Has anyone read Modern Spiritual Gifts as Analogous to Apostolic Gifts: Affirming Extraordinary Works of the Spirit within Cessationist Theology? It was the first thing I read where I could understand what is meant by fallible prophesy. Any thoughts or responses?

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Scott Roper
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA): "A bunch of hippie Calvinists"
Winston-Salem, NC

It's awesome what this guy did with his boys. He's a cool guy.

Oh, and sorry, I haven't read it.

G'night, Scott.

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Susan Anita - Clan Scott!
Member of Grace Bible Church - Bakersfield, CA www.gbcob.org

It's been a while, perhaps a little too long for any detailed critique. He falls into the modern trap of thinking inspiration works on various levels of consciousness. Warfield made this teaching popular. The primary passage appealed to is always Luke 1:1-4. It is ironic that the consistent outworking of Warfield's "organic" doctrine is made the basis of a position contrary to his own cessationist position so far as the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are concerned. The traditional refromed doctrine is immediate as contrasted with mediate or organic inspiration. One can see an example of this in Samuel Rutherford: http://www.pap.com.au/rutherford/sr_insp.htm.

The traditional position is that the extraordinary gifts were given (1.) to enable the process of further revelation, and (2.) confirm the message was of God. Poythress (if I remember correctly) tries to make the analogy in terms of how the gifts function rather than the purpose for which they were given. On the functional level, I suppose it is possible to see an analogy. But on the teleological level the analogy breaks down. Now if the purpose for which the gifts were given is no longer operative, it follows that the Spirit no longer gives these gifts to fulfil the purpose for which they were given. This would be true with regard to the gifts themselves or any analogy of them.

It should also be pointed out that the ordinary means of communicating the Word were also gifts of the Holy Spirit and operated side by side with the extraordinary gifts in the apostolic church. That being the case, the analogy between ordinary and extraordinary has already been created by the Holy Spirit's gifting. What we see when we examine the church in its regular functions is exactly what the Holy Spirit revealed would act as the norm for the church in all ages. It would be presumptuous for a man to add to this normative analogy, which the Holy Spirit Himself has established for the ordinary operation of the church.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

Thanks for your comments, Rev. Winzer. At least in this article Poythress doesn't seem to address the categories of mediate and immediate. That Rutherford example is interesting. Poythress seems to be saying that Luke was written one way and Revelation was written another, contra Rutherford. I do think Poythress does a good job of removing some of the common objections to continuation of the extraordinary gifts such as appeals to the sufficiency of scripture.

Susan, I don't understand what you are referring to.

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Scott Roper
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA): "A bunch of hippie Calvinists"
Winston-Salem, NC