Do miraculous gifts like tongues, prophecy and healing still happen today?
The New Testament describes believers speaking in tongues, prophesying and healing the sick. The views split over whether those gifts are still given today, have ended, or remain possible but call for caution. That gives three views.
The 3 views side by side
| Yes, they continueContinuationism | No, they have endedCessationism | Possibly, but with cautionOpen but cautious |
|---|---|---|
| Do they happen today? | ||
Yes. Early writers here describe them in their own churches, and Eleven22 says every first-century gift is available now. From Irenaeus of Lyons, Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil the Great, The Church of Eleven22 Statement of Faith | No. The miraculous gifts, such as tongues and healing, ended with the apostles. From John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, John Calvin, John Owen, Justin Peters | In principle, yes. In practice they hold back: Luther says the need has passed, and Heiser objects to the movements built around the gifts. From Martin Luther, Michael S. Heiser, Tim Keller, Gavin Ortlund |
| The main argument | ||
Scripture’s instructions about the gifts still apply, and the church’s mission needs them. Irenaeus and Athanasius also point to what they witnessed. From The Church of Eleven22 Statement of Faith, Josh Howerton, Irenaeus of Lyons, Athanasius of Alexandria | They were signs to confirm God’s new message and the apostles who brought it. With that done and Scripture complete, they stopped. From John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Justin Peters | God hasn’t withdrawn them. Luther refuses to explain away Jesus’ promise of signs: “the same power is in the church still.” |
| Where they differ among themselves | ||
Which gifts they mean. Irenaeus heard prophecy and tongues, while Athanasius’s examples are casting out demons and silencing pagan oracles. | How much ended, and how firmly. Peters keeps prophecy, redefined as proclaiming, while Owen and Edwards stop short of saying God could never give the gifts again. | How open. Augustine first tied the gifts to the founding era, then partly walked that back; Heiser calls himself “cautiously open.” |
| Key passage | ||
| 1 Corinthians 14:1 | Hebrews 2:3-4 | Mark 16:17-18 |
| In their own words | ||
“All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first century are available today and are to be earnestly desired and practiced in an orderly manner. The gifts are essential in the mission of the Church in the world today.” | “Speaking in tongues and the working of sign miracles in the beginning days of the church have now ceased... having fulfilled their purpose of pointing to and authenticating the apostles as revealers of divine truth.” | “Therefore, we must allow these words to remain and not gloss them away, as some have done who said that these signs were manifestations of the Spirit in the beginning of the Christian era and that now they have ceased. That is not right; for the same power is in the church still.” |
| On this map | ||
| 6 figures | 9 figures | 6 figures |
Who holds which view
8 other figures on the map have no entry on this doctrine. That means nobody has assessed them on it — not that they hold no view.
Yes, they continue
Yes, the gifts continue
No, they have ended
No, they ceased with the apostolic age
Possibly, but with caution
Open in principle, cautious in practice
Figures who hold no stance here
These are not gaps in the table. Each group below says which kind of blank it is — searched and not found, held open on purpose, never framed in these terms, or deliberately unassigned because no stance fits.
How to read a cell — sourcing tiers, blanks, and why some figures are never quoted
A cell marked quoted carries the figure's own words — 359 of 518of them, about 69%. Where there is no quotation the claim is still sourced, and the tier says how far. 3 figures carry no quotation at all, for reasons that differ: a living author cannot be quoted at length under copyright where Calvin can, and a figure at the standard account tier has simply had no primary-source pass yet. 3 of them state their own reason on their page.
A state label ending in ° was read from the stance, tier and note rather than stated on the map. See themethodology.