Definition
Cessationism (from Lat. cessare = to cease) is the theological position that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit — particularly tongues, prophecy, and healing — ceased with the close of the apostolic age or the completion of the New Testament canon. Cessationism stands opposed to continuationism. None of the five authors in the corpus defends this position; all presuppose a continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit. The term functions in the corpus primarily as a contrast concept against which the authors’ own pneumatologies are demarcated.
Usage in the Corpus
Stephen Jones
Jones formulates no explicit polemic against cessationism, but his pneumatology is structurally incompatible with a cessationist reading of Pentecost. The outpouring of Acts 2 is for him merely the earnest — the down payment on a future, greater outpouring at the Feast of Tabernacles. The moadim (appointed times) of God remain actively operative: “For as the Feast of Pentecost was the appointed time, so also the Feast of Trumpets is the appointed time for the resurrection of the dead. The Day of Atonement is the appointed time for the Church to repent… And finally, the Feast of Tabernacles is the appointed time for the change of our bodies.” The pneumatological program is not closed but awaits further fulfillment. [Jones, The Laws of the Second Coming, Chs. 1 and 7]
George Warnock
Warnock implicitly rejects cessationism by reading 1Cor. 13:10 — “when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” — eschatologically rather than canonically. The gifts do not lose their validity at the closing of the canon, but only when the fullness of love as fruit ripens: “All else that pertains to the realm of spiritual manifestation must give way to the fulness of LOVE, as the first rays of dawn give way to the rising of the sun.” The latter-rain expectation confirms this: a final eschatological outpouring awaits that does not abolish but transcends the gifts. [Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chs. 2 and 3]
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee
Nee/Lee assign the gifts a serving but continuing role in the present age — they exist for the economy of God (the indwelling of Christ). Tongues are relativized but not denied: “Although Paul surpassed others in tongues, he would rather speak five understandable words in the assembly than ten thousand words in tongues (1Cor. 14:18-19).” The danger is not that gifts have ceased but that they are pursued apart from the inner life of Christ. [Nee/Lee, The Economy of God, Ch. 4]