Modern Spiritual Gifts as Analogous to Apostolic Gifts:

Affirming Extraordinary Works of the Spirit

within Cessationist Theology

Vern Sheridan Poythress

[Published in The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39/1 (1996): 71-101. Used with permission.]

http://www.frame-poythress.org/poythress_articles/1996Modern.htm

Abstract

The Book of Revelation is inspired. Modern visions, auditions, and “prophecies” are not inspired, because the canon of the Bible is complete. However, these modern visions and auditions may be analogous to the Book of Revelation, just as modern preaching is analogous to apostolic preaching. Like modern preaching, modern intuitive speech has authority only insofar as it bases itself on the final infallible divine authority of ????ure.

A key distinction here is the distinction between rationally explicit processes, such as those involved when Luke wrote his Gospel, and intuitive processes, such as those involved with the Book of Revelation. One type of process is not inherently more “spiritual” than the other. Both the Gospel of Luke and Revelation were inspired.

Modern preaching in analogous to Luke: in composing a sermon rationally explicit processes dominate. Modern “prophecy” or intuitive speech is analogous to Revelation. Intuitive processes dominate. The general analogy between apostolic gifts and lesser gifts of the present day suggests that rationally explicit processes and intuitive processes can both be used by the Spirit today.

Cessationists argue that New Testament prophecy was inspired and has therefore ceased with the completion of the canon. But there are still noninspired intuitive gifts analogous to prophecy. Therefore, in order not to despise the gifts of the Spirit, cessationists must allow for a place for intuitive gifts in their ecclesiology.

The fact that we have analogy rather than identity means that we must respect certain restraints. Modern intuitive phenomena must be subject to the same restraints that are placed on preaching. Everything must be checked for conformity to ????ure.

I maintain that modern spiritual gifts are analogous to but not identical with the divinely authoritative gifts exercised by the apostles. Since there is no strict identity, apostolic teaching and the biblical canon have exclusive divine authority. On the other hand, since there is analogy, modern spiritual gifts are still genuine and useful to the church. Hence, there is a middle way between blanket approval and blanket rejection of modern charismatic gifts.

1.

Christocentricity of gifts

To develop this view we need several crucial distinctions. First, we need a biblical framework for thinking about gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament itself provides resources for a theology of Spiritual gifts. One key passage is found in Eph 4:7-11. Jesus Christ is head of the church and distributor of all gifts of the Spirit (verse 11). He distributes gifts from the fullness that he himself possesses, because he has triumphed (verse 8) and fills all things (verse 10). Acts 2:33 supplements this picture by saying that Christ “received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit” as a prelude to pouring out the Spirit on the church. From Christ’s fullness of the Spirit we receive a measure, “as Christ apportioned it” (Eph 4:7).

These reflections naturally lead to the conclusion that our ministry in the Spirit is analogous to, as well as subordinate to, the ministry of Christ. For example, Christ is the final great prophet (Acts 3:22-26). Through the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, we all become ­subordinate prophets (Acts 2:17-18). Christ is the chief shepherd (1 Pet 5:4), the ruler over the church. Through the Spirit he appoints subordinate shepherds (1 Pet 5:1-3; Acts 20:28) and gives gifts of ruling and administering and caring for the flock (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11 “pastors”). Christ came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Matt 20:28). He also gives gifts of service (Rom 12:7-8) and ­calls on us “to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).

The work of Christ for us can be conveniently classified under the traditional triad of offices: prophet, king, and priest.1 Christ speaks to us (prophet), he rules over us (king), and he gives his life in service for us (priest). All three functions occur together in Heb 1:1-3. When we are united to Christ, we are transformed into his likeness and bear his image (2 Cor 3:18; Rom 8:29; Eph 4:24). Naturally, we become prophets who speak his word to others (Col 3:16). We become kings who exercise authority in his name over the areas for which we are responsible (Eph 2:6; 6:4). We become priests who serve one another (1 John 3:16).

The relevant ????ural passages show that these things are true of everyone who believes in Christ. But not everyone is equally gifted in every area (Eph 4:7). Where speaking gifts are strong, people become recognized teachers (Eph 4:11). Where ruling gifts are strong, people become recognized elders or shepherds (1 Pet 5:1-4). Where serving gifts are strong, people become recognized as servers and givers of mercy. Some have suggested that we may correlate this service particularly with the ministry of deacons (which is supported by the fact that the key word diakonia means service).

The three categories of prophetic, kingly, and priestly gifts are not rigidly separated from one another. Both in Christ’s life and in the lives of his people there are typically combinations. For example, pastoring involves both providing nourishment for sheep through the word of Christ (a prophetic function) and leading and protecting the sheep (a kingly function). The boundaries between these areas are fuzzy, but we can nevertheless recognize here distinct foci or emphases.

All the gifts mentioned in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4 can be roughly classified as prophetic, kingly, or priestly. For example, gifts of wisdom and knowledge are prophetic, while gifts of administration, miraculous powers, and healing are kingly. But some gifts could easily classified in more than one way. For example, healing could be seen as priestly, since it is an exercise of mercy toward the person healed. Ultimately, prophetic, kingly, and priestly functions can be expanded into perspectives on the whole life of God’s people, so we should not be disturbed by the apparent overlap. This classification is nevertheless useful in reminding us of our relation to the work of Christ and in reminding us that no one of the lists of gifts in the New Testament is intended to be exhaustive.

2.

A pyramid of giftedness

Because the gifts have varying functions and intensities, the New Testament recognizes several levels of functioning for prophetic, kingly, and priestly gifts (see Diagram 1).2 What are they?

Diagram 1

pyramid of gifts

First and foremost, there is Messianic giftedness (level 1). Christ alone has a fullness of the Spirit to equip him as final prophet, king, and priest in a definitive way.

Second, there is apostolic or foundational giftedness (level 2). Christ appointed the apostles as witnesses (Acts 1:21-22). On the basis of what they had directly seen and heard, and on the basis of the work of the Holy Spirit inspiring them, they could testify authoritatively for all time concerning what Christ accomplished. In their verbal witness they had an unrepeatable prophetic role. The apostles and closely associated “apostolic men” like Mark, Luke, and Jude produced the canon of the New Testament.

Similarly, the apostles made foundational decisions concerning the rule or shepherding of the New Testament church. They led it through its first crises (Acts 6; 8; 10-11; 15; 20). Thus they had an unrepeatable kingly role. The apostles appointed the first deacons and so stabilized the ministry of service and mercy (Acts 6:1-7). In all these areas the role of the apostles is unrepeatable.

Third, we have the level of prominent, repeatable gifts (level 3). People may be officially recognized by the church when they have strong gifts in teaching, ruling, and giving mercy. Traditionally, Reformed ecclesiology has designated this level “special office.” It includes the teachers, elders, and deacons in the church.

Finally, we have the level of involvement of every believer whatsoever (level 4). As the ????ure shows, every believer united to Christ is made a prophet, a king, and a priest in a broad sense.

The distinction between gifts with full divine authority and subordinate (uninspired) gifts is now clear. Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1; 20:28) and is the Lord of the church (Eph 5:24). His work has full divine authority. The apostles and apostolic men are commissioned by Christ and bear his authority. Hence their words and official actions have divine authority (cf., e.g., 1 Cor 14:37; 1 Thess 2:13). In particular, words of the apostles in the exercise of their office are “inspired” in the technical sense. “Inspired” words are words spoken by God himself, words breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16), and hence they carry unqualified divine authority.

The Holy Spirit also works in a subordinate way in giving teaching and speaking gifts to pastors, teachers, and ordinary believers (Eph 4:11; Col 4:6). The speeches that these people give are not inspired. That is, the speeches are not identically the speech of God in such a way that they carry unqualified divine authority and perfection.

Such speeches may nevertheless be “inspiring” in the popular sense of the word. We acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is present. We thank God for the gifts that are exercised, and we know that when properly exercised they come from the power of the Spirit. But the results are always fallible and must be checked by the standard of the Bible. The necessity of testing later works by the ????ure is implied by the finality of revelation in Christ (Heb 1:1-3), the foundational character of the teaching of the apostles (Eph 2:20), and the fact that the canon of ????ure is complete. The best representatives of both charismatic and noncharismatic views agree.3

3.

Awareness of basis for words and action

We can also classify the functioning of gifts of the Spirit in many other ways that cut across the classifications that we have already established. For example, we may distinguish among gifts exercised toward God, toward fellow Christians, and toward the world (those outside the Christian community).4 For my purposes, it is convenient to introduce a distinction that focuses on people’s awareness of a basis for their ideas or actions.

First, at times people may consciously derive ideas for their actions from particular passages of the Bible. A passage in the Bible is the conscious basis for their action. For example, a teacher giving an expository sermon consciously bases the sermon on one particular passage of the Bible. An elder counseling a young person tempted to drunkenness may consciously base his advice on passages warning about drunkenness. A deacon consoling someone in a personal tragedy may consciously have in mind Rom 12:15. Let us call this type of exercise of a gift a discursive process. The action is inferred from one or more passages of the Bible.

Second, at other times people may act on “hunches” or “feelings” or intuition. They sense that they should say or do a particular thing. They may see a situation and spontaneously react. Or they may have special visions or auditions. But in these cases they are not consciously aware of a particular passage of the Bible or a set of passages that form the sole basis for their experience. Their experience springs from a personal impulse that they do not, perhaps cannot, further analyze. Let us call such instances nondiscursive processes.

Third, people may act with partial awareness of the basis for action. For example, they compare their own situation with some model situation in the Bible. They intuitively sense that their situation is parallel to the biblical situation, but without being aware of all the factors relevant to judging the nature of the comparison. Such processes are partly discursive. We may call them mixed processes or creative-discerning processes. For many people in many situations, this third kind of mixed process may well be the most common. But for simplicity we will focus largely on the more “one-sided” processes, namely, discursive and nondiscursive processes.

All three of the above labels are intended to be de????ive, not ????uative. That is, we are at this point describing what various people may do, without either approving or disapproving.

We can give examples from the New Testament of all three types of processes. Most apostolic preaching involved discursive processes. “From morning till evening he [Paul] explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe” (Acts 28:23-24). Paul relied on “the Law of Moses” and “the Prophets,” which shows a discursive process. Similarly, the apostolic sermons in Acts appealed to specific texts of the Old Testament and put together arguments. The apostles endeavored to persuade their hearers. People believed them not merely because they claimed to have direct divine authority, but also because people “examined the ????ures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).

The visions in Revelation and elsewhere illustrate nondiscursive processes. John saw visions, heard voices, and recorded what he saw and heard (Rev 22:8).

A possible instance of a mixed process, or creative-discerning process, is found in Acts 15. The apostles and elders settled a new, controversial issue partly by creatively appealing to explicit ????ures (Acts 15:16-18), partly by discerning an analogy between the general issue and crucial incident with Peter (15:7-11).

The boundaries between these three types of processes are obviously fluid. Awareness of the basis for one’s action is a matter of degree. One may be more or less aware of a few or many of the elements that contribute to one’s action.

In the case of apostolic examples, the relevant discursive and nondiscursive processes are all inspired and divinely authoritative. On the other hand, in other cases the processes are not inspired. In fact, they may be demonic. Demons use discursive processes in Matt 4:6 and 2 Tim 2:25-26 and nondiscursive processes in Luke 4:34; Ezek 13:7; and Ezek 12:24. In still other cases discursive and nondiscursive processes operate in the normal course of human experience. For example, discursive processes are at work in Abigail’s argument in 1 Sam 25:28-31; nondiscursive processes dominate when David gives himself over to grief in 2 Sam 19:4, until Joab recalls him to his duty in 2 Sam 19:5-8. In general, there is no reason to believe that either discursive or nondiscursive processes are innately superior. Both may be inspired, in the case of apostolic examples, but both may also be noninspired.

How do we fit modern Christian living into this picture? Diagram 1 suggests that we should think of modern gifts of the Spirit by analogy with gifts exercised by the apostles.5 Hence, in principle there is room for gifts that function as discursive processes, nondiscursive processes, and mixed processes. Modern examples confirm this inference. Some people are very good at building explicit arguments from the Bible. Their gifts use discursive processes. Others, through long years of studying and digesting the Bible, and through the Holy Spirit who works the knowledge of the truth in their hearts, just “know” what is right, but without being able at the moment to cite a particular verse justifying their conclusion. Their gifts involve nondiscursive processes. Others, of course, may typically be aware of some but not all biblical sources for their action.

This diversity of processes holds in particular in the area of verbal gifts or gifts of knowledge and speech, that is prophetic and opposed to kingly and priestly gifts. Some people know and speak primarily on the basis of explicit reasoning from explicit passages of the Bible. Others know and speak on the basis of their own intuitive sense of what is in accord with the gospel. See Diagram 2.

Note that within Diagrams 1 and 2, modern gifts always belong to levels 3 and 4, which are called special gifts and general gifts. Modern gifts are all fallible. They are all dependent on ????ure and do not add to the biblical canon. They are thus analogous to but not identical with apostolic gifts (level 2) and Messianic gifts (level 1).

Let us consider some examples. On the level 2 of apostolic gifts, apostolic preaching involves predominantly discursive processes. Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke using discursive processes. Revelation gives us an example of nondiscursive processes.6

What goes on in modern times on levels 3 and 4? Discursive processes include modern preaching and informal Bible study and teaching. Nondiscursive processes include instances where biblical ideas or verses come spontaneously to mind, but without the recipient knowing just where or how they arose. Sometimes more striking instances occur. In a dream or a vision a person sees a woman in a simple white robe. She is walking through a muddy area. Some mud gets spattered on her robe. She comes to the gate of a palace. As she stands outside, she weeps with shame at her filthiness. A man comes and gives her a glorious bright gown. She puts it on and enters the palace with joy. Or a man has a dream where an angel is writing in a book. At the top of the page is the man’s own name. Under it are all the evil things he has done and the evil thoughts he has entertained. A man appears with a bright face, his palms dripping with blood. He smears his hands over the page. A voice tells the angel to read what is on the page, but the angel answers, “I cannot, because it is covered with blood.”

Is apostolic preaching genuinely analogous to modern preaching? Certainly apostolic preaching is inspired and unique. Modern preaching does not add to apostolic preaching, but is wholly derivative from it. Hence we may perhaps hesitate to call the two “analogous.” Yet in some ways the two are unmistakably analogous. Preachers and commentators have always been willing to draw lessons from the examples of the apostles and even the example of Jesus, unique though these be.

Similarly, we may ask whether Revelation is genuinely analogous to modern visions or dreams. The answer is like what we might say in the case of preaching. Revelation is inspired and unique. Modern impressions or visions, to be valid, must not add to the Bible but be wholly derivative from it. This derivative character is in fact evident in the two instances above, with the muddy robe and the smeared book. Both contain the biblical teaching about pardon and righteousness in Christ, and both use themes and imagery derived from the Bible. The first is more general, while the second applies the truth of justification to a particular person. The second “goes beyond the Bible” only by way of its particular application, and hence everyone can recognize the legitimacy of its message. “What one person calls a ‘vision’ actually may have been a moving application by the Holy Spirit of the truth of ????ure to his life.”7

In fact, in sermonic contexts we are comfortable with using texts analogically. Isaiah’s vision in Isaiah 6, unique though it is, becomes a basis for lessons about the calling of ministers of the word. Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 becomes a model for modern sermons. 1 Corinthians 12-14 becomes a source of principles for the exercise of modern spiritual gifts (even among those who think that most of the gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians have ceased).

People may sometimes be concerned about other distinctions. They may say, for example, that apostolic preaching and Revelation are fundamentally different because they involve new content, new revelation. By contrast, modern sermons and biblically-based visions and intuitions contain a redigestion of “old truth.” But the differences here, though real, are subtle and easy to exaggerate. Apostolic and teaching is to a remarkable extent based on the Old Testament, the events of Christ’s life, and the teaching of Jesus during his time on earth (including Luke 24:25-27, 44-49!). Thus it is far from being absolutely new, though the message may have been new to many who first heard it. The Book of Revelation weaves together a remarkable amount of thematic material from Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and other biblical sources. The account in Luke and Acts, by recording earlier events, introduces nothing fundamentally new in addition to those events. Moreover, divine authority has nothing to do with whether something is old or new. Deuteronomy is just as authoritative when it repeats earlier revelation as it is when it introduces something new.8

In the modern situation, preaching and visions and dreams, though old in one sense, may be new in another: they may well communicate ideas that are new to those who receive them. Moreover, there are always new applications to new persons and new circumstances (as with the man’s name on the blood-smeared book).

Then where is the decisive difference? All the modern processes are wholly derivative with respect to authority. Modern preaching possesses authority only insofar as it reiterates the message of ????ure. The same holds for modern intuitions, dreams, visions, and all other nondiscursive processes.

Within this picture, we must take seriously the sufficiency of the Bible and the fallibility of modern processes. This principle holds with respect to both discursive and nondiscursive processes. In the case of discursive processes, a preacher might preach either sound doctrine or heresy. An intuitive hunch or a dream (when interpreted) might be either true or false. In a modern context neither discursive nor nondiscursive processes can add more teaching beyond the Bible.

To many people, a modern vision or audition might seem more striking and more inexplicable than the discursive processes of preaching. Hence, they reason, it is “directly” from the Holy Spirit and therefore infallible. But Deuteronomy 13:1-4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 contradict this inference. No modern spectacular experience, no matter how unusual or striking, can fundamentally add to the Bible. It may in fact be a counterfeit miracle, in the sense of 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; or it may be a reiteration of biblical truth, yet still contaminated by sinful human reception; or it may contain information about the present situation (see below); or it may be a confused mixture of truth and error. We test all such experience using the Bible as our infallible standard.

4.

Distinctive focuses for content

We need one final distinction, namely a distinction with respect to the content rather than process. So far we have talking about the process by which people come to say something. But we must also attend to the content of what they say. This content may attempt to reexpress the content of ????ure, or it may attempt to say something about the circumstances around us, or it may be a combination of both.

First, people may speak with a focus on didactic content. They tell us what they think the Bible teaches or what they think God commands. Let us call the content of such speech teaching content.

Second, people may speak with a focus on circumstances. They tell us what is happening around them. Or they tell what has happened in the past or (if they predict something) what will happen. Let us call such speech circumstantial content.

Third, people may speak with a content that aims to combine both biblical teaching and circumstantial information. People tell us how they think the Bible applies to the current situation. Let us call such speech applicatory content. See Diagram 3.

Within the New Testament, whatever Jesus and the apostles teach is the word of God. Thus it is teaching content, whether it focally speaks of God or of history or of their circumstances or of application. Then where does circumstantial content come in? It enters when we attempt to apply the Bible to our own modern circumstances. The New Testament commands us to apply this word in a discerning way in our own lives, where we continually confront new circumstances and new challenges (Eph 5:16-17; Rom 12:1-2). To accomplish this application, we must inevitably deal with circumstantial and applicatory content.

We find this kind of thing illustrated many times in the Bible, in cases where historical narratives involve noninspired people or actions without explicit divine endorsement.

Consider first the account in 2 Chron 25:3-4:

After the kingdom was firmly in his [Amaziah’s] control, he ????uted the officials who had murdered his father the king. Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins.”

In the actions described in 2 Chron 25:3-4 we find all three kinds of content. Consider first the principle in verse 4, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins.” This principle quotes from Deut 24:16; it is obviously an instance of teaching content. Amaziah may have heard or recalled such teaching content before he made his decision.

Second, verse 3 implies that Amaziah had to find out the facts about the assassination of his father Joash. He or his officials had to make sure enough of the facts of Joash’s death, if they were to follow due process of law (cf. Deut 19:15-21). This ascertaining of facts involved circumstantial content. In the end Amaziah did find out the truth about the matter, but his knowledge of the truth or his statement of the truth was not divinely authoritative. It was simply ordinary knowledge.

Finally, can we find here an instance of applicatory content? The actual ????ution of the assassins involved applicatory content. In the ????ution Amaziah combined the teaching content from Deut 24:16, further teaching content about the penalty for murder (Gen 9:6), and circumstantial content about who was guilty in this particular instance of murder.

The account of this whole affair in 2 Chronicles 25:3-4 is inspired and is thus an instance of teaching content. But the earlier events and the exchanges of factual information among Amaziah’s officials were not inspired.

We may find any number of similar examples within historical narratives in the Bible. For example, 1 Kings 1:43-48 is an inspired record of Jonathan’s noninspired report of Solomon’s coronation. Jonathan’s speech, as distinguished from the inspired record of it in 1 Kings 1:43-48, involved circumstantial content. This report became the basis for the applicatory actions of Adonijah and his guests (1 Kings 1:49-51). Similarly, Judges 20:29-32 looks like a case of applicatory content. God gave the command to the Israelites that they were to fight, and promised them victory (Judges 20:28). But apparently the particulars of their plan of ambush did not arise from an explicit divine word. Rather, the commanders took into account circumstantial knowledge about military strategy and about what the Benjamites would probably expect.

Now the Bible is the foundation for exercising godly discernment about our circumstances. The teaching of the Bible is thus foundational in the Holy Spirit’s work of teaching today. But there is reason to believe that the Holy Spirit as Creator and Redeemer is involved as well in the mundane aspects of our learning about ourselves and our circumstances (Job 32:8; Ps 94:10; Prov 1:2-7). From the broadest point of view, the Holy Spirit was instrumental in the processes leading Amaziah to the truth about his father’s assassination. The Holy Spirit gave Jonathan and Israelite military commanders whatever knowledge they had. As Proverbs 2:6 indicates, “the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” This knowledge from the Lord includes the wisdom and insight concerning everyday life that the rest of the Book of Proverbs champions. Everyday knowledge, as well as the explicit teaching of the Bible, comes from the Lord.

Today’s circumstances do not of course possess any special authority. The Bible, by contrast, possesses divine authority. Hence, on the issue of authority there is a great gulf between today’s circumstances and the Bible’s statements about circumstances of biblical times. But in another sense there is an obvious relationship. The people in biblical times were people with problems, struggles, and circumstances like ours. In some ways, then, their application of more general biblical principles to their circumstances parallels our application of the Bible to our own new circumstances. In all cases the Lord is involved in instructing us. It is he who gives us both knowledge of biblical principles and knowledge of the particular circumstances to which we must respond.