Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 40:4 (Dec 1997)
Article: Christian Prophecy And Canon In The Second Century: A Response To B. B. Warfield
Author: Gary Steven Shogren

JETS 40:4 (December 1997) p. 609

Christian Prophecy And Canon In The Second Century:
A Response To B. B. Warfield

Gary Steven Shogren*

* Gary Shogren is associate professor of New Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary, Hat-field, PA 19440.

I. Introduction

Pressed on one side by Catholic claims to ecclesiastical miracles and on the other side by cold rationalism, B. B. Warfield responded by asserting the supremacy of Scripture over sham claims of miracles. He wished thereby to rob modernists of ammunition against supernaturalism. In that context Warfield dealt with prophecy and how a Reformed Christian should regard that bygone gift.

Warfield affirmed that there was a link between the completion of the Christian canon and the eclipse of the prophetic charisma at the close of the first century. He relied on two underlying proofs.

1. Theological. Warfield used an a priori argument: Continuing prophecies are inconsistent with a closed NT revelation. God has spoken through the apostles and has no newly-minted words for the Church:

Because Christ is all in all, and all revelation and redemption alike are summed up in Him, it would be inconceivable that either revelation or its accompanying signs should continue after the completion of that great revelation with its accrediting works. 1

2. Historical. Warfield maintained that contemporary prophecy is wanting from the records of the postapostolic Church. Because the close of the canon was his focal point, Warfield offered an earlier, tidier date than some other cessationists. For example, John Chrysostom had said of 1 Corinthians 12: “This whole place is very obscure; but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place.” 2 He then claimed that 1 Cor 13:8 (“But whether prophecies, they shall be done away with; whether tongues, they shall cease”) predicted the expiration date for glossolalia and prophecy: “For if both these were brought in in order to the faith [better “for the sake

JETS 40:4 (December 1997) p. 610

of (spreading) the faith,” tēs pisteōs heneken]; when that is every where sown abroad, the use of these is henceforth superfluous.” 3 Of course, compared with the completion of the canon the definition and timing of “sown abroad” could be infinitely elastic.

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