Extra-biblical Revelation

The Westminster Confession (Chapter I.1) teaches that God 'formerly' revealed himself and declared his will in various ways but that 'those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people' have now ceased — implying the cessation of prophecy, dreams, visions, and other extraordinary means with the close of the apostolic age. The canon of Scripture is 'most necessary,' God having 'committed wholly unto writing' his 'former ways of revealing his will.' The sufficiency of Scripture (I.6) means that 'the whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture.'

Confessional Presbyterian theology is characteristically cessationist: the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, tongues, healing) ceased with the apostolic age and are not expected in the church today. This cessationist conviction is built into the Westminster Confession's doctrine of Scripture. Some Presbyterian theologians have in recent decades questioned strict cessationism, but it remains the majority confessional position in conservative Presbyterian bodies.