Skip to content
Examined Doctrine

R.C. Sproul on Continuation of spiritual gifts

1939 – 2017 · PRESBYTERIAN (PCA)
READ IN A PRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°
STANCE

No, they ceased with the apostolic age

"I believe that the sign gifts have ceased for the simple reason that in the New Testament the signs were given to authenticate the credentials of agents of revelation... the sign gifts die with the death of the last apostle."
"Dr. R.C. Sproul on 1 Cor 13:9-10 and 'Cessationism?'," ~2:22 (auto-caption, approximate)

THE POSITION

Cessationist specifically about revelation-authenticating "sign gifts": in his account, a miracle in the strict sense is an act contrary to nature performable only by an agent of revelation, and those gifts ended with the death of the last apostle. Explicitly distinguishes this from a denial of the supernatural generally — God still performs "supernatural acts of special providence," like answered prayer and healing, that aren't "miracles" in his narrow definitional sense.

SCRIPTURE
1 CORINTHIANS 13:9-10 · BSB

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.

7 OTHERS HOLD THIS

Voddie BauchamCalvinChrysostomJonathan EdwardsJohn MacArthurJohn OwenJustin Peters
Yes, the gifts continueATHANASIUS · BASIL THE GREAT · THE CHURCH OF ELEVEN22 STATEMENT OF FAITH · JOSH HOWERTON · IRENAEUS · JOHN PIPER
Open in principle, cautious in practiceAUGUSTINE · M. HEISER · TIM KELLER · LUTHER · GAVIN ORTLUND
See all 23 figures on continuation of spiritual gifts →

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Founder of Ligonier Ministries and teaching elder in the PCA. Chaired the drafting committee for the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy; best known for The Holiness of God and for popularizing Reformed theology — the five solas and TULIP — for a lay audience.

11 OF 17 POSITIONS QUOTED
Everything R.C. Sproul holds →
Cite this page

"R.C. Sproul on Continuation of spiritual gifts", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/sproul/spiritual-gifts (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/sproul/spiritual-gifts).

How citation works here