Author Archives: Scott

Experience Shapes Theology

Posted on March 19, 2010 | 7 comments

by Scott

No doubt experience shapes life. For the one who denies such, they are simply out of touch with reality. We have all gone through experiences based upon our culture, family upbringing, education, economic status and even church background. Such is unavoidable in life.

Paul even had these interesting words to say:

And he [God] made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26-27)

God sovereignly places us into the era, culture, nation and background we live in, all that we might ultimately ‘feel [our] way toward Him’.

Specifically, when it comes to things like gifts of the Spirit and the use of such in the corporate worship setting, charismatics and Pentecostals (and now other ‘newer church’ groups) are usually labelled as too experiential. Such criticism is usually coupled with the fact that, historically, these groups have not had a solid Biblical foundation for some of their practises.

Of course, there is no doubt it would be unhealthy to found everything on experience and little, or nothing, on the truth of Scripture. Such can lead us down a path, or will lead us down a path that causes much confusion and damage.

Yet, what one might also observe is that experience may not only be a fault for Pentecostals and charismatics, but even for cessationists.

How?

For those who argue that miracles, healings, prophecy, tongues and other such things have ceased (or have mostly ceased), some of them will state something to the effect of, ‘Well, I’ve never seen such things, nor do I know any other people who have seen such.’

Do we see the possible problem with such a statement?

We should not look to be cruel and label this as hypocrisy, but there at least needs to be a reassessment here. If someone is quick to label Pentecostals and charismatics as those who base too much of their theology on experience and not enough on the Bible, and then the person goes on to state that one of the reasons they do not believe miracles and healings still take place is because they have never experienced or seen it happen, this gives rise to concern.

What seems to have been created is a double standard. Pentecostals and charismatics are chided for basing their theology on experience, but it might be that a cessationist does not consider certain gifts of the Spirit to still exist because they have neither experienced or know any one who has experienced such (at least experienced such to their personal satisfaction).

Of course, not all cessationists would make such a claim, and I only bring up such a point for consideration for both sides. But with cessationists, from the theologically trained to those who have no such training, there are quite a few who boast of founding their theology solely upon the Bible rather than experience, all the while heaping criticism upon the more charismatic groups for even considering experience as something on which they can build theology.

Yet, when the cessationist understanding of certain Scripture passages is challenged and found wanting, and of course this is where I lean, many cessationists can regularly remind us that they know of no one who has truly seen such miracles or healings, nor of anyone who has ever been truly used in prophecy or tongues.

So, what are we to do?

Well, let us first recognise that our experience does shape our theology. Whether we are full cessationist or full continuationist or anywhere in between, our personal life experiences will shape our theology. We cannot deny it. And that’s ok. Such is not inherently wrong. But this is not our sole, nor major, foundation for our understanding of God and His work.

God has given us a plethora of tools to guard against such: Scripture, the current local body of Christ that we are a part of, the whole cloud of witnesses that have fought the good fight for 2,000 years, and specific leadership within the local church. And that is just for starters, but good starters they are.

Of course, humanity can still go wrong. It does happen for fallible, fallen, broken human beings who are still ‘feeling their way towards God’, to again quote Paul from Acts 17. But, as a whole, if we keep our experiences in life humbly submitted to God, His revelation in the Scripture, leadership and the body with whom we relate, I think we can pretty much bank on being guarded against heresy, wrong practises, or just odd-ball stuff (though God might just call us to do something a little out of the ordinary).

In all, neither cessationists nor continuationists are free from the charge that our experience shapes our theology. And, please remember that this is ok. If our faith were solely based upon our doctrinal understanding (which is not ever 100% correct), then we would simply dry up and die, never having truly drunk from the living waters.

So, let’s be ok with our experience, to even be desirous of experiencing God. Such is not an anathema. It never has been from the Garden to today. And as we humbly seek God, let us continue to grow in being faithful to Him and His revelation in Scripture.

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An Everyday Example of Prophecy

Posted on March 13, 2010 | 7 comments

by Scott

I posted an article a few weeks back about the nature of revelation. Though the word usually gets distorted in terms of eschatological understanding or with the gifts of the Spirit, the word simply means an unveiling or an uncovering. It’s like pulling back the curtains to introduce the characters and scene of a play. All of a sudden you get ‘the picture’.

I believe Paul brings it down ‘out of the clouds’ when he shares these words with the Corinthian church:

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. (1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV)

Paul expected that each person of the body of Christ could be utilised in all these things mentioned above, and more of course. Not all at the same time in every gathering. Such would be overwhelming. And that is what Paul strongly challenged the Corinthians to stop doing. But these gifts of God’s Spirit were available to the whole body.

Why? These things must be done for strengthening the church, building it up (e.g. 1 Cor 14:26).

So, currently I’m leading our house group through a book entitled Becoming A True Spiritual Community. It’s by one of my favourite authors, Larry Crabb.

Now, here is the thing to note: I’m pretty sure Larry Crabb would not identify himself as a charismatic, Pentecostal, nor Third-Wave. I don’t say this in a derogatory way. It’s just that, after reading about six of his books over the past years, I don’t think he would classify himself in that way. And that’s fine.

But, he is definitely a man who wants to hear from the Spirit, tune his ear to the voice of God. It comes through in many of his books. He mainly writes about how the church can better walk out our call to emulate the relational nature of the Trinity. He has a passion to see the whole body of Christ moving towards maturity in spiritual friendships. And, in doing so, he is always bringing in the element of listening to the Spirit when it comes to faithfully relating to and caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

All this to say: Larry Crabb is not identifiable as charismatic. But he is identifiable as one who wants to hear from God.

And as I was re-reading through chapter 7 of the afore mentioned book, I found a beautiful story of the gift of prophecy, or we might call it a word of knowledge. In all, it’s a present-day example of God’s Spirit bringing revelation, or uncovering truth, for the building up of the body. Now begins the short account:

The seminar was fifteen minutes from beginning. We had been worshiping God in music for three quarters of an hour. It was now 7:45 on a Friday evening, and I would start speaking at 8.00.

I stopped singing to listen to something rising within me. It was a prayer.

“Lord,” I heard myself say, “if this message about connecting and a new level of community is from You, I must know. If I’ve made it up to give myself something to think about as I grow older, I want to scrap it.

“But if it is really from You, I want to know it with a certainty I cannot deny. And…” – I hesitated; the next thought forming in my mind seemed pushy – “I’d like to know this weekend.”

I prayed the prayer inaudibly. No one heard me but God.

Nearly everyone else in that large auditorium was standing to worship. I knew that I would be on my feet for the next two hours, so I was sitting. The chair to my immediate right on the front row was empty.

A few moments after I finished my prayer, a man I didn’t know slid onto it.

“May I have a word with you?” he asked.

I nodded quizzically, with a slight edge to my nod. After all, I was praying and about to address a large group for two hours. I thought he was a bit rude.

He told me his name, then said, “I am on the pastoral staff of this church. We’ve never met, but since the day we invited you to our church, the Lord has laid you on my heart. I feel strongly impressed to say something to you. I intended to wait till after the seminar but I feel I must tell you now. I’ll only be a minute.”

I nodded again, this time with no edge.

“I sensed that you want confirmation from God that your new direction in ministry is from Him, and that you want it this weekend. I believe God has called you to what you’re doing and He wants me to tell you that this weekend you’ll know.”

A few more words and he slipped away.

End of account.

Absolutely beautiful!

In other church contexts, this could have been prefaced with, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ It could have been done with a louder voice, running to the microphone so all could hear, etc. But it was simple, real and revelatory.

Actually, if you really read the account, you notice it was very directive. But yet it wasn’t too pushy.

But, in the end, this revelation, this prophecy, maybe this word of knowledge, accomplished it’s purpose as laid forth in Scripture: it was for the common good (1 Cor 12:7) and it strengthened a member of the body (1 Cor 14:26).

Larry Crabb was praying a prayer and God looked upon him with grace and confirmed His direction through another member of Christ’s body.

This is real, this is edifying, this is strengthening.

God revealing His heart. A member of Christ’s body being willing to listen, receive from Him and then share that edifying revelation with Larry.

That’s an everyday example of prophecy.

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The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke

Posted on March 7, 2010 | 4 comments

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article about a solid theological book on pneumatology, that is, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It was entitled, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts: In the New Testament Church and Today by Max Turner, professor at London School of Theology. The book must be one of the more modern better books on pneumatology. Well, here is another pneumatological title, The Charismatic Theology of St Luke, by Roger Stronstad.

To start out, one of the pluses of the book is that it is a mere 83 pages. Now, of course, one might say, ‘Only 83 pages as an academic work. Are you sure it’s good?’

Well, I am quite aware of the fact that all things cannot be covered in a 300+ page book, like Turner’s, much less an 83-page book. But I was quite intrigued that Stronstad was able to faithfully look at quite a few things in such a shorter work. He was even pulling in references from various sources, including quite a few intertestamental writings as he looked at some later-BC Judaistic views of the Spirit.

Stronstad is a Pentecostal scholar, so I would tend to agree with a lot of things he has put forth in the work. But I would also couple that with stating that he is quite balanced in his approach.

Yes, he does believe the baptism, or initial filling of the Spirit, can be received following salvation-initiation. But I do not believe he is one to argue too far over the top, stating that this is the only way. He even ends out in his final chapter with some practical and pastoral challenges such as 1) not seeing tongues as the initial evidence of receiving the Spirit or that 2) we steer clear of a two-tier class of Christianity. Both are not biblically warranted, to which I agree.

There are three major and important contributions in Stronstad’s work that I point out in this article:

1) He shows the strong connection between the infancy-inauguration of Luke’s Gospel with the Pentecost initiation narrative of Acts. Stronstad states:

‘In the structure of Luke-Acts, the Pentecost narrative stands in the same relationship to the Acts as the infancy-inauguration narratives do to the Gospel. In the Gospel of Luke these narratives not only introduce the motifs which define the mission of Jesus, but they also show that Jesus will execute His mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. In a similar manner, the Pentecost narrative introduces both the future mission of the disciples and the complementary empowering of the Spirit.’ (p49)

He also makes this statement just a few pages earlier in regards to the parallel accounts of Luke’s narrative Gospel and Luke’s narrative of Acts:

‘The Gospel [of Luke] is the story of Jesus, the unique charismatic Prophet; the Acts is the story of His disciples, a community of charismatic prophets.’ (p34)

No wonder Stronstad would later publish the book, The Prophethood of All Believers, of which I also wrote an article about here.

2) Stronstad also shows how Luke must be considered both historian and theologian, not simply historian. This is not always accepted in biblical-scholarly circles. But doing so will be of great help to us as we consider a full and holistic biblical pneumatology. He makes this important statement in his work:

‘Consequently, just as the recognition that Luke is a theologian as well as a historian makes Luke-Acts a legitimate data base for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, so the recognition that Luke is independent of Paul will broaden the New Testament data base for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. To recognize these two facts is to rehabilitate Luke as a historian-theologian of the Holy Spirit and to allow him to make a significant, unique, and independent contribution to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.’ (p11)

He, then, goes on to challenge our thinking with these words:

‘On the one hand, where it is appropriate, all parties in the current debate must abandon those largely self-serving methodological programs which conspire to either silence or to manipulate Luke’s distinctive theology. On the other hand, all parties must develop a methodological consensus for interpreting the gift of the Spirit in Luke-Acts. At a minimum, this consensus must include the following principles: 1) Luke-Acts is theologically homogeneous, 2) Luke is a theologian as well as a historian, and 3) Luke is an independent theologian in his own right.’ (p12)

3) Connected to the last point, Stronstad also emphasises that Luke and Paul have different emphases in their pneumatology. Of course, their theology is to be harmonized as part of the whole of Scripture’s teaching. Yet, within Paul’s writings, we continually read of the soteriological necessity of the Spirit, which sees the work of the Spirit as bringing people into sonship with God and incorporating them into the body of Christ. But, in Luke, the Spirit is recognised as the Spirit of prophecy that empowers God’s people for mission and service.

And we see this as we compare the use of certain phrases in both Luke and Paul. Interestingly enough, Luke uses the phrase, ‘baptised in the Spirit’, 3 times while Paul only uses it once. Even more, Luke uses the phrase, ‘filled with the Spirit’, 9 times of which Paul only refers to it once as well. Maybe Luke will help inform our pneumatology a little more than we had first thought.

Thus, we see that Stronstad puts forth the arguement that Luke’s pneumatology is about the Spirit being given for witness and service. Hence, why he would argue that the Spirit, from a Lukan-charismatic perspective, could be received post-salvation. He states:

‘If we have interpreted Luke’s Pentecost narrative correctly, then the gift of the Spirit is not for salvation, but it is for witness and service. In other words, with the transfer of the Spirit to the disciples on the day of Pentecost, they become a charismatic community, heirs to the earlier charismatic ministry of Jesus.’ (p62)

Therefore, with anyone wanting to studying biblical pneumatology, especially a Lukan pneumatology, though this book is short and from a more Pentecostal-charismatic perspective, I do think it is worth diving into. For me, I definitely appreciated the work. But may be I am a little biased as a charismatic.

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The Case For Continuationism (Part 2) – Sam Storms

Posted on March 4, 2010 | 4 comments

Here is the second and final article from guest poster, Sam Storms, head of Enjoying God Ministries. The first article consisted of twelve bad reasons for being a cessationist. This post now concerns the positive (biblical and theological) perspective of being a continuationist. Both of these posts were originally posted at Sam’s ministry website here.

12 Good Reasons for Being a Continuationist

1. The first good reason for being a continuationist is the 12 bad reasons for being a cessationist.

2. A second good reason for being a continuationist is the consistent, indeed pervasive, and altogether positive presence throughout the NT of all spiritual gifts.

3. A third good reason for being a continuationist is the extensive NT evidence of the operation of so-called miraculous gifts among Christians who are not apostles. In other words, numerous non-apostolic men and women, young and old, across the breadth of the Roman Empire consistently exercised these gifts of the Spirit (and Stephen and Philip ministered in the power of signs and wonders).

4. A fourth good reason for being a continuationist is the explicit and oft-repeated purpose of the charismata: namely, the edification of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:7; 14:3,26).

5. The fifth good reason for being a continuationist is the fundamental continuity or spiritually organic relationship between the church in Acts and the church in subsequent centuries.

6. Very much related to the fifth point, a sixth good reason for being a continuationist is because of what Peter (Luke) says in Acts 2 concerning the operation of so-called miraculous gifts as characteristic of the New Covenant age of the Church.

7. The seventh good reason for being a continuationist is 1 Corinthians 13:8-12.

8. The eighth good reason for being a continuationist is Ephesians 4:11-13.

9. A ninth good reason for being a continuationist is the description in Revelation 11 of the ministry of the Two Witnesses.

10. A tenth good reason for being a continuationist is because the Holy Spirit in Christ is the Holy Spirit in Christians. We are indwelt, anointed, filled, and empowered by the same Spirit as was Jesus. His ministry is (with certain obvious limitations) the model for our ministry (cf. Acts 10:38).

11. An eleventh reason to be a continuationist is the absence of any explicit or implicit notion that we should view spiritual gifts any differently than we do other NT practices and ministries that are portrayed as essential for the life and well-being of the Church.

12. The twelfth and final good reason for being a continuationist is the testimony throughout most of church history concerning the operation of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit.

[Although it is technically not a reason or argument for being a continuationist like the previous twelve, I cannot ignore personal experience. The fact is that I’ve seen all spiritual gifts in operation, tested and confirmed them, and experienced them first-hand on countless occasions. As stated, this is less a reason to become a continuationist and more a confirmation (although not an infallible one) of the validity of that decision. Experience, in isolation from the biblical text, proves little. But experience must be noted, especially if it illustrates or embodies what we see in the biblical text.]

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The Case For Continuationism – Sam Storms

Posted on March 3, 2010 | 3 comments

As we have noted in our About page, part of our desire is to regularly post articles by guest authors. Well, here is our first post from Sam Storms, head of Enjoying God Ministries. Sam has given us permission to post these next two articles, which can originally be found here.

The first article will deal with reasons why one should not be a cessationist and the second article will deal with the reasons why one should be a continuationist.

12 Bad Reasons for Being a Cessationist

1. The first bad reason for being a cessationist is an appeal to 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 on the assumption that the “perfect” is something other or less than the fullness of the eternal state ushered in at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

2. Another bad or illegitimate reason for being a cessationist is the belief that signs and wonders as well as certain spiritual gifts served only to confirm or authenticate the original company of apostles and that when the apostles passed away so also did the gifts.

a) No biblical text ever says that signs and wonders or spiritual gifts of a particular sort authenticated the apostles. Signs and wonders authenticated Jesus and the apostolic message about him. If signs and wonders were designed exclusively to authenticate apostles, why were non-apostolic believers (such as Philip and Stephen) empowered to perform them?

b) This is a good reason for being a cessationist only if you can demonstrate that authentication or attestation of the apostolic message was the sole and exclusive purpose of such displays of divine power. However, nowhere in the NT is the purpose/function of the miraculous or the charismata reduced to that of attestation.

3. A third bad reason for being a cessationist is the belief that since we now have the completed canon of Scripture we no longer need the operation of so-called miraculous gifts.

4. A fourth bad reason for being a cessationist is the belief that to embrace the validity of all spiritual gifts today requires that one embrace classical Pentecostalism and its belief in Spirit-baptism as separate from and subsequent to conversion, as well as their doctrine that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of having experienced this Spirit-baptism.

5. Another bad reason for being a cessationist is the idea that if one spiritual gift, such as apostleship, has ceased to be operative in the church that other, and perhaps all, miraculous gifts have ceased to be operative in the church.

6. A sixth bad reason for being a cessationist is the fear that to acknowledge the validity today of revelatory gifts such as prophecy and word of knowledge would necessarily undermine the finality and sufficiency of Holy Scripture.

7. A seventh bad reason for being a cessationist is the appeal to Ephesians 2:20 on the assumption that revelatory gifts such as prophecy were uniquely linked to the apostles and therefore designed to function only during the so-called foundational period in the early church.

8. An eighth bad reason for being a cessationist is the argument that since we typically don’t see today miracles or gifts equal in quality/intensity to those in the ministries of Jesus and the Apostles, God doesn’t intend for any miraculous gifts of a lesser quality/intensity to operate in the church among ordinary Christians (but cf. 1 Cor. 12-14; Rom. 12; 1 Thess. 5:19-22; James 5).

9. A ninth bad reason for being a cessationist is the so-called “cluster” argument.

[Note from Scott: I believe the ‘cluster’ argument referred to here is that miracles and other such gifts seem to ‘cluster’ around greater revelatory events. Since such great revelatory events no longer exist due to Christ’s coming and that we now have the full canon of Scripture, such miracles and gifts should not be expected.]

10. A tenth bad reason for being a cessationist is the appeal to the alleged absence of miraculous gifts in church history subsequent to the first century.

11. Eleventh, it is a bad reason to be a cessationist because of the absence of good experiences with spiritual gifts and the often fanatical excess of certain TV evangelists and some of those involved in the Word of Faith or Prosperity Gospel movements (as well as the anti-intellectualism often found in those movements).

12. Finally, a twelfth bad reason for being a Cessationist is fear of what embracing continuationism might entail for your life personally and the well-being of your church corporately.

The next post will look at 12 good reasons for being a continuationist.

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