Resources:
· Charismatic Gifts in the Early Church, by Ronald A.N. Kydd (1984)
· Christian Initiation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit, by Kilian McDonnell and George T. Montague (1991)
· The Spirit and the Church: Antiquity, by Stanley
· Scots Worthies, by John Howie (1996 reprint)
· The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, by Charles Spurgeon (1899)
· The Gift of Prophecy (revised edition – appendix 7), by Wayne Grudem (2000)
· http://www.calvinistcorner.com (Good detailed Charismatic info on John Knox and other Reformers)
· http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/are-miraculous-gifts-for-today-part-ii (Spurgeon quotes)
· http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=2476 (many excerpts from Grudem’s prophecy book)
· http://www.biblelighthouse.com/forum (My website - many discussions of Charismatic Church
Presentation Outline:
I. Our modern Charismatic belief is that God connects physical actions and spiritual events.
A. Numerous examples from Scripture support our views and practices.
B. The current practice in our churches—
1. We recognize the power of physical actions commanded by God.
2. We also recognize that it is not a magic formula. . . . God is the ultimate gift-giver.
II. The Early Church ’s view and the Reformation Church
A. Numerous examples from Scripture support their views and practices.
B. The ancient practice of baptism—
1. They recognized the power of physical actions commanded by God.
2. They also recognized that it is not a magic formula. . . . God is the ultimate gift-giver.
III. The Early Church & the Reformation Church
A. Examples from the Early Church
B. Examples from the Reformation Church
I. Our modern Charismatic belief is that God connects physical actions and spiritual events.
Consider the many times in Scripture where God sovereignly chooses to link physical actions and spiritual results:
- Elisha resurrects a boy by physically laying upon him (2 Kings 4:32-35).[1]
- Naaman physically dips[2] in the
- People receive the Holy Spirit when the apostles lay hands on them (Acts 8:17).[4]
- Jesus sends Ananias to Saul, so that Saul will be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17-18)[5].
- Taking communion bread/wine unworthily can result in sickness and death, and this judgment itself protects the Christian from being spiritually condemned (1 Cor. 11:27-32).[6]
- Paul[7] and the elders[8] lay hands on Timothy, & he receives spiritual gifts (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6).
- James says that anointing people with oil is beneficial for both physical and spiritual healing (5:14-15).[9]
As Charismatic Christians, we recognize that physical actions (taking communion, laying-on of hands, anointing with oil, etc.) can be spiritual events, having great spiritual significance and consequence.
As Calvinist Christians, we recognize that God is 100% sovereign over everything, not just salvation alone. He is also sovereign over the Gifts of the Spirit. He chooses who receives which gifts[10], and He chooses the timing. These physical actions are not “magical formulas” which let us control God. There is power in the laying-on of hands, but God is still the one who gives the Spirit. There is power in anointing with oil, but God is the true Healer.
II. The Early Church ’s view and the Reformation Church
Consider these texts where God sovereignly chooses to connect physical actions and spiritual results:
- Noah’s flood was a type of baptism,[11] resulting in the coming of the dove (signifying the Holy Spirit) carrying an olive leaf (signifying olive oil and the anointing of the Holy Spirit).[12]
- Naaman is baptized[15] in the
- At the baptism of Jesus, the Spirit comes down and rests upon him as a dove. His water baptism and Spirit-empowering are two facets of a single baptism event (Mark 1:9-10).[16]
- Jesus says that Spirit baptism is a facet of Christian water baptism (Matthew 28:19).[17]
- At Pentecost, the apostle Peter said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
- Jesus sends Ananias to Saul, so that he can 1) receive his sight and 2) be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17). When Ananias arrives, 1) Saul receives his sight and 2) he is baptized (Acts 9:18).[18]
- Cornelius and other Gentiles receive Spirit/water baptism at a single event. The apostle Peter sees Spirit/water baptism as intimately and logically joined together (Acts 10:44-48).
As Charismatic Christians, they recognized that physical actions ordained by God (baptism, communion, laying-on of hands, anointing with oil, etc.) are spiritual events, with great spiritual significance and consequence.
As Calvinistic Christians, we also recognize that baptism is NOT a “magic formula”. We cannot force a person to be Spirit-filled, merely by pouring water on him. Neither can we force a person to be healed, merely by anointing him with oil. Nor can we force people to receive the charismatic gifts, just by laying hands on them. There is real power in all of these God-ordained actions, but He remains in control. God is the ultimate gift-giver.
Throughout the majority of history, the Church has believed that Spirit baptism and water baptism are Siamese twins. They are two sides of a single coin. There is only “one baptism” (Ephesians 5:5). However, water baptism is NOT some magical formula which is under man’s control. God can Spirit-empower someone during baptism if He chooses, just as He did with Jesus. But man cannot force God to do so. God remains Sovereign.
What about Mark 1:7-8? The historic Church has not seen this text[19] as comparing John baptizing with water and Jesus not baptizing with water. In fact, Jesus water-baptized more disciples than John did.[20] Rather, Mark 1:7-8 contrasts John’s water baptism, which was not with the Spirit, and Christ’s water baptism, which was with it.[21]
Some of this may seem at odds with our modern views. Do not most of us believe that Spirit-baptism often happens long after a person is saved and baptized? Do not many teach a “second blessing” of the Spirit? Thankfully, our modern views may not have been considered strange in the Early Church
Yet, how can both be true? How can the Church believe that Spirit baptism and water baptism are simultaneous events, and believe that all Christians have already been Spirit-baptized,[22] and yet also believe in a “second blessing” experience like many of us do today? Are these views not contradictory?
The answer is simple: The Early Church Early Church and the Reformation Church
With this theological/historical background in mind, let us take a look at numerous figures throughout the Early Church and the Reformation Church
III. The Early Church & the Reformation Church
Examples from the Early Church:
· Justyn Martyr (~A.D. 150), in his famous Dialogue with Trypho, speaks of the fact that Jews continue to leave their communities in order to become Christians. In this context, he makes the following comment:
[some] 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.[24]
· Irenaeus (~A.D. 180) was the Bishop of Lyons. In his famous work, Against Heresies, he said:
. . . for which cause also his [Christ's] true disciples having received grace from him use it in his name for the benefit of the rest of men, even as each has received the gift from him. For some drive out demons with certainty and truth, so that often those who have themselves been cleansed from the evil spirits believe and are in the church, and some have foreknowledge of things to be, and visions and prophetic speech, and others cure the sick by the laying on of hands and make them whole, and even as we have said, the dead have been raised and remained with us for many years. And why should I say more? It is not possible to tell the number of the gifts which the church throughout the whole world, having received them from God in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, uses each day for the benefit of the heathen, deceiving none and making profit from none. For as it received freely from God, it ministers also freely. (Against Heresies, 2, 49:2) — Just as also we hear many brethren in the church who have gifts of prophecy, and who speak through the Spirit with all manner of tongues, and who bring the hidden things of men into the clearness for the common good and expound the mysteries of God. (Against Heresies, 5, 6:1)
· Novatian (~A.D. 250) was a prominent Christian elder in third-century Rome
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.
· Tertullian (~A.D. 200) was a prolific Christian author in Carthage (North Africa ). He wrote:
Therefore, blessed ones whom the grace of God awaits, when you come up out of that most holy bath [baptism] . . . ask the Father, ask the Lord to make you subject to the riches of grace, the distribution of the gifts.(Concerning Baptism, 20:5)
He affirms the gifts of the Spirit. And we need to remember the Early Church / Reformation Church
· Origen (~A.D. 230) was a prolific writer in the Early Church
· Cyprian (~A.D. 250) was a Bishop of Carthage. Not only did he believe in the gifts, so did his contemporaries. Some fellow Christians responded to his letter, saying that he had prophesied to them:
For by your words you have both provided those things about which we have been taught the least and strengthened us to bear up under the sufferings which we are experiencing, being certain of the heavenly reward, the martyrs’ crown, and the kingdom of God as a result of the prophecy which you, being full of the Holy Spirit pledged to us in your letter.
· Eusebius (~A.D. 350) was a pre-eminent Church historian. He was explicitly charismatic. He said, “the prophetic charisms must exist in the church until the final coming.”
· Philoxenus (~A.D. 510) was a Syriac-speaking Persian who affirmed the continuation of the gifts, but said that they were only for serious Christians who obey Christ wholeheartedly. In his letter to Patricius, he says:
Among the first believers, as soon as they were baptized they received the Spirit through baptism. The operation of the Spirit appeared in them by all kinds of wonders. . . . Now again, the Holy Spirit is given by baptism to those who are baptized and they really receive it (the Spirit), like the first believers. However in none of them does [the Spirit] manifest its work visibly. Even though [the Spirit] is in them, it remains hidden there. Unless one leaves the world to enter the way of the rules of the spiritual life, observing all the commandments Jesus has given, walking with wisdom and perseverance in the narrow way of the Gospel, the work of the Spirit received in baptism does not reveal itself.
Examples from the Reformation Church
· The 39 Articles of Religion (1514-1572), were established in 1563 and finalized in the Church of England in 1571. They are the historic defining statements of Anglican doctrine.[25] Article 35 enjoins Anglicans to regularly read a particular list of homilies, one of which (#16) is “Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost”. This homily explicitly affirms the continuation of the Charismatic Gifts of the Spirit, and directly references 1 Corinthians 12.[26]
· John Knox (1514-1572), was a Scottish preacher, central to the Protestant Reformation. In a biography of Knox, historian Jasper Ridley says Knox and other Protestants "expected their leaders to have the gift of prophecy." Ridley records several prophecies that came true. For example, Knox said as he was dying:
You have formerly been witnesses [he said] of the courage and constancy of Grange in the cause of the Lord; but now, alas, into what a gulf has he precipitated himself. I entreat you nor to refuse the request which I now make to you. Go, and tell him in my name that unless he is yet brought to repentance, he shall die miserably; for neither the craggy rock [the castle] in which he miserably trusts, nor the carnal prudence of that man [Lethington] whom he looks upon as a demi-god, nor the assistance of foreigners, as he falsely flatters himself, shall deliver them; but he shall be disgracefully dragged from his nest to punishment, and hung on a gallows in the face of the sun, unless he speedily amend his life, and flee to the mercy of God. The man's soul is dear to me, and I would not have it perish if I could save it.
Ridley then details the fulfillment of the predictions:
On August 3, Grange and his brother James . . . were hanged. Lethingron had died suddenly soon after the surrender of the castle: he probably committed suicide.
Thus two of his prophecies were fulfilled. All the chronicles state that when Grange met Drury in front of the castle walls to discuss the terms of surrender, he was unable to come out through the castle gate because it was blocked by the stones that had fallen after the English bombardment. He was therefore let down over the wall by a rope, or ladder. Knox had prophesied that Grange would be spewed out of the castle, not at the gate but over the wall. When Grange was hanged at the market cross of Edinburgh
· Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) was a Scottish pastor and theologian and one of the most influential delegates to the Westminster Assembly (1643-1649), which composed the Westminster Confession of Faith in London from 1643-1646. In a book he authored in 1648, Rutherford discussed "revelations and inspirations of the Spirit" at some length. Among his words are these:
There is a revelation of some particular men, who have foretold things to come even since the ceasing of the Canon of the word, as John Husse, Wickeliefe, Luther, have foretold things to come, and they certainely fell out, and in our nation of Scotland, M. George Wishart foretold that Cardinall Beaton should not come out alive at the Gates of the Castle of Sr. Andrewes, but that he should dye a shamefull death, and he was hanged over the window that he did look out at, when he saw the man of God burnt, M. Knox prophecied of the hanging of the Lord of Grange, M. Ioh. Davidson uttered prophecies, knowne to many of the kingdome, diverse Holy and mortified preachers in England
· George Gillespie (1613—1648) was also a delegate to the Westminster Assembly, and one of its influential and prominent debaters. Gillespie wrote that several heroes of the Scottish Reformation such as John Knox and George Wishart were such extraordinary men as were more than ordinary pastors and teachers, even holy prophets receiving extraordinary revelations from God, and foretelling divers strange and remarkable things, which did accordingly come to pass. An excellent source for examples of remarkable cases of prophecy in the ministries of Scottish preachers is John Howie's book, Scots Worthies.
· The Wesminster Confession of Faith (1646), is one of the preeminent Reformed Confessions. In the first chapter of this confession (“Of the Holy Scripture”), paragraph 10 says:
The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.
Here "private spirits" are placed on the same level as "decrees of councils," "opinions of ancient writers," and "doctrines of men." All of these are to be subordinate to "the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture." According to Byron Curtis, "...in mid-seventeenth-century England there was an established meaning to the phrase ‘private spirits' denoting personal revelations." Curtis shows significant evidence from literature close in time to the WCF, showing that the term "private spirits" was commonly understood to mean "personal revelations" that people received from the Holy Spirit. The Westminster Divines affirmed the existence of these revelations.
· The 1689 London
The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.
· Charles Spurgeon (~A.D. 1875) was a famous Reformed Baptist preacher. In his autobiography, he said:
While preaching in the hall, on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd, and said, 'There is a man sitting there, who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays, it was open last Sabbath morning, he took ninepence, and there was fourpence profit out of it; his soul is sold to Satan for fourpence!' A city missionary, when going his rounds, met with this man, and seeing that he was reading one of my sermons, he asked the question, 'Do you know Mr. Spurgeon?' 'Yes,' replied the man, 'I have every reason to know him, I have been to hear him; and, under his preaching, by God's grace I have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Shall I tell you how it happened? I went to the Music Hall, and took my seat in the middle of the place; 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' . . . 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.'
Without question, the Charismatic gifts of the Spirit have operated throughout all of Church history. 2000 years!
[1] “When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.”
[2] Literally “is baptized”, according to the Septuagint (LXX) manuscripts.
[3] “So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan Israel
[4] Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
[5] “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.”
[6] “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. . . . he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”
[7] “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:6)
[8] “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.” (1 Timothy 4:14)
[9] “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
[10] “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)
[11] ". . . in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism . . ." (1 Peter 3:20-21)
[12] “Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.” (Genesis 8:11)
[13] “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea . . .” (1 Corinthians 10:1-2)
[14] “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:4)
[15] Literally “is baptized”, according to the Septuagint (LXX) manuscripts.
[16] “It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan
[17] The Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of . . . the Holy Spirit . . ."
[18] Compare with Acts 22:16.
[19] “And [John the Baptist] preached, saying, ‘There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’”
[20] “. . . the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John” (John 4:1)
[21] Pentecost marked the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So those baptized prior to Pentecost had to wait until Pentecost to receive the fullness of the Spirit. But now that Pentecost has come, all Christians have been Spirit baptized (1 Cor. 12:13).
[22] “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:13)
[23] Pentecost is an obvious exception. Since that was the inauguration of the Spirit’s full outpouring upon the Church , many people received the fullness of the Spirit and the charismatic gifts of the Spirit simultaneously on that day.
[24] Compare to Isaiah 11:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.
[25] The 39 Articles are not only Charismatic; they are also Calvinistic. Articles IX and X affirm total depravity, and Article XVII explicitly affirms predestination. Thus, since the protestant Reformation, it may be said that the Anglican Church is the original “Reformed Charismatic” church!
[26] With 77 million members worldwide, the Anglican Church is the largest protestant denomination on earth. And the vast majority of it continues to be Charismatic.
