John Chrysostom on Continuation of spiritual gifts
No, they ceased with the apostolic age
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.
THE POSITION
He says it twice, flatly, and in passing both times — which is what makes it good evidence. Preaching through 1 Corinthians 12 he explains that the chapter is obscure to his congregation because the things it describes have stopped happening. Arguing about the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2 he rules out the reading that it means the charismata, on the ground that they ceased long ago and Antichrist plainly has not come.
1 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
7 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Archbishop of Constantinople and the most prolific preacher of the patristic era — the largest surviving body of Greek expository preaching is his. This entry rests on the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translations of his homilies on Romans, 1 Corinthians, John, Hebrews and 2 Thessalonians, together with the Instructions to Catechumens.
Cite this page
"John Chrysostom on Continuation of spiritual gifts", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/chrysostom/spiritual-gifts (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/chrysostom/spiritual-gifts).