“If God’s revealed word is perfect and complete,” writes a beloved brother serving God in South America, “I do not expect a new message today. ‘His divine power has given us everything we need’ (2 Pet. 1:3). Through the Scriptures, we are ‘thoroughly equipped for every good work’ (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Jesus brought God’s final and perfect message (Heb.1:1-2). Does that make sense? Have you thought through some of these things?”
* * *
It makes sense that we need no more Scripture — although if one took your point absolutely, we should not need the New Testament Scriptures either, since the Scriptures of which Paul spoke and which Timothy had learned from infancy were those of the Old Testament. Many of the New Testament texts were not yet written when Paul penned 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Second Peter 1:3 speaks broadly of God’s work and gifts of all sorts, and it does not even mention the Scriptures. Hebrews 1:1-2 does not say that God will never speak again in any form (Hebrews is not even the New Testament’s final book). It rather assures Jewish-believer readers that the same God who spoke to their ancestors — the God whom they assumed had been forever silenced with the writing of Malachi — has indeed spoken an even greater word, this time through his Son.
To say that God continues to do miracles and to give spiritual gifts, all according to his sovereign will, is not to say that we have a new Christ, a new gospel, or any new Scripture. It just means that God is still alive and well and active on the earth. The same post-apostolic church which selected a “canon” of New Testament Scripture believed that God was still speaking, gifting and working miracles, and that is part of the reason why they needed a “measuring stick” or “standard” along which to lay new messages which purported to come from God.
Please note that I do not endorse all that goes on in the name of miracles and gifts. There are abuses, frauds, counterfeits and extremes. I suspect that the genuine supernatural works and gifts usually occur in small gatherings or local congregations, often on the mission field, out of the limelight and without publicity or fanfare. The cause of Christ has frequently suffered because of flamboyant characters on television and in traveling “miracle shows.” But the counterfeit should not discredit the genuine. Indeed, if God were not genuinely moving in power today, the devil would have nothing to imitate or to fake.