Andrew Meredith’s Reviews > Institutes of the Christian Religion (text only) Revised edition by J. Calvin,H. Beveridge > Status Update

Those who (1) "imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God are deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness." Some, indeed, "make a great display of the superiority of the Spirit" and "deride the simplicity of those who only delight in what they call the 'dead letter.'" But which Spirit will they claim guides them? The One Who gave Paul visions of the Third Heaven certainly, and yet where does Paul point his protege Timothy? To visions? To spiritual experiences? No, but to Scripture and Scripture alone (1 Tim 4:13). "The office of the Spirit promised to us is not to form new and unheard-of revelations, but to seal on our minds the very doctrine which the gospel recommends."

Thus the Church must (2) all the more "diligently heed both the reading and the hearing of Scripture if we would obtain any benefit from the Spirit of God." Any spirit that would by-pass God's written word is to immediately be suspected as laboring under vanity and falsehood. If it has pleased the Spirit of God to bind Himself to the Scriptures, how can they declare it an insult to His majesty if we refuse to go elsewhere in order to find Him, "as if it were disgraceful to the Holy Spirit to maintain a perfect resemblance throughout, and be in all respects without variation consistent with Himself"?

(3) It is obvious that their claim that Scripture by itself is a "dead letter" is taking Paul out of context (2 Cor 3:6). Paul is arguing that by recommending the Law without Christ, false apostles deprive their followers of the benefits of the New Covenant. The letter of the Law can only kill when it is severed from grace, but when impressed on the heart by the Spirit, the Law actually gives life. Far from being a dead letter then, "the Word is the instrument by which the illumination of the Spirit is dispensed." In this Word, we are daily invited to read and thereby hear the very voice of God.

My thoughts: It must be noted that Calvin does not fit neatly into our modern cessationist/continuationist categories here simply because neither existed on the theological landscape yet.

The words of this chapter are primarily addressed against a group known as the Libertines, a rigorously egalitarian sect, who were antinomian (anti-Law), anti-authoritarian (openly rejecting the authority of majestrates, ministers, and even parents), and rejected the authority of Scripture for today as well, favoring private personal revelations of the Spirit instead. Much of this group was already anti-Trinitarian by Calvin's day, and their hardline egalitarianism would push them further into an openly pantheistic direction as their doctrine developed.

Be that as it may, let me address the enormous proverbial "sign gift" pachyderm sprawling on the sofa.

On the cessationist/continuationist spectrum, I am a decidedly cessationist. By this I mean that I believe the "sign gifts" (prophecy, tongues, healing, etc.) to have now ceased.

This belief goes hand-in-hand with my partial preterism. There are many a continuationist scholar who argue that the sign gifts were signs signaling the coming of "the Last Days." Reading Acts 2 alongside them, I find their arguments entirely convincing, except I also believe the Last Days to be the last days of the Old Covenant (between Christ's Ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the priesthood in AD 70) and not the last days before the Second Coming. It was a time when the New Covenant had come, but the Old, though obsolete, had not yet faded away (Heb 8:13). It would end in a rain of judgment (Mat 24).

The Israelites were warned by Isaiah that Yahweh would speak to them through foreign tongues (28:11) before the overflowing scourge swept them to destruction (vv.18ff). There were some who would find salvation at this time. Joel (quoted by Peter during his Acts 2 Pentecost sermon) warned that during "the Last Days" an outpouring of the Spirit would bring about visions, dreams, and prophecy "before the great and dreadful Day of Yahweh" (2:28) the day of judgment coming upon the covenant breaking Israel. Some who called upon the name of the Lord would be saved.

The sign gifts were, then, very real signs (1 Cor 14:20-25). They signaled clearly to the Jews (both believing and unbelieving) that the end of the Old Covenant was near (1 Pet 4:7; Jam 5:8, Rev 1:1, 3; 22:7; Heb 10:25; etc.). The night was ending, the promised day had already begun to dawn, and the Son of Righteousness was rising with healing for all nations in His wings. Those slumbering were to wake up, and those awake were to stay that way. All authoritative prophecy, including Apostolic Scripture writing, ceased at AD 70 when time finally ran out.

Notice though what I am not saying. I do not think prophecy (properly defined) has ceased. I do not believe that healing itself has ceased. I fully believe that God can cause someone to speak in a foreign tongue otherwise unknown to them or give them information that they would not be otherwise privy to. I do in no way limit the power of God. Indeed, we are commanded to pray for healing, and I expect Him to heal miraculously. What I deny is the ongoing existence of the "sign gifts."

I do not believe it hubris for me to say that I have the gift of "teaching," which is a spiritual gift bestowed upon me by the Holy Spirit. I can always "switch it on," if you will. My wife is gifted at "hospitality," she just has an otherworldly (to me) sense of what people might need and a strong urge to provide for it. These are not sign gifts, but they are ordinary spiritual gifts given for the building up of the Body of Christ. They as gifts are tied to our wills in that we can choose where to utilize them and are conscious of when we are doing so.

I do not believe anyone today has the ability to heal on command, to prophecy (in the sense of foretelling) on command, or to speak in unlearned languages on command like I have the ability to teach on command. These intentionally more conspicuous "gifts" were given as "signs" of the Last Days, the coming judgment on covenant breaking Israel, which are long since past.