HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXTRAORDINARY GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT RESEARCH PAPER

Introduction

The gifts of the Spirit are defined as any supernatural ministry or operation in the life of a believer in service to the Body of Christ finding its source in the Third Person of the Trinity. For the purposes of this paper, a particular focus to the extraordinary manifestations of such gifts will be used as a working definition. This would include glossolalia or the gift of speaking in tongues as well as the gift of prophecy which will be used in a predictive sense. The historical development of this doctrine will go through the major periods in church history including the Apostolic Judaism Period, the Patristic Period, the Scholastic Period, the Reformation Era, the Post-Reformation / Enlightenment Period, the Modern Period, and the Post-Modern Period. 

Thesis

In terms of the manifestations of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, a continuation perspective of them should be taken given the lack of soundness in cessationist reasoning both historically and semantically, as well as the ability to have a sound biblical theological basis for this doctrine. 

Historical Development of the Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit

Apostolic Judaism Period

Looking at the earliest period of church history, one can find examples of the manifestation of the supernatural gifts of the spirit. With the events that were recorded on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-12), the Holy Spirit’s descending on those that were gathered caused each of them to speak in other tongues. Examples of a supernatural ability to know things that were both hidden in the past and were to come soon, such as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), similarly were seen. Additionally, visions also manifested as we can see in the case of Ananias (Acts 9:10-18). It is evident that these gifts existed in the early church.

While the manifestations of these gifts in the early church is clear, clarifications of what the apostles thought about them is also recorded. In Peter’s sermon to the crowd gathered at Pentecost, he references the Old Testament to show that gifts of vision and prophesy are expected to be seen as the Holy Spirit descends as stated in the Scripture (Acts 2:17-19). In his letter to Corinth, Paul writes of how the Holy Spirit gives a diversity of gifts among which are prophecy and tongues (1 Cor. 12:10). He expands on this further and admonishes believers to long for them as he wrote to the church in Corinth saying, “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For the one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (1 Cor. 14:1-2) and “I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy” (1 Cor. 15:5). 

From these passages, one can deduce that the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit were evident and possibly even common in the early church. There appears to be a unity among their viewpoints. The apostles saw this as a clear sign of the Holy Spirit and seemed to believe that these things were not only reserved for them, but also for all the believers in the early church irrespective of man or woman, Jew or Gentile. 

Patristic Period

Moving from the time of the Apostles, the early church fathers did contribute different views on the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. One such patristic was Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon and one of the leading theologians in the 2nd century. His most famous work, Against Heresies, addressed his view on the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his day. With regards to believers in his day and age, Irenaeus stated that, “possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men and declare the mysteries of God.” He cites the biblical basis for this through the writings of Paul to the Corinthians.

Another patristic who held a similar view was Tertullian. A contemporary of Irenaeus, Tertullian was a patristic theologian from Carthage. In his work, The Five Books Against Marcion, Tertullian challenges Marcion and women from his congregation to exhibit gifts such as prophecy of predicting things to come or the interpretation of tongues. Additionally, Tertullian seems to further justify his credibility as he says, “Now all these signs (of spiritual gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty.” His stance not only shows his belief of the existence of gifts, but he attests to personally seeing these manifestations either within himself or those around him.

However, not all patristics held this view. Augustine of Hippo was one of the church fathers who produced much of his significant works in the early 5th century. In his reflections on his earlier writings, Augustine has a discourse on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He states that people do not receive the gift of tongues nor are there people healed as there were previously, and he clearly states that have ceased. As for the reason, he states that, “these miracles were not permitted to last till our times, lest the soul should always seek visible things.” Augustine does show one of the earlier cessationist viewpoints.

While looking at the development of the gifts of the Holy Spirit throughout the patristic age, earlier church fathers did express the continuation of the gifts of tongues and prophesy. As the centuries went on, the possible lack of such gifts seemed to give rise to initial cessation views. 

Scholastic Period

Of all the Medieval Christian theologians, the most prominent figure in this period is Thomas Aquinas. A mid 13th century Italian theologian, Aquinas was known for his work Summa Theologiae. In a time where the spiritual and rational were being reconciled, Aquinas was careful to define his views on these gifts of the Holy Spirit. While he did not hold a view that glossolalia had ceased, he defines the phenomena as being able to utter in existing languages. Additional information on Aquinas could be seen through the writing of Victor Salas who added that as tongues was to know words, prophecy was seen as the ability of the mind to know intelligible truth. He surmises that Aquinas pattered his definitions after Aristotelian scholastic thought. A similar example of being able to hear a word in your native tongue and understand it as opposed to hearing the same word in a foreign tongue and not understand it was given by this school of reasoning. However, it can also be noted that Aquinas did express that in his prayers alone, he expresses “jubilation” which derived its definition from the early patristic era as a “kind of non-rational prayer of the heart, a gift of praying and praising God aloud but without intelligible words.” In this way, Thomas Aquinas makes a distinction between the two phenomena. While he does not take an openly cessationist stance to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it seems clear that his definitions for tongues and especially prophecy may differ from previous historical understandings of these terms.

Reformation Era

For Protestant Christians, the Reformation Era is seen as one of the most important times in church history, and the thoughts of the reformers have been prominent in the theological landscape throughout history. Martin Luther was the foremost religious former who was the catalyst of the Protestant reformation in the 16th century. As for his view on the gift of tongues, Luther writes his view in a letter that outlines his thoughts against Latin Mass. He interprets Paul’s letter in 1 Corinthians 14 as, “Also the fool doesn't understand St. Paul's words correctly when he writes of speaking with tongues. For St. Paul writes of the office of preaching in the congregation, to which it is to listen and from which it is to learn, when he says: Whoever comes forward, and wants to read, teach, or preach, and yet speaks with tongues, that is, speaks Latin instead of German, or some unknown language, he is to be silent and preach to himself alone.” His definition of speaking in tongues mirrors the view of Thomas Aquinas. His definition of the gift of interpretation subsequently is defined as the translation of language.  On the other hand, Luther did not hold to the same definition of prophesy as Aquinas did. Though Luther saw the epitome of prophecy as the ability to explain Scripture, he did see the predictive aspect of the gift of prophecy. That being said, he does see this kind of prophecy as unnecessary as it doesn’t always lead to faith, and he warns that often such predications do not come from God. While he does not take a cessationist view, Luther does add in his warnings for predictive prophecy. 

John Calvin is arguably one of the most important theological figures in the second generation of reformers in the 16th century as his theological thoughts still hold much weight today. In terms of his assessment of the gift of tongues, Calvin’s views would seem to be cessationist, yet he introduces ground for ambiguity. Based on his commentary on Acts 8:16, he argues that this gift was temporarily given to the church to visibly establish the authority of God’s kingdom. Yet, his commentary in other places such as Acts 10:4 seem to suggest that cessation occurred from human “ingratitude, ambition, and slothfulness”, and suggested that other gifts or the restoration of former gifts could be possible. His thoughts on prophecy appear to be clearer. Though Calvin makes distinctions between prophecy as interpretation of Scripture and prophecy as a gift to predict the future and he mirrors Luther in this regard. However, he does make it clear in his comments on Acts 21:9 that this gift of the Spirit flourished for a short time before ceasing. In this instance, there is a point of disagreement over the working of the gift of the Spirit among these two reformers.

Post-Reformation / Enlightenment Period

In the time after the reformation, Spanish theologian Francisco Suárez was a prominent Jesuit figure of the Roman Catholic Church in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Suárez was heavily influenced by the works of Thomas Aquinas and much of his accounts reflected this. He seems to echo the definition of Aquinas which defined the tongues as intelligible human languages. Yet, while Aquinas did leave the possibility of the continuation of the gift, the conclusion reached by Victor Salas was that Suárez reached the conclusion that tongues is, “no longer regularly given now-adays for the reason that it is no longer needed since, as is constantly reaffirmed, the Church speaks in the languages of all nations.” In this way, he differed from Aquinas. 

From a Protestant perspective, the English minister Matthew Henry presented his thoughts in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. When commenting on 1 Corinthians 12, Henry presents his thoughts on the cessation of the gifts. He wrote, “What these gifts were is at large told us in the body of the chapter; namely, extraordinary offices and powers, bestowed on ministers and Christians in the first ages, for conviction of unbelievers, and propagation of the gospel.”  His view encompasses all the extraordinary works of the Spirit including both tongues and prophecy. 

Both an evangelical preacher and theologian influenced by Calvin, Jonathan Edwards ministry in colonial America encompassed the early to middle parts of the 18th century. In his book, Charity and Its Fruits, Edwards expands on his cessationist view. He writes, “It is this miraculous gift which the apostle here says shall vanish away, together with the other miraculous gifts of which he speaks, such as prophecy, and the gift of tongues, etc. All these were extraordinary gifts bestowed for a season for the introduction and establishment of Christianity in the world, and when this their end was gained, they were all to fail and cease.” While his stance is not uncommon, it is noteworthy to state that Edwards was most known as a revival preacher during the Great Awakening which was marked by physical manifestations and outward emotions. Though Jonathan Edwards and his contemporary George Whitefield discouraged this, congregations did begin to question the importance of experiential faith during this period. While there seems to be a consensus on cessation amongst both Catholic and Protestant theologians in this time, experiences may have created some to question these stances.

Modern Period

One of the most pertinent events to the discussion of the historical development of the gifts of the Holy Spirit would be the Azusa Street Revival. Taking place in the early 1900s, Azusa Street became the birthplace of the Pentecostal movement as the founders of a few prominent Pentecostal denominations trace back their receiving of their spiritual gifts to this event. Much of the events of the revival were documented in the official newspaper titled Apostolic Faith. In it, testimonies of people receiving spiritual gifts including the gift of tongues and interpretations of tongues.  Additionally, it contained the foundations for the doctrines of early Pentecostalism primarily through the teachings of the Azusa Street mission. 

The leader of the mission was William J. Seymour. Using Acts 2 as biblical evidence, Seymour cited tongues as a normative experience in the life of a believer. In fact, when accused of heresy, he points out his accusers, “did not have the evidence at the second chapter of Acts, for when the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost, they spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance.” As for the meaning of glossolalia and the Holy Spirit, Seymour wrote in a 1906 article of Apostolic Faith, “baptism in the Holy Spirit was not a third work of grace, but a gift of power upon the sanctified life.” Additionally, in his 1915 publication Doctrines and Discipline, Seymour wrote, “Tongues is one of the signs, not the evidence.”  The latter statement of tongues being the initial sign or one of the signs has been integrated into the doctrinal statements of the Assemblies of God and the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. 

While other theological figures held to cessationist views despite the Azusa Street Revival, the events and subsequent birth of Pentecostalism has led to a historical shift in the conversation surrounding the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit. Whereas previous centuries may have lacked examples of these experiences, the early part of the 20th century has led to the rise of modern cessationist and continuationist theological camps.

Post-Modern Period

The present theological discussion does have a level of divergence likely due to the events of the previous century. In terms of more traditional cessationist views, the late R.C Sproul says that if the argument that the sign gifts were given to affirm the validity of the apostles teaching is true, then these gifts would in turn end with the last apostle. Any modern phenomena would therefore not be considered a supernatural working of the Holy Spirit. Sproul here affirms this argument and therefore holds this cessation view based on it. In terms of more aggressive cessationist views, pastor and theologian John MacArthur brings up his view that the reintroduction of the gift of prophesy would mean that the canon of Scripture is not closed as God would be speaking in ways additional to His Word. Furthermore, he calls the modern Pentecostal movement “abhorrent” and desires to see it be “cleared away”.

Conversely, the continuationist perspective seem to have a growing contingency. Wayne Grudem argues for continuation specifically in the gift prophecy. His argumentation makes a distinction between apostolic and non-apostolic prophets through the phrase “the apostles and prophets” in Ephesians 2:20. Using this, Grudem argues for the distinguishing of prophecy as God’s word written by the apostles from non-apostolic prophecy mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.  This line of reasoning hits against cessation semantic arguments of the definition of prophecy. Additionally, we can see D.A. Carson state that, “The coming of the Spirit is not associated merely with the dawning of the new age but with its presence, not merely with Pentecost but with the entire period from Pentecost to the return of Jesus the Messiah”. Sam Storms clarifies Carson’s statement by stating, “the gifts of prophecy and tongues are not portrayed as merely inaugurating the new covenant age but as characterizing it.” However, there are also some charismatic movements that have produced incorrect thinking through practice. As a professor from the continent of Africa, Mookgo Kgatle writes a critical perspective against African Pentecostal Christianity. While a cessation perspective is not taken, beliefs that elevates the gift of tongues to being “a sign of the new important covenant of unity and love of Christ on every Christian believer” or the common misunderstanding of tongues being the only evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer rather than initial evidence warrants concern. While there may be a larger number of continuation perspectives than previous times in history, some potential doctrinal pitfalls can be seen in practice.

Personal Views on the Extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit

As stated in the thesis, I see a continuation perspective on the gifts of the Spirit to be the most credible stance that can be taken. Given the recent historical developments regarding the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit, the biblical basis for these should be considered along with the validity for historical arguments for a cessation view. Neither of these areas adequately removes the possibility for the continuation of these extraordinary spiritual gifts.

Credibility of Cessation Arguments

One of the historical arguments for the cessation position has been that these signs were given to the apostles to prove their authority especially regarding the teaching of Scripture. This view, most recently given by R.C. Sproul, maintains that these gifts with the final apostle. One of the issues that arises is that these gifts do not seem to be only manifested within the apostles. We can see in as Paul cites the diversity of gifts among those in the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 12:10). Additionally, Paul seems to advocate for those believers to earnestly seek this gift showing a belief that a non-apostolic believer had the ability to receive such gifts. From an understanding of doctrine of the Word of God, the orthodox perspective is that the Holy Spirit inspired these human authors to inerrantly record the Scriptures. When looking specifically at the New Testament, only books written by an apostle were chosen. If this proposed line of reasoning that is used to argue for cessation, it may be said that the New Testament canon is incomplete as many works have been excluded since those who possessed the gifts should have their teaching viewed as authoritative. Additionally, the earlier 2nd century patristics Irenaeus and Tertullian clearly cite the continued manifestation of these gifts in their time. While a cessation argument is proposed by Augustine, this was not till nearly 200 years later.  The earlier patristics line of reasoning does not indicate a belief that these gifts ceased with the last apostle. If this belief was proposed and prevalent in the first century church fathers after the New Testament apostles, it cannot be reasonably concluded that cessation was always the general position of the church. 

Another argument for cessation is one of the definitions of the gifts of tongues and prophecy. One definition for tongues is that it refers to intelligible human languages and interpretation as the ability to comprehend these languages. This view is quite clearly seen through the writings of Thomas Aquinas. One issue with this view is recorded through the events at Pentecost. While some of the tongues translated to intelligible languages, others elicited the reaction by the crowd to think that those gathered were drunk (Acts 2:13). The former definition also assumes that the gift of tongues is meant for others, yet Paul in his letter to the Corinthians defines the gift as speaking “not to men but God; for no one understands him” and that speaking in tongues “utters mysteries in the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:2). Additionally, the practice of speaking in unintelligible worship seems to be found in church history such as in the case of the aforementioned “jubilation” of Aquinas and historical figures before his time.  While not as equally prevalent in all periods of the church, the combination of historical evidence for the gift of tongues and the more recent Pentecostal movement and growth do not support the claim for historical cessation. 

Prophecy on the other hand has had much more nuance in the definition of the gift over church history. While the office of a prophet in producing the Word of God has been consistently defined, the gift of prophecy having a predictive nature exists in the writing of the early patristics though it decreased in significance throughout the time after. Though it prevails even in the works of Luther, subsequent periods before the Modern Era lean towards cessation given that the necessity of the gift is not needed with the production of the Word of God. In this way, the gift of prophecy does not seem to have been consistently viewed as ceasing. Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost references Joel in saying, “and in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17). If prophesy was reserved only to be defined by the office, the context of this verse would not make sense as the New Testament failed to add prophetic words by female authors. Additionally, it is noteworthy to say that “last days” in this verse shows a belief that the time before the return of Christ is viewed as such. Historically, this phrase has been understood as, “are the days of evangelical blessing in which the benefits of the salvation procured by the perfect life, death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ are freely available throughout the world.” An argument then can be made that the promise that Peter is referencing would be extended to all who live in the last days and that includes both those in the first century church through believers today. Therefore, this seems to contradict the cessationist view.

Significance of the Doctrine of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

One item to question here is how important the giftings of the Holy Spirit ought to be seen. As in the previously cited from African Pentecostalism, there can be a tendency to elevate these manifestations as necessary and nominal. In terms of theological processes, while any text that is correctly interpreted is sufficient for making doctrine, the number of times a particular topic is brought up may point to items that should be viewed more significantly. For example, the foundations for Christology can be viewed as very important given the dedication of the Gospels written on His life as well as the subsequent epistles written expounding on certain topics. What is noteworthy here is to consider the frequency with which these extraordinary gifts are brought up in the Scriptures. Since prophecy is referenced amongst both the Old and New Testament, the specific instances where it may be defined as a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit to operate in a predictive sense is often accompanied with references to the gift of tongues. In terms of specific references to the gift of tongues and prophecy, Jesus proclaims this to his followers (Mark 16:17), tongues were received by those gathered on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13), Peter witnesses Gentile believers receiving it (Acts 10:44-48), believers in Ephesus receive the gifts of tongues and prophecy as Paul laid hands on them (Acts 19:6), and many references to tongues and prophecy are referenced in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 12:10 – 14:39). This can be considered the totality of direct references to these gifts although interpretations of other verses may yield additional instances.

Based on these references, one may deduce that the correct understanding of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit may be relatively less important than other doctrines due to the overall lack of references to it. It is noteworthy to see that there is only one instance of Jesus directly speaking about the manifestation of these gifts in all the Gospels. The book of Acts only contains the three historically documented instances of the manifestation of the gifts of tongues and prophecy. Despite having nearly half of the New Testament attributed to his writings, Paul only addresses tongues in one section of a larger letter. One possibility could be that there was a correct and uniform understanding of the doctrine of these gifts that would not warrant additional exposition. If that were the case, it would be hard to conclude that this understanding included the cessation of the gifts after the Apostles time. However, it may be possible to conclude that while there is support from Scripture to sufficiently produce a doctrine for the gifts of the Spirit, it may be less important than other theological concepts that have much larger sections of Scripture devoted to it. Therefore, while this topic may be prevalent, my personal stance is that it ought not to divide the church to the degree it seems to since other that more significant doctrines ought to unify the universal body. 

Conclusion

From a historical standpoint, the doctrine of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit has been a point of much debate. While early church fathers wrote for its continuation, subsequent periods of history had both varying definitions for a cessationist views of these spiritual gifts. Though there was some level of ambiguity with concepts of “jubilation” prayer and the necessity rather than the cessation of prophecy, it was not until the Modern Era that the prevalence of these spiritual gifts became a contentious point of debate to this day.

Both a historical perspective and theologizing do not seem to wholly affirm a cessation view. Both biblical and historical viewpoints countering cessation arguments do exist, yet it is valid to question the relative significance of this doctrine given the scarcity of biblical references.  What does seem to be valid based on both viewpoints is the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit into the present day.

Bibliography

Augustine. Earlier Writings. Translated by John H.S. Burleigh. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1953. 

Bouwsma, William J. “John Calvin.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., September 8, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Calvin. 

Brathwaite, Renea. “Tongues and Ethics: William J. Seymour and the ‘Bible Evidence’: A Response to Cecil M. Robeck, Jr.” Pneuma 32, no. 2 (2010): 203–22. https://doi.org/10.1163/157007410x509119. 

Chenu, Marie-Dominique. “St. Thomas Aquinas.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., September 6, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Thomas-Aquinas. 

Compton, Bruce R. “The Continuation of New Testament Prophecy and a Closed Canon: Revisiting Wayne Grudem’s Two Levels of NT Prophecy.” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 22 (2017): 57–73. 

Cross, F. L., and Elizabeth A. Livingstone. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Logos.

Editors of Britannica. “Francisco Suárez.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., September 21, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-Suarez. 

Edwards, Jonathan. Charity and Its Fruits: Or, Christian Love as Manifested in the Heart and Life. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1852. 

Elwell, Walter A., and Barry J. Beitzel. “Last Days.” Essay. In Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988. Logos.

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume. New York: Hendrickson, 2002. Logos.

Hillerbrand, Hands J. “Martin Luther.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., August 22, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther. 

Irenaeus. Against Heresies. Translated by Paul Schaff. Moscow: Romans Road Media, 2015. 

Kgatle, Mookgo S. “Spirit Baptism and the Doctrine of Initial Evidence in African Pentecostal Christianity: A Critical Analysis.” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 76, no. 1 (2020): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v76i1.5796. 

Macarthur, John. “John Macarthur on Education - Cessation of Spiritual Gifts.” YouTube. The Master's University, April 14, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN0CliV5A18. 

O'Donnell, James. “St. Augustine.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., August 24, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine. 

Salas, Victor. “Francisco Suárez and His Sources on the Gift of Tongues.” New Blackfriars 100, no. 1089 (September 2019): 554–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/nbfr.12371. 

Sproul, R.C. “Dr. R.C. Sproul on 1 Cor 13:9-10 and ‘Cessationism?".” YouTube. YouTube, July 30, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6XjVNjP4ks. 

Stephenson, Christopher A. “Un-Speaking in Tongues: Glossolalia as Ascetical Prayer.” Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 13, no. 1 (2019): 88–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1939790919893278. 

Storms, Sam. “Why I Am a Continuationist.” The Gospel Coalition. The Gospel Coalition, January 22, 2014. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/continuationist/. 

Tertullian. “The Five Books Against Marcion.” Essay. In Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, edited by Peter Holmes, 433–823. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994. 

Tucker, J. Brian, and David Finkbeiner. “The Canon of Scripture.” Essay. In 50 Most Important Theological Terms. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2021. 

Van Alten, Erik. “John Calvin on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in His Commentary on Acts.” Koers - Bulletin for Christian Scholarship 82, no. 2 (November 2017): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.19108/koers.82.2.2350. 

Wetmore, Robert. “The Theology of Spiritual Gifts in Luther and Calvin: A Comparison.” Dissertation, Concordia Seminary, 1992. 

Wilken, Robert L. “Tertullian.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., September 6, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tertullian. 

Wingren, Gustaf. “St. Irenaeus.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc., October 28, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Irenaeus.