The Charismatic Gifts

The term “charismatic gifts” is really a misnomer. All gifts are described as charismata by Paul. Charis means “gift” in Greek. However, theologians speak of the charismatic gifts, as referring to the gift of tongues, healing, and prophecy. Christians certainly take different perspectives on the charismatic gifts. We will consider three views which we find untenable, followed by our view, which can be called “open-but-cautious.”

1. Cessationism

Various theologians have held to the Cessationist perspective, including B.B. Warfield, Robert Thomas, John MacArthur, Anthony Hoekma, Richard Gaffin, and Norman Geisler. According to this view, the charismatic gifts ceased after the deaths of the apostles. While Cessationists do not question that God still works miracles today (through prayer or his sovereign decision), they question whether God works through individuals who have these charismatic gifts. We can represent Cessationism in this way:

2. Pentecostalism

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, we find Pentecostalism. Pentecostals get their name from the miracle of Pentecost in Acts 2. This name is fitting, because they believe that the experience of Pentecost is for everyone, citing Peter’s statement that “the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off” (Acts 2:39). Various theologians hold to Pentecostalism, including Gordon Fee, Michael L. Brown, Douglas Oss, and Stanley Horton. According to this view, the charismatic gifts are still operative today.

Pentecostals believe that all believers get the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). Pentecostal Douglas Oss writes, “To my knowledge no classical Pentecostal holds the view that the Spirit is not received at salvation (which would clearly contradict Scripture). Those who believe in Christ also have the Spirit living within.” However, in addition to receiving the Spirit at conversion, Pentecostals believe in a so-called Spirit baptism (see “Is the Baptism of the Spirit Biblical?”). Oss writes, “When Pentecostals speak of ‘receiving’ the Spirit as a postconversion experience, they are speaking of the work of the Spirit in which he empowers the believer in ‘charismatic’ ways for witness and service.” Some Pentecostals believe that this Spirit baptism is a once for all event, while others believe it is repeated.

Believers demonstrate that they have received this Spirit baptism by speaking in tongues. Oss writes, “Classical Pentecostals hold that the initial physical evidence of Spirit-baptism is speaking in tongues (if there is no manifestation of tongues, then there has been no Spirit-baptism).”

3. Third Wave

Third Wave theology (also called the “Signs and Wonders Movement”) refers to the third iteration of charismatic theology after Pentecostalism (the “first wave”) and charismatic revival within denominations (the “second wave”). Various theologians have held to Third Wave theology, including C. Samuel Storms, John Wimber, Wayne Grudem, and J.P. Moreland. This view is closely identified with the Vineyard Movement. According to this view, the charismatic gifts are still operative today.

The major distinction between Third Wave theology and Pentecostalism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit (see “Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit Biblical?”). Third Wave theology also has more of a focus on the members of the laity being able to utilize the charismatic gifts, rather than only charismatic leaders, which is more germane to Pentecostalism (e.g. faith healers, healing revivals, etc.).

Third Wave theologians do not believe that those with the gift of miracles can heal on command at any point, but then again (they argue), neither could Jesus (Mk. 6:5). They also hold that believers should pray for signs and wonders as the early Christians did (Acts 4:29-31). The charismatic gifts may not have been present for centuries in the church. However, Third Wave theologians claim that this was due to the biblical ignorance of believers before the Reformation, who didn’t have access to Bibles.

4. Open-but-Cautious

This final perspective on the charismatic gifts is a moderate position, finding itself somewhere between Cessationists on the one hand and Charismatics on the other. Various theologians have held to the Open-but-Cautious view, including D.A. Carson and Robert Saucy. Like these theologians, this is our view of the charismatic gifts. This perspective has a critique of both Cessationists and Charismatics:

Critique of Cessationism

There are a few reasons for doubting that the charismatic gifts were only for the first century as Cessationists claim:

First, we see nothing in the NT to affirm that the charismatic gifts ceased after the death of the apostles. There is no reason to affirm the current existence of some gifts, but not all. We feel that it is arbitrary to affirm other gifts, while denying the charismatic gifts.

Second, there is a positive case for the charismatic gifts being practiced today. Paul writes, “Do not despise prophetic utterances” (1 Thess. 5:20), and he writes, “Desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:39; cf. 14:1, 5). We cannot segregate these biblical injunctions to the first century church without clear warrant from the text. However, Cessationists fail to offer any such text (see comments on 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 and 2 Corinthians 12:12 as a case in point).

Third, prophecies occurred in the first century when believers didn’t even have a completed Bible. Cessationists often argue that we cannot allow prophecies today, because this would add to the canon of Scripture. However, this argument works just as much against the Cessationist, because there were thousands of extra-biblical revelations that happened in the first century, according to their own admission. If the first-century Christians could discern true from false prophecy, why can’t we today, when we have the entire NT canon to help us evaluate?

Critique of Charismatic Theology

Both Third Wave and Pentecostal theologians would fit under the rubric of “charismatic theology.” We disagree with charismatic theology for a number of reasons:

First, Paul instructs us to be “cautious” of the exercise of the charismatic gifts. Immediately after exhorting believers to allow for prophesy, Paul writes, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21-22). Even Pentecostal theologians are well aware of our need for caution in regards to the charismatic gifts. For instance, Pentecostal Douglas Oss gives several dangers of overemphasizing the charismatic gifts:

Second, we shouldn’t demand for God to use the charismatic gifts today in the same way that he did in the book of Acts. We often think miracles are frequent in Scripture, but this is because these miracles are all in the same book. While we merely turn a page and find another miracle, hundreds of years may have passed in between events.

For instance, Israel wallowed in slavery for 400 years without seeing any miracles before the Exodus. Sarah gave birth to Isaac at an incredibly old age (which was an incredible miracle), but Abraham and Sarah had to wait a very long time to get the promise of Isaac (30 years). Even a powerful prophet like John the Baptist didn’t perform any miracles (Jn. 10:41). While the book of Acts contains many miracles, we need to remember that these events are the highlights of 30 years of ministry. Portions of salvation history are surely punctuated by more miraculous interventions of God (e.g. the Exodus, ministry of Christ, book of Acts, etc.), but these are far from normative. God seems to emphasize important points of salvation history with more miraculous interventions to grab our attention. This is why more people are familiar with the book of Exodus more than Esther.

Third, historically, the charismatic gifts declined rapidly after the first century. In the third century for example, Origen writes, “Miracles began with the preaching of Jesus, were multiplied after His ascension, and then decreased; but even now some traces of them remain with a few, whose souls are cleansed by the word.” Saucy writes, “The writings immediately following the apostolic age contain little evidence of the miraculous when compared with the picture of the apostles and others in the biblical record. With few exceptions, the references to miraculous activity in the writings of the second and third centuries are confined to the gifts of prophecy and healing, which included exorcism.”

Of course, this argument carries little weight in our opinion, because the second century church was mistaken on a number of issues, including the doctrine of grace. Also, there have been some reports of the charismatic gifts during this time, and as Carson writes, “There is enough evidence that some form of ‘charismatic’ gifts continued sporadically across the centuries of church history that it is futile to insist on doctrinaire grounds that every report is spurious or the fruit of demonic activity or psychological aberration.”

Practicing the Charismatic Gifts

Spiritual gifts are referred to six times in the NT. Each time they are listed, we find different lists of gifts. This must mean that these lists are not exhaustive:

As we have already landed on a view concerning the charismatic gifts, here we will list each gift, and their proper use in Christian community today.

1. The gift of PROPHECY

The gift of prophecy can be defined as a special message that God imparts to a believer for the sake of the Christian community. Given this definition, several instructions should be given to the individual with this gift:

First, those with the gift of prophecy should be subservient to SCRIPTURE. The Bible teaches that Scripture is the final arbiter of all revelation from God. Paul told the Corinthians, “If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment” (1 Cor. 14:37; cf. 2 Thess. 2:1-3). The implication here, of course, is that prophets are subject to Paul’s statements (i.e. Scripture)—not the other way around.

Second, those with the gift of prophecy should be subservient to THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHURCH. Even charismatic theologians like Samuel Storms write, “In no New Testament text are prophets portrayed as bearing ecclesiastical authority. Church leadership is the responsibility of the elders. The New Testament never says ‘Be subject to the prophets’; rather, ‘Be subject to your elders.”

Third, those with the gift of prophecy should be subservient to THE DISCERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. Paul writes, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment” (1 Cor. 14:29; cf. Acts 17:11). Likewise, Paul tells believers “not [to] despise prophetic utterances,” but he also adds, “Examine everything carefully” (1 Thess. 5:20-21).

Fourth, those with the gift of prophecy should RECOGNIZE THEIR FALLIBILITY. We do not believe that NT believers with the gift of prophesy speak inerrantly or infallibly as the OT prophets did. Various theologians would concur with this view, including Wayne Grudem, D.A. Carson, and Graham Houston. When prophets in Tyre told Paul “through the Spirit… not to go to Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4), he disobeyed them. If prophecy was a 100% infallible guide, then this would be wrong of Paul. Moreover, why would Paul instruct us to “examine everything carefully,” if prophecy was infallible or inerrant like Scripture (1 Thess. 5:21)?

We might compare this to a Bible teacher who is speaking for God. When we say that God spoke to me through a Bible teacher, do we mean that the teacher was inerrant or infallible? Of course not. Similarly, believers with the gift of prophesy can err, and as we have already stated, they should be discerned by the church.

Fifth, those with the gift of prophecy should be NOT OBSESS OVER TRYING TO PREDICT THE FUTURE. Paul writes that the purpose of prophecy is “for edification and exhortation and consolation” (1 Cor. 14:3). It is also for “conviction” (1 Cor. 14:24-25) and teaching (1 Cor. 14:31; Acts 13:1).

While predictive prophecy does occur in the NT church (Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-11), normally it should refer to current events—not future events. For instance, Paul writes, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment” (1 Cor. 14:29). Of course, if these prophets were speaking about future events, it would be impossible for the church to pass judgment on their claims. Moreover, the normal way that prophets spoke in the OT was in telling the people to repent and return to what they already knew in God’s word, rather than predicting unknown events in the future.

Sixth, those with the gift of prophecy should not feel compelled to say, “THUS SAYS THE LORD,” when using their gift. While the prophet Agabus does use this expression (Acts 21:11), this doesn’t need to be normative for everyone using this gift. Grudem writes,

The same words (Gk. tade legei) are used by Christian writers just after the time of the New Testament to introduce very general paraphrases or greatly expanded interpretations of what is being reported (so Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians 7: 1– 2 [about A.D. 108] and Epistle of Barnabas 6: 8; 9: 2, 5 [A.D. 70– 100]). The phrase can apparently mean, “This is generally (or approximately) what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.

Grudem concludes that there is a more appropriate way of using this gift:

If someone really does think God is bringing something to mind which should be reported in the congregation, there is nothing wrong with saying, “I think the Lord is putting on my mind that . . .” or “It seems to me that the Lord is showing us . . .” or some similar expression. Of course that does not sound as “forceful” as “Thus says the Lord,” but if the message is really from God, the Holy Spirit will cause it to speak with great power to the hearts of those who need to hear.

We concur. It is the truth of our statement that should resonate with our hearers—not necessarily the bravado or authority with which we claim it.

2. The gift of HEALING

In the Greek, the gift of healing is plural—not singular. A more literal translation would be the gifts of healings (1 Cor. 12:9, 28). Thus this gift is more robust than just physical healing. Emotional, relational, psychological, or spiritual (Lk. 6:18; Acts 10:38) are also, no doubt, in view. Regarding this gift, several important instructions should be considered:

First, the gift of healing DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK. Scripture cites several believers by name, who were not healed of their physical sickness: Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25–30), Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23), Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20), John the Baptist (Mk. 6:27), and even Paul (2 Cor. 12:7f; Gal. 4:13).

Second, the gift of healing SHOULDN’T BECOME OUR FOCUS. Healing is only mentioned in two chapters of the epistles (1 Cor. 12:9, 30; Jas. 5:16). It is also absent from the homechurch setting (1 Cor. 14:26). While Jesus healed people frequently, he also left the crowds who were looking for healing (Lk. 4:42), so that he could fulfill his purpose of preaching the kingdom (Lk. 4:43).

Third, healing should be USED ALONGSIDE MODERN MEDICINE. Because everything that exists in the world is “very good” (Gen. 1:31) and belongs to God (Ps. 24:1), it follows that we should use modern medicine. A key biblical case is King Hezekiah. Isaiah had received word from God that he would heal Hezekiah, and yet, Isaiah still decided to apply figs as a medical remedy on Hezekiah’s boil (2 Kings 20:7). Even when Jesus performed a resurrection on Jairus’ daughter (Mk. 5:41-42), he still ordered, “Something should be given her to eat” (Mk. 5:43), conflating the supernatural with the natural care of the girl. We should avoid binary thinking in this regard.

3. The gift of TONGUES

There are a number of instructions that we should keep in mind regarding the gift of tongues:

First, tongues should NOT BE EMPHASIZED, because they are NON-COGNITIVE. Tongues are unintelligible—even to the speaker (1 Cor. 14:2). Without interpretation, Paul writes, “You will be speaking into the air” (1 Cor. 14:9). The speaker’s “mind is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). Paul says, “In the church I desire to speak five words with my mind, that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Cor. 14:19). While tongues are edifying to the original person (1 Cor. 14:4), Paul writes that prophesying is a greater gift (1 Cor. 14:4-5), which is edifying for the church (1 Cor. 14:12).

Second, tongues are NOT HELPFUL FOR THE UNBELIEVER. Paul writes, “If therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?” (1 Cor. 14:23). Some charismatics argue that tongues are helpful for evangelism based on Paul’s statement: “Tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers” (1 Cor. 14:22). However, we do not believe that signs are a positive sign—but a negative one. See comments on 1 Corinthians 14:22.

Third, tongues should be LIMITED, INTERPRETED, and SEQUENTIAL. If someone speaks in tongues, there should only be two or three speakers at most (1 Cor. 14:27); this needs to be in sequence—not at once (1 Cor. 14:27); and the tongue speaker should keep silent without an interpreter present (1 Cor. 14:28).

Conclusion

Our understanding of the charismatic gifts should affect our practical theology in a number of ways:

First, the charismatic gifts are subservient to other gifts and love for others. In writing of the gift of tongues, Paul writes, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong” (1 Cor. 13:1). Regarding the gift of prophecy, he writes, “If I have the gift of prophecy… but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2). Later he writes, “Pursue love” (1 Cor. 14:1). True spirituality is based on our love for others—not our charismatic gifts.

Second, God seems to use the charismatic gifts more powerfully, when other means aren’t accessible. Saucy writes, “The reports of miracles seem more prevalent within emerging rather than well-established churches.” For instance, in communist China, almost all Bibles were destroyed by the Red Guard. Since believers did not have access to believers or Bibles, it appears that God used the charismatic gifts more powerfully. Alan Cole writes,

The sober report of these Christians is that, in many place, some remarkable instances of healing in the name of Christ have led people—sometimes whole families, sometimes even small villages—to turn to Christ. This conversion was not usually caused by multiple simultaneous healings but rather by one outstanding instance of healing… Another second clearly attested factor was what we may call visions or manifestations. In several instances, figures were reported to be standing guard outside the homes of Christians, deterring would-be attackers… There are many other stories of remarkable preservations of the lives of Christians, ranging from what we might call ‘miracles of timing’ to the story of the Christian in a North China prison who was stripped naked one harsh winter day and thrown out into the prison courtyard with the gibe ‘See if your God can keep you warm.’ God must have done so, for the man is alive and witnessing today.

Third, like all spiritual gifts, our gifts are distributed according to different strengths. Paul writes, “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly” (Rom. 12:6). Paul tells Timothy to rekindle his gift (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6), which implies that it could be weaker or stronger at times.

Fourth, we shouldn’t obsess over the spiritual gifts, but we should be thankful for their use. God uses the gifts every once in a while to stimulate and remind us of his supernatural power. If he did this too much, we might obsess over it. But we think he does this enough to remind us that he is supernaturally guiding and building up the Body of Christ. When he does use them, we should be very thankful for it.

Further Reading

Grudem, Wayne. Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views. Counterpoints: Bible and Theology. Zondervan. 2001.

Cessationist Reading

Gaffin, Richard B. Perspectives on Pentecost: Studies in New Testament Teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub., 1979.

Geisler, Norman L. Signs and Wonders. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1988.

Hoekema, Anthony. What About Tongues Speaking? Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, MI. 1966.

MacArthur, John. Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship. Nashville, Tennessee: Nelson Books, 2013.

MacArthur, John. Charismatic Chaos. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1992.

Open-but-Cautious

Carson, D. A. Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987.

Erickson, Millard. Christian theology. (2nd edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 1998. Chapter 42 “The Work of the Holy Spirit.”

Third-Wave

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan Publishing House. 1994. See chapters 52 & 53.

Wimber, John. A Brief Sketch of Signs and Wonders through the Church Age. Placentia, CA.: Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 1984.

Deere, Jack. Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: A Former Dallas Seminary Professor Discovers That God Speaks and Heals Today. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1993.

Pentecostal

Brown, Michael L. Authentic Fire: A Response to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire. Lake Mary, FL: Excel, 2014.

Williams, J. Rodman. Renewal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.