Pentecostalism and the Cessation of the Spirtual Gifts

Paul address the subject of the Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14. In this passage he explains that these gifts will come to an end after the completion of the Bible. This video illustrates this fact.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• pentecostal
• church
• spiritual
• gifts
• tongues
• religion
• cessation
• bible
• pentecostalism
• charismatic

[tassiespirit]

If "when perfection "comes means Christ returns then the "gifts"have not ceased yet, but they will then, thats the way I read it? Only Christ is perfect not the church. In Rom 11:29 it says that the "gifts" and " call" are irrevocable, then what gives ??? Christ has not removed the Holy Spirit, He is still with us and helping us til Christs' return, as our calling to spread the Word of God is still current.

[guidedbytruth]

The word used in Rom 11:29 translated irrevocable here means "without repentance" or "without regret" as we see when the NIV also translated that same word "leaves no regret" in 2 Cor 7:10. While it is clear that God does not regret giving any gift, the context is more closely speaking about the gift of salvation as the passage in the previous verse starts with "as far as the gospel is concerned." There are still gifts we are given, and salvation is the greatest of all of them.

[guidedbytruth]

Jesus was the Word made flesh, but the Scriptures are still the word of God and are what James was referring to which is obvious since he used the word "law" in the context of speaking about it. Paul never used the phrase Word of God, but said "THAT which is perfect" will come, meaning a thing, not who which is perfect, meaning a man. Your argument confuses me because to make it you suggest that the Scriptures are not the word of God and are also not perfect. Is that so?

[tassiespirit]

thankyou for the feedback. It is good to hear what the Word of God says.

I agree that they will not be available in the future ( last part of your comment). In John 1:1 The Word was with God and the Word was God part - to means Jesus is the word - The perfect Word of God. We have the written Word of God. Put together in about 397 AD. When christ comes again all bets are off as we only need Him not the Holy Spirit which he left us to be wth us. HS is still with us. Thank you for your help.

[guidedbytruth]

The Word is perfect but at the time the letter to the Corinthians was written, it was not yet complete. Now, the Word of God is COMPLETE and therefore the need for the gifts has ceased. Paul told them to seek certain gifts because at that time they could not read all the books of the Bible to find out how to become mature in Christ without them. Note that in the context of telling them to seek certain gifts he also warned them one day those gifts would not be available.

[tassiespirit]

Thank you for the reply, just an observation, James was written before 1 Cor 13 and 14 and mentions us to DO not just HEAR the word of God, to look at the perfect Word of God ( and do it as Jesus told us to do); and does not refer to the finishing of the Spiritual Gifts . Since Paul was still telling the Corinthian church ( thats everyone) to use and desire certain gifts. And become mature like Christ - why would he do that if they were to cease. The Word is perfect but NOT FULLFILLED yet.

[guidedbytruth]

We have not claimed that the church was perfect or that it has anything to do with the gifts ceasing. It is the Word of God that is perfect and when it came, the gifts did cease.

James 1:22-25 calls the Word perfect and he also likens it unto a mirror. It was when the perfect Word of God was complete that the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians were no longer given because they were no longer needed. All necessary prophecy, words of wisdom, etc were now recorded for us all to see.

[Iseeit4u]

Thank you and God bless you for this lesson! This is the best I have ever heard on this subject. I prayed for answers and have found them. I wanted to know if the gifts people claim to have were true or not, either way I just wanted to know God's will and was willing to accept whatever the message was. I feel so relieved and enlightened and know that I have what I need for salvation and to teach others in the Bible, I am not lacking the tools, just need to study more. God bless you!!!!

[zeph317]

Very good job answering these weak arguments. I appreciate your logic and reasoning ability. I have just came out of a pentecostal led program (who by the way, said that it was not pentecostal but non-denominational) and was trying to be open to tongues and such, but it never settled peacefully with me. I was in a constant state of alertness; alerting me that something here is amiss. Thanks for clearing things up for me in this regard.

[guidedbytruth]

The bible was inspired and written in the Greek. Not all things translate well into English, like the word agape translated merely as love for instance. The meaning is better understood by looking at the original language. The word in English does not tell us whether or not it speaking about a person or not but in the Greek the word has gender. By looking at the word in Greek we see it was not referring to a person and therefore was not referring to Jesus.