Cessationism - Part 2

[Saint Steven]

The Cessationists bring their main attack on tongues.
Let's examine their points of argument below.
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The Apostle Paul predicted that the gift of tongues would cease (1 Cor.13:8).
Here are six proofs that it has already ceased:
1) The apostles, through whom tongues came, were unique in the history of the church.
Once their ministry was accomplished, the need for authenticating signs ceased to exist.
2) The miracle (or sign) gifts are only mentioned in the earliest epistles, such as 1 Corinthians.
Later books, such as Ephesians and Romans, contain detailed passages on the gifts of the Spirit,
but the miracle gifts are not mentioned, although Romans does mention the gift of prophecy.
The Greek word translated “prophecy” means “speaking forth” and
does not necessarily include prediction of the future.
3) The gift of tongues was a sign to unbelieving Israel that God’s salvation was
now available to other nations. See 1 Cor.14:21-22 and Isaiah 28:11-12.
4) Tongues was an inferior gift to prophecy (preaching). Preaching the Word of God edifies believers,
whereas tongues does not. Believers are told to seek prophesying over speaking in tongues (1 Cor.14:1-3).
5) History indicates that tongues did cease. Tongues are not mentioned at all by the Post-Apostolic Fathers.
Other writers such as Justin Martyr, Origen, Chrysostom, and Augustine considered tongues something
that happened only in the earliest days of the Church.
6) Current observation confirms that the miracle of tongues has ceased. If the gift were still available today,
there would be no need for missionaries to attend language school. Missionaries would be able to travel to any
country and speak any language fluently, just as the apostles were able to speak in Acts 2. As for the miracle gift
of healing, we see in Scripture that healing was associated with the ministry of Jesus and the apostles (Luke 9:1-2).
And we see that as the era of the apostles drew to a close, healing, like tongues, became less frequent. The Apostle Paul,
who raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:9-12), did not heal Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-27), Trophimus
(2 Timothy 4:20), Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23), or even himself (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). The reasons for Paul’s “failures
to heal” are 1) the gift was never intended to make every Christian well, but to authenticate apostleship; and 2)
the authority of the apostles had been sufficiently proved, making further miracles unnecessary.
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How would you answer the Cessationists?
What is the biblical rebuttal to each of these points?

Here below is a key "proof-text" for Cessationism.
Note: a "proof-text" is a scripture that is misused to support a religious viewpoint
that it not supported by the Bible as a whole.

1 Corinthians 13:8
Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

However...
If tongues have ceased, then so has prophecy and knowledge.
Is that true?

Note:
The Cessationists claim that "prophecy" is preaching.
How do you suppose they define "knowledge"?
Not as a miracle gift, that's for sure.

 

[quietbloke]

We believe on this subforum that the New Testament gifts of the Holy Spirit are vital for ministry today. The 5 fold ministry of Ephesians 4:11 are relevant today. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is needed by the church today as it was in the early church. All saints have a part in the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12) (1 Corinthians 12:28-30) (Romans 12:6-8) No where in Scripture does it say that the New Testament ministries have ceased. We should be continuing in the Acts of the Apostles. 'Yesterday,today and forever Jesus is the same!'

 

[quietbloke]

The church of Jesus needs all the gifts that God provides. If the early church needed them,how much we?

 

[rocknanchor]

We believe on this subforum that the New Testament gifts of the Holy Spirit are vital for ministry today. The 5 fold ministry of Ephesians 4:11 are relevant today. The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is needed by the church today as it was in the early church. All saints have a part in the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12) (1 Corinthians 12:28-30) (Romans 12:6-8) No where in Scripture does it say that the New Testament ministries have ceased. We should be continuing in the Acts of the Apostles. 'Yesterday,today and forever Jesus is the same!'

A timeless response! Thank you brother!

 

[chevyontheriver]

1) The apostles, through whom tongues came, were unique in the history of the church.
Once their ministry was accomplished, the need for authenticating signs ceased to exist.

This is one humongous faulty assumption. Or set of assumptions. Yes the Twelve were unique. But that does not mean that the apostolic function died with them. Judas was replaced. Paul was called. The apostolic function continued and even expanded as the Church grew. The Twelve replaced themselves and their mission continues. It continues with whatever gifts are needed at the moment. The idea that some gifts went away permanently when the Twelve died out is unhistorical. Some gifts may not be prominent in the historical record but they keep popping up nonetheless. Healings and signs and wonders never fully went away. It is presumption to think they did when the apostles died out. The presumption of trying to fit the data into a theological mold of one’s own making.

 

[rocknanchor]

This is one humongous faulty assumption. Or set of assumptions. Yes the Twelve were unique. But that does not mean that the apostolic function died with them. Judas was replaced. Paul was called. The apostolic function continued and even expanded as the Church grew. The Twelve replaced themselves and their mission continues. It continues with whatever gifts are needed at the moment. The idea that some gifts went away permanently when the Twelve died out is unhistorical. Some gifts may not be prominent in the historical record but they keep popping up nonetheless. Healings and signs and wonders never fully went away. It is presumption to think they did when the apostles died out. The presumption of trying to fit the data into a theological mold of one’s own making.

Amen!

And ohh, how far does unbelief have to fall? Myself, short of marvel and however He enables, am ready for this damaging and confused trap, I wonder. I suppose it comes as no surprise to you in this being the top of the list for those who qualify for ‘mouths that must be stopped’. Praying for the gift of storming unity of the bond of the Spirit to so correct!

For I was NOT aware till now just how deep and far that fall has taken place in that, it is now categorical and one of those being the most despicable,

Consistent Cessationists believe that not only were the miraculous gifts only for the establishment of the first-century church, but the so-called fivefold ministry found in Eph. 4 was also a transitional institution (i.e., There are no more apostles or prophets, but also no more pastors, teachers, or evangelists)​

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Cessationists​

That’s funny, the heading of that site,

Mongerism - “, , that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated, and therefore cannot coöperate in regeneration.”​

Just more cessationism! I distinctly remember the Gift caring for such cooperative unregenerates,

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! (Hebrews 5:12)​