The word “cessation” means “the fact or process ending or being brought to an end.” Cessation as it relates to the Bible is “the view that miraculous signs, such as speaking in tongues and healing, have ceased.” This writer subscribes to this view, and I base this on a number of scriptures, but one “key verse” is 1 Corinthians 13:8 which says, “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are TONGUES, THEY WILL CEASE; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” The word “cease” in this verse means, “to stop on their own,” which simply means that “they stop once their purpose has been fulfilled.” We will now trace some verses to see what their purpose was and then determine if that purpose was fulfilled.

In Mark 16:15 Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” He went on to say in verse 17, “And these SIGNS will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” After giving them that commission He then ascended to heaven (verse 19) and then we read in verse 20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and CONFIRMING THE WORD THROUGH THE ACCOMPANYING SIGNS.” All of these SIGNS had a definite PURPOSE and that was to “confirm the word,” which means these signs would establish the fact that God was giving a new revelation (the “gospel of Jesus Christ”) to man. In time, it became evident that the apostles (and other believers who were preaching the gospel) were indeed preaching the Word of God and thus the signs were no longer needed to confirm the Word. As we study the book of Acts, which gives us a historical account of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we see that initially these SIGNS were used to convince men of this new revelation but as we read on towards the end of Acts, we see little, if any, of these signs accompanying the Word. Again, the signs had accomplished their purpose and thus at some point each sign CEASED. We are not saying God doesn’t perform miracles today; we are saying that He does not use miracles today to “confirm the Word.”

Before I close, I would like to cite examples of TONGUES and HEALING to prove this view that they have CEASED.

  1. Tongues and healing are only mentioned in early epistles (see 1 Corinthians 12:7-10) but later epistles that list “spiritual gifts” omit them (see Romans 12:6-8 and Ephesians 4:7-12).
  2. The apostles Peter and Paul healed persons in the early days of the Gospel but later on we read of three men who Paul did not heal (Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25-27; Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23; and Trophimus in 2 Timothy 4:20).

It seems clear that TONGUES (the supernatural gift to speak a language you have never learned…see Acts 2:1-8) or HEALING (the miracle of healing someone by simply speaking in the Name of Jesus) had “completed their task of confirming the Word” to sinners who needed salvation through believing in Christ and His finished work on the cross. Let me close by using a simple illustration. When we travel to a new destination most of us use SIGNS along the way which tell us which way to go, when to turn, and when we finally arrive at our destination. Once we arrive, the SIGNS “served their purpose” and we no longer need them. And so it was with “the miraculous gifts that confirmed the Word” in the early days of the church and the preaching of the gospel.  (DO)  (682.1)