The Transistional/Temporary Gifts of the Spirit

Review

Before we start this week’s session, let’s do a knowledge check from last week. If you have notes written down, then feel free to pull those out. If you are not in the habit of taking notes, I would encourage you to do so. This topic of the Spiritual Gifts is something that is often misunderstood, so having notes to go back to can be very helpful.

Let’s review last week’s discussion briefly.

Last week we started this new study by taking a look, not at the gifts of the Spirit, but at what? At the Fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 KJV 1900

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Who can/should have and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit? Every Christian

How many fruits of the Spirit are there? Just one, but with many characteristics.

What are the characteristics? Love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), gentleness (kindness), faith, meekness, temperance (self-control).

This fruit of the Spirit and everything that is of the Spirit is completely opposed to what (according to Galatians 5:17)?

Galatians 5:17 KJV 1900

17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

The Spirit opposes the Flesh.

What is the flesh that the Bible talks about? Our sinful nature.

How do we allow God to develop this fruit within us? Complete surrender to His guidance. If this fruit is to be manifested in us, we must have a close walk with the producer of this fruit, the Holy Spirit.

What are we encouraged to do and to be careful of according to Galatians 5:25-26?

Galatians 5:25–26 (KJV 1900)

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

To walk by the Spirit (controlled by Him, we touched on that Sunday. Surrender to the Spirit needs to be a daily thing, if not more often.), to not be vain-glorious (not seeking our own glory), to not provoke others (provoke to anger; try to get under others’ skin), and to not envy others (be jealous).

The Gifts of the Spirit

Where are they found?

Paul is the writer that God used the most to talk extensively about the gifts of the Spirit. He does so mainly by giving two lists of different gifts of the Spirit - one in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and another in Romans 12.

I want you to go to the book of 1 Corinthians with me. This was a letter written by Paul to the church in Corinth. Capital of the Roman province Achaia, Corinth was the most important city of Greece. It was located in one of the most ideal travel routes from east to west in the Roman empire. Corinth was known for its commerce, culture, and corruption. Corinth was the headquarters of the worship of Venus and some mystery cults from Asia and Egypt.

In his second missionary journey, Paul visited this city after he had met with some seeming failure in the city of Athens. He ended up staying in Corinth for about a year and a half. After that time, he left behind a church that was gifted in spiritual things, but very tempted by the sin of the surrounding culture and by worldly wisdom.

After receiving a report that there was gross sin within the church, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes the letter that we now know as 1 Corinthians. Paul writes this letter with two main goals in mind: 1) to rebuke the flagrant sins that were being permitted in the church, and 2) to answer questions about Christian living and Christian doctrine.

The context of 1 Corinthians

So we need to understand that Paul is writing to believers.

But he is not just writing to individuals, he is writing to a church. We can take the teachings of 1 Corinthians to apply to the church as a whole unless otherwise stated in the letter.

But we must know that Paul is writing to a church that is not driven by the Holy Spirit. It is a church that is fractured and dis-unified. It is a church that has bought into worldly philosophy as they try to apply spiritual things.

What are they for?

We’ve discussed where the gifts are found mentioned in the Bible, and our first focus is going to be in the list that is found in 1 Corinthians 12. But before we discuss that, let’s talk about what the spiritual gifts are for.

1 Corinthians 12:1 (KJV 1900)

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

Paul wants to make sure that there is no confusion over these spiritual gifts. He is concerned that they have taken these gifts and have been using them with the world’s mindset instead of the way that God intended them to be used.

Then, he gives this list of spiritual gifts (that we will get into later), and then he explains what they are for. 1 Corinthians 12:11-27

1 Corinthians 12:11–27 (KJV 1900)

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

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

That was a lot to read! But that describes the purpose of the spiritual gifts. If we were to reduce this all down to one word, what word would you choose? UNITY!

So the gifts of the Spirit are for unity and the edification of the church.

Have you ever wondered why God just doesn’t give everyone all the gifts?

“Your life is not a big enough story to convince everyone else of how God could work in their lives.” - unknown

This is why we need each other as a church. This is why we gather together. This is why we need to join together and evangelize the world and make disciples.

The fruit, we all have all of it, and it is for showing forth God’s character. The Gifts are for doing God’s work and showing the transformative power that Jesus has in people. The changes that God has made in my life are not enough evidence in everyone’s eyes that God can change them. It is for some, but not for others. When they get to see other people and the different way that God has changed them, it may be enough for them to see that God could change even them.

What are the different categories of spiritual gifts?

There are two main categories of spiritual gifts that we will cover in this series. The first category we will refer to as the Transitional Gifts or the Temporary Gifts. These gifts are also called Sign Gifts or Miraculous Gifts, and in a moment you will see why.

We will mainly refer to them in this series as Transitional or Sign Gifts. We find these gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-10, and there are 9 of them. These gifts mentioned here were for a transitional time and held a very special purpose, but no longer exist today. We will cover these more in-depth today, and possibly tomorrow.

The other category of gifts are the Permanent Gifts. These gifts continue to this day, and are very different from the Transitional Gifts. For purposes of this series, we will refer to these gifts mentioned in Romans 12 simply as the Spiritual Gifts or the Gifts of the Spirit. There are 7 listed.

What Were the Transitional/Temporary Gifts?

We find this list in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (8-10 really, but the other verses give us good context.)

1 Corinthians 12:4–11 (KJV 1900)

4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

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

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

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

So to put it briefly, the list is as follows:

Transitional/Temporary Spiritual Gifts

Word of Wisdom

Word of Knowledge

Faith

Healing

Miracles

Prophecy

Discerning Spirits

Tongues

Interpretation of Tongues

So lets go through this list and give a brief explanation of what these gifts were.

Word of Wisdom - This was a “speaking” gift (there are several of these in this list). This gift was to know the counsel of God without having the written word of God. This would have been the ability to apply God’s truth to specific situations without having access to the written word of God, the Bible.

Word of Knowledge - This is one of the gifts that is known the least of. Scholars believe, and I do as well, that this would be the gift of having knowledge about someone or some situation that only God could have revealed to that person. Think about when Peter is preaching to the church of Jerusalem and Ananias and Sapphira decided it would be a good idea to lie to the church to make themselves look really good. Members were selling properties and possessions and bringing the money to be used by the church. So Ananias and Sapphira looked at each other and said, “We should do the same thing. We have a property we could sell.” But what they did was this, they sold the property for a certain amount. We don’t know what it is, but let’s say for argument’s sake that it was $10,000. They then said, “We’ll keep $2K and give the rest to the church, but we will say that we sold the property for $8,000, and everyone will think that we are selfless and generous.” So off to church Ananias went with the money. He presents it to the Apostle Peter and says, “We sold our property for $8K and we want to donate all of it to the church to be used for the poor and other ministries.” Peter, not having had prior knowledge of what the couple had discussed, looked Ananias square in the face and said, “Ananias, you have not lied to man, but to God.” And Ananias fell down dead. Imagine that happening right in the middle of a service! Well, the young men of the church carry Ananias out and go an bury him, and a while later, in comes walking in Sapphira. Peter asks Sapphira, “Did you and your husband sell that property for $8K?” She says, “yes,” and Peter looks at her and says, “Why did you and your husband conspire to lie and tempt the Spirit of God? Look, these young men that just walked in the door are coming back from burying your husband, and they will be burying you next to him now.” And Sapphira fell down and died right there on the spot too. THAT is probably one of the best manifestations of having a word of knowledge.

Faith - Not much is known of this gift either. Now, every Christian has faith. We have to have faith in Jesus and His word for salvation, but this is not speaking of saving faith. This gift was a miraculous faith that God would accomplish His mission for the church. It has been said that this is a faith that when seen by others, stirred up faith in their own lives, whether that be believers needing faith to trust what God was revealing to the church. One commentator explained it this way: “The gift of faith may be defined as the special gift whereby the Spirit provided Christians with extraordinary confidence in God’s promises, power, and presence so they could take heroic stands for the future of God’s work in the church. The spiritual gift of faith was exhibited by one with a strong and unshakeable confidence in God, His revelation, and His promises.”

Healing - The spiritual gift of healing is the supernatural manifestation of the Spirit of God that miraculously brings healing and deliverance from disease and/or infirmity. It is the power of God that destroys the work of sin and/or the devil in the human body, such as the healings that Jesus and the disciples performed.

Miracles - This gift was the supernatural ability to do miraculous things like casting out demons, striking Elymas blind when he tried to impede the Gospel (Acts 13), and raise people from the dead (Acts 9), and even to give spiritual giftings to others by laying their hands on them (Acts 8:17, 2 Timothy 1:16). Stephen and Philip had these gifts (Acts 6:8, Acts 8:6-7).

Prophecy - This would be declaring truth that was not published yet. This was the revealing God’s word as it was delivered to the prophet. The word prophecy in the Greek has a definition of “forth telling” rather than telling future predictions. This was the confident transmission of God’s truth from the prophet to the church. Prophets were necessary because they did not yet have the written New Testament where we find how to function and grow in the church and in our christian lives. Paul later refers to this gift as the most important gift.

Discerning Spirits - This was a gift that was used to call out false teachers and prophets. When someone would get up in the church and say, “I have a word from God for us.” He would speak, and the function of the person that was gifted with the discernment of spirits was to give the thumbs up if that prophet was speaking from God or to call him out if he was a false prophet. In a church without the New Testament, can you see the importance of this gifting?

Tongues - This was the gift of speaking in tongues that were unknown and unstudied by the speaker. These tongues were not gibberish nor were they angelic tongues. This was one of the most misused gifts in Paul’s day, and Paul gives specific instructions in 1 Corinthians 14:22, 26-28, 34 as to how it is to be used in the church. As a side note, churches that still believe that the gift of tongues is valid today do not follow the Bible’s instructions on how it should be used.

Interpretation of Tongues - This gift was so that those that were speaking in tongues could be understood by those that did not speak that tongue. What it would look like would be something similar to this: I have the gift of tongues, and someone that does not speak English comes into our church. I then begin to speak in that person’s native language even though I have never studied it before. Now, that is great, because this person can now hear God’s word preached in his language, but the problem is, no one else can understand what I am saying. The job of the interpreter was to interpret to the rest of the church what I was saying to this one person or group of people.

This is the basic explanation of the transitional gifts of the Spirit.

I want you to put yourself in the context of the early church and let’s discuss how useful these gifts would have been, and how limiting they would have been as well. I think that a lot of times we hear about these gifts and we say, “Man, I wish those gifts were still around. I would love to have the gift of miracles, or prophecy, or tongues, or healing.”

But first let’s talk about their usefulness in a church that did not have the New Testament as we do now.

Next week we will discuss why we call these gifts transitional/temporary.

Memory Verse