Now Concerning Spiritual Gifts, Pt. 3 (2)

There are many Spiritual gifts. Nine are listed in tonight’s portion. But three more are mentioned in 1 Cor. 12:28-30 more still in passages located in Romans 12:2-8 and Ephesians 4:7-11

1 Corinthians 12:28–30 KJV 1900

28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

The gifts listed in verses 7-11 are “interim” gifts, they are temporary. In verses 28-30, the gifts of apostles and miracles are also “interim gifts”, but the rest of the gifts are permanent, still in effect today, with the exception of tongues. For further discussion look at...

Romans 12:2–8 KJV 1900

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

Seven gifts are mentioned again in Romans, rather the duty that coincides with the gift is described in Romans. Next we see the gifts mentioned in ...

Ephesians 4:7–11 KJV 1900

7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

This passage concludes with an expounding of four offices, five if we separate pastor and teacher.

Tonight’s study is not in dealing with every single gift of the Spirit. Rather our focus is on the list in 1 Corinthians that Paul mentions in verses 7-11, these “interim gifts”. What are they, what purpose did they serve, and why or how we know they are not in effect today. First

Apostles

While it is not mentioned in our first list, it is mentioned first in 1 Cor. 12:28

1 Corinthians 12:28 (KJV 1900)

28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

What: Apostle = one sent with a message from Jesus Christ. The Bible only lists a total of 15 men who held this title, the original 12, Paul, Barnabas, and James.

Purpose: They were to be the overseers of the new church. They had the responsibility of leading this new group of believers and keeping them from falling into false doctrine.

Reason: There are no apostles today. There are some who have taken this title for themselves, but they were not given it by God. In order to be an apostle, one had to have see the resurrected Christ and been commissioned by Him directly. Therefore this particular gift falls under the category of “interim gift”.

Wisdom

What: the word of wisdom refers to the revelation of the mind of God in doctrinal and redemptive areas.

Purpose: This gift was necessary because the NT was not yet completed. There was no collected letters of Paul, in fact they were still being written. The church didn’t have the gospels yet which would spell out a universal offer of salvation. God had to step in and in certain remote areas reveal this to churches through a divine act which is no longer necessary.

Reason: This gift is no longer necessary today because we have the completed Word of God. While God still gives wisdom where we need it James 1:5 “5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” , the gift of wisdom is not needed because we have a completed Bible that has all the answers to any questions we ask.

Knowledge

What: Most likely this was a “sister-gift” to the word of wisdom. Whereas wisdom would shed light on something previously unknown, the word of knowledge would give practical instruction on how to carry it out.

Purpose: This gift was necessary again in absence of the completed NT.

Reason: Now that they NT is completed, we no longer need this special gift of knowledge. Again, every question we have need to be answered is in deed answered in the Word of God.

Faith

What: Someone has said the faith is predicated on the promises of God. Let it be understood that this is not speaking of saving faith, nor of living by faith. This gift of faith was supernaturally given so that the church would attempt great things for God, and seems to be connected with outward signs. See 1 Cor. 13:2.

Purpose: Jesus spoke of having faith as a mustard seed. While we all believe what He said to be true, there are very few of us that when faced with and immovable mountain are willing to look at it and say, “Be thou removed and cast into the sea.” This gift of faith was necessary at a time before the completed Word of God to authenticate or prove God’s promises to be true.

Reason: Once again we see there reason this gift is no longer in operation today, at least on the same scale, is because we have the completed Bible. **Let me say, there are some Christians that have a tremendous amount of faith. However, this is not the same as having the gift of faith as mentioned in 1 Corinthians.

Gifts of Healing

What: Notice the plural “gifts”. This gift was used for the purpose of healing many who were sick. The emphasis being on the results, not the process. No record of healing ministries, no record of crowds of people lining up to have hands laid on them. No record that anyone with the gift ever got rich from it. Also, the times these gifts were exercised those who were healed were healed instantly and permanently. There was no half way healing.

Purpose: Like all of these interim, sign gifts, the purpose was not be used by itself alone, but confirm the truth of what the messenger proclaimed. The sign gifts were to authenticate the one exercising them was truly sent from God.

Reason: With the completed NT there is no need to authenticate the message. While I believe today that God still heals, those times of healing are solely predicated on His will, not the medium of a man.

Miracles

What: the word literally means “Powers”. In most cases the excercise of the gift involved power over nature. Acts 5:1-10

Acts 5:1–10 KJV 1900

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. 6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

Acts 13:11 KJV 1900

11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

Galatians 3:5 KJV 1900

5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Hebrews 2:4 KJV 1900

4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Purpose: As with the gifts mentioned above, the gift of miracles dealt with the authentication of the messenger that he was indeed sent by God.

Reason: The message today is one of faith, not sight. You will either believe what the Word of God says or not. Again, this gift is no longer necessary because of the completed Word of God.

Prophecy

What: This gift involves both “foretelling” (future, end times revelation) and “forthtelling” (preaching/proclaiming/expounding the Word of God). Often the message was given by direct revelation from God.

Purpose: This was needed because the Bible was being written. Without the completed Bible how else were the new Christians to learn God’s Word? It is possible that God revealed to the new believers what He later had written down for us in the Bible.

Reason: Today there is no need for the gift of foretelling because, you guessed, we have a completed Bible! **There is one aspect of the gift of prophecy that is still used today, that is the gift of preaching (forthtelling - explaining the Word of God). That being said, a preacher is in one limited sense a prophet.

Tongues

What: A supernatural gift in which one could communicate in a language they had not had any formal learning in. Acts 2, is a prime example of the exercise of this gift. The men had never taken lessons in the 17 languages they presented the gospel in. The Holy Spirit equipped them with this ability.

Purpose: The purpose of this gift was to expedite the spread of the gospel. It would be years before the completed NT, and centuries before the ministry of translators would come along. How many would have died and gone to hell while they waited to hear someone share the gospel in their language? **Please note the gift of tongues was given specifically as a sign to unbelieving Jews. Any time the gift of tongues was used, Jews were present.

Reason: Again....WE HAVE A COMPLETED NT! There is almost no language in which the Bible has not been translated. There are only a handful of countries in which there is no gospel witness. There is no need to speak in tongues in an English speaking church if everyone understands English! To say that this is “proof” of God’s power is foolishness.

Interpretation of tongues

What: This would be the “sister gift” to tongues. It was given so that everyone could understand the message being spoken. (NOTE: There is no record of this gift being used in Acts 2).

Purpose: The message spoken in tongues would have been for zero benefit to those who did not understand the language. God therefore gave the gift of interpretation so that everyone could be edified by the message.

Reason: There is no need for this gift for the same reason there is no need for any of the above mentioned gifts. The Bible is completed, and is available in almost any language.

These are the “interim” gifts. Those which had an important purpose, but once that purpose was served, they ceased to operate. I want to point out two things before we go tonight:

The Corinthian church chose the gift of tongues to be the most important, but God said no, all gifts are of equal importance.

Notice in this list, and nearly every single list of gifts in which tongues appears, it is almost always at or near the bottom of the list.

What we need to take away tonight is the facts found in verses 7 and 11:

1 Corinthians 12:7 KJV 1900

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

1 Corinthians 12:11 KJV 1900

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

The gifts of the Spirit are given to profit everyone equally, and it is the Spirit, not the individual, that decides who gets what gift.