Non-cessationist affirmation¶

I affirm that there will be no new additions to the canon, nor any revelation given to the Church having the unassailable authority and universal scope as Scripture, as also expressly stated in WCF I.VI. But I do not affirm, as I believe the "traditional cessationist" does, that this statement in WCF Chapter I delegitimizes all so-called "extraordinary" or "supernatural" means of God communicating with His people. It almost seems as if these would argue the indwelling Holy Spirit out of the believer’s life altogether.

There is an important distinction to be made between the "prophecies of Scripture" in passages like 2nd Peter 1.19ff, and "prophecies" in passages like 1st Thessalonians 5.20, in which the Lord commands the Church through the apostle: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good." The former are referred to as occurring in the past (Greek Aorist [simple past] tense), viz. "never came", "spoke", "moved." These are the oracles which have once been delivered to the church, and have authority without appeal. We are not enjoined to "test" them but to humbly receive them as the Word of God. Not so the latter which are spoken of in a durative aspect (Greek present tense), viz. "do not quench / despise", "test", "hold." These "prophecies" are presented in these passages as a normative part of the ongoing life of the church for "exhortation, edification, and comfort" (1 Cor.14.3), and are to be tested (1 Thess.5.21) and judged (1 Cor.14.29). Without dispute it is only the apostolic word delivered to us in Scripture which can be standard by which "all things" are to be evaluated. While I understand and appreciate the caution surrounding anything claiming to be "prophecy" in the current climate of the times, I suggest that our Puritan fathers understood and practiced the meaning and use of this better than we.