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Examined Doctrine

Westminster Confession on Continuation of spiritual gifts

1646 · REFORMED / PRESBYTERIAN · DOCUMENT, NOT A PERSON
DISPUTED AMONG SCHOLARSQUESTION NOT FRAMED
NO STANCE — AND WHY

The question is not framed in these terms

This locus asks in categories that came later. Assigning a stance would answer on the figure's behalf, so the summary records what was addressed instead.

...which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.
WCF 1.1 (1646 text, Carruthers ed.)

THE POSITION

This is blank of the third kind - never framed in these terms - and the blank is worth more than a stance would be. WCF 1.1 says the former ways of God's revealing his will are 'now ceased', 1.6 forbids adding to Scripture 'by new revelations of the Spirit', and 18.3 says assurance is attainable 'without extraordinary revelation'. All three are claims about revelation and the closure of the canon. None of them mentions tongues, healing, or miracles; none dates a cessation to the apostolic age; and all thirty-three chapters have now been read, with no chapter, paragraph or clause on the charismata in any of them. The 1.1 sentence passed word for word into 2LBC 1.1, so on this locus the Westminster Confession and the Second London Baptist Confession are not two witnesses but one, and this corpus records the same blank for both. WCF 1.1 is quoted by both sides of the modern cessationist debate, which is why the tier here is contested rather than researched.

SCRIPTURE
HEBREWS 1:1-2 · BSB

1 On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. 2 But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

WHAT OTHERS HOLD HERE

Yes, the gifts continueATHANASIUS · BASIL THE GREAT · THE CHURCH OF ELEVEN22 STATEMENT OF FAITH · JOSH HOWERTON · IRENAEUS · JOHN PIPER
No, they ceased with the apostolic ageVODDIE BAUCHAM · CALVIN · CHRYSOSTOM · JONATHAN EDWARDS · JOHN MACARTHUR · JOHN OWEN · JUSTIN PETERS · R.C. SPROUL
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

The confessional standard of English-speaking Presbyterianism, completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1646 and adopted with its Scripture proofs. This entry rests on the 1646 text from the manuscript of Cornelius Burges as edited by S. W. Carruthers (1937) for chapters 1-24, and on the 1647 text for chapters 25-33; the Assembly's own proof texts attached to each paragraph supply every reference below.

18 OF 18 POSITIONS QUOTED
Everything Westminster Confession holds →
Cite this page

"Westminster Confession on Continuation of spiritual gifts", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/westminster/spiritual-gifts (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/westminster/spiritual-gifts).

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