Today’s devotional will be short and simple. Sort of.
It does however concern a situation which arises frequently when we interact with other believers, especially if their faith is marinated and nurtured in an environment that is especially given to signs and wonders.
Most of us fall into one of two tribes on this issue. A continuationist is someone who believes that the supernatural things that took place in the book of Acts still happen today; that is to say, the age of miracles did not stop because of (what seems to others) some arbitrary factor such as the dying off of the last of the twelve disciples, or the completion of the Biblical canon as we have it today.
A cessationist believes the opposite; that the age (or dispensation) of miracles ended when one or both of the two factors above took place.
Every writer brings their personal bias to their interpretation of scripture where it touches these matters, so full disclosure, I believe that miracles can still happen and do still happen. However, I believe that many people with whom I have frequent contact tend to overdose on the supernatural, to the detriment of their understanding of the rest of Biblical teaching.
Or to put it another way, they are so pre-occupied with the gifts of the Spirit, that they miss things like the fruit of the Spirit. I once said that if given the opportunity to address a Pentecostal congregation my title might be, “Just because you speak in tongues doesn’t mean you’re a nice person.” The apostle Paul said as much in the first verse of 1 Corinthians 13:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (NIV)
The statement is actually a low blow, because the resounding gong could echo — couldn’t resist the pun — the gongs sounded at pagan temples with which the recipients of Paul’s letter were familiar.
Which brings us to our key verse, Colossians 2:18
Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind (NASB)
It’s the priority given to visions (second part of the verse) which other translations render as:
- That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen (NET)
- claiming access to a visionary realm. (CSB)
- insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. (The Message)
However, interestingly enough, other translations render this in terms of visions that the person has not seen, that they have simply made up:
- intruding into those things which he has not seen (NKJV)
- dwelling on those things which he has not seen (MEV)
- Such a man, inflated by an unspiritual imagination (Phillips)
The Amplified Bible hedges its bets and renders it both ways:
- going into detail about visions [he claims] he has seen
and a few other translations insert the word claims as well.
So as a continuationist, it might appear here that I’m making a strong argument for cessationist doctrine; it may look as though I am saying we ought to dispense with signs and wonders altogether.
Rather, I would argue that the vision someone claims must
- align with scriptural teaching about the nature of God and the ways He operates
- defer to scripture where there is a lack of clarity on a matter
- be espoused by a person who evidences the fruit of the Spirit above all else
- not be the primary emphasis of an individual’s Christian life
- be of benefit not only to the person who has had the vision, but the body of Christ at large (see the next verse, 2:19; and 1 Corinthians 12, and also 14:4)
Paul’s spiritual gifts teaching concludes with these words in 14:40
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. (NIV)