On the Continuation of the Charismata

For those of you who grew up in the average evangelical church (in my case, an independent Baptist church), you might have come across what’s called a “spiritual gift test”. The typical test will include a listing of gifts—called charismata in the New Testament—that derives primarily from two chapters in Paul’s Epistles: Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. Every convert to Jesus Christ is said to be endowed with at least one one such gifting (1 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Peter 4:10). Thus was born the idea of developing a sort of aptitude test to assist believers in determining what their particular charisma might be.

Referring to the sections of Scripture mentioned above, the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament are as follows (lists summarized by Wikipedia):

Additionally, given the fact that 1 Corinthians 12 seemingly conflates the “offices” of Apostle, Prophet, and Teacher with a list of spiritual gifts, many would include the list of “offices” in Ephesians 4:11 as yet another list of spiritual gifts (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers). But we may leave that aside for another day’s discussion.

While I did not recognize this the first few times I came across a spiritual gifting test in my church, I eventually took note a dissonance between the test I was given and the listings of gifts in the Bible. Some gifts would be redefined from their surface meaning: Distinguishing of spirits became a generic gift of “discernment”, prophecy became a gift of “forthtelling” the truth of God, and tongues even transformed into having a slight advantage at foreign language studies! Other gifts were completely excluded from the list of possibilities (healings, miracles). It didn’t take much effort to realize that only the manifestly miraculous gifts were omitted or modified out of recognition in these tests. The few times this anomaly was brought up, we were given a not-so-satisfactory explanation of how those gifts aren’t for us today, but most of the time no one brought up the topic at all.

This is not the place to have an extended discussion on the debate of the cessation or continuation of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. Rather, this article is an invitation for those who, like me, grew up simply assuming that we aren’t meant to expect things like healings, tongues and the interpretation thereof, miracles, prophecy, and words of knowledge in our day and age. The Bible is sufficient! we are used to being told by those who deny the contemporary miraculous work of the Holy Spirit through everyday believers. Yet when the New Testament commands us to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:1), and when we are asked to see the book of Acts as our template for discipling the nations, we ought to reconsider this truncated view of the Holy Spirit’s work through the born-again children of God.

The opposing view is what is known as Continuationism, that is, that the miraculous charismata have continued to the present day up until that day when we will no longer see through a glass darkly, but rather face to face with our Lord (1 Corinthians 13:12). I’d like to recommend a few books to those who are either curious about or new to this topic.

The first book I would recommend is the one that settled the issue in my own mind and heart: Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives by R.T. Kendall. Published around the time of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire conference on Cessationism, this book was intended as a response and a defense of Continuationism. The author was once the protege of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, well known and revered among Reformed evangelicals. As such, Kendall speaks with a candour specifically geared to the skeptic who is concerned about irreverent behavior (and even blasphemy) towards the Holy Spirit. He walks through the relevant biblical texts on the Spirit and His gifts before delving into his own personal story of how he came to embrace these things. He is frank, admitting the many abuses that have happened in the Charismatic movement, and he calls for a unity of those who are earnest for doctrinal and ethical purity with those who passionately seek the power and communion of the Holy Spirit—a unity of Word and Spirit, as he calls it.

The next two books I can endorse are both written by or contributed to by Sam Storms, a good friend of John Piper, the late R.C. Sproul, and several other prominent evangelical figures. The first of the books is in the format of a debate, entitled Are the Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views. In it, four essays are given from contributors with varying viewpoints on the topic, accompanied by three rebuttals to each essay, and lastly a final word is given by each author. There are several books in this Counterpoints series, and this stands among the finest. Sam Storms articulates the view of Continuationism with equal skill as he defends it against the rebuttals in the conclusion section. I find this book especially helpful for the Christian who is cautious and skeptical, as they can see the doctrine stand on its own two feet in spite of good faith objections.

The second book by Sam Storms is called Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist. Given that the average Calvinist is likely to embrace Cessationism, Sam Storms fills a needed role of ambassador to this group (much in the same vein as R.T. Kendall, who is also a Calvinist). That a regular speaker at Ligonier Ministries conferences writes advocating for Charismatic theology forces the Reformed believer to at least lend an ear to the discussion. In Convergence, Sam Storms relates his personal journey, with many moving and astonishing stories along the way. I read this some years after I was already convinced of these things, but I believe it is one of the finest introductions to the topic, particularly to those with a conservative, Reformed background.

Another book that I can heartily recommend is Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. In truth, I had put off reading this book for years. Even before I believed in the continuation of the gifts, I had been aware of and curious about this book. One reason I put it off was that when I was a teenager, I was quite miserly with my few dollars and didn’t want to spend a whole fifteen of them to get this book! But now, having read it years later, I can see why this book was groundbreaking upon its release, eventually being responsible for countless converts to Continuationist theology and practice. Jack Deere was a conservative professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, unabashedly Cessationist in his upbringing. Yet several life events, as related throughout the book, brought him to a profound understanding of all that the sovereign Lord is accomplishing in our day. The only negative part that requires an asterisk is that one of the figures influential in his journey was caught in a moral failure some years later. Deere was deeply disappointed and saddened when the news broke, but he never denied the mighty role in which the man was used by God.

In my estimation, any Bible-believing Christian who reads these works in genuine good faith cannot walk away still believing in the doctrine of Cessationism. The Biblical expositions and personal stories are so overwhelmingly powerful—especially when read together—that only the committed skeptic who a priori denies the possibility of modern-day miracles could resist their combined testimony.

Certainly for some, four books is quite the reading assignment. But let me encourage you, brother or sister, that to read these testimonies can be a truly life-changing experience. It, along with similar testimonies from dear friends (and my own later experiences), radically changed the way I viewed prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit. That being said, even reading just one or two of the above books will be sufficient to open to your mind the possibility that such things may be true after all. And if they are true.. well, then there is an amazing journey ahead in experiencing communion with God and the outworking of His power!

Some other books on the topic that I have not read myself but have been recommend as reliable are Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14 by D.A Carson, a well respected Biblical scholar, as well as On the Cessation of the Charismata: The Protestant Polemic on Post-biblical Miracles by Jon Ruthven of Regent University. Both works are more academic in nature for those looking for a thorough exposition of the topic.

A final recommendation that is not specifically geared toward this debate is Craig Keener’s two volume Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, which is the most complete contemporary monograph on historical and modern-day miracle accounts. Much of the book is dedicated to answering materialistic reductionism (the idea that denies transcendence, that nothing exists beyond bare matter). However, the sheer volume of miraculous accounts in Christian history that the author surveys is an overwhelming testimony to the continuing work of the Holy Spirit beyond the apostolic age. 

Lastly, I do want to put in a word for those who would use the label Cessationist, yet affirm the miraculous work of God in modern times. These folks might believe that God indeed does heal, lead people to speak in tongues, give words of knowledge, and work miracles. However, they don’t believe that these are normative or to be viewed as endowments to individual believers. Rather, they are all to be viewed as miraculous and occurring only by the sovereign will of God, rather than at the whim of the gifted believer. A dear friend and mentor of mine falls in this camp, as do people such as Douglas Wilson, who affirms that “we live in a magical world” and has described some such miraculous experiences himself. Indeed, I think us Continuationists may agree more with this brand of “Cessationism” than either group realizes, and there remains work to be done in bridging the gap.

See the video below for a truly enjoyable dialogue between Doug Wilson and Mark Driscoll on the topic, wherein the two “opposing” viewpoints are revealed to be opposed mostly in terminology rather than in practice. (Note that I am well aware of Driscoll’s missteps that occurred some time after the recording of this conference, but the conversation is well worth the watch nonetheless.)