Cessationism

I was reviewing an old post on the subject of cessationism. Sadly, my link to Warfield's defense has been taken over by squatters.

Different people will define cessationism differently. Some refer to the end of miracles. However, everything is a miracle - from the point of view that God is behind it. There is, rather, "signs and wonders" sorts of miracles - most cessationists will agree these are included in cessationism.

There are also "sign and wonder (spiritual) gifts". Cessationists will all include "miracles" in the group that ended. Most will include "healing" and, more controversially, "tongues".

For those who wish to deny any sort of cessationism, there is a problem... the gift of apostle (1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11).

The qualifications for an apostle are given in Acts 1:21-22, that is: someone chosen as a representative by Jesus Christ, a witness to the resurrection.

One problem - all the people who witnessed the resurrection are dead. And Jesus doesn't seem to be calling any new people.

So, everyone should be able to agree that the gift of apostle has ceased (also see Ephesians 2:20, the apostles and NT prophets were the foundation - the foundation occurs once in the building, after that are floors and walls).

So, everyone is a cessationist. It's just a matter of to what degree...