Ben Witherington - Here Come the Pentecostals

Dr. Ben Witherington III is the Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. His blog posts are often thought-provoking, such as his musings on capital punishment after reading John Grisham's, "The Innocent Man."

His "Here Come the Pentecostals" is an interesting account of his own personal journey, coupled with some theological reflections about what he thinks penteocostals have got right...and wrong, particularly what he sees as an endemic fixation with material prosperity.

Here's his take on "cessationism":

The cessationists argue that God ran out of juice. He used to give people these sorts of gifts in the apostolic age, but once that era was over, and once the canon showed up, such extraordinary spiritual gifts ceased. The chief proof text for this view is, believe it or not, 1 Cor. 13.8-12 which reads "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge it will pass away. For we know in part and prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult I put childish ways behind me." Of course that is not all this paragraph says. It goes on to say 'Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see to face to face." What is Paul talking about? When will we see face to face, and know as we are known? Well for sure it was not when the second century A.D. began, nor when the Scriptures were canonized in the fourth century. The cessationists have tended to argue: 1)the word 'perfection' refers to the coming of the canon. When the NT showed up we didn't need these extraordinary spiritual gifts any more. Of course the major problem with that exegesis is that no one in Corinth in the A.D. 50s could possibly have understood Paul to mean 'the NT canon' by the word 'perfection'. And in fact this is not what Paul meant-- he's referring to the eschaton when we see Jesus face to face, when perfection really comes in the person of the Lord, when we finally know Him as we are known. Then indeed we will not need prophecy or tongues, and then indeed our knowledge will cease to be partial. Indeed, then faith will become sight, and hope will be realized, and love will be perfected and go on. There is no chance that the word 'perfection' means the canon here. The context is eschatological, and Paul is looking forward to what will be the case when Jesus returns. This is so very clear in 1 Cor. 15, the resurrection chapter, as well. 2) And of course if you are a student of Church History you know perfectly well the Holy Spirit has not run out of unction to function. Those spiritual gifts have been being poured out in every century since the second century until now. In America of course the Azuza Street Revival in 1905 was a landmark event for Pentecostals. Their growth has been pretty steady since then. We might as well just accept it and come to grips with it, even if its not our cup of tea.

Well worth the reading.