Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that the company who installed my daughter’s family’s furnace has finally agreed to install a new one as soon as possible. Yes, the supposedly fixed furnace began acting up again after only a couple of days. But this should finally fix things once for all.

I’m thankful that little grandbaby Amelia is a jolly baby even when she’s sick. It made her days here while they were without heat much easier for everyone.

I’m thankful that the dental surgery I had on Tuesday went well. I’m thankful that I’m near the end of the work I’m having done. 

I’m thankful for antibiotics and painkillers, for the dog’s infected foot and for me after my sugery.

I’m thankful for a small stash of American Hershey bars.

I am thankful that I am counted righteous in Christ.

Theological Term of the Week

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a firm cessationist. In this entry on continuationism, I’ve included a few links that make the positive case for it, even though I am not at all convinced by them. For counter arguments, see the entry on cessationism.

continuationism
The view that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (healing, tongues, prophetic revelations) continue after theapostolic age, and are available for the  believer today.

• Scripture used to support continuationism (see Wayne Grudem’s argument below):

As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:8-10 ESV)

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem:

[W]e have in 1 Corinthians 13:10 a definite statement about the time of the cessation imperfect gifts like prophecy; they will “be made useless” or “pass away” when Christ returns. And this would imply that they will continue to exist and be useful for the church, throughout the church age, including today, and right up to the day when Christ returns. Learn more:

1. Sam Storms: The Case for Continuationism
2. Tim Challies: Cessationism and Continuationism: An Interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem, Part 1, Part 2
3. Ian Hamilton/Wayne Grudem: A Debate on the Continuation of Prophesy

Related term:

• cessationism

Filed under Ecclesiology

Do you have a term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Round the Sphere Again: Purposes

Of Suffering
Thirty-six of God’s purposes in our suffering with scriptural proofs (Apologetics 315).

Of Work
More from Gene Veith on vocation (The Gospel Coalition Blog):

According to Luther, the purpose of every vocation is to love and serve one’s neighbor. The farmer tills the ground to provide food to sustain his neighbor’s life. The craftsman, the teacher, the lawyer—-indeed, everyone who occupies a place in the division of labor—-is providing goods and services that neighbors need. This is God’s providential ordering of society. But for a Christian, the service rendered can become animated with love.

Read the whole post.