The fact that we have described GEFC as "non-charismatic" on our website has given rise to some comments and questions. The original reason for this description was so that people would know what they could and could not expect if they came to a meeting at the church. However, we have received many emails from people wanting a fuller explanation of our position and our reasons for holding it, so here it is.
There was a time in the early 1980s when several people in the church sought and practised what they thought were the 'charismatic' gifts - for example, speaking in tongues, prophecy and words of knowledge. Sermons were preached on the subject, and it seemed that this was the way forward. At this point, Pastor John Bailey went to a ministers' conference, at which he heard a speaker (Rev. Stuart Olyott) give a detailed exegesis of 1 Corinthians 12-14 showing that these gifts had come to an end.
The pastor had to come back to Colchester and tell the congregation that he had been wrong. While some were unhappy with this turn of events, most people were convinced by the scriptural arguments, and from that time onwards the church has been 'non-charismatic'.
The reasoning from the Bible that we find so convincing is summarised as follows.
In the Bible miracles always had a specific purpose. They were usually referred to as 'signs' to emphasise this. The first mention of a man being given a gift to perform miracles is in Exodus 4. Moses was given signs to perform to authenticate that he had been sent by God to lead the children of Israel out of captivity (vv 1-8).
Jesus' miracles also authenticated his ministry, as we read in the gospel of John:
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20 vv 30-31
The same also applies to the apostles, as Jesus said in the gospel of Mark:
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Mark 16 vv 17-18
In all cases the gift was only for a period of time, not the whole of a person's life. It appears that even Paul was no longer able to heal later on in his ministry, as he states the following near the end of 2 Timothy:
Erastus stayed in Corinth, but Trophimus I have left in Miletus sick.
2 Timothy 4 v 20
The miracles in the Bible were instant, complete and verifiable. Sight was restored, withered limbs made whole, leprosy healed. This is in contrast to what happens today. Why are the miracle workers not visiting the hospices and hospitals, thereby emptying the wards?
The only instruction in the New Testament on the subject of healing today is James 5 vv 13-18. This gives very clear instruction about what to do if you are sick. The elders of the church should pray, anointing the person with oil, and God will 'raise him up'. This expression implies a variety of outcomes, one of which is healing of the body. There are people in our fellowship who have experienced complete healing, and others who have been given the strength to cope with their infirmities. Paul writes of Christians being ill (2 Timothy 4 v 20, 1 Timothy 5 v 23) and he himself had a 'thorn in the flesh' from which he was not granted healing.
We at GEFC strongly believe that God can and does heal today, but no one has a gift of healing and no one today can guarantee 100% success.
The Bible clearly tells us that speaking in tongues involved the miraculous ability to speak another human language instantaneously (see Acts 2). The gift of tongue speaking is only mentioned twice more in Acts and then only in 1 Corinthians! Luke in writing Acts uses the same Greek word for tongues as Paul when he wrote 1 Corinthians, showing us that they meant the same thing.
Paul tells us that the gift of tongues will come to an end in 1 Corinthians 13 v 8:
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail, whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
1 Corinthians 13 v 8
We know that this must happen before faith and hope come to an end (which will be when Jesus returns), since verse 13 says these will abide:
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 v 13
Love, of course, is the greatest because it will never end. There is some debate among Christians as to what 'the perfect' means in verse 10:
But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
1 Corinthians 13 v 10
Some say heaven, others say the completed Bible, but the key point is that tongues will cease.
When will the gift of tongues come to an end? When they have achieved the purpose for which they were given. Why was the gift of tongues given? Paul tells us:
Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. In the law it is written:
"With men of other tongues and other lips
I will speak to this people;
And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,"
says the Lord.
Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.
1 Corinthians 14 vv 20-22
They were a sign to the Jews that God's blessing, which they had rejected, was now being given to the Gentiles. We know from verse 21 that by 'unbelievers' he means Jews, because he quotes from Isaiah, who was preaching to the children of Israel. Isaiah's warning was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2 v 18-21 Peter quotes from the prophet Joel, who had warned that this was going to happen.
The gift of tongues was like a fire of warning to the unbelieving Jews. It was lit that day and burnt brightly for a time in Jerusalem and then moved out into the surrounding lands as the gospel spread. Like a fire, the gift died out in the place where it had started and spread far and wide, until it had achieved its purpose. Then it gradually fizzled out. That is why we do not read about tongues in the later letters in our Bibles. The gospel had gone to the Gentiles; God's judgement fell on Jerusalem in 70AD. The sign was and is no longer needed. Those who seek to exercise this gift today must square their view with 1 Corinthians 14 vv 20-22.
Gifts of prophecy and words of knowledge were used by God in the early days of the church to teach and lead the new believers. However, once they had the complete Bible they no longer needed these gifts. In Ephesians 2 vv 19-20, Paul talks about the household of God being built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Once a building is established, the foundations are no longer visible.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Ephesians 2 vv 19-20
Revelation 22 vv 18-19 has the most severe warning for those who try to add to the Bible. If the words of someone claiming to prophesy are written down are they not adding to the Bible?
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Revelation 22 vv 18-19
All those who prophesised in the Bible were 100% true and accurate. Today even the most ardent supporters of prophecy today admit a high error rate. Deuteronomy 18 vv 20-22 outlines the view God takes of false prophets:
"'But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' - when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."
Deuteronomy 18 vv 20-22
All of these beliefs are based on what the Bible has to say. We understand that other Christians hold different views, and we respect their positions, as long as they have arrived at their conclusions after carefully studying what God has to say in his Word the Bible.
For us, however there are much more important matters to concern the Christian than revelatory gifts and miracles. Gifts are no evidence of grace in a person's heart. Judas performed miracles. The wicked Caiaphas, high priest in Jesus' time correctly prophesied once.
The need of the hour is not great gifts but great likeness to Christ. Please read 1 Corinthians 13 and see Paul's emphasis. Without the grace of love we are nothing.
If you would like to listen to the sermons on 1 Corinthians 12-14 that so influenced our pastor at that time, they can be obtained from us at a cost of GBP 4.00 plus postage. Please send us an email if you are interested.
We would also recommend a paperback book called 'The Charismatic Phenomenon' by Peter Masters & John C Whitcomb, published by the Wakeman Trust. This can be obtained from the Metropolitan Tabernacle bookshop (http://www.tabernaclebookshop.org/)