Monday - Need to Read - Challies.com and Spiritual Gifts

As we enter this new year, I am in the process of writing several new devotionals covering topics ranging from Bibical discipleship to a study of Hebrews chapter 11 titled Pioneers of the Faith. While I work to complete all of this, and make up for lost time due to all the holiday busy-ness, I wanted to spend this week allowing other notable bloggers to do some work for me!

Yes, that's right. I am going to be posting each day this week a link to a blog article that you NEED to READ. Uplifting, challenging, convicting, encouraging - whatever the case, these will be some things we need to think about, challenge us to re-evaluate some things in this new year, shed some light on new trends and fads within the evangelical world, and most of all point us to Christ!

So today, we will take a look at a post titled Tongues! Signs! Wonders! Continuationism and Cessationsim from the consistently excellent blog of Tim Challies.

This is actually 4 posts that include interviews about the nature of spiritual gifts in the church today conducted with Sam Waldron and Wayne Grudem. This is a hot topic, especially among reformed Baptists of late, and as we look to men like John MacArthur who is a cessationist, and CJ Mahaney who is non-cessationist and even embraces the term "reformed charismatic", there is much to be debated about this topic. I am pleased to say that MacArthur had Mahaney come and speak recently, proving that while those in our reformed Baptist ranks may disagree on a few secondary issues, when it comes to the core doctrines of the person of Christ, the gospel, and belief in an inerrant, inspired, infallible Bible, there is much we have in common and much we can do together to further the reach of the gospel around the world.

From the introduction to the interviews we learn:

Dr. Waldron holds a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Baptist seminary and a Ph.D from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky and Professor of Systematic Theology at The Midwest Center for Theological Studies. He has authored or co-authored several books, including "The End Times Made Simple" (Calvary Press, 2002) and "To Be Continued?" (Calvary Press, 2005). His most recent book, "To Be Continued?" argues that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, including prophecy and tongues-speaking, are no longer operative in the church today.

The interview with Waldron can be found in here:

Tongues! Signs! Wonders! An Interview with Dr. Sam Waldron - Part 1
Tongues! Signs! Wonders! An Interview with Dr. Sam Waldron - Part 2

And in the introduction to the interview with Grudem, we find:

Dr. Wayne Grudem is Research Professor of Bible and Theology at Phoenix Seminary. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University, M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He has served as president of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, as president of the Evangelical Theological Society (1999), and as a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version of the Bible. He has written more than 60 articles for both popular and academic journals, and his books include: "Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine", "The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today", and "Business for the Glory of God." He has also co-edited "Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A response to Evangelical Feminism" and edited "Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views."

And the interview with Grudem is here:

Continuationism and Cessationism: An Interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem - Part 1
Continuationism and Cessationism: An Interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem - Part 2

Both of these men have much to offer to the reformed and evangelical world. And whatever ones view of spiritual gifts may be, it is a topic for serious discussion and Bible study. They key for me in approaching this subject is to see what the Bible really has to say about the topic instead of just taking the stereo-typical answers that have been handed down for several generations and accepted without much thought.

Food for thought, indeed!