Wes quoted from the Cessation of the Charismata. I would like to respond to the quote:
>>Apostles is but an illustration. This deeper principle may be reached by us through the perception, more broadly, of the inseparable connection of miracles with revelation, as its mark and credential; or, more narrowly, of the summing up of all revelation, finally, in Jesus Christ.<<
When Christ ascended, He received gifts for men, including the gift of prophet. Christ told the scribes and Pharisees that He would send forth apostles, prophets, and wise men. After Christ's ascension, Peter said that the scripture was being fulfilled that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. So while Christ is the ultimate revelation of God to man, and far superior to God speaking only through prophets, Christ's birth, death, burial, and resurrection did not do away with prophets, prophecy, or revelation-but rather brought a new outpouring of it as the Spirit was given to the church.
>> Miracles do not appear on the page of Scripture vagrantly, here, there, and elsewhere indifferently, without assignable reason. They belong to revelation periods, and appear only when God is speaking to His people through accredited messengers, declaring His gracious purposes.<<
The problem with the 'evidential' view of the gifts is that it lacks scriptural support. Sure, God granted that apostles do signs and wonders. But Christ also gave Judas power to do miracles along with the other apostles. He was a son of perdition. God also had Caiaphas prophesy the death of Christ, and in the Old Testament, the soothsayer Balaam prophesied a true prophecy.
Philip did miracles when he brought the Gospel to new territory in Samaria. Philip was not an author of scripture, and was apparently not the Philip who was in the 12 apostles (since, as one of the 7, he had been chosen to help to alleviate the 12 of serving tables.) Yet he did signs and wonders when he preached the Gospel that he had received from the apostles. Philips miracles did not testify that he was a special messenger to receive apostolic revelation from heaven. They did draw attention to the Gospel that he preached, a Gospel he had no doubt heard from the apostles and them that heard them.
Paul wrote that the gift of working of miracles was given to members of the body of Christ. He did not say that it was only for approved messengers. The debated end of Mark says that these signs would follow 'them that believe.'
The idea that miracles was confined only to periods of time when scripture was being written is not a doctrine taught in scripture. As such, it should not be a doctrine of the church. It is 'human reasoning' that appeals to people who already hold to the idea that the gifts have ceased, and are looking for arguments to back up that idea. The new covenant era is different in many ways from the Old covenant era. It is an age of grace. Should we not expect that, now that we are under grace (charis), that there would be an abundance of gifts (charis-mata) in the church? The concepts of grace and gifts are closely tied together, as we can see in the meaning of the words and in the way Paul mentions 'grace' in gifts passages like Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.
MacArthur makes a similar argument to the one above in Charismatic Chaos. If I remember correctly, he argued that miraclees were done during times when scriptures were being written. One problem with this is that Kings was written long after the events occured. It would seem unlikely that any scripture was written in the time of the great miracles done by Elisha, for example. And scripture was being written by two prophets during the time of Ezra, besides the books of Ezra Nehemiah, and whatever other scriptures from the Ketubim that Ezra wrote. But is there any evidence of miracles occuring at that time?
And we should expect there to be more manifestations of gifts in an age of grace, when the Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Christians have the indwelling Spirit. Why should such manifestations be more limited now than they were in Old Testament times, if we obey the scriptures that say to desire spiritual gifts, and Jesus' teaching to pray for what we want (and yes I know the audience was the apostles on this last verse I mentioned.)
>> Their abundant display in the Apostolic Church is the mark of the richness of the Apostolic age in revelation; and when this revelation period closed, the period of miracle-working had passed by also, as a mere matter of course.<<
Historically, this is untrue, since there continued to be manifestations of miracles and other gifts of the Spirit in the church, including prophecy, after the last of the 12 died. The other major problem with this is that it is human reasoning. The Bible does not teach that these gifts would ceased when the 12 or Paul died. This is an unscriptural doctrine and does not line up with the Protestant principle of sola scriptura.
>> And when this historic process of organic revelation had reached its completeness, and when the whole knowledge of God designed for the saving health of the world had been incorporated into the living body of the world's thought - there remained, of course, no further revelation to be made, and there has been, accordingly no further revelation made. God the Holy Spirit has made it His subsequent work, not to introduce new and unneeded revelations into the world, but to diffuse this one complete revelation through the world and to bring mankind into the saving knowledge of it.<<
The Bible 'leaves us hanging' by leaving the teaching out there that there are gifts of the Spirit in the church. The Bible does not 'cancel' this teaching. So we need to believe it. God does deal with mankind as a whole, with the church as a whole. But He also deals with individuals through gifts of the Spirit.
In Old Testament times, there were prophecies given for specific situations that God did not see fit to have included in scripture. Perhaps they were not of such significance to the church that they needed to be included in the Bible. But they were revelations from God none-the-less. These revelations were not 'unneeded' for the individuals who received them. Someone or several people spoke prophecies over Timothy that were not recorded in scripture, but that does not mean that these prophecies were unimportant or unnecessary. Neither should we label revelations that God gives to people today about their ministries to be unneeded. How many missionaries have gone abroad because they sensed the Holy Spirit directed them to do so?
