Theology Unplugged: Why I Am/Not a Charismatic, Part 8

I am not sure where the guidelines are. But here is the website. If you find it, let me know.

Michael,
Another very good TUP–thank you. In regards to the difference between OT and NT prophecy that you asked Sam about you might want to check out Wayne Grudem’s “The Gift of Prophecy in 1 Corinthians” (Univ. Press of America, 1982; Wipf and Stock 1999) pages 21-43. As you probably already know this is essentially Grudem’s Ph.D. thesis so the level of sophistication is higher than in his later “The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today” (Crossway, 1988). The reason I single out the above pages is because here Grudem looks at the Inter-testamental period of the Jewish understanding of prophecy and argues from the primary sources that there was a notion of cessation of scripture quality words alongside a different conception of prophecy of a lower level. Here is a quotation from that section that sort of summarizes Grudem’s point he is driving toward:
“My only concern in this section is to show the existence of a conceptual framework in which one could think that the fact of continuing revelations was entirely consistent with a belief in the cessation of prophecy with a divine authority of actual words, because the two were thought of as related but nevertheless distinct. In order to show that, it is only necessary to demonstrate that the same writers or traditions who believe in the one also accept the other.”
Grudem goes on to posit that: “Especially for a former rabbi such as the Apostle Paul, the conceptual framework was already available and would have seemed quite natural.” (pp. 32, 33) This provides something of a historical context in which Paul was writing and this too should be taken into account when seeking to understand Paul’s arguments.

Just received another box from Amazon today…love those boxes! This one had a book that some may find interesting in light of this discussion. The book is “Sola Scriptura and the Revelatory Gifts: How Should Christians Deal With Present Day Prophecy?” by Don Codling (Sentinel Press, 2005). Codling is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (a typically cessationist group). This book is an expansion and partial updating of his 1974 Masters thesis at Westminster Theological Seminary (again, a cessationist seminary). I haven’t yet read the book but Codling begins his foreword with these words:
“Thirty years ago I presented my Master’s thesis on the issue of the cessation of extraordinary spiritual gifts. My conclusion was not very popular at Westminster Seminary. After my oral examination in theology, my thesis supervisor told me that the chief topic of discussion among the professors who examined me was who was going to answer my argument. At that time I set out a tentative conclusion proposing that the commonly held view in Presbyterian and Reformed circles ( a view which maintains that such extraordinary gifts had ceased) was mistaken. Thirty years later, I am still waiting for someone to answer my thesis.”
Like I said, I haven’t read it yet but it probably will be on my stack of “to read sooner rather than later” books. Just FYI.

[…] this time around. I think I detect some movement (and it isn’t just because on the latest TUP podcast he seems to have quoted your truly, AKA “somebody.”) Could it be he has passed the […]

Michael,
You expressed a desire to know where Sam’s church’s guidelines for public prophecy are located. You can find them here http://resources.bridgewaychurch.com/Welcome%20Brochure-F.pdf
Look at pages 30-31.