Let me turn to another subject. You co-edited a book titled Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? An Investigation Into the Ministry of the Spirit of God Today. It might come as a surprise that a book like this would come from Dallas Theological Seminary professors. Could you briefly sum up your view of the role of spiritual gifts in the church today?
I would consider myself a soft cessationist. That is, I do not believe that the sign-gifts of the first century are still operative except under unusual circumstances. These gifts were given to the early church primarily as a means to authenticate the message of the gospel. But there have been occasions throughout history in which some of these gifts are seen. When a cessationist like Charles Spurgeon could note that the Spirit of God gave him insights that could not have been gained by normal means, it seems obvious to me that I can’t maintain a hard cessationist stance.
I believe that the other gifts are still fully operative, and that any church that does not try to utilize the gifts of its people is running on two cylinders.
I also believe that this issue should not divide Christians. To be sure, there are practical issues involved: Should a church have its first worship service for charismatics and its second service for cessationists? I think that would create a lot of confusion and chaos. So, on a local-church level, some decisions need to be made. But on the larger level of how we relate to each other, we need to recognize that we are all part of the body of Christ and that our unity and love for one another is the best testimony we can have before a watching world.
How was your book on the Holy Spirit received, generally speaking, in the circles you mix in?
Extremely well. In fact, it was received better in cessationist circles than it was in charismatic circles! We heard from many, many people who believed as we did, and who were grateful to have a sustained treatment of the topic of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.
It is sometimes held that dispensationalists tend to hold to a cessationist viewpoint. Do you think that's true?
It’s ironic that cessationism is associated with dispensationalism. Most charismatics that I know are pretribulational and thus dispensational. Now, to be sure, charismatics who are biblical scholars tend to be other than dispensational. But historically this has not been the case. Cessationism, up until fairly recently, has been more associated with Reformed theology, especially through the writings of B. B. Warfield. Dallas Seminary and other dispensational schools tend to be Reformed in their soteriology; hence, the link.
How strong of a dispensationalist are you? What do you feel about progressive dispensationalism?
I’m a dispensationalist with a small ‘d.’ In fact, I’d prefer not to be a dispensationalist, but there are some issues that I can’t get around. As for progressive dispensationalism, I think it’s definitely on the right track.
Several lecturers at our college have taken a fairly robust pro-Israel line for theological reasons, although the college does not take an "Israel right or wrong" stance. What are your views on the question of Israel and the Church?
This is difficult to answer. On the one hand, politically, Israel has been in a precarious position ever since its modern resurrection. The nations on its borders have been very hostile to the nation. The people of Israel are struggling for mere existence, and any time they defend themselves they are condemned. There’s no such thing as an Israeli terrorist, yet the international media really takes a twisted look at the nation.
On the other hand, the nation itself is essentially atheistic. They are not particularly friendly to Christians, and do not allow proselytizing of children. There are Arab Christians within its borders who are not treated right.
On a theological front, I do believe that the Abrahamic Covenant is still operative, but this does not give Israel carte blanche to do whatever they want with impunity. There needs to be some nuancing on Christians’ part toward the nation, including a filtering that recognizes the priority of Jesus Christ over Abraham.
Finally, returning to the theme of textual criticism for the moment, what books would you recommend to people who wanted to know more about the subject? There seem to have been some books published lately that are perhaps not so helpful.
The textbook by Metzger and Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament, is the gold standard.
On a more popular level, Reinventing Jesus, by Komoszewski, Sawyer, and Wallace, has five chapters on TC that are a helpful layman’s introduction.
Aland-Aland, Text of the New Testament, is another classic tool that helps students especially in using the Nestle-Aland apparatus.
There’s now a software program that can decipher gothic M in the Nestle apparatus. Anyone who’s worked with gothic M will know what frustration means. This program reduces an hour’s work to a minute. Literally. It’s available at www.nttextualcriticism.com.
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