A Nobody Responds to Tom Pennington's Case for Cessationism, Part 1

Okay, I'll admit it - I'm a nobody.  Not in the absolute sense, but in the grand scheme of things sense of the Christian blogosphere.  The reality is, my opinion counts for squat as far as most people are concerned and I have no illusions that my critique will be seen (or cared about) by any important people in the larger evangelical world.  The truth is, that's fine with me.  I'll blog anyway!

In that spirit, I hope to respond briefly to Pastor Tom Pennington's talk during the recently concluded "Strange Fire" Conference titled appropriately, "A Case for Cessationism"  Pennington first attempts to refute several of what he believes are popular continuationist arguments and then positively presents seven arguments for the cessation of the "sign gifts" (his term, not the Bible's) toward the end of the first century.  I plan to go into these arguments in turn with my rebuttals.

Pennington's Critique of Popular Continuationist Arguments

Pastor Pennington first argues that while the New Testament nowhere asserts the cessation of the gifts, it also never asserts their continuance.  He anticipates the charismatic appeal to 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 and attempts to deflect the force of the argument by stating that this is a highly disputed passage open to a number of different interpretations and that it has also been marshaled in defense of cessationism.

In reply, it must be stated that the NT simply tells us that certain gifts of the Spirit exist and we must assume their continuation unless we are explicitly told otherwise.  Using a parallel.  Take the doctrine of the Lord's Supper also conveniently taught about in 1 Corinthians.  We are told we must celebrate the Lord's Table and why, namely to proclaim Christ's death.  In fact, we are told we should do this, until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).  Since we lack a clear statement to stop taking the Lord's Supper and also having a clear statement as to its duration, we should continue to take the Lord's Supper.  Similarly, we are told to practice spiritual gifts and are explicitly told their duration in chapter 13 (and elsewhere).

Baptism is another example.  We know from Matthew 28:19-20 and Romans 6:1-4 that baptism is a sacrament of the Church.  We are never told to cease the practice, so we must then assume we will continue to baptize until presumably the eschaton when Jesus comes again.  The burden of proof would have to be on the one telling us not to baptize anymore (some brands of hyper-dispensationalism will argue this).  Similarly, absent a clear statement of early cessation, we must assume continuance.

Another point is Pennington's argument that 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 cannot be mustered to support continuance because that passage is disputed.  It is well known that John MacArthur and company are staunchly premillennial in their eschatology.  But Revelation 20 is also a very highly disputed passage, even more so than the Corinthian passages on spiritual gifts.  So should we not come to convictions on the millennium simply because the passage is disputed?  I think not.

Pennington then attempts to parry the argument that the NT only speaks of the church age as a unit and that divisions of the Church Age into apostolic and post-apostolic periods are artificial.  Since most charismatics don't believe in a continuing apostolate, there is precedent for the cessation of at least one of the charismata.  It would follow then that other charismata might have ceased as well, even sans a clear statement of cessation.

In response, it should be stated that I do not share the belief that apostles have ceased.  Consider the following passage:

Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?   He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,   for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,   till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;   that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—   from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 

Ephesians 4:8-16 (NKJV)

This passage indicates that the gifts listed are to function as means of building up the Church until unity in the faith and full maturity in Christ occurs.  Clearly we are not there yet.  Tellingly, the first two ministries listed are those of apostles and prophets.  Therefore, I conclude that apostles and prophets have continued to function within the Body of Christ (though I am getting a little ahead of myself).  Since I cannot concede the point that apostles have ceased, I cannot concede that other gifts might have ceased.  If I should be challenged on whether I believe modern apostles are as great as Peter, John, or Paul; I would say no.  These men were great because they were the first apostles, not because they were apostles.  Also, using a parallel from the business world, Sam Walton was a great retailer, virtually without peer.  However, others continue to envision and run Walmart even more than 20 years after his death.  So then, simply because the greatest apostles have died, doesn't mean no more apostles have come since, in fact Ephesians tells me to expect they will.

"By far the most common argument", says Pennington is that 500 million professing Christians who claim charismatic experiences can't all be wrong.  He then points to the fact that there are about 1 billion Roman Catholics who have an even longer history of purported miracles.  He concludes that 500 million people can be wrong.

In response, amen!  Sheer numbers of people tell us absolutely nothing whether in favor of continuance or cessation.  This is a totally irrelevant point to the discussion, so by all means, Pennington is right to refute it; but the weakness of this argument does, in no way, either weaken the continuationist argument, or establish the cessationist one.

That does it for part 1.  Soon, I hope to move into a thorough critique of Pennington's sevenfold positive case for cessationism, while at the same time arguing that continuationism is the more biblical position.  Blessings.