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'''Continuationism''' is a [[Christian theology|Christian theological]] belief that the [[spiritual gift|gifts of the Holy Spirit]] have continued to the present age, specifically those sometimes called "sign gifts",<ref>{{cite web |title=What are biblical sign gifts? What was their purpose? |url=https://www.compellingtruth.org/sign-gifts.html |website=Compelling Truth |accessdate=27 November 2019}}</ref> such as [[glossolalia|tongues]] and [[prophecy]]. Continuationism as a distinct theological position arose in opposition to [[cessationism]]. |
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Historically, it was within [[Calvinism]] that modern doctrines of cessationism were first formulated. The [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]] and other wings of [[Protestantism]] were never cessationist by doctrine. However, it would take the emergence of [[Pentecostalism]] and a new Pentecostal theology to crystalise a theological position of continuationism as it would be understood today. |
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==History== |
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Inasmuch as the doctrine of continuationism is understood to mean that the [[spiritual gift|gifts of the Holy Spirit]], including miracles and healing, did not cease in the [[Christianity in the 1st century|Apostolic Age]], then continuationism was the settled view of the whole Christian church until the time of the [[Reformation]]. Nevertheless, even though there was no doctrine of cessationism made prior to this time, such gifts were not expected as a norm. For instance, [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], writing in the early fifth century, commented that [[Glossolalia|speaking in tongues]] was a miracle that was no longer evident in his own time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170206.htm |title=CHURCH FATHERS: Homily 6 on First John (Augustine) |publisher=Newadvent.org |accessdate=6 December 2019}}</ref> He spoke of miracles still occurring at the time but noted in ''[[The City of God]]'' that they were not as spectacular or noteworthy as those in the Apostolic Age, but that they continued to take place.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120122.htm |title=CHURCH FATHERS: City of God, Book XXII (St. Augustine) |publisher=Newadvent.org |accessdate=6 December 2019}}</ref> |
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The Protestant Reformation saw the birth of a doctrine of cessationism within [[Calvinism]] that sought to deny that the gifts of the Holy Spirit persisted beyond the Apostolic Age. This position was motivated by the polemical use of Catholic miracle stories in opposition to Protestantism.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ruthven |first1=John |title=On the Cessation of the Charismata; the Protestant Polemic on Postbiblical Miracles |journal=Journal of Pentecostal Theology |date=1993 |volume=Supplement series |issue=3 |pages=36 |publisher=Sheffield: Academic Press}}</ref> However continuationism remained the position, not just in the [[Roman Catholic]] church, but also in [[Anglican]] churches, initially in [[Lutheran]] churches, the [[Moravian Church]], and in later movements such as [[Methodism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Živadinović|first=Dojcin|year=2015|title=Wesley and Charisma: An Analysis of John Wesley's View of Spiritual Gifts|journal=Andrews University Seminary Student Journal|volume=1|issue=2|pages=53–71|url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=aussj|access-date=5 December 2019|language=English}}</ref> |
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Accounts of spiritual gifts can be found throughout history, but it was not until the advent of [[Pentecostalism]] and the later [[Charismatic movement]] that large numbers of Christians began to adhere to a radical continuationism, that argued that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant to be experienced by all Christians in every age. Focus moved from Catholic accounts of miracles to other gifts such as speaking in tongues. Continuationists argue that there is no reason to hold that the gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased, regardless of whether they believe that they should be expected in the modern church or not. |
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==Types== |
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At its heart, continuationism is merely a rejection of cessationism, although the extent of that rejection gives rise to a continuum of positions. Starting with full cessationism the spectrum of beliefs is as follows: |
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*Full Cessationism - the belief that all miracles have ceased, along with any miraculous gifts.<ref name="grady">{{cite book |last1=Grady |first1=J. Lee |title=The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale: Rekindling the Power of God in an Age of Compromise |page=138 |publisher=Chosen, Grand Rapids, MI |isbn=978-0800794873 |date=2010}}</ref> |
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* Consistent Cessationists believe that not only were the miraculous gifts only for the establishment of the first-century church, but the need for apostles and prophets also ceased.<ref name="grady" /> |
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*Classical Cessationism - miraculous gifts such as prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues ceased with the apostles. However, they do believe that God God occasionally works in supernatural ways today.<ref name="grady" /> |
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* Concentric Cessationism - the miraculous gifts ceased in the mainstream church and evangelized areas, but may appear in unreached areas as an aid to spreading the Gospel. <ref>{{cite web |title=Kent Brandenberg |url=http://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/2014/10/do-keswick-critics-routinely_31.html |website=Opinion Based on the Bible |accessdate=12 December 2019 |date=October 31, 2014 |quote=Bingham, the founder of “Canadian Keswick,”[9] while making a great number of excellent points against more radical continuationism, taught in The Bible and the Body that the sign gifts have not ceased, but that on “most of the foreign fields”—Bingham was the founder of the Sudan Interior Mission—the “repetition of the signs” had appeared, so that “[m]issionaries could duplicate almost every scene in the Acts of the Apostles.”}}</ref> |
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* Continuationalist except for foundational gifts - rejecting the cessationism arguments with respect to sign gifts, healing and other gifts, but specifically accepting that the offices of the apostles and prophets have ceased.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Busenitz |first1=Nathan |title=Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Gift of Prophecy |url=https://thecripplegate.com/martyn-lloyd-jones-on-the-gift-of-prophecy/ |website=The Cripplegate |accessdate=12 December 2019 |date=May 3, 2012}}</ref> |
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* Open But Cautious - The conclusion of cessationism that miraculous gifts have ceased goes beyond the express teaching of Scripture or necessary deductions from theological principles of Scripture and leads to undue skepticism of the reports of miracles from around the world.<ref>Robert L. Saucy, “An Open but Cautious Response to Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.,” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views, ed. Stanley N. Gundry and Wayne A. Grudem, Zondervan Counterpoints Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 67.</ref> |
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*[[Third Wave of the Holy Spirit|Third Wave]] - the 1980's renewal movement as coined by [[C. Peter Wagner]] which holds that the proclamation of the gospel should ordinarily be accompanied by miraculous signs in accordance with the New Testament pattern. However, unlike classic Pentecostalism they believe that [[Baptism with the Holy Spirit|baptism in the Holy Spirit]] happens to all Christians at conversion and that subsequent experiences are better referred to as “fillings” with the Holy Spirit.<ref>Wayne A. Grudem, “Preface,” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views, ed. Stanley N. Gundry and Wayne A. Grudem, Zondervan Counterpoints Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 12.</ref> |
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*Pentecostal/Charismatic - Classical Pentecostal denominations along with groups that trace their origin to the charismatic renewal movement of the 1960s and 1970s<ref>Wayne A. Grudem, “Preface,” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views, ed. Stanley N. Gundry and Wayne A. Grudem, Zondervan Counterpoints Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), p.11-13.</ref> |
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* [[Pentecostal]] - as for Third Wave and Charismatic, but usually with the expectation that the gift of tongues will always accompany the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, an event that occurs after conversion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kingston |first1=C J E |title=Fulness of Power |date=1939 |publisher=Elim}}</ref> |
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==Theology== |
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{{Main|Cessationism versus continuationism}} |
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The word [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] used referring to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit is ''{{lang|grc|χαρίσματα}}'' (''charismata''), from which the charismatic movement takes its name. Cessationists and continuationists would agree that these gifts were present in the early church, but the difference of opinion comes with whether the gifts ceased with the apostles or soon after the apsotolic age (the cessationist position) or whether they have always been available to the church (the continuationist position). |
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Continuationsist find no Biblical support for the cessation of the gifts. A passage in 1 Corinthians 13 does say that tongues and other gifts will cease, and is cited by some cessationists. |
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{{Quote|text=Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.|source={{bibleref2|1 Corinthians|13:8-12|KJV}} ([[King James Version]])}} |
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Continuationists understand ''{{lang|grc|τὸ τέλειον}}'', 'the perfect,' to refer to the return of Christ.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Decker |first1=Rodney J |title=A history of interpretation of "that which is perfect" (1 Cor 13:10) with special attention to the origin of the canon view |url=http://ntresources.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/perfectpaper94.pdf |website=NT Resources |publisher=Central Baptist Theological Seminary |accessdate=12 December 2019 |pages=34-40}}</ref> |
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As discussed above, continuationst theology knows some variation on whether the office of apostles or prophets remain, and so interpretations of other key cessationist verses such as Ephesians 2:20 can vary. In general, however, the continuationist finds no biblical grounds for assuming the distribution of gifts would cease before the return of Christ. In rejecting cessationst exegesis of these passages, they reject the cessationist proposition. |
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Many continuationists go further, however, and argue that the gifts of the Spirit should be part of the normal Christian experience, and that the sign gifts remain a sign gift in all church life today. This view is closely associated with Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sherrill |first1=John L. |title=They speak with other tongues : a skeptic investigates this life-changing gift |date=1964 |publisher=Chosen Books |isbn=978-0800798703}}</ref> These Continuationists assert that the Spirit still gives gifts so that the church may be strengthened and accomplish what God wants it to do today. |
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==See also== |
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* [[Preterism]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==Further reading== |
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* Bouyer, Louis. "Some Charismatic Manifestations in the History of the Church". ''Perspectives on Charismatic Renewal.'' Edited by Edward O'Connor. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975 |
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* Grudem, Wayne, ed. ''Are Miraculous Gifts for Today: Four Views''. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996 (Richard M. Gaffin, Jr., R.L.Saucy, C.Samuel Storms, Douglas A. Oss) |
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* Walker, D. P. "The Cessation of Miracles". In ''Hermeticism and the Renaissance: Intellectual History and the Occult in Early Modern Europe.'' Edited by Ingrid Merkel and [[Allen G. Debus]]. Washington, DC: Folger Books, 1988. pp. 111–124 |
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* Williams, George and Waldvogel, Edith. "A History of Speaking in Tongues and Related Gifts".“” ''The Charismatic Movement.'' Edited by Michael P. Hamilton. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975. |
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==External links== |
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* Tim Challies interview with Wayne Grudem: Continuationism and Cessationism [http://www.challies.com/interviews/continuationism-and-cessationism-an-interview-with-dr-wayne-grudem part 1], [http://www.challies.com/interviews/continuationism-and-cessationism-part-2-an-interview-with-dr-wayne-grudem part 2] |
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* [http://www.isitso.org/guide/pentchar.html Field Guide to the Wide World of Religion] |
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* [https://wesleygospel.com/2018/12/11/miracles-are-for-today-a-refutation-of-b-b-warfields-cessationism-john-boruff/ Miracles Are for Today! A Refutation of B. B. Warfield's Cessationism] by John Boruff |
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* [https://hopefaithprayer.com/books/On-the-Cessation-of-the-Charismata-Ruthven.pdf On the Cessation of the Charismata] by Jon Ruthven |
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[[Category:Continuationism| ]] |
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[[Category:Christian terminology]] |
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[[Category:New Testament theology]] |
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[[Category:Pneumatology]] |
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