In this Issue:
From the Editor [
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I would like to introduce you to Mastering Life Ministries and an effort
they have begun recently to address some key issues about morality in the
United States. Mastering Life Ministries is headed by David Kyle Foster,
a Charismatic Episcopalian minister who is a former actor that God
delivered from a homosexual lifestyle. MLM is dedicated to leading people
to sexual wholeness through the life-giving power of Jesus Christ.
Please read the following article from MLM about the Religious
Declaration on Human Sexual Morality. If you are a church leader, or are
able to forward or bring this declaration to your church's leaders, take
the time to sign the declaration endorsement and send it to Mastering
Life Ministries.
Raul Mock, Executive Editor
About The Religious Declaration on Human Sexual Morality [
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Touchstone Journal reports that on January 18, 2000, the nation's primary
sex-education organization - SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education
Council of the United States) - released the Religious Declaration on
Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing, signed by 850 religious leaders,
calling for same-sex unions, ordination of homosexuals, and abortion
rights.
Their document is being used to give the appearance to legislators and
denominational leaders that these positions are held by large numbers in
the religious community. Since it will continue to be used to persuade
school boards, judges, legislators and religious leaders to compromise
the traditional position on these issues, it must be countered. Our
nation's leaders need to know where the vast majority of religious
leaders truly stand.
Mastering Life Ministries is setting out to obtain the signatures of at
least ten to one hundred times the number obtained by SIECUS. Please
photocopy our statement on morality and ask your ordained clergy,
Christian counselor or ministry leader to sign it and send it to our
office. Time is of the essence in this matter. The Vermont legislature
has already legalized same-sex civil unions, efforts have been in the
works for some time to officially deem reparative therapy for homosexuals
to be malpractice and it will only be a matter of time before you and I
go to jail for standing up for biblical morality. Now is to the time to
make your voice heard.
Please join with Dr. Bill Bright, Dr. John R.W. Stott and other hundreds
of other Christian pastors, counselors and leaders from around the world
in both signing and helping us gain signatures from Christian leaders and
ordained clergy for this statement on human sexual morality.
Feel free to print out and distribute the full text of the declaration,
or you may refer people to our website address MasteringLife.org.
Religious Declaration on Human Sexual Morality
Human sexual (genital) behavior is intended by God to be expressed solely
within the confines of heterosexual, monogamous marriage. Since God is
love, sexual activity can only be considered a true act of love when
carried out within these parameters, clearly established by God in His
Holy Word (the Bible).
Sexual intercourse is to be the same giving act that it represents --
which is Jesus Christ's union with His Bride, the Church. It is two
becoming one flesh - physically, spiritually and emotionally - the
ultimate end of the separating of Eve from Adam's side.
It is a procreative and pleasure-giving act that may bear the fruit of
children. It is a cause for the continuation of the human race and a
bonding agent for the love shared between husband and wife. When done out
of love by two spiritually healthy human beings, it will enhance the
well-being and solidify the growing oneness of man and wife.
God purposed in creation that human sexual interaction be a reflection of
that ultimate marriage to which He has called us - that between God and
man / between Christ and the Church.
Just as God remains faithful, undivided and undeflected from His
commitment to man, so this central act in marriage must remain equally
faithful, undivided and undeflected - exemplifying the love, the trust
and the commitment of a spouse to his/her marital partner.
Fidelity to God's blueprint for human sexual behavior is integral to
healthy human spirituality.
The proscriptions on human sexual behavior established by God in His Holy
Word (the Bible) are positive and life-giving. They are designed to bring
both maximum glory to God and to be protective measures for those who
might otherwise try to find life and fulfillment in alternative sexual
behavior, which can only bring death and destruction. As such, they are
an expression of God's perfect love and desire to protect those He has
created.
Any deflection from these intended purposes of the Creator God is
rebellion against the wisdom and goodness of God and sets one at enmity
with Him until that person has repented of their actions and come into
agreement once again with God's design. The idea that man has the right
to chose his own methods
of sexual expression flies in the face of everything taught in sacred
Scripture.
For those who find themselves caught in an aberrant sexual lifestyle, God
offers the atoning death of His Son, Jesus Christ, which brings
forgiveness, cleansing, healing and transforming power. Jesus did not
come to condemn mankind, but to save any and all who would come to Him
for cleansing.
We are Speaking Out
- We are speaking out against the attempts by those in secular and religious communities who seek to overturn and redefine the clear teachings of the Bible, to make it appear as though sexual behavior outside of the bounds described above is somehow normal and blessed by God. There has been a clear and unbroken Judeo-Christian, scriptural witness on these matters for over thirty-five hundred years.
- We are speaking out against the impression being given by a minority of religious and media figures that their version of sexual morality is consistent with the biblical witness and/or accepted by the Church.
- We are speaking out against the unchecked confusion and division sown in the Church by such apostles of immorality.
- We are speaking out against the death and destruction that such teachings have brought to our culture and the confusion that it has sown in our children.
- We are speaking out against any sex education program that would teach such ideas to our young people.
- We are speaking out against the impression given by some that those who support biblical definitions of morality hate those who refuse to accept or live by them.
We Stand in Opposition
- We oppose any and all efforts to normalize or sanctify homosexual behavior, to advocate or bless homosexual marriages or to ordain those who engage in homosexual behavior.
- We oppose any attempt to stigmatize or reject persons who are turning to Christ for forgiveness, healing and transformation who have been struggling with their sexual orientation.
- We oppose any suggestion that they are lesser or more sinful human beings than anyone else. They are welcome in the Church.
- We oppose any and all attempts to normalize or sanctify heterosexual immorality, including the use of pornography or prostitutes, adulterous or other non-marital sexual relationships or any other behavior outside of healthy, heterosexual, marital monogamy.
- We oppose the taking of a human life in its mother's womb or any other form of abortion.
We Call Out
- We call for people to return to the God of the Bible, through His Son Jesus Christ.
- We call for people to return to God's design for human behavior (sexual and otherwise) as found in the Holy Bible.
- We call for people to seek and receive from God Almighty the forgiveness, the cleansing, the deliverance and the healing that they need as a result of their unnatural sexual behavior.
- We call for people to seek and receive from God the desire and the power to walk in His ways.
- We call for those in government to honor the institution of marriage as it has been held for thousands of years by keeping it restricted to heterosexual, monogamous unions.
- We call for government to resist the legitimization of alternative sexual lifestyles in creating civil unions for couples who do not qualify for marriage.
- We call for our educational system to remove sex education materials that promote promiscuity, homosexual behavior or any other sexual behavior outside of traditional marriage.
- We call for the producers and distributors of every form of media communication to resist the temptation to fatten their coffers by continuing to spread the toxic message of sexual immorality.
- We call for religious leaders to stand firm against the tide of moral relativism and to remain faithful to God's Holy Word.
- We call for religious leaders to refuse to ordain those who engage in homosexual or non-marital heterosexual activity.
- We call for those leaders and laity in the Church who have not yet done so, to extend the same hand of love and grace to the repentant sinner that Christ has extended, and to repent from any condescending or hateful attitudes that they have held toward those who struggle with unholy sexual temptations.
- We call for religious leaders to refuse to bless what God calls sin, including homosexual unions, but to instead invite those who struggle with unholy sexual desire to the same fount of forgiveness and healing as everyone else - even Jesus Christ, the Lord.
[
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© Copyright 2000, Mastering Life Ministries
Endorsement Page - If you are an ordained member of the clergy, a
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to brochures, advertisements, press conferences and other media venues
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© Copyright 2000, Mastering Life Ministries
Copy and email to
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Or mail to:
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32235
Excerpts from the Summer 2000 issue (Vol 3. No 3) of the Pneuma Review
* * * Please see the Prayer Requests department for status of the
publication of this issue.
From the article "Touched by the Wind: The Charismatic Movement in the
Episcopal Church" by D. William Faupel
My mother met me at the door, her face bursting with excitement. "You
will never guess what has happened," she exclaimed. Before I could
respond, she continued, "Pentecost has come to the Episcopalians!" The
year was 1961. I was a senior in high school. Mother had just returned
from a "prayer luncheon" at the local Episcopal Church where David
duPlessis had brought word of Dennis Bennett's "Pentecostal" experience
at St. Mark's in Van Nuys, California, the previous year. Later as I
looked through the several issues of Trinity magazine, edited by Jean
Stone a member of St. Mark's, which mother had brought home with her, I,
too, experienced the sense of excitement that God was about to do
something new in His Church.
. . .
Bennett was not the first Anglican to receive the Pentecostal experience.
In his much-publicized letter to his parishioners, dated April 5, 1960, he wrote:
"St. Mark's is not alone in this Pentecostal phenomenon. I am not alone
in this. I know of dozens of Episcopal parishes throughout the country
where the work of the Holy Spirit is known in just this same way. I know
of dozens of Episcopal clergy who know about it all, and rejoice in their
knowledge."
He claimed the movement was also in evidence in other established
denominations but that "up to now it has been kept a secret." His
announcement brought the phenomenon into the open and gained national
attention. Soon he was responding to numerous invitations to speak and
teach in distant cities in the United States and beyond.2 Jean Stone, a
parishioner at St. Mark's also fostered the early growth of the movement.
Articulate, charming and capable, she spread the charismatic word on
television, radio, in the press, and at ecumenical gatherings and in Full
Gospel Business Men's Fellowship meetings. She launched Christian
Advance, a nationwide preaching mission and established Trinity House, a
temporary home for displaced clergy who had been relieved of their
parishes because of their Pentecostal witness. Most significantly to the
fledgling movement, she founded and edited Trinity magazine to promote
the Pentecostal message among Episcopalians. By the end of 1961 she
estimated that over 1,000 Episcopalians in Southern California alone were
numbered within the movement.3
Two books, published in 1963, further enhanced the initial spread of the
movement among Anglicans. Episcopalian John L. Sherrill, editor of
Guideposts set out to discredit the movement. In the course of his
investigation he be became convinced of its divine authenticity. His
book, They Speak with other Tongues,4 quickly became a best seller. The
same year, David Wilkerson, Assemblies of God minister, published The
Cross and the Switchblade,5 which told of his work with drug addicts in
New York. He maintained that former addicts empowered through
Spirit-baptism had a far greater success rate of staying drug free than
persons going through other detox programs. Wilkerson's book, like
Sherrill's, exercised an influence that penetrated deep within the
Anglican Communion.
Wilkerson's ministry to one cleric proved particularly significant.
Graham Pulkingham had accepted a call to the Church of the Redeemer in
Houston, Texas in 1963. Faced with a dying congregation in a decadent
neighborhood, he attempted all kinds of new programs to make the church
relevant to its setting. Disillusionment from failure soon pressed upon
him. In desperation, he sought and received the experience of
"Spirit-Baptism" under the ministry of Wilkerson in 1964. Transformation
was immediate. Within months the Church of the Redeemer became
revitalized, become a witnessing, catalytic agency in the greater Houston
area. Soon the church was sponsoring a medical clinic, a youth
coffeehouse, a prison ministry and a neighborhood literacy program. Like
Bennett, Pulkingham traveled the length and breath of the United States
and overseas in a ministry of teaching, preaching and prayer. He sent
forth teams of layman from his parish as "enablers" to assist other
churches to experience spiritual renewal. Scores of young people went
from his church sharing the Gospel through music and personal testimony.6
Soon other churches, like St. Luke's in Seattle, Washington, St. Paul's
in Derrian, Connecticut, Trinity in Bridgewater, Massachusetts became
centers of charismatic activity both receiving people from across the
nation to come for teaching regarding the experience of "Spirit-Baptism"
and sending forth workers to proclaim the new message.8
. . .
* * * * *
From the article "That Glorious Day When Tongues are Not Needed: Until
Then . . ." Part 2 of 2. From the Praying in the Spirit series by Robert
Graves.
Completed Scriptures
For those dating the cessation of the charismata at AD 90-98 and into the
second century, the inscribed revelation of the New Testament plays a
momentous role-it is indeed the cessation factor. But even among these
there is no agreement upon why and when. We go from the New Testament
being written, to its being "circulated," to its being made "available,"
to its being "accepted by the Church."
For some choosing the completed New Testament as the cessation factor, it
is only a matter of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 being fulfilled: "Whether there
be tongues, they shall cease . . . when that which is perfect is come . .
" (KJV). For these the "perfect" to come is the New Testament, which
culminated when the last letter of Holy Writ was penned. But the great
majority of commentaries and many cessationists (see Figure 1on page 28)
reject this interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13.
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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when
perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When J was a child, I talked
like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor
reflection; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:8-13
No passage of Scripture has proved as rich to the debate between
Pentecostals and cessationists as these six verses of Paul's. If the
cessationists are right about this passage, the Pentecostal-charismatic
doctrine of spiritual gifts dissolves. On the other hand, if the
Pentecostal-charismatic interpretation is correct, the continuity of the
spiritual gifts between the Apostolic Age and today is clearly and
forcefully affirmed. Within these six verses there are eight issues to
resolve. In verse 8 there are the issues of the variation and voice of
the verbs; in verse 9 there are the issues of the omission of tongues and
the nature of the partial; in verse 10 the nature of the perfect is the
issue; in verse 11 the illustration of childhood to manhood is the issue;
in verse 12 the issue is the interpretation of the mirror illustration;
finally, in verse 13 the issue is the meaning of the word translated now.
Issue #1: "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" (verse 8). There are three notable verbs in
this verse: (I) prophecy will cease; (2) tongues will be stilled; (3)
knowledge will pass away. In the original Greek the two verbs used with
prophecy and knowledge are the same word, katargethesontai, though
translated into English differently. The verb used with tongues is a
different, related word, pausontai. Based partially upon this variation
in word choices, it is argued that tongues will cease before the other
two gifts (Baxter, p.64; C. R. Smith, pp. 82-83; Thomas, JETS, p. 81;
Toussaint, p.314).
The few cessationists I have heard use this argument offer no proof from
other biblical or non-biblical sources that justifies it: The variation
of the words does not make a distinction in time. The research of Paul
Elbert confirms this. Arguing for charismatic continuity, he has shown
from other New Testament passages and from classical Greek that a
variation of related verbs does not signal distinctive changes in the
meanings of the verb (see Elbert, pp. 30-32). Even cessationist Judisch
agrees: "It would be speculative to see any reason for this change [of
verbs] beyond literary elegance" (p. 82).
. . .
Issue #4: "but when perfection [the whole] comes, the imperfect [partial]
disappears, verse 10. According to cessationists, the noun translated
imperfect (or partial) is to be understood quantitatively, as in a piece
of pie, and not qualitatively, as in an imperfect pie--an interpretation
necessary to make a contrast to the future and perfect Kingdom that
Christ ushers in (Dillow, p. 120; Gromacki, p. 123; Judisch, p.47; C. R.
Smith, p.77; Thomas, p.203).
Actually, the Pentecostal-charismatic understanding of the passage in
question is satisfied by either a quantitative or qualitative
interpretation of "imperfect." The advent of Christ and His eternal
Kingdom will bring with it not only full and complete knowledge
(quantitative) but direct knowledge (qualitative). When we are in His
presence, things will be perfect in every way! Then we will know "the
whole truth about God" (Barrett, p.306), as opposed to the "partial and
fragmentary" knowledge we now have of Him through the spiritual gifts
(Elbert, pp. 1, 17).
Furthermore, the cessationist's quantitative construction of a whole
(completion) does not seem to fit their argument. For if tongues,
prophecy, and knowledge are pieces of the revelational pie, there can be
no whole pie that excludes them. The Scriptures, then, are not whole,
complete, or quantitatively perfect without the gifts. Some cessationists
have sensed this flaw and have tried to correct it by saying that "the
perfect thing" is not the Scriptures but the completion of all divine
revelation (Reymond, p.32). But this does not work either. How can the
remainder of the revelational pie be called the whole? The perfect must
in some sense be qualitative, and only the coming of the eternal state
satisfies this criterion.
In addition, the cessationist interpretation of "imperfect" or "in part"
leads to a rather awkward conclusion. For if the gifts are partial and
the canon or an already matured Church is complete, then we must now know
as God knows us (verse 12). Most Christians would say that our knowledge
is far from perfect! More on this later.
Issue #5: Verse 10 continued. The "perfect thing," ultimately, is what
the debate is all about. There are two cessationist schools of thought on
this issue. One school claims that "the perfect thing" is the Scriptures,
the canon, or finished revelation (Baxter, p.67; Chantry, pp. 50-5l;
Coppes, p.60; Pyle, p. 101; Schutz, p.12; Unger, New, pp. 95-96). The
other school teaches that "the perfect thing" is the matured Body of
Christ, the Church, and could not be the Scriptures (Dillow, pp. 127-129;
Gardiner, p.35; Reymond, p.34; Thomas, pp. l06-l07, 203-204). Of course,
both schools deny that "the perfect thing" is the presence of Christ
after this life, whether by our going (in death) or His Second Coming
(known in the Greek as the parousia). The cessationists argue from this
verse that the perfect cannot be the parousia because (1) "the perfect
thing" never refers to the Second Coming anywhere else in the New
Testament; instead, it refers to completion or maturity (Dillow, p.120;
C. R. Smith, p.76; Thomas, p.203), and (2) the Greek word translated
"perfect" or "perfection" is of the neuter gender, not the expected
masculine if reference is to Christ (Unger, New, p. 95).
The cessationist has very good reason for wanting to disprove that "the
perfect thing" is the parousia. For if it is the presence of Christ and
His Kingdom, this means that tongues, prophecy, and knowledge are to
continue until He comes, until we know Him directly-"face to face."
Three well-respected Greek lexicons confirm that "the perfect thing" may
indeed refer to persons or to the absolute quality of perfection: Cremer
cites the use of perfect in classical Greek as referring "to the gods and
their exaltation" (p.543). Under perfect Thayer writes, "The perfect
state of all things, to be ushered in by the return of Christ from
heaven" (p.618). Kittel's respected word study cites perfect as being
used to refer to the sacrificial lamb without blemish (VIII, pp. 67, 72).
Even non-Pentecostal Greek scholars, Gaebelein and Mare for example,
write that the idea of "the perfect thing" being the New Testament is
"alien to the context" (p. 269); Robertson and Plummer say that Paul "is
full of thought of the Second Advent" here (p. 297). Figure 1 on page 28
lists more than sixty non-Pentecostals who accept "the perfect thing" as
a reference to the coming of Christ with the eternal Kingdom. No major
non-Pentecostal commentary accepts the cessationists' argument on "the
perfect thing."
Not only does the word perfect work against the cessationist theory, but
its verb, come, also does. Non-Pentecostal Conzelmann says that it
"points to the parousia" (p. 226); Edwards and also Cook claim that it is
an allusion to the parousia (pp. 349, 352, 341). Elbert cites references
in 1 Corinthians 4:5 and 11:26, as well as in the Thessalonian epistles
which Paul wrote from Corinth, that support Conzelmann's and Edwards'
claims (pp. 9-10). When at Corinth and when writing to the Corinthians,
the parousia was clearly a concern of Paul's (Elbert, pp. 2-3).
Two other passages in 1 Corinthians argue against the cessationist theory
of "the perfect thing" being the completion of Scripture or the matured
Church. First, in chapter seven Paul advises virgins not to marry because
Christ will come very shortly. In light of this, it is unlikely that
Paul, as he wrote chapter thirteen, was thinking of a time when the
worship practices of the Church would be radically changed by a "New
Testament" or "matured" Church (Cottle, p. 47).
Second, Paul tells us that there is a current practice in the Church that
will also cease when Christ comes. Not only that, but Christians are
exhorted to continue this practice until Christ comes. In verse 26 of
chapter eleven, Paul tells the Corinthians, "For whenever you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."
(The verb comes is identical to that used in 13:10.) Without a doubt,
just as we partake of the blood and body of Christ until He comes, so we
should edify the Body of Christ on earth until He comes to perfect it
(Ephesians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 1:7; l3:8-l3).
Very little needs to be said about Unger's argument that the gender of
the noun for "the perfect thing" is neuter not masculine and, therefore,
does not refer to the Person of Christ. First, it need not refer to
Christ alone but to His eternal Kingdom. Second, Christ is referred to
with the neuter gender on other occasions. He calls Himself "the
Beginning and the End," using the neuter gender (Revelation 21:6). Also,
John refers to Him with a neuter gender pronoun in 1 John 1:1 (Elbert,
pp. 32-33).
. . .
* * * * *
From "Should Christians Expect Miracles Today? Objections and Answers
from the Bible" Part 3 of 4, by Wayne Grudem.
15. Why do people speak directly to demons today and command them to
leave, rather than just praying and asking God to drive the demon away?
Isn't it safer just to pray to God about this?
In a way, this is similar to asking why Christians should share the
gospel with another person rather than simply praying and asking God to
reveal the gospel to that person directly. Or why should we speak words
of encouragement to a Christian who is discouraged rather than just
praying and asking God Himself to encourage that person directly? Why
should we speak a word of rebuke or gentle admonition to a Christian,
whom we see involved in some kind of sin, rather than just praying and
asking God to take care of the sin in that person's life?
The answer to all these questions is that in the kind of world God has
created, He has given us an active role in carrying out His plans,
especially His plans for advancing the Kingdom and building up the
Church. In all of these cases, our direct involvement and activity is
important in addition to our prayers. And so it seems to be in our
dealing with demonic forces as well.
As a wise father who does not settle all of his children's disputes for
them, but sometimes sends them back out to the playground to settle a
dispute themselves, so our heavenly Father encourages us to enter
directly into conflict with demonic forces, in the name of Christ and in
the power of the Holy Spirit. Thereby He enables us to gain the joy of
participating in eternally significant ministry and the joy of triumphing
over the destructive power of Satan and his demons in people's lives. God
could certainly deal with demonic attacks every time we prayed and asked
Him to do so, and He no doubt sometimes does. But the New Testament
pattern seems to be that God ordinarily expects Christians themselves to
speak directly to the unclean spirits.
We see this pattern of speaking directly to demons first in the ministry
of Jesus. He spoke to the demon troubling a man in the synagogue, saying,
"Be silent, and come out of him!" (Mark 1:25). He commanded the demons in
the Gadarene demoniac, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" (Mark
5:8). When Jesus encountered a young boy severely afflicted by a demon,
"He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You dumb and deaf spirit,
I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again'" (Mark 9:25).
This was Jesus' general pattern, for people said about Him, "What is this
word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and
they come out" (Luke 4:36).
This pattern was then imitated by Jesus' 70 disciples, for they said,
"Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" (Luke 10:17).
Paul also followed this pattern when he spoke directly to the demon in
the soothsaying girl at Philippi, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command
you to come out of her!"-as a result, we read that "at that moment the
spirit left her" (Acts 16:18, NIV). So the question should not be, What
seems safe to us? but rather, What example and pattern does the New
Testament give to us? True safety would seem to be in following the
pattern given us in God's Word.
. . .
17. But won't any new revelation today have to come in words from God
that are perfect and inerrant and equal to the Bible in authority?
This objection is made, for example, by John MacArthur, who assumes that
all revelation from God must be accompanied by inerrant reports of that
revelation, as it was in the writing of Scripture. He says,
God's revelation is complete for now. The canon of Scripture is
closed...the close of the New Testament has been followed by the utter
absence of new revelation in any form.40
He says there cannot be prophecy today because "every authentic prophetic
revelation will be as true, reliable, and inerrant as Scripture
itself."
MacArthur does not realize the Bible itself talks about "revelation" from
God that has other results. For example, whenever someone comes to know
God personally in salvation, it is because that person has received a
revelation from Christ. "No one knows the Father except the Son and any
one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matt. 11:27). And whenever
God gives people up to self-destruction because of their sin, God's wrath
is revealed. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the
truth" (Rom. 1:18).
Even today, whenever God convicts someone of sin, it is a form of
revelation as well, because Paul says, "If in anything you are otherwise
minded, God will reveal that also to you" (Phil. 3:15). When God gives
Christians deeper understanding of the Christian faith, that is a kind of
revelation, because Paul prays that God "may give you a spirit of wisdom
and of revelation in the knowledge of him" (Eph. 1:17).
But new Scripture does not result from any of this. When a new Christian
tells how he or she came to know God, that testimony is not new
Scripture. When someone tells of conviction of sin, or of deeper
knowledge of God, that testimony is not new Scripture. Similarly, when
God gives a spontaneous revelation that results in prophecy, this does
not result in new Scripture. MacArthur's assumption is simply incorrect.
18. Doesn't the use of prophecy today deny the sufficiency of Scripture?
No, it does not, because prophecy should never function with the absolute
authority of Scripture (see above). It should never challenge the unique
role the Bible plays in our lives. Rather, it functions on a level
something like the kind of authority we give to advice from a friend, or
to a subjective "intuition" or "gut feeling" about what to do in a
situation. We do not follow these in every case (for they may be wrong),
but we do not ignore them either. Often they help us make the right
decision. So it is with the gift of prophecy: God can use it to make us
aware of things we would otherwise overlook, but He will never use it to
add new doctrinal teachings or new moral commands to what is in the
Bible.
People who make this objection about prophecy challenging "the
sufficiency of Scripture" should be asked to define carefully what they
mean by the phrase "the sufficiency of Scripture." This is often not
done, and confusion enters into the discussion. To some people the phrase
means, (1) Scripture tells us God's will so we should allow no subjective
factors in guidance on decisions today. To others it means, (2) Scripture
reveals God's words to us, so there can be no more revelation from God to
us today. To still others it means, (3) the canon42 is closed so no more
words are to be added to Scripture.
But in theological studies generally, "the sufficiency of Scripture" has
a somewhat different sense, one that follows from the fact that the canon
is closed. It means, (4) Scripture now contains all the words of God He
intends His people to have in the Church age, and, therefore, it now
contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for right
doctrine, and for knowing His will for us. It means, therefore, we are
not to add to the moral commands of Scripture and demand that people obey
new moral principles we have made up, going beyond Scripture. And it
means we are not to add to the doctrinal teachings of Scripture,
demanding that people believe new teachings we have made up. What God has
told us is sufficient for knowing what He wants us to believe and do.
Sometimes in discussions about spiritual gifts today, people have in mind
senses (1) or (2) above, and, therefore, by their definition the gift of
prophecy today is not possible. But when people who allow for prophecy
today say they believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, they usually mean
sense (3) or (4), both of which are consistent with the continuation of
prophecy today. Careful definition is needed before the discussion can
proceed, or people will simply talk past one another.
Once we understand that we are talking about the sufficiency of Scripture
in sense (4) above, we can then realize that the Bible does not tell us
everything-a fact everyone will agree to! Why should we think it
impossible that God would bring to our mind some information that is not
in Scripture but that would be helpful in a situation? Prophecy today can
often do this, bringing to mind more facts about a situation, facts we
had forgotten or of which we were not aware. For example, Scripture tells
me I should pray; it does not tell me that my missionary friend in Japan
is in need of prayer right now.
A real-life example may help make this clear. When I was praying with
friends recently a woman in the group said, "While we were praying I saw
a picture in my mind of two angry faces talking, and it looked like fire
was coming out of their mouths." Then another woman said, "I think one of
the faces was me. I've been gossiping and spreading dissension by some
things I've said to other people in this room." There was silence, then
the woman who first saw the mental picture said, "I think the other face
was me. I've been gossiping too!" A church elder who was present then
read James 3:5, "So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great
things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!" After that, a
beautiful time of repentance and forgiveness took place, including tears.
Now that type of event does not challenge a true understanding of "the
sufficiency of Scripture" at all. Scripture tells me gossip is wrong; it
does not tell me two people in the room have been gossiping (cf. 1 Cor.
14:24,25). Scripture tells me to go to my brother if he has something
against me; it does not tell me that Robert has been angry with me about
something I said. In addition, out of all the verses in the Bible, God
will sometimes use prophecy to bring to mind exactly the right Scripture
passage for the situation at hand. This happened to me recently at a
meeting for our church. I had awakened that morning with a passage from 2
Samuel on my mind, and when I read it without comment at the meeting, the
Holy Spirit used it to bring conviction to our hearts and tears to our
eyes.
What a rich blessing this is for the New Covenant Age (from Pentecost
until Christ returns)! Here is a great privilege we have over believers
in the time of the Old Testament, when only a few people had the gift of
prophecy. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said that the New Covenant Age
had begun, because Joel's prophecy was fulfilled:
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my
Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams; yes, and on my menservants and my maid servants in those days I
will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy (Acts 2:17,18).
Peter does not say only the apostles would prophesy. He does not say only
church leaders would see visions and dreams. He says the Holy Spirit is
going to give these things to old and young, to men and women, to parents
and children. That means all sorts of people in the Church.
And Peter does not say this will be limited to the first few years of the
Church (as some would tell us). Joel was predicting the time of the New
Covenant, the time of the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit on God's
people. That is the age we still live in today--and these are the
blessings we should yet expect from God today.
Taken from "The Kingdom and the Power: Are Healing and Spiritual Gifts
Used by Jesus and the Early Church Meant for the Church Today?", edited
by Gary S. Greig and Kevin Springer. © Copyright 1993 Regal Books,
Ventura, CA 93003. Used with permission.
Prayer Requests [top]
- Please pray for the efforts of Raul Mock and the Executive Committee to finish printing the Summer 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review. This issue is very late because of unforeseen machine and logistical problems. Raul has already put in some 60 hours trying to offset print this issue.
- Please pray for the Pneuma Foundation to receive the funds it needs to begin regular mailings to its members and those who would be interested in receiving information about Pneuma Foundation ministry efforts.
Praise Reports
- Join with us in praising the Lord our Provider. Sometimes when it does not seem like there is any possible way to solve a problem or fill a need, God demonstrates His care and provision is such a beautiful way.
- Special thanks goes to Larry Hard of Grand Valley Printing for allowing the Pneuma Foundation to come in and use his equipment and know-how to print the Summer 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review when it looked like there was no way to get it done.
