Friendly Fire: Tom Schreiner and Sam Storms Debate Cessationism

Tom Schreiner and Sam Storms have both published essays this morning at The Gospel Coalition discussing whether the miraculous gifts are still in operation today. Tom Schreiner argues the cessationist position–that miraculous gifts have ceased. Storms argues the continuationist postion–that prophecy, tongues, and the rest continue. I think both essays have a constructive tone even as they straightfowardly disagree with one another.

The essays are too short to cover the issues exhaustively. Nevertheless, I think that Schreiner has the stronger argument. For me anyway, the arguments for the continuationist position continue to fall short biblically. At the end of the day, this all comes down to what the Bible teaches, and on that point cessationists and continuationists are still at loggerheads. In any case, I’ll leave it to you to read their essays and form your own opinion. For a longer for argument in favor of the cessationist position, I recommend Dick Gaffin’s classic work Perspectives on Pentecost.  HT: Denny Burk

Tom Schreiner – “Why I Am a Cessationist”

Sam Storms – “Why I Am a Continuationist”

The Bible as One Story

How does the Bible hold together into a single, cohesive story?

It’s an important (and intimidating) question reserved for the discipline of biblical theology, an angle of scholarship that focuses on sections of Scripture, sometimes the whole of the Bible, to show how the texts fits together within the unfolding drama of redemption and consummation in Jesus Christ.

Edmund Clowney, the noteworthy theologian and preacher who passed away in 2005, said the lessons most easily transferable from seminary life to pulpit ministry was what he learned in biblical theology. There seems to be a direct line between advances in careful biblical theology and robust preaching and discipleship.

One new book release this summer has the potential to play an important role in how local churches put the whole Bible together. It's titled The King In His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Baker), written by Thomas Schreiner, the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Dr. Schreiner joins us on this episode of Authors on the Line to talk about his book, about whole-Bible biblical theology, and why biblical theology matters for local churches and discipleship.    Continue at Tony Reinke

Suffering Now or Later: Revelation 14:1-20

 

Revelation 14:1-20 asks the question, is it worth it to endure as a Christian? Does it pay to be a Christian? Is it worth it to be a Christian if your family faces discrimination, if your children are threatened with death? Does it pay to be a Christian for fourteen Khmu familes in Laos, whose homes and church buildings have been destroyed more than once? In 2003 fourteen Khum families were evicted from their homes. And now they are being forced to move again. The roof of their church has been torn off by unbelievers over and over.  But the Khum are staying strong in the faith. They continue to worship together three times a week. What keeps them going? What is their secret? And what will keep us going so that we trust Jesus until the end?

Revelation 13 focuses on the persecution of God’s people, but chapter 14 teaches us how we can endure persecution. Is it worth it to be a Christian? Is the cost and sacrifice too great? Let’s look at the first five verses in chapter 14.

Children of God

 

The 144,000 are with the Lamb on Mt. Zion. Who are the 144,000? I argued in Revelation 7 that the 144,000 represented the church of Jesus Christ—all Christians. I am not going to review those arguments again here. If that is right, these verses represent our story. John is talking about our lives, our destiny. This isn’t the story of Christians who live in another galaxy far, far away. This is our story. This is about uncle Jim who is a Christian and your mother and father, and your sons and daughters who know Christ.

Where are these Christians? They are on Mt. Zion. And where is that? Mt Zion stands for heaven. The heavenly Jerusalem. So, even though John is talking about Christians, he takes us to the future. He transports us to heaven itself. And why does he do this here? We immediately see after the persecution of Revelation 13 one reason why Christians should endure persecution. They are promised a heavenly reward. They will be with Lamb on Mt. Zion forever. They have the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father on their foreheads. This language is obviously symbolic. It means that they belong to God. They are his children.

Christian, who are you? You are a child of God. You are part of his family. Do you ever feel like you are a nobody? Do you feel that no one cares for you? We all have moments like that. You may feel like even fellow-believers in the church don’t love you. But we are reminded here that you belong to God. God loves you and you are his child. You are precious to him. Maybe you even feel like your husband or wife doesn’t love you. But God loves you. And his love should motivate you to obey him and to keep his commandments. Continue at Thomas Schreiner

Signs of the Times: Revelation 6:1-17

Revelation 6:1-17 teaches us that our God is the Lord of history. He is the final judge.

"Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Now that we have come to chapter six my own interpretation of Revelation will become clearer. Obviously there are many different views of what Revelation means. I don’t have time to critique other viewpoints in detail. I certainly don’t claim inspiration or infallibility for my reading, and you are called upon to test all things and to hold fast what is good.   Continue at Thomas Schreiner