Adrian Warnock adrianwarnock.com
This Site:


Linked Sites:


Friday, November 11, 2005

Questions from a reader for cessationists


correspondent asked me the following questions and agreed for me to
put them to my blog readers:

One question for cessationists would concern John 16:13:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
In micro terms, what does that mean?� Pastor Shaun and other cessationists might say that these words were literally for Jesus' 11 disciples (Judas having gone out) and no one else. Slighly broader, a cessationist might say this text is for the canon-forming era only, not just the 11 and Matthias and Paul.

If cessationists don�t believe John 16:13 applies to us today (and perhaps they do) they have to make the case for restricting Jesus� words to the Eleven or to the first century apostles. Prima facie Jesus� words are for all believers unless cessationists cans show why it should be restricted only to first century Apostles. Perhaps they can.

Let�s say John 16:13 is for believers today as well as the Eleven. My question: if the Spirit is promised by Jesus to come and guide us into all truth, how does that work in the most micro of situations?

What does that look like?� To be sure, at the least it means through Scripture. But is that all it means?� For those who are opposed to "impressions", how does the Spirit guide us into "all" truth? If one denies impressions, then does one deny that the Spirit can "bring to mind" Scriptural texts? Or do cessationists interpret this promise to mean the Spirit can bring Scriptures to mind but nothing else?� But even bringing Scriptures to mind seems to me like...an impression.

Related, James tell us to ask for wisdom. How does that work in micro terms?

Let's take the moment immediately preceding God's answer of that prayer when one lacks wisdom. What specifically changes from the moment of lacking wisdom to the moment of receiving wisdom from God? What constitutes the actual wisdom-- words? thoughts? arguments? discernment?��

So a related question would be, for the type of cessationist that denies impressions, how does such a cessationist distinguish between wisdom given by God and impressions?

More Headlines From This Blog
Back to homepage or visit the archive pages
  • April 2003
  • May 2003
  • June 2003
  • July 2003
  • August 2003
  • September 2003
  • October 2003
  • November 2003
  • December 2003
  • January 2004
  • February 2004
  • March 2004
  • April 2004
  • May 2004
  • June 2004
  • July 2004
  • August 2004
  • September 2004
  • October 2004
  • November 2004
  • December 2004
  • January 2005
  • February 2005
  • March 2005
  • April 2005
  • May 2005
  • June 2005
  • July 2005
  • August 2005
  • September 2005
  • October 2005
  • November 2005
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009


  • SPECIAL OFFER on In Jesus

    Together on a Mission Churchplanting
    Newfrontiers Conference


    Add to Google Reader

    Subscribe via RSS feed or enter your email address here:

    My Library

    ADRIAN'S LINKS





    Reformed Charismatic Blogs

    Other Links


    25% Off Logos Bible Software

    MY INTERVIEWS


    Sermons on the Web


    Previous Posts

    Associated with

    Small print

    Opinions expressed in this blog are Adrian Warnock's alone, and do not represent the views of his church, employer or anyone else for that matter!

    Material is often provided for your research purposes rather than as an endorsement. We ask you to report anything you see here or on a linked site that you feel may be inappropriate or may inadvertently breach copyright to adrian.warnock@gmail.com.

    Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivs 2.0 England & Wales License.

    ESV
    Unless otherwise indicated, all bible quotations are from The English Standard Version © 2001, Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved. See my ESV Interview for more information

    Services by:

    Christianity Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory