What Were the Signs For?
Pentecostals and charismatics believe that every spiritual gift named in the New Testament, including tongues, prophecy, healing, and miracles, is still given to the church today. Cessationists believe that the miraculous sign gifts had a particular purpose in a particular era, and that when their purpose was fulfilled they ceased. This study asks what the signs were for, according to Scripture, and what now does the work they once did.
The question is not whether God is powerful. Every Bible-believing Christian confesses that He is. Nor is it whether God still answers prayer for the sick. He does, and we should ask Him to. The question is narrower and more important: has God told us how He authenticates His message, and has that changed now that His Word is complete?
The miraculous and revelatory gifts the Holy Spirit gave in the apostolic era, chiefly apostleship, revelatory prophecy, tongues and their interpretation, miracles, and healings. Scripture calls the works they produced signs: miracles that pointed beyond themselves to confirm God's messenger and message.
Signs Point Beyond Themselves
The New Testament uses several words for miracles. A wonder stresses the amazement it produced. A mighty deed or miracle stresses the power behind it. A sign (Greek sēmeion) stresses its meaning. A sign is like a road sign: it exists to point somewhere else. Hebrews joins all three words when it describes how God bore witness to the Gospel (Hebrews 2:4), and Paul does the same when he speaks of the signs of an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12).
“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”JOHN 2:11 · KJV
Jesus' first miracle at Cana manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. The miracle was not the destination. Christ was. Keep that in mind through the rest of this study, because it is the key to everything Scripture says about signs.
If God has given His complete Word, what are we asking for when we seek signs to confirm it?
Weighed by the three questions this platform uses, this is not a question about what someone must believe to be saved. Many who believe the gifts continue have trusted Christ alone, and we gladly call them brothers and sisters. It is a question about the whole counsel of God: where final authority lies, and how God's people should expect Him to speak and work. That makes it worth studying carefully.
Loading the rest of this article
For Deeper Study
- Strange FireAmazon John MacArthurA sustained biblical critique of the charismatic movement (2013), including a full defense of cessationism.
- Charismatic ConfusionAmazon Ernest PickeringA Baptist pastor's short, clear evaluation of charismatic teaching on the gifts.
- Signs of the ApostlesAmazon Walter J. ChantryA brief classic arguing that the miraculous gifts were the credentials of the apostles and ceased with them.
- Counterfeit MiraclesAmazon B. B. WarfieldA 1918 study of miracle claims through church history, arguing that the gifts belonged to the apostolic age.
- Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four ViewsAmazon Wayne A. Grudem, editorCessationist, cautious, Third Wave, and Pentecostal writers state and answer one another's views (1996).
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
As an Amazon Associate, Theologica earns from qualifying purchases.
Spiritual Gifts and the Sign Gifts
Every believer is gifted by the Spirit to serve Christ's body in love, while the apostolic sign gifts that confirmed new revelation ceased with the apostolic era.
Open Doctrine