Answering the Cessationists’ Case against Continuing Spiritual Gifts, by Jon Ruthven
3. To preserve the argument claiming that the “foundation” is the first generation of the Church, Christ as “cornerstone” must lie at the same chronological level as the apostles and prophets. That is, Christ must be part of the first generation “foundation”.16 Hence, the cessationist argument-by-analogy collapses if Christ is not limited to the “foundation” in Eph. 2.20.
The foundation metaphor probably echoes the tradition of Jesus about Peter’s revelation/confession: “You are Peter (Petros) and upon this rock [petra] (the revelation about Christ) I will build my church” (Mt. 16.18). This “rock” seems to consist of a revelatory process and its content—a revelation of Christ and his significance. Hence in Eph. 2.20 apostles and prophets represent the “foundation” of the church, of which Christ Jesus is the “cornerstone,” “key‑stone” or “head of the corner,” who, via the Spirit, continually and individually reveals Himself, holds the structure together, both from above and from below (I Cor. 3.11).17 Since Christ seems to be portrayed not only as a foundation stone but also as a final stone in the temple of God, Eph. 2.20 argues against the cessationist chronological schema of successive generations of believers (courses of stones) being built on the deposit of doctrine represented by the apostles and prophets.
The death of Christ does not spell the end of his work in the church via the Spirit (and His gifts). If He continues to be “fitted into” each person in the temple who exists “in Him” or “in the Lord,” then the implications for this continuing activity for the other parts of the “foundation” are interesting indeed. Do we not have here the same idea as in Eph. 1.21‑22, where Christ permeates the church “not only in the present age, but also in the one to come”? The pattern here suggests that the activity and presence of Christ is not limited to an initiatory period in this age, followed by inactivity, followed by more of His presence in the age to come, as Warfield suggested.18 Like Christ, the presence and activity of apostles and prophets are continuous in this present age.
4. The most unsettling premise of the “foundational” argument is the notion employed of what ultimately is the “foundation”—the most important element or core value—of the church. Some cessationists appear to be insisting that the “foundation” is the established doctrine of the New Testament documents. As one committed to the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture, I would never seek to minimize the central significance of the Bible for faith. Nevertheless, the Bible in general, and Ephesians in particular, does not identify itself as the foundational core of the church. Rather, this “foundational core” is the ongoing series of revelatory encounters with Christ, which open our hearts to the Scriptures. The disclosure experience of Christ, although within its biblical framework, is truly the foundation of the church. St. Paul was concerned that Christians’ faith rested not on words, but on “a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (I Cor. 2.14).
Christian cessationist Fundamentalism lies close to the rabbinic tradition of “it is not in heaven”—meaning that the Torah was given once and for all—and that ultimate religious authority now rests with the interpretive abilities of the scribes, as against any further miraculous or revelatory experience. Cessationists tend to model their salvation-history after the dubious rabbinic doctrine that after the last book in the Tanakh (Old Testament) God would send no more prophets.19 Cessationists may counter that they still uphold the doctrine of illumination, the view that the Spirit continues its “revelatory” work in the clarification and application of Scripture. This is a sound and biblical position, but one that is often ignored in practice.20 In any case, the doctrine of illumination is no substitute for the life‑changing spiritual encounter with Christ or His continuing revelatory gifts of the Spirit, though they do work together.
A central aspect of the Messiah’s coming was to inaugurate the age of the (prophetic) Spirit,21 to fulfill the Law; to move the center of perceiving God’s mind and will into the heart (the spiritual center of perception), away from the external coercion of the Law. The scribal suppression of the Spirit’s revelatory presence prompted Jesus to say, “You know [in the sense of “divinely understand”] neither the Scriptures nor the power of God!” The loss of one necessarily indicated the loss of both. It was against this Judaizing tendency among the Galatians that an exasperated Paul asked, “Having begun in the [revelatory, miracle‑working] Spirit, will you now be completed in the [Godless human abilities] of the flesh?”
Category: Pneuma Review, Spirit, Spring 2000
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