Cessationism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A theological belief that certain miraculous gifts and practices associated with the apostolic age have ceased to exist in the modern church
2. A doctrine asserting that divine supernatural phenomena experienced by early Christians are no longer applicable or active today
3. The view that specific spiritual gifts or miracles bestowed during the early days of Christianity have ended and are no longer present in contemporary faith practices

Etymology: Cessationism is a plain English compound: "cessation" (the act of ceasing, or coming to an end) with the suffix "-ism," which turns a noun into a doctrine or belief system. The result names a position in Christian theology rather than a description of anything that has stopped happening. Its core claim is that the dramatic gifts seen in the early church, such as prophecy, speaking in tongues and healing, were given for a limited period and have since come to an end. The word's history is therefore less about ancient languages than about how the two parts were combined. "Cessation" came into English from Latin through Old French, and "-ism" arrived from Greek by way of Latin, where it had been used to form nouns of action and belief. Joining them produced a label for an argument that was debated in theology long before anyone needed a single word for it.