The Gifts of the Spirit
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What are the Gifts of the Spirit?
What are the Gifts of the Spirit?
Read 1 Cor 12:1-11
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Article 1 - Scripture
We believe the Bible to be the written revelation of God, complete and sufficient in all respects. We believe the Scriptures to be “God-breathed” and therefore fully authoritative in and of themselves (2 Tim 3:16); they rely for their authority upon no church, council, or creed, but are authoritative simply because they are the Word of God. The Scriptures, as they embody the very speaking of God, partake of His authority and His power (Heb 4:12).
Article 8 - The Gifts of the Spirit
The gifts of the Holy Spirit that we see on display in the New Testament are still active within the life of the church. These gifts did not end with the close of the New Testament or the death of the last apostle (1 Cor. 12:1-11).
These two articles are from the Hope City Church statement of faith. We believe both in the sufficiency of scripture and also in the ongoing gifts of the Spirit today, they continue today as they did in the early church.
How have we arrived at these positions? Things have become so polarised in this day and age - to the point where those in one camp (the cessationist camp) will say that if you believe in the continuance of the Spiritual gifts, including prophecy and the other so called sign gifts that you are of necessity driven by a kind of experiential emotionalism and do not believe in the sufficiency of scripture. On the other hand, if you are convinced of the primacy of scripture as God’s infallible to His people and the of importance of preaching sound doctrine, Charismatics and Pentecostals will say that you are a cessationist and are quenching the Spirit!
This is a load of rubbish - you can be both for the gifts of the Spirit and their working in the church and also be absolutely committed to Biblical doctrine.
Modern scholars and Bible teachers committed to both word and spirit - John Piper, D.A Carson, Wayne Grudem, Sam Storms, Gavin Ortlund.
Sola Scriptura - the belief that scripture is the rule of faith for every believer. Church history and the historic creeds and confessions are authoritative but scripture alone is supreme.
In scripture I do not find evidence that the gifts of the spirit have ceased, instead I find the opposite.
1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Some claim that 1 cor 13:8-10 proves that the gifts have ceased.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
The fact is - we all believe that the gifts will eventually pass away, both cessationists and continuationists alike. When Christ returns and sets up the new heavens and new earth and we live with Him in Zion there will be no need for the gifts any longer for we shall see him as he is - 1 john 3:2
It seems a stretch to think that ‘the perfect’ referred to in verse 10 is the new testament canon. It seems to me far more likely to be referring to the return of Christ - verse 12 (then face to face).
To be clear - even cessationists do not believe that all the gifts of the Spirit have ceased - they still believe that the gifts of shepherd, teacher, evangelist or the gift of service. But they believe that the so called ‘sign gifts’ ceased with the end of the apostolic age at the end of the 1st century.
There is some support for their view in church history, beginning at the back end of the patristic period, in the 4th and 5th centuries. People like John Crysostom. But cessationism certainly hasn’t been the consensus all the way through church history, and certainly not in the early church.
On the evidence of scripture - we are to eagerly pursue the spiritual gifts. And if it is right to do so, then it is wrong not to.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
WHAT ARE THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS?
They are a ‘manifestation of the Spirit’ (verse 7). They are not some entity other than God that you are given - but these gifts are God at work in and through you.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Gifts are not just given to office holders - pastors, teachers, deacons. But they are given to each! Each Christian has at least one Spiritual gift which has been given to them for the common good.
There are four greek words used to describe the spiritual gifts in 1 cor 12.
τῶν πνευματικῶν
Verse 1 - The Spirituals - the gifts of the Spirit have their origin not naturally in you, but from the Holy Spirit. They are not the same as natural talents or abilities, though your spiritual gift may utilise some of your other more natural abilities. Such as the gift of teaching - if you have the gift of teaching it will make itself manifest through your intellect and your public speaking skills but is more than the sum of those abilities.
δὲ χαρισμάτων
Verse 4 - Charisma means gift - and is closely related to the word Charis which means grace. A gift is something that you receive, it’s something that you are given by another. The Spiritual Gifts are gifts of grace, they are given to the Church by God. You cannot purchase these gifts or earn them.
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
Since the Spiritual gifts are gifts and God is the giver - this means you can’t teach anyone to operate in a spiritual gift. Since God is sovereign over who He gives a gift to and when He gives it.
11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
You can certainly practice using a gift, you can become more proficient in the use of a gift - but Spiritual gifts cannot be taught or learnt, they are given. Sometimes this happens through the laying on of hands, or someone might prophecy over you about a specific gift and you begin to pray into it and God does then give it to you. Other times you may just be serving the church in some way and others will notice your gift before you do!
διακονιῶν
Verse 5 - (Service/Ministry) The Spiritual gifts are for ministry. This word Diakonos is closely related and means servant, so the spiritual gifts are given to you for the benefit of others. We see many sadly in churches these days using the Spiritual gifts to serve themselves, whether financially or in order to serve their own ego. But the Bible says that our gifts have been given to us to serve one another, not ourselves.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Some gifts have ministry offices - such as Apostle in the early church, and teacher or Pastor today. Others do not - such as the gift of miracles or healing or speaking in tongues but they are nontheless gifts which are to serve the church.
ἐνεργημάτων
Verse 6 - Activity/Operation/Workings - Spiritual gifts are to be active, they are to be used.
6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
A gift that remains unused either through choice or through suppression actually deprives the body of strength! Timothy had to be encouraged to fan his gift into flame. Gifts become dormant when they’re not used, they are on standby mode. They only come to life in the context of church - so when you consistently remove yourself from the church and stay away, it’s not just you who is the weaker for it - it’s the whole church.
Fan your gift into flame - get active in the church, find a way to serve, don’t wait to be asked, be proactive, look for a need!
For Jesus our Lord came not to be served but to serve.
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Ministry time