TONGUES IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY, PART II
OUR FINAL QUESTION concerns the presence (or absence) of tongues and other miraculous gifts of the Spirit during the course of the last two thousand years of church history:
After studying the documentation for claims to the presence of these gifts, D. A. Carson concludes that “there is enough evidence that some form of ‘charismatic’ gifts continued sporadically across the centuries of church history that it is futile to insist on doctrinaire grounds that every report is spurious or the fruit of demonic activity or psychological aberration.” 1
It may surprise some to discover that we have extensive knowledge of but a small fraction of what happened in the history of the church. It is terribly presumptuous to conclude that the gifts of the Spirit were absent from the lives of people about whom we know virtually nothing. In other words, as someone once said, the absence of evidence is not necessarily the evidence of absence!
We simply don’t know what was happening in the thousands upon thousands of churches and home meetings of Christians in centuries past. I cannot say with confidence that believers regularly prayed for the sick and saw them healed any more than you can say they didn’t. You cannot say they never prophesied to the comfort, exhortation, and consolation (1 Cor. 14:3) of the church any more than I can say they did. Neither of us can say with any confidence whether countless thousands of Christians throughout the inhabited earth prayed in tongues in their private devotions. That is hardly the sort of thing for which we could expect extensive documentation. We must remember that printing with movable type did not exist until the work of Johannes Gutenberg (c. AD 1390–1468). The absence of documented evidence for spiritual gifts in a time when documented evidence for most of church life was, at best, sparse is hardly good grounds for concluding that such gifts did not exist.
If the gifts were sporadic (and I’m not persuaded they were), there may be an explanation other than the theory that they were restricted to the first century. We must remember that before the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century the average Christian did not have access to the Bible in his own language. Biblical ignorance was rampant. That is hardly the sort of atmosphere in which people would be aware of spiritual gifts (their name, nature, function, and the believer’s responsibility to pursue them) and thus hardly the sort of atmosphere in which we would expect Christians to seek and pray for such phenomena or to recognize them were they to be manifest. If the gifts were sparse, and this again is highly debatable, it was as likely due as much to ignorance and the spiritual lethargy it breeds as to any theological principle that limits the gifts to the lifetime of the apostles.
Especially important in this regard is the concentration of spiritual authority and ministry in the office of bishop and priest in the emerging Church of Rome. By the early fourth century (much earlier, according to some) there was already a move to limit to the ordained clergy opportunity to speak, serve, and minister in the life of the church. Lay folk were silenced and marginalized and left almost entirely dependent on the contribution of the local priest or monarchical bishop.
Although Cyprian (bishop of Carthage from AD 248 to 258) spoke and wrote often of the gift of prophecy and receiving visions from the Spirit, 2 he was also responsible for the gradual disappearance of such charismata from the life of the church. He, among others, insisted that only the bishop and priest of the church should be permitted to exercise these revelatory gifts. In the words of James Ash, “The charisma of prophecy was captured by the monarchical episcopate, used in its defense, and left to die an unnoticed death when true episcopal stability rendered it a superfluous tool.” 3
If we concede for the sake of argument that certain spiritual gifts were less prevalent than others in certain seasons of the church, their absence may well be due to unbelief, apostasy, and other sins that serve only to quench and grieve the Holy Spirit. If Israel experienced the loss of power because of repeated rebellion, if Jesus Himself “could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them,” all because of their “unbelief” (Mark 6:5–6), we should hardly be surprised at the infrequency of the miraculous in periods of church history marked by theological ignorance and both personal and clerical immorality.
We must also remember that God mercifully blesses us both with what we don’t deserve and what we refuse or are unable to recognize. I am persuaded that numerous churches today that advocate cessationism experience these gifts but dismiss them as something less than the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
For example, someone with the gift of discerning spirits may be described as possessing remarkable sensitivity and insight. Someone with the gift of word of knowledge is rather said to have deep understanding of spiritual truths. Someone who prophesies is said to have spoken with timely encouragement to the needs of the congregation. Someone who lays hands on the sick and prays successfully for healing is told that God still answers prayer but that gifts of healing are no longer operative. These churches wouldn’t be caught dead labeling such phenomena by the names given them in 1 Corinthians 12:7–10 because they are committed to the theory that such phenomena don’t exist.
If this occurs today (and it does, as it did in a church in which I ministered for several years), there is every reason to think it has occurred repeatedly throughout the course of history subsequent to the first century.
Consider this hypothetical example. Let us suppose that a man had been assigned to write a descriptive history of church life in what is now southern France in, say, AD 845. How might he label what he saw and heard? If he were ignorant of spiritual gifts, being untaught, or perhaps a well-educated cessationist, his record would make no reference to prophecy, healing, tongues, miracles, word of knowledge, etc. Such phenomena might well exist, perhaps even flourish, but would be identified and explained in other terms by our hypothetical historian.
Centuries later we discover his manuscript. Would it be fair to conclude from his observations that certain spiritual gifts had ceased subsequent to the apostolic age? Of course not! My point in this is simply that in both the distant past and the present the Holy Spirit can empower God’s people with gifts for ministry that they either do not recognize or, for whatever reason, explain in terms other than those of 1 Corinthians 12:7–10. The absence of explicit reference to certain charismata is therefore a weak basis on which to argue for their permanent withdrawal from church life.
The question we are considering is this: If the Holy Spirit wanted the church to experience the miraculous charismata, would they not have been more visible and prevalent in church history (and I’m only conceding for the sake of argument that they were not)? Let’s take the principle underlying that argument and apply it to several other issues.
We all believe the Holy Spirit is the teacher of the church. We all believe the New Testament describes His ministry of enlightening our hearts and illuminating our minds to understand the truths of Scripture. (See, for instance, Ephesians 1:15–19; 1 John 2:20, 27; and 2 Timothy 2:7.) Yet within the first generation after the death of the apostles the doctrine of justification by faith was compromised. Salvation by faith plus works soon became standard doctrine and was not successfully challenged (with a few notable exceptions) until Martin Luther’s courageous stand in the sixteenth century.
My question, then, is this: If God intended for the Holy Spirit to continue to teach and enlighten Christians concerning vital biblical truths beyond the death of the apostles, why did the church languish in ignorance of this most fundamental truth for more than 1,300 years? Why did Christians suffer from the absence of those experiential blessings this vital truth might otherwise have brought to their church life?
If God intended for the Holy Spirit to illumine the minds of His people concerning biblical truths after the death of the apostles, why did the church languish in ignorance of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers for almost one thousand years? Those of you who believe in a pretribulational rapture of the church must also explain the absence of this “truth” from the collective knowledge of the church for almost 1,900 years!
Undoubtedly the response will be that none of this proves the Holy Spirit ceased His ministry of teaching and illumination. None of this proves God ceased to want His people to understand such vital doctrinal principles. And the alleged relative infrequency or absence of certain spiritual gifts during the same period of church history does not prove that God was opposed to their use or had negated their validity for the remainder of the present age.
Both theological ignorance of certain biblical truths and a loss of experiential blessings provided by spiritual gifts can be, and should be, attributed to factors other than the suggestion that God intended such knowledge and power only for believers in the early church.
Finally, and most important of all, is the fact that what has or has not occurred in church history is ultimately irrelevant to what we should pursue, pray for, and expect in the life of our churches today. The final criterion for deciding whether God wants to bestow certain spiritual gifts on His people today is the Word of God. I’m disappointed to often hear people cite the alleged absence of a particular experience in the life of an admired saint from the church’s past as reason for doubting its present validity. As much as I respect the giants of the Reformation and of other periods in church history, I intend to emulate the giants of the New Testament who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I admire John Calvin, but I obey the apostle Paul.
In sum, neither the failure nor success of Christians in days past is the ultimate standard by which we determine what God wants for us today. We can learn from their mistakes as well as their achievements. But the only question of ultimate relevance for us and for this issue is, “What saith the Scripture?”
MIRACULOUS SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN CHURCH HISTORY 4
We are now ready for a brief survey of church history (from the apostolic fathers to Augustine). The representative examples cited will demonstrate that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were, and are, still very much in operation. Indeed, before Chrysostom in the east (AD 347–407) and Augustine in the west (AD 354–430) no church father ever suggested that any or all of the charismata had ceased in the first century. And even Augustine later retracted his earlier cessationism (see below). So let’s conduct a quick overview. 5
The Epistle of Barnabas, written sometime between AD 70 and 132, says this of the Holy Spirit: “He personally prophesies in us and personally dwells in us.” 6 The author of The Shepherd of Hermas claims to have received numerous revelatory insights through visions and dreams. This document has been dated as early as AD 90 and as late as AD 140–155. Justin Martyr (c. AD 100–165), perhaps the most important second-century apologist, is especially clear about the operation of gifts in his day:
Therefore, just as God did not inflict His anger on account of those seven thousand men, even so He has now neither yet inflicted judgment, nor does inflict it, knowing that daily some [of you] are becoming disciples in the name of Christ, and quitting the path of error; who are also receiving gifts, each as he is worthy, illumined through the name of this Christ. For one receives the spirit of understanding, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing, another of foreknowledge, another of teaching, and another of the fear of God. 7
For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to us. And just as there were false prophets contemporaneous with your holy prophets, so are there now many false teachers amongst us, of whom our Lord forewarned us to beware; so that in no respect are we deficient, since we know that He foreknew all that would happen to us after His resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven. 8
For numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world, and in your city, many of our Christian men exorcising them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have healed and do heal, rendering helpless and driving the possessing devils out of the men, though they could not be cured by all the other exorcists, and those used incantations and drugs. 9
Irenaeus (c. AD 120/140–200/203), certainly the most important and influential theologian of the late second century, writes:
Wherefore, also, those who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform [miracles], so as to promote the welfare of other men, according to the gift which each one has received from Him. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe [in Christ], and join themselves to the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions, and utter prophetic expressions. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are made whole. Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been raised up, and remained among us for many years. And what shall I more say? It is not possible to name the number of the gifts which the Church, [scattered] throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and which she exerts day by day for the benefit of the Gentiles, neither practising deception upon any, nor taking any reward from them [on account of such miraculous interpositions]. For as she has received freely from God, freely also does she minister [to others]. 10
Nor does she [the church] perform anything by means of angelic invocations, or by incantations, or by any other wicked curious art; but, directing her prayers to the Lord, who made all things, in a pure, sincere, and straightforward spirit, and calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, she has been accustomed to work miracles for the advantage of mankind, and not to lead them into error. 11
In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages [i.e., tongues], and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God, whom also the apostle terms “spiritual,” they being spiritual because they partake of the Spirit. 12
Tertullian (d. 225; he first coined the term Trinity) spoke and wrote on countless occasions of the operation of the gifts of the Spirit, particularly those of a revelatory nature such as prophecy and word of knowledge.
But from God—who has promised, indeed, “to pour out the grace of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh, and has ordained that His servants and His handmaids should see visions as well as utter prophecies”—must all those visions be regarded as emanating. 13
He described the ministry of one particular lady as follows:
For, seeing that we acknowledge spiritual charismata, or gifts, we too have merited the attainment of the prophetic gift, although coming after John (the Baptist). We have now amongst us a sister whose lot it has been to be favoured with sundry gifts of revelation, which she experiences in the Spirit by ecstatic vision amidst the sacred rites of the Lord’s day in the church: she converses with angels, and sometimes even with the Lord; she both sees and hears mysterious communications; some men’s hearts she understands, and to them who are in need she distributes remedies. . . . After the people are dismissed at the conclusion of the sacred services, she is in the regular habit of reporting to us whatever things she may have seen in vision (for all her communications are examined with the most scrupulous care, in order that their truth may be probed). . . . Now, can you refuse to believe this, even if indubitable evidence on every point is forthcoming for your conviction? 14
Tertullian contrasts what he has witnessed with the claims of the heretic Marcion:
Let Marcion then exhibit, as gifts of his god, some prophets, such as have not spoken by human sense, but with the Spirit of God, such as have both predicted things to come, and have made manifest the secrets of the heart. . . . Now all these signs (of spiritual gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty, and they agree, too, with the rules, and the dispensations, and the instructions of the Creator. 15
We also have extensive evidence of revelatory visions in operation in the life of the martyrs Perpetua, who died in AD 202, and her handmaiden Felicitas. I encourage everyone to read Perpetua’s moving testimony of perseverance in faith despite the most horrific of deaths. 16
It’s also important that we briefly take note of the movement known as Montanism (of which Tertullian was a part in his later years). Montanism, named after its founder Montanus, arose in Phrygia in about AD 155, although early Christian historians Eusebius and Jerome both date the movement to AD 173. What did the Montanists believe and teach that had such a significant impact on the ancient church and its view of spiritual gifts? 17 Several items are worthy of mention.
First, at its heart Montanism was an effort to shape the entire life of the church in keeping with the expectation of the immediate return of Christ. Thus they opposed any developments in church life that appeared institutional or would contribute to a settled pattern of worship. Needless to say, those who held official positions of authority within the organized church would be suspicious of the movement.
Second, Montanus himself allegedly spoke in terms that asserted his identity with the Paraclete of John 14:16. The prophetic utterance in question is as follows:
For Montanus spoke, saying, “I am the father, and the son and the paraclete.” 18
However, many have questioned whether Montanus is claiming what his critics suggest. More likely he, as well as others in the movement who prophesied, is saying that one or another or perhaps all of the members of the Trinity are speaking through them. For example, in yet another of his prophetic utterances, Montanus said:
You shall not hear from me, but you have heard from Christ. 19
Third, Montanus and his followers (principally, two women named Priscilla and Maximilla) held to a view of the prophetic gift that was a departure from the apostle Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14, insofar as they practiced what can only be called “ecstatic” prophecy in which the speaker either lost consciousness or fell into a trancelike state, or perhaps was but a passive instrument through which the Spirit might speak. One of the prophetic utterances that survived (there are only sixteen) found in the writings of Epiphanius, a bishop of Cyprus at the close of the fourth century, confirms this view:
Behold, a man is like a lyre and I pluck his strings like a pick; the man sleeps, but I am awake. Behold, it is the Lord, who is changing the hearts of men and giving new hearts to them. 20
If this is what Montanus taught, he would be asserting that when a person prophesied, God was in complete control. The individual is little more than an instrument, such as the strings of a lyre, on which God plucks His song or message. The man or woman is asleep, in a manner of speaking, and thus passive during the prophetic utterance.
This concept of prophecy is contrary to what we read in 1 Corinthians 14:29–32, where Paul asserts that “the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.” The Montanists cannot be charged with having originated this view, for it is found among the Greek apologists of this period. Justin Martyr and Theophilus both claimed the Spirit spoke through the Old Testament prophets in such a way as to possess them. Ante-Nicene Christian apologist Athenagoras says Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other Old Testament prophets were
lifted in ecstasy above the natural operations of their minds by the impulses of the Divine Spirit, [and that they] uttered the things with which they were inspired, the Spirit making use of them as a flute-player breathes into a flute. 21
The point is that at least on this one point the Montanists were not espousing a view of prophecy that was significantly different from what others in the mainstream of the church of that day were saying.
Fourth, the gift of tongues was also prominent among the Montanists, as was the experience of receiving revelatory visions. Eusebius preserved a refutation of Montanism written by Apollinarius in which the latter accused these “prophets” of speaking in unusual ways. For example, “He [Montanus] began to be ecstatic and to speak and to talk strangely.” 22 Again, Maximilla and Priscilla are said to have spoken “madly and improperly and strangely, like Montanus.” 23 Finally, he refers to the Montanists as “chattering prophets.” 24 We cannot be certain, but the word translated “chattering,” found nowhere else in all of Greek literature, may refer to speaking at great length in what sound like languages, i.e., speaking in tongues.
Fifth, Montanus did assert that this outpouring of the Spirit, of which he and his followers were the principal recipients, was a sign of the end of the age. The heavenly Jerusalem, said Montanus, will soon descend near Pepuza in Phrygia. 25 The Montanists also stressed monogamy and insisted on chastity between husband and wife. They were quite ascetic in their approach to the Christian life (which is what attracted Tertullian into their ranks). They strongly emphasized self-discipline and repentance.
Finally, although Montanism was often treated as heresy, numerous authors in the early church insisted on the overall orthodoxy of the movement. Hippolytus spoke of their affirmation of the doctrines of Christ and creation, 26 and the “heresy hunter” Epiphanius (c. AD 315–403), bishop of Salamis, conceded that the Montanists agreed with the church at large on the issues of orthodoxy, especially the doctrine of the Trinity. 27
Epiphanius wrote that the Montanists were still found in Cappadocia, Galatia, Phrygia, Cilicia, and Constantinople in the late fourth century. 28 This assessment was confirmed by Eusebius, who devoted four chapters of his monumental Ecclesiastical History to the Montanists. Didymus the Blind (AD 313–98) wrote of them, and the great church father Jerome (AD 342–419/420) personally encountered Montanist communities in Ancyra when he was travelling through Galatia in AD 373. 29 The point being that Montanism was alive and influential as late as the close of the fourth century.
Ironically, and tragically, one of the principal reasons the church became suspect of the gifts of the Spirit and eventually excluded them from the life of the church is because of their association with Montanism. The Montanist view of prophecy, in which the prophet entered a state of passive ecstasy in order that God might speak directly, was perceived as a threat to the church’s belief in the finality of the canon of Scripture. Other unappealing aspects of the Montanist lifestyle, as noted above, provoked opposition to the movement and hence to the charismata as well. In sum, it was largely the Montanist view of the prophetic gift, in which a virtual “Thus saith the Lord” perspective was adopted, that contributed to the increasing absence in church life of the charismata.
We now return to other important figures in the life of the early church. The work of Theodotus in the late second century is preserved for us in Clement of Alexandria’s Excerpta ex Theodoto. In 24:1 we read: “The Valentinians say that the excellent Spirit which each of the prophets had for his ministry was poured out upon all those of the church. Therefore the signs of the Spirit, healings and prophecies, are being performed by the church.” 30
Clement of Alexandria (born c. AD 150 and died between AD 211 and 215) spoke explicitly of the operation in his day of the spiritual gifts Paul listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7–10. 31 Early Christian theologian Origen (c. AD 185–254) acknowledged that the operation of the gifts in his day was not as extensive as was true in the New Testament, but they were still present and powerful: “And there are still preserved among Christians traces of that Holy Spirit which appeared in the form of a dove. They expel evil spirits, and perform many cures, and foresee certain events, according to the will of the Logos.” 32
The pagan Celsus sought to discredit the gifts of the Spirit exercised in churches in Origen’s day, yet the latter pointed to the “demonstration” of the validity of the gospel, “more divine than any established by Grecian dialectics,” namely that which is called by the apostle the “manifestations of the Spirit and of power.” 33 Not only were signs and wonders performed in the days of Jesus, but “traces of them are still preserved among those who regulate their lives by the precepts of the gospel.” 34 Many believe Celsus is referring to prophecy and tongues in the Christian community when he derisively describes certain believers “who pretend to be moved as if giving some oracular utterance” and who add to these oracles “incomprehensible, incoherent, and utterly obscure utterances the meaning of which no intelligible person could discover.” 35 This, of course, is precisely what one would expect a pagan skeptic to say about prophecy and tongues.
Hippolytus (c. AD 170–c. 235) sets forth guidelines for the exercise of healing gifts, insisting that “if anyone says, ‘I have received the gift of healing,’ hands shall not be laid upon him: the deed shall make manifest if he speaks the truth.” 36
Early Christian theologian Novatian writes in Treatise Concerning the Trinity:
Indeed this is he who appoints prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, brings into being powers and conditions of health, carries on extraordinary works, furnishes discernment of spirits, incorporates administrations in the church, establishes plans, brings together and arranges all other gifts there are of the charismata and by reason of this makes the Church of God everywhere perfect in everything and complete. 37
I earlier mentioned Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who spoke and wrote often of the gift of prophecy and the receiving of visions from the Spirit. 38 Many report that third-century bishop Gregory Thaumaturgus (AD 213–270) ministered in the power of numerous miraculous gifts and performed signs and wonders. Eusebius of Caesarea (AD 260–339), theologian and church historian in the court of Constantine, opposed the Montanists’ abuse of the gift of prophecy but not its reality. He affirmed repeatedly the legitimacy of spiritual gifts but resisted the Montanists who operated outside the mainstream church and thus contributed, said Eusebius, to its disunity.
Cyril of Jerusalem (died c. AD 386) wrote often of the gifts in his day: “For He [the Holy Spirit] employs the tongue of one man for wisdom; the soul of another He enlightens by Prophecy; to another He gives power to drive away devils; to another He gives to interpret the divine Scriptures.” 39
Although Athanasius nowhere explicitly addressed the issue of Charismatic gifts, many believe he is the anonymous author of Vita S. Antoni, or “The Life of St. Anthony.” Anthony was a monk who embraced an ascetic lifestyle in AD 285 and remained in the desert for some twenty years. The author of Vita S. Antoni describes numerous supernatural healings, visions, prophetic utterances, and other signs and wonders. Even if one rejects Athanasius as its author, the document does portray an approach to the Charismatic gifts that many, evidently, embraced in the church of the late third and early fourth centuries. Another famous and influential monk, Pachomius (c. AD 292–346), was known to perform miracles and empowered to converse “in languages he did not know.” 40
The influential and highly regarded Cappadocian Fathers (who led in the mid to late fourth century) must also be considered. Basil of Caesarea (born AD 329 or 330) spoke often of the operation in his day of prophecy and healing. He appeals to Paul’s description in 1 Corinthians 12 of “word of wisdom” and “gifts of healing” as representative of those gifts that are necessary for the common good of the church. 41
Is it not plain and incontestable that the ordering of the Church is effected through the Spirit? For He gave, it is said, “in the church, first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues,” for this order is ordained in accordance with the division of the gifts that are of the Spirit. 42
Spiritual leaders in the church, such as bishops or presbyters, says Basil, possess the gift of discernment of spirits, healing, and foreseeing the future (one expression of prophecy). 43
Basil’s younger brother Gregory of Nyssa (born c. AD 336) speaks on Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:
Even if someone receives the other gifts which the Spirit furnishes (I mean the tongues of angels and prophecy and knowledge and the grace of healing), but has never been entirely cleansed of the troubling passions within him through the charity of the Spirit, . . . he is still in danger of failing. 44
The final Cappadocian, Gregory of Nazianzen (born AD 330), provides extensive descriptions of the physical healing that both his father and mother experienced as well as several visions that accompanied them. 45
Hilary of Poitiers speaks of “the gift of healings” and “the working of miracles” that “what we do may be understood to be the power of God” as well as “prophecy” and the “discerning of spirits.” He also refers to the importance of “speaking in tongues” as a “sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit” together with “the interpretation of tongues,” so “that the faith of those that hear may not be imperiled through ignorance, since the interpreter of a tongue explains the tongue to those who are ignorant of it.” 46
By the late fourth century the gifts of the Spirit were increasingly found among ascetics and those involved in the monastic movements. The various compromises and accommodations to the wider culture that infiltrated the church subsequent to the formal legalization of Christianity under Constantine drove many of the more spiritually minded leaders into the desert.
Something must be said about Augustine (AD 354–430), who early in his ministry espoused cessationism, especially with regard to the gift of tongues. 47 However, in his later writings he retracted his denial of the ongoing reality of the miraculous and carefully documented no fewer than seventy instances of divine healing in his own diocese during a two-year span. (See his City of God, Book XXII, chapters 8–10.) After describing numerous miracles of healing and even resurrections from the dead, Augustine writes:
What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work, that I cannot record all the miracles I know; and doubtless several of our adherents, when they read what I have narrated, will regret that I have omitted so many which they, as well as I, certainly know. Even now I beg these persons to excuse me, and to consider how long it would take me to relate all those miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me to omit. 48
Again, writing his Retractions around AD 426–27, near the close of life and ministry, he concedes that tongues and the more spectacular miracles such as people being healed “by the mere shadow of Christ’s preachers as they pass by” have ceased. He then says, “But what I said should not be understood as though no miracles should be believed to be performed nowadays in Christ’s name. For I myself, when I was writing this very book, knew a blind man who had been given his sight in the same city near the bodies of the martyrs of Milan. I knew of some other miracles as well; so many of them occur even in these times that we would be unable either to be aware of all of them or to number those of which we are aware.” 49
Augustine also made reference to a phenomenon in his day called jubilation. Some believe he is describing singing in tongues. He writes:
Words cannot express the things that are sung by the heart. Take the case of people singing while harvesting in the fields or in the vineyards or when any other strenuous work is in progress. Although they begin by giving expression to their happiness in sung words, yet shortly there is a change. As if so happy that words can no longer express what they feel, they discard the restricting syllables. They burst into a simple sound of joy; of jubilation. Such a cry of joy is a sound signifying that the heart is bringing to birth what it cannot utter in words. Now who is more worthy of such a cry of jubilation than God himself, whom all words fail to describe? If words will not serve, and yet you must not remain silent, what else can you do but cry out for joy? Your heart must rejoice beyond words, that your unbounded joy may be unrestrained by syllabic bonds. 50
MIRACULOUS SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Although there is less evidence as we enter the period of the Middle Ages (the reasons for which I’ve already noted), at no time did the gifts disappear altogether. Due to limitations of space I will only be able to list the names of those in whose ministries are numerous documented instances of the revelatory gifts of prophecy, healing, discerning of spirits, miracles, tongues, together with vivid accounts of dreams and visions. 51 They include the following:
John of Egypt (d. 394); Leo the Great (400–461; he served as bishop of Rome from 440 until 461); Genevieve of Paris (422–500); Benedict of Nursia (480–547); Gregory the Great (540–604); Gregory of Tours (538–594); the Venerable Bede (673–735; his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written in 731, contains numerous accounts of miraculous gifts in operation); Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne (d. 651), and his successor, Cuthbert (d. 687), both of whom served as missionaries in Britain; Ansgar (801–865), one of the first missionaries to Scandinavia; Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153); Bernard’s treatise on the Life and Death of Saint Malachy the Irishman (1094–1148); Richard of St. Victor (d. 1173); Dominic, founder of the Dominicans (1170–1221); Anthony of Padua (1195–1231); Bonaventure (1217–1274); Francis of Assisi (1182–1226; documented in Bonaventure’s The Life of St. Francis); Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274); Peter Waldo, founder of the Waldenses (d. 1217); together with virtually all of the medieval mystics, among whom are several women: Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), Gertrude of Helfta (1256–1301), Birgit of Sweden (1302–1373), St. Clare of Montefalco (d. 1308), Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Julian of Norwich (1342–1416), Margery Kempe (1373–c. 1440); and Teresa of Avila (1515–1582); as well as Dominican preacher Vincent Ferrer (1350–1419); and John of the Cross (1542–1591). 52
If one should object that these are exclusively Roman Catholics, we must not forget that during this period in history there was hardly anyone else. Aside from a few splinter sects there was little to no expression of Christianity outside the Church of Rome. (The formal split with what became known as Eastern Orthodoxy did not occur until AD 1054.)
Although beyond the Middle Ages and more in the era of the Reformation we should also remember Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), founder of the Jesuits and author of the Spiritual Exercises. Spiritual gifts, especially tongues, are reported to have been common among the Mennonites and the Moravians, the latter especially under the leadership of Count von Zinzendorf (1700–1760), as well as among the French Huguenots in the late seventeenth century and the Jansenists of the first half of the eighteenth century. John Wesley (1703–1791) defended the ongoing operation of tongues beyond the time of the apostles. 53 One could also cite George Fox (1624–1691), who founded the Quaker church and was known to believe in and practice the gift of tongues. 54
MIRACULOUS SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION
Those who insist that revelatory spiritual gifts such as prophecy, discerning of spirits, and word of knowledge ceased to function beyond the first century also have a difficult time accounting for the operation of these gifts in the lives of many who were involved in the Scottish Reformation, as well as several who ministered in its aftermath. Jack Deere, in his book Surprised by the Voice of God, 55 has provided extensive documentation of the gift of prophecy at work in and through such Scottish reformers as George Wishart (1513–1546, a mentor of John Knox), John Knox himself (1514–1572), John Welsh (1570–1622), Robert Bruce (1554–1631), and Alexander Peden (1626–1686). 56
I strongly encourage you to obtain Deere’s book and read the account of their supernatural ministries, not only in prophecy but often in gifts of healings. Deere also draws our attention to one of the historians of the seventeenth century, Robert Fleming (1630–1694), as well as one of the major architects of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661), both of whom acknowledged the operation of the gifts in their day. 57
THE CASE OF CHARLES SPURGEON
As noted earlier, I don’t think it at all unlikely that numerous churches that advocated cessationism experienced these gifts but dismissed them as something less than the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit. One illustration of this comes from the ministry of Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892), who tells of an incident in the middle of his sermon when he paused and pointed at a man whom he accused of taking an unjust profit on Sunday of all days! The culprit later described the event to a friend:
Mr. Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir. I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took ninepence the Sunday before, and that there was fourpence profit out of it. I did take ninepence that day, and fourpence was just the profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell. Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday. At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul. 58
Spurgeon then adds this comment:
I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description, that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, “Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.” And not only so, but I have known many instances in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit. I have sometimes seen persons nudge their neighbours with their elbow, because they had got a smart hit, and they have been heard to say, when they were going out, “The preacher told us just what we said to one another when we went in at the door.” 59
On another occasion Spurgeon broke off his sermon and pointed at a young man, declaring: “Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for: you have stolen them from your employer.” 60 After the service the man brought the gloves to Spurgeon and asked that he not tell his mother, who would be heartbroken to discover that her son was a thief!
My opinion is that this is a not uncommon example of what the apostle Paul described in 1 Corinthians 14:24–25. Spurgeon exercised the gift of prophecy (or some might say the word of knowledge, 1 Cor. 12:8). He did not label it as such, but that does not alter the reality of what the Holy Spirit accomplished through him. If one were to examine Spurgeon’s theology and ministry, as well as recorded accounts of it by his contemporaries and subsequent biographers, most would conclude from the absence of explicit reference to miraculous charismata such as prophecy and the word of knowledge that such gifts had been withdrawn from church life. But Spurgeon’s own testimony inadvertently says otherwise!
Finally, of course, one would have to point to the last 115 or more years of contemporary church history and the emergence of the Pentecostal/Charismatic/Third Wave movements, together with the more than 650 million adherents worldwide, many of whom personally testify to having experienced or witnessed in others the miraculous charismata.
I can only hope and pray that many will now see that it is both unwarranted and unwise to argue for cessationism based on the testimony of God’s people in the last two thousand years of church history.