Many charismatic acknowledge that the gift of tongues they experience is different from the first century Pentecostal experience. They claim they are a language through which God speaks to the believer in prayer (a false teaching we will address later). They see the continuation of Pentecost in various "signs and wonders," that have reappeared in the life of the church evidence by a more robust wave of Spiritual phenomena predicted to rise in the end times. Does the resurgence of signs and wonders evince a more robust Spiritual life, a continuation of Pentecost, at the end of the age?
The argument is that the prophet Joel predicted that the first century Pentecost would usher in a new age of miracles and signs and wonders:
[28] “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
[29] Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
[30] “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. [32] And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:28–32ESV)
While this cleary is a prophecy concerning the outpouring of the Spirit that will come with the institution of the New Covenant, it is a generalized promise rather than a specific one. It speaks to events and phemonemon that will characterize the period of time we now call the church age. There is nothing in the promise or in Peter's use of it that lead us to claim that the extraordinary events mentioned in this prophecy, while characteristic of the last days, will be the norm for any believers at any time during the age. We know this because in other New Testament references these events as generally characterizing the age, and by specific statements that signs and wonders will be distributed variously throughout the age:
- Jesus spoke of miraculous phenomenon that would occur in nature in the last days.
- In the gospel of Mark's account of Jesus giving the great commission, he promises that the era will be characterized by "many signs and wonders" including the casting out of demons and the handling of poisonous snakes (Mk 16:17 & 18). While such miracles have occurred during the church age (Act 28:3), they have not been the normal or universal experience of believers.
- The scripture teaches that God will distribute miracles and signs variously. They will not be the common experience of all who believe. (Hebrew 2:2 &3)
Cessationist believe in miracles and healings. We do believe that God does sometimes reach down in his mercy and acts specifically, providentially and miraculously. I have personally known people who have experienced miraculous medically verified healings. What cessationists dispute is the view that miracles and healings are promised to any believer who has enough faith, or that any minister is given a supernatural healing gift. When miracles occur, they happen strictly by grace. Charismatics believe that the scripture teaches a believer with enough faith will be healed of whatever sickness or handicap they have because "there is healing in the atonement;" Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5 ESV)
Did Jesus' death on the cross accomplish our healing? Did he die that we might be made well? Some advocate that this verses mean he substituted (atoned) his life for our sickness, and that by his death all who believe in his atoning sacrifice are assured of health.The Hebrew word translated “healed” is “rapa'.” The Old Testament root meaning of the word is to “restore to normal.” While it can be used in reference to heal a sickness or injury, it most often is a reference to a nation or people group's restoration to God, or their revival, or to spiritual renewal or reconciliation of an individual to God and his Word. Isaiah uses an ancient Hebrew poetic style called parallelism. Two terms or concepts are juxtaposed because they have a similar enough meaning to be saying the same thing in different ways in the same context. “Rapa, healed,” is parallel to “havon” which means “iniquities or sins." The text means that in the atonement we are healed from sin. The primary sense of this verse is that Messiah substituted his life to die the death humans deserved, healing the breach that had been caused by man's sin. While death and sickness are a consequence of sin, the healing here no more assures a believer that they escape sickness, than it does that they escape death. This is the atonement: Jesus substitutes his righteous holy fully divine fully human self to satisfy God's wrath for our sin.
James 5:13-20 is often misunderstood to claim that a promise of healing to those who pray for it with enough faith. When we call the elders to pray for our sicknesses, we recognize that our sickness is a result of living in a sinful world. We confess our sin publicly and rely on the transforming power of the Spirit to restore us to relationship with God. The passage puts healing completely and ultimately in the hands of God. Jesus Christ alone is the Great Physician. Only he heals, calling the elders to anoint the sick places the sick under his care and authority and accepts God's providential will for that person whether they live or die. Notice the concluding verse from the section, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” The truth of gospel redeems the soul from death. The passage is a call to submit our lives and our sicknesses to his authority and power and to commit to his purposes that we might be redeemed. Additionally, the call to the elders implies that the healing ability is not a result of the individual faith, nor is it a gift randomly distributed to certain ministers.
There is not only a misunderstanding of the doctrine of the atonement in these views, but a twisting of what Bible teaches about prayer. The Pentecostal movement has lead Christian cultural acceptance that if we have enough faith, we will overcome whatever obstacle is in our way. [22] "And Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God. [23] Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.' "(Mark 11:22–23 ESV) The problem with this view is that it ultimately denies the sovereignty of God and makes his action contingent on ours, making us in control of our destiny rather than him. On two occasions Jesus promises that our faith will move a mountain. The term "this mountain" is a figure of speech, referring to the mountain upon which the Jewish religion was practiced. The word "this" is important, because if it is specific, one must identify whether Jesus is referring to a specific mountain figuratively or to obstacles in general. The Jews and other ancient Near Eastern people associated worship with "high places" or "mountains." Jesus indicated to a Samaritan woman that Christian gospel was not about worshipping on mountains (John 4: 20 &21). When Jesus speaks of faith overcoming mountains, he does so in a context of conflict with Jewish leaders over the propriety of following the Jewish laws, Sabbath and worship tradition on the mountain that was the center of the Jewish faith. When Jesus speaks of faith moving mountains his reference is to faith breaking down the obstacles and rituals of the Jewish law. This is not a promise we can bring about out healing if we have enough faith. Jesus himself taught the healing was not to be universal. Faith overcomes the unscalable mountain of religious righteousness.
After identifying himself as the fulfillment of the Isaiah 61 messianic text, and indicating that part of his mission was to bring healing. Jesus is commended by his audience; [20] "And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. [21] And he began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [22] And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth... (Luke 4:20–22ESV). It is when he teaches that those miracles will not be universal that he is rejected. [25]" ...But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, [26] and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. [27] And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.' [28] When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath."(Luke 4:25–28ESV) Jesus compares his healing ministry to that of the prophets of old.
When Elijah miraculously provided food and healed the son of the widow of Zarephath there were an abundance of poor widows with sick or dying family members who remained indigent or sick. When Elisha healed Naaman the leper there was a profusion of leprous people who still had leprosy. These two prophets chose to work individual miracles for definitive purposes. The point of both of these incidences appears to be God demonstrating his sovereignty, not to demonstrate his provision for the individual. Jesus emphasized that each of his miracles would be a sign of His Messiahship, and would serve the purpose of revealing the gospel. The gospel of John which is organized around seven of Jesus' miracles makes this very point.(John20:30 & 31). Paul makes a similar claim in defense of his apostleship. The Scriptures teach that miracles and healings occur in specific incidences in accord with God's sovereign purpose. They are not the normative experience of the believer, accessible for their individual benefit (Heb 2:1-3).
In the book of second Corinthians Paul is defending his claim to apostolic authority even though he was not a follower of Christ at the time Jesus lived. Since the Apostles had required that a person be a witness to Christ's life and ministry as a requirement for the replacement of Judas (Acts 1:21-23), some were undoubtedly questioning Paul's credentials. In the midst of his long defense of his apostleship one of his claims has to do with miracles:
[11] I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. [12] The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. (2 Corinthians 12:11–12ESV)
Paul calls his ability to work miracles to be on of "the signs of a true apostle." Miracles and gifts were a sign validated his apostolic authority. There is no example of healings being conducted in mass healing meetings in the New Testament, nor is there an example of believers claiming healing. Rather healings occur only at the hand of apostles who bestow them for particular purposes as Jesus did. The period of frequent miracles and healings waned as the Apostles passed away. There ministry continued and was confirmed with the canonization of Scripture (2 Peter 1:16-21).
The ability to work miracles seems in both old and New Testament seems to be related to a greater purpose. Miracles and signs are never seen as something that was a normal practice for the people of God. As a matter of fact the scripture records over it 4,000 year historical record less than 100 miracles all together. Those miracles seem to cluster around three particularly important revelatory periods. The time of Moses, the time of Elijah, and the Prophets, and the period of Christ coming and the first century Pentecost. There seems to be a connection between miracles and a particular aspect of God's work.
So what do we observe about miracles:
- No where does the scripture teach that miracles or healings are contingent on a believer's faith or prayer;
- Jesus himself compared his miraculous works to the miracles of the Old Testament, indicating again that the use of miracles would serve limited purposes;
- Sign and wonders were signs of the apostolic age.
The Contemporary charismatic movements claim to do miracles seems to operate without boundaries and seem to be dependent not upon God's purposes but human desires. If my child has a terminal illness, and I have enough faith, I should be able to effectuate her healing. Nothing in scripture supports that conclusion. This is not the way miracles functioned after Pentecost. It is not a continuation of anything. I found it ironic that while many of the charismatic leaders were claiming their faithful pronouncements would the end of the recent Covid 19 pandemic virtually all were taking vaccines and encouraging their followers to do the same. What did they really believe about faith and healing? As a hospital chaplain, I have witnessed firsthand the destructiveness of someone's false reliance on a miraculous cure. And while there are often claims of miraculous healings at healing meetings, seldom are they ever medically verified.
This is not to dispute the miracles or deny "the power of God." I have known people personally who have been miraculously healed without medical explanation. What cessationist dispute is that the gift of healings and miracles, continue to function in the way it did in the first century. The modern healing services and miraculous claims bear no resemblance to the first century claims. Rather than calling on believers to pursue miracles and healings or to anticipate them the New Testament warns about being deceived by them:
[9] The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, [10] and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:9–10ESV)
In the last days people will be deceived by miracles, because they "refuse to love truth."
What cessationist argue is that miracles validate the coming off the Apostolic age. In John 5: 1-16 Jesus heals a man, who then reports him to the Pharisees as the one who healed him on the Sabbath. It's become a matter of debate among scholars the motivation for reporting to the Pharisees. One thing we can be sure of that Jesus performed miracles by his grace. It was not always on people who believed on him, nor did he expect a response. There is no basis in scripture for the believe that Christians can claim miracles for themselves, because of Christ's atonement or the baptism of the Spirit, and modern charismatic gifts bear no resemblance to first century miracles of Jesus or his contemporary followers. We conclude, therefore, that signs and wonders that accompanied the apostolic age have ceased, as have tongues. Since I addressed the revelatory nature of the prophetic gifts and the reason for their cessation in a prior post, I will not reiterate.
I conclude, therefore, that there is nothing in the current manifestation of signs and wonders, that are popular in Pentecostal and charismatic circles that resembles either in their nature of function the signs and wonders that prevalent in the apostolic age. And since the New Testament warns about the deceptive nature of miracles we must reject any claim that the modern charismatic phenomena are a continuation of the first century Pentecost. Cessationism is most consistent with Biblical teaching concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit and with the narrative record of the New Testament. Cessationist need not be concerned to defend their position, the burden of proof lies with the continuationist, and their proof is dubious at best.
Comments
Post a Comment