The Ephesians 4 passage also contains several verses that are rather inconsistent with the Cessationist position.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men"... 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the recognition of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
This truly wonderful passage is saying that the purpose of giving the gifts was for the entire body of Christ, i.e. His true spiritual body that is, to grow into the full stature of Christ as one Man together in Him, and together manifest ALL the supernatural abilities of Christ Himself as a body, with one manifesting miracles, another manifesting word of knowledge, another prophecy, another gifts of healing etc., and edifying each other into ever-increasing manifestation of that Fulness in Him. It's an amazing teaching really. The question for me is, how ON EARTH do Cessationists think we are doing this today? What do we do today aside from evangelize and that's it? How does this manifest Christ Jesus in all His Fulness, which was God's express intention in us becoming His body, with Christ as the Head, and the leadership serving as the joints and marrow (connecting and strengthening links)? Are we supposed to NOT desire to attain to the Full stature of Christ anymore?
I truly don't understand the Cessationist position. I certainly wish them well and hope they can come to see a different perspective, but their reading of scripture seems so uninspired to me. It's like we're reading two different books that contain the exact same text.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men"... 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the recognition of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
This truly wonderful passage is saying that the purpose of giving the gifts was for the entire body of Christ, i.e. His true spiritual body that is, to grow into the full stature of Christ as one Man together in Him, and together manifest ALL the supernatural abilities of Christ Himself as a body, with one manifesting miracles, another manifesting word of knowledge, another prophecy, another gifts of healing etc., and edifying each other into ever-increasing manifestation of that Fulness in Him. It's an amazing teaching really. The question for me is, how ON EARTH do Cessationists think we are doing this today? What do we do today aside from evangelize and that's it? How does this manifest Christ Jesus in all His Fulness, which was God's express intention in us becoming His body, with Christ as the Head, and the leadership serving as the joints and marrow (connecting and strengthening links)? Are we supposed to NOT desire to attain to the Full stature of Christ anymore?
I truly don't understand the Cessationist position. I certainly wish them well and hope they can come to see a different perspective, but their reading of scripture seems so uninspired to me. It's like we're reading two different books that contain the exact same text.
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