

every age, the Seven Churches provide examples and warnings to

the Body of Christ as types of faithfulness and failure when the

Bible is available in the Church, it surpasses the operation of

charismata.

Conclusion

Cessationists argue that God intended tongues and other gifts to

cease after the Apostolic age. If tongues have not ceased, why

is it that among the numerous scientific studies done on

recorded examples of tongues. The linguistic experts agree that

there is no evidence, that tongues among Christians or pagans

have any characteristics of real languages. Occasionally a real

word will be heard, but there is no evidence of any basic

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syntax. The result is that the tongues do not communicate

anything in any language.

Science should be appreciated for discoveries, but to be

precise, science cannot understand or refute the things of the

spirit. Bieder (1959:367) in his submission says the “ruah Yahweh”

is a term for the historical creative action of the one God

which though it defies logical analysis, is always God’s action.

That is, the wisdom of this world is folly with God. (1 Cor

3:19-20) RSV

"He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord

knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.

The problem with Cessationists is that they built a doctrine on

a phrase taken out of a context in the Bible a result of lack of

proper understanding of the word of God. There is no doubt that

charismata ceased in the history of the church as a result of

church’s spiritual decline.

Throughout church history, many have argued that the `cessation’

of the charismata in the church was never God’s plan. Decline in

practice of gifts shows the church’s shortcoming from God’s plan23

as a result of church attitude to the spiritual things; the plan

of God was that gifts should function in the church throughout

its history. The less manifestation of ‘charismata’ period is

therefore the resultant effects of the spiritual bankrupt and

unfaithfulness in the church. This period can be liken to the

period of inter testament period when prophetic gifts was silent

for more than four hundred years.

To this end, we can agree that the spiritual gifts manifested in

lower degree in the early church but later resurfaced with the

birth of Pentecostal movements. John Wesley (1703-1791) is one

example of those who have held this view. Wesley noted that

although from the time of the Emperor Constantine `extraordinary

gift...almost totally ceased’ in the church, the ‘real cause

was, `the love of many’...almost of all Christians, so called,’

had grown cold.’ Perhaps the charismata `were designed to remain

in the church throughout all ages.’ Wesley reflected, and would

`be restored at the nearer approach’ of the restoration of all

things.

Moreover “And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every

one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of24

your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that

are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." Acts

2:38-39 RSV. If the promise is for us and our children, they

cannot cease with the Apostles.

Cessation theology is frankly not biblical. Apostle Paul is far

from embracing notions of prophetic decline but rather

anticipates that day when revelation will be full and complete

(13:12, ‘face to face’), a time when any form of divine

inspiration will no longer be necessary . . . . due to the

clarity and immediacy of communication between the divine and

humankind. The burden of proof therefore rests upon those who

wish to assert that the gifts have passed away, since the

doctrine is not found in scripture.

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University of Chicago. pp 8, 12.

Berkhof, L. (1968). Systematic Theology . Grand Rapids: Erdmann’sPublishing Co.

Bieder, W. (1968). The Spirit in the Out (Eds), TDNT, VI. Grand Rapids(Mich):WmB. Eerdmans.

Carson, D. A. (2014). Evangelicalism: What Is It and Is It Worth Keeping?(Crossway, 2009). cited fromhttp://www.theopedia.com/Evangelicalism cited 4th July 2014.

Green, G. L. (2001). ’As for Prophecies, They Will Come to an End’: 2 Peter, Paul and Plutarch on ‘the Obsolescence of Oracles’.” Journal for theStudy for the New Testament 82:3 (June 2001), 107-22.

Gerald, M. (2002) Evangelical Cessationist. In the Oxford Handbook ofEvangelical Theology. Retrieved fromhttp://evangelical+cessationist&source&f=false. Cited on 3rd

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Puckett, J. (2014). The Early Church and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: A HistoricalCase for the

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