The Foundation of the Answer to the Question of Cessationism: Part 8 - The definition of terms.

Okay. This is where things get dicey; defining terms. I was originally going to try to define the terms and then get on to the exegetical questions of cessationism. After much thought, I’ve decided not to define most of the terms but instead to simply define “cessationism”. I have decided this for the following reasons

1. There are too many terms to give a thorough definition of.
2. The terms and their definitions are far to related to the overall argument of cessationism. (i.e. If I were to give proper definitions, this post would become exceedingly long and confusing.)

So, I’m only going to define “cessationism”. Cessationism is the belief that the sign gifts of tongues, healing and prophecy ceased in their function sometime within (or shortly after) the apostolic age.

There are so many misconceptions about cessationism; that cessationists don’t believe in divine healing, that they don’t believe in the Holy Spirit, that they don’t believe in a ‘spirit filled ministry’, etc.

I hope that in the coming posts, I can give compelling argument that not only do cessationists believe in the Holy Spirit, but they are also ‘spirit filled’, ‘baptized by the spirity’ and ‘walking in the spirit’ too. Of course, the catch in all this is how you understand those phrases. Anyway, I’m not feeling hot at all and have to go take some Tylenol. Until Next Time,

The Armchair Theologian