Cessationism

In Christianity, cessationism is the doctrine that spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing ceased with the apostolic age. This is generally opposed to continuationism, which teaches that the Holy Spirit may bestow the spiritual gifts on persons other than the original twelve apostles at any time.

Cessationism has various forms and can be classified in different ways depending on the questions and issues on which Cessationists disagree. Cessationism can be classified in two ways: (i) with regard to the question of a reemergence of the gifts and (ii) with regard to the types of justification for cessationism.

Cessationism can also be divided with regard to the question whether God still and occasionally performs miracles and healings or provides miraculous guidance. Cessationists are divided on following issues:

With regard to the possibility of reemergence (reappearance) of charismatic gifts, we can distinguish between two versions of cessationism:

The majority of cessationists subscribe to strong cessationism, which denies the possibility of a reemergence of the sign and revelatory gifts.

Strong cessationism denies the possibility of a reemergence of the gifts on grounds of principle appealing to the principle of Sola Scriptura, insisting on three propositions:

It has been argued by Peter Masters and John Whitcomb that the original function of the sign and revelatory gifts has therefore been fulfilled and they are therefore now defunct. These authors also taught that the testimony of foreign tongues has been accomplished, as a warning to Jews and an invitation to Gentiles that the Kingdom of God is now accessible to all nations. The Holy Scriptures are now complete and wholly sufficient for all the needs of a Christian worker. The gifts were withdrawn with the death of the apostles and their immediate delegates, in their distinct function as witnesses to new revelation.

According to a strong Cessationist, a person with a gift of power is also a prophet because healings and miracles were always signs associated with the divine confirmation of the genuineness of a prophet in the periods when God revealed new truths with respect to the doctrine. A strong Cessationist might concede that prophecies might be useful in the guidance of the Church, but that this supernatural guidance ceased at the completion of the canon of the Bible. This rationale leads to the view that the Church can be perfectly guided by the principles, teachings and examples of the Bible alone.

...
Wikipedia