The Gifts of the Spirit

[Resource Manager]

 

THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

 

IN every generation there seems to be a revival of the claim to possession of the Spirit gifts, particularly the gifts of tongues and of healing. There are to-day religious bodies who affirm that these gifts are manifested in their assemblies. Are these claims true? And how can the issue be determined? The scriptures supply an authoritative answer.

 

THE POWER OF GOD

 

The Spirit of God is the radiant energy by which God is in touch with all creation: by which He performs His will, whether in creation, revelation, or the Ways of Providence. The following testimonies illustrate this. “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth” (Psa. 104:30). “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens.” “The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life” (Job 26:13: 33:4). “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there” (39:7). “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord” (Jer. 23:24). “In him we live and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

 

THE AGENT IN REVELATION

 

An instructive statement by David shows that the Spirit of God was the causative agent of his “last words.” While “David the son of Jesse said,” he affirmed that it was “the spirit of the Lord (that) spake by me”; and therefore while it was the sweet Psalmist of Israel who “said,” it was also “the God of Israel said,” and it was “his word in my tongue” (2 Sam. 23:1–3).

 

Of the whole body of prophetic writings, and this includes much more than the portion from Isaiah to Malachi, Peter says that it is “a sure word”; and he gives as the reason that “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit.” Their writing was not of their own origination, or disclosure. Because the writings were thus produced, they are quoted as the Word of God, as authoritative and final in the determination of truth. “What saith the scripture?”; “The Holy Spirit this signifying”; “Whereof the Holy Spirit is a witness unto us; for after that he had said before . . . saith the Lord”; are illustrative forms of quotation.

 

By a figure the quality of prevision, an attribute of God Himself, is attributed to the scripture, due to the fact that it foretells the purpose of Him who sees the end of His works from the beginning.

 

Jesus promised the disciples that after his departure the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would be sent unto them; that by it all things would be recalled to their remembrance; and by it they would be led into all truth. Another promise makes reference to “signs.” “These signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” (Mark 16:17, 18). With this we must put the parallel record by Matthew. Jesus also said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). These words have been given a very wide application, much wider than is warranted. The margin of the R.V. makes the promise apply to “all the days,” “even unto the consummation of the age.” This, spoken unto the eleven, indicates that in a particular way Christ would be with them unto the end of the Jewishage. By this time the testimony of most of them was finished, John only surviving to a later period. From the words of Matthew we should conclude that a time limitation is set to the words recorded in Mark.

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THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

 

The history in Acts informs of the coming of the Holy Spirit. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

 

This phenomenon provoked amazement and mockery; some suggesting that the speakers were drunk. But Peter addressing them, recalled the language of Joel concerning a pouring out of God’s spirit upon all flesh, when their sons and their daughters would prophesy. They would not attribute that to excess of wine; why should they that which they now witnessed, for it was a pouring out of God’s Spirit.

 

In response to their enquiry, when they were convicted of sin, as to what they should do, Peter commanded them to be baptised, and added, “Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (verses 32, 39). “You and your children”—that is, two generations; and not limited to those present, but to all scattered abroad who received the truth.

 

In the arrangements which were made for the administration of affairs, it was decided to choose seven men “full of the holy Spirit and wisdom” to be appointed in charge. Of the seven Stephen is singled out for the remark that he was “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” “And Stephen full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.”

 

After the death of Stephen and the consequent persecution and scattering of the disciples, Philip went to Samaria. Here he performed miracles of healing which attested the truth of his message when he “preached Christ unto them.” The result, when they heard him preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ,” was their obedience; “they were baptised.” This account of the Samaritans receiving the gospel is instructive in two ways. They were in the way of salvation, but they had no gift of the spirit. “As yet he was fallen on none of them; only they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.” So the gift of the Spirit is clearly not essential to entering the way of salvation. Then afterwards, when the apostles came down from Jerusalem, they laid hands on them, and they received the spirit-gifts. It could not have been in the power of Philip to confer this benefit, or we may be sure he would have done so.

 

Cornelius and his friends are the exception, in that the Spirit was given to them before they were baptised, and they spake with tongues. But this was for the conviction of Peter and the Jews that God was indeed accepting the Gentiles, and that Cornelius must be received by them. Accordingly, Peter “commanded them to be baptised into the name of the Lord” (Acts 10.).

 

THE EPISTLES

 

Further information, and of a more precise nature than is sometimes supposed, can be gathered from the Epistles. Communities of believers were founded throughout the Roman Empire within thirty years of the death of Christ. At the first they had no portion at all of the New Testament. The Old Testament was read; and from it they “reasoned” concerning the purpose of God. Its use in the demonstration of doctrine can be seen throughout the letters to the Romans and to the Hebrews. But this knowledge derived from the Old Testament was opened up by means of the gifts of the Spirit, and it was supplemented by revelation through the same gifts. The prophets did not understand their message fully, and it was revealed to them that “not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven” (1 Peter 1:12). The apostolic ministry led to the gradual production of the New Testament under the guidance of God, and as each part was produced it received the endorsement of those who had the gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 14:37), and was placed with the Old Testament and classed as “Scripture” (2 Pet. 3:16).

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VARIETY OF SPIRIT GIFTS

 

The fullest information concerning the gifts is to be found in three chapters in the first letter to the Corinthians (12.–14.). A list of the gifts is provided in the following verses: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

 

“For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (12:4–11).

 

The relative importance of the “gifted” brethren is given in verse 28. “Now 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.” This order is very noteworthy. The gifts sought after to-day are low in the list. Where are the higher ones? Reflection shows why the first three are in the position they occupy. They are all concerned with instruction; with imparting knowledge of the purpose of God. By this comes faith, without which no one is well pleasing to God. The other gifts were subsidiary to this object, and served as a demonstration that the message was of God (1 Cor. 2:3–5).

 

The presence of the variety of gifts led to rivalry in Corinth in the desire for the possession of the showier gifts and for the display of them. Their meetings degenerated into scenes of disorder as they tried to override one another in the exhibition of their own “gift.” Paul tells them that this is unseemly; “God is not the author of confusion,” and the “spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (14:32). They are therefore directed in the use of them; the one with the gift of tongues must keep silence in the absence of an interpreter. This rule appears to be completely disregarded in modern assemblies where the gift of tongues is said to be in evidence. The prophets had to speak in turn, and if a “revelation be made to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace” (27–33). All the gifts were evidently under the control of those who possessed them.

 

The governing principle in the exercise of the gifts was to be the edification of the assemblies. For this reason the prophetic gift was the more valuable. “Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy . . . He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort.” “He that prophesieth edifieth the church.” “Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying” (14:1–5).

 

Prophesying, or telling forth the mind of God, led to an intelligent grasp of divine counsel, and directed those who heard in the way of mental and moral harmony with God. Doubt of God’s word, then sin, and afterwards death, was the order of the fall in Eden. Belief, righteousness (through Christ, and then by walking in newness of life), and afterwards eternal life, is the order of the rise of man. The reason has its part to play. “Come let us reason together.” To present our bodies a living sacrifice is our “reasonable service.” Prophecy was essential to this in the days when the New Testament did not exist.

 

The reading of the Word of God is the equivalent of it. By it the mind receives instruction in God’s thoughts, and the character of one rightly exercised thereby takes on a likeness to the character of Christ. It is significant that this gift does not appear to be among those claimed in modern manifestations. It is one very susceptible to test. Yet its greater value as set forth by Paul, in its greater benefit and profit in the development of faith and character, would lead us to expect that if any gifts were present, this would be.

[Resource Manager]

“TRYING THE SPIRITS”

 

The abuses called for the instruction which these chapters to the Corinthians supply. The apostle begins by giving the test by which the true was to be known from the false. The desire to excel led to the imitation of gifts, and therefore there was need for a test.

 

The existence of the false need not occasion surprise. The true quickly leads to imitation. There were false prophets in Israel who were severely denounced. “Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken ye to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord” (Jer. 29:8, 9). “Thus saith the Lord, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart” (14:14). The greatest tragedy was when the love of the people went out to the false. “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof”? (5:31).

 

The recurrence of this in New Testament times might be expected. “There shall be false teachers among you.” Their early appearance is shown by the statement that the mystery of iniquity was already working when the apostle wrote to the Thessalonians—one of the earliest letters penned. He also warns them against being misled by word or “by spirit” or by letter as from him, as to the nearness of the day of Christ. Here “spirit” denotes a teacher claiming to be spirit-guided.

 

At Thessalonica they proposed to extinguish the false by suppressing all manifestations. But this was to deprive themselves of the needed ministrations of the true. Paul counselled them not to do this, but to test the teachers, and to retain the good. “Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings; prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from every from of evil” (1 Thess. 5:19–22). The punctuation of the R.V. here given shows that these verses are one statement dealing with one subject.

 

The need for testing the teachers continued as long as the gifts. A generation later John found it necessary to write: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). The “spirit” was a claimant to the possession of the spirit, and the test had to be made because false prophets were in evidence.

 

Jesus commends the Ephesians that they had faithfully put to the proof the teachers who went to them. “Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars” (Rev. 2:2).

 

No one instructed in the Word of God in these and similar testimonies will be surprised at the existence of false claimants to the possession of the gifts of the spirit in these days. But these enlightened by the Word will judge the claims that are made.

[Resource Manager]

THE TEST OF DOCTRINE

 

There is one test which is unfailing—the one put forward by Paul (1 Cor. 12:1–4), and later by John (4:2). It is the test of sound doctrine.

 

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God saith ‘Jesus is anathema’; and that no man can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ but by the Holy Spirit.” In these words Paul reminds his readers that in their earlier life they had experience of the frenzied state manifested by the priests at the idol shrines. The priests and priestesses of “The Great Mother of the Gods,” commonly known as Cybele, “celebrated her rites with wild music and dancing until their frenzied excitement found its culmination in self-scourging, self-laceration, or exhaustion” (Ency. Brit., Vol. X.). But when they joined in these processions to the festivals they were led to “dumb idols.” There were gods many and lords many in the religions of the world; but the Holy One of Israel alone was the living God. And the One Lord was the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The prominent lord was “my lord Serapis,” and the proclamation of the gospel was a challenge to the existence of this and other gods. Controversies easily and conveniently crystallize into formulæ, as is illustrated in the phrases which have described modern aspects of the truth’s warfare, such as “Renunciationism,” “No will,” and “Clean Flesh,” etc. The formula of sound doctrine put forward in this connection in Corinth was “Jesus is Lord”; repudiation was expressed in the words “Jesus is anathema.”

 

No teacher with the true gifts of the spirit would say “Jesus is accursed.” On the other hand, no teacher who was animated by the frenzy of a pagan cult would assert that Jesus was lord. The test of the prophet was the truth of the doctrine he taught. A prophet of God speaks the words of God, and his teaching harmonises with the recognised and acknowledged “law and testimony.”

 

The emphasis had changed in John’s day. Then the issue concerned the nature of Christ. Jesus was acknowledged as Lord, but it was denied that he had “come in the flesh” common to all men. The test again imposed was whether the doctrine taught was right. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come.” John was intolerant of these false teachers, and wrote, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this (true) doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 10, 11).

 

The test is one that can and should be applied in all ages. Is the teaching of those who claim to have the “gifts” in harmony with the Word of God? When men, for example, proclaim the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, it is evident that the spirit in them is not of God; and that any unusual manifestations of power of speech or of healing are but the disorders of excited minds, and the results of suggestion applied under emotional conditions.

[Resource Manager]

“A MORE EXCELLENT WAY”

 

Gifts varied in value and importance; and while Paul says, “Desire earnestly the best gifts,” he adds, “And a still more excellent way shew I unto you.” Let this be well noted. There is something better than the best gifts of the spirit, and that is the way of love as described in ch. 13.

 

Love was essential to the follower of Christ. Its absence nullified any benefit the gifts conferred. To speak with “tongues” when love was absent, was like the clanging of metal in one of the brass foundries of the city, or the clanging of the cymbals of the priestesses of Cybele. Even the gift of prophecy and the gifts of faith and knowledge, if love was not there, were of no value. Almsgiving and martyrdom alike were empty shows and unprofitable if not springing from love (verses 1–3).

 

The necessity of love leads to a description of it as it bore upon those circumstances that were troubling the ecclesia in Corinth. Having done that, Paul shows its importance from the fact that the gifts were part of a temporary arrangement, and therefore not an essential one; while faith, hope and love would continue when the gifts had ceased.

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THE CESSATION OF THE SPIRIT-GIFTS

 

“Charity never faileth: but whether there be (gifts of) prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be (gifts of) tongues, they shall cease; whether there be (a gift of) knowledge, it shall vanish away” (verse 8). Nothing could be plainer than the apostle’s language here. The gift of prophecy was to fail; the gift of tongues had to cease; the gift of knowledge had to vanish away. They were not contemplated as continuing throughout this age, or there would be no point in the remark, “Now abideth faith, hope, love.” If spirit-gifts were co-extensive with the present dispensation what room would there be for faith and hope to abide beyond them; for with the passing of the present age, faith and hope will give place to sight and realisation. The three graces are enduring marks of discipleship, essential then and for all the time; spirit gifts had only a passing service.

 

Paul gives reasons which we do well to follow carefully. “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part” (verse 9). Then, in the words of Dr. Thomas, they were “in the partitive state . . . This phrase rendered in the English Version ‘in part’ is literally ‘from parts’ . . . that is, the word of knowledge and the gifts of prophecy were spirits possessed only by certain individuals of the ecclesia, by parts of the body, not by all the brethren, so that the knowledge and the prophecy proceeded from parts or specially endowed individuals.”

 

But this stage had to cease, when one brother had one gift, and another brother a different gift—each adding his quota to the instruction of the ecclesia of which they were members. “But when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away.” The withdrawal of the gifts coincided with declension in doctrine, as Dr. Thomas remarks in Eureka, Vol. i., page 197; but before it took place “the perfect” had come.

 

This term, “the perfect,” is relative to the subject in hand, namely, the possession of the knowledge of the purpose of God. The impartation of this knowledge was dependent upon the presence of brethren with the gifts of “knowledge” and of “prophecy,” so long as the New Testament was not given, or was only partially complete. As the gospels and the epistles were gradually given to the keeping of the ecclesias, the whole counsel of God was available for all in the completed scriptures, and the “perfect,” so far as the unfolding of the purpose of God was concerned, had come. There has since been no addition to our knowledge. The Apocalypse was the topstone of the literary structure which we call “The Bible.”

 

When we consider what the absence of the New Testament would mean, we can see the need for the gifts; but their necessity passed. No later claims of possession of any gift has added one iota to our knowledge.

 

Two illustrations are given by Paul of the relative states of those who had the gifts and of those who had the completed revelation of God. The first one is taken from human life. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (verse 11). In human life there is growth from childhood with limited knowledge to manhood, when with the full understanding possible in any one case, the things of childhood are put away. The simpler books of growing years are not the mental food of the adult. The childhood stage corresponds to the early days of Christianity—the days of limited knowledge. But all the time knowledge was increasing, with the Spirit guidance into all truth that was promised by Jesus. The manhood stage was reached when a full revelation had been given in the completed written Word. Then the “childish things” (there is no disparagement in the term)—the things of childhood: the spirit-gifts—were put away.

 

The second illustration is equally instructive. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” The “glass” or “mirror” (R.V.) was not the “glass” with which we are familiar, a mirror giving a good reflection of the one looking into it. It was made of burnished metal, and gave only an imperfect reflection. The stage of the gifts corresponded to this; the whole was not clearly seen. “Behold I show you a secret” denotes the passing of some hitherto obscure point. But the full revelation brought a clearness comparable to seeing face to face, and knowing “in part” gave place to full available knowledge to all. Paul concludes with the sentence on the things which abide, “faith, hope, and love,” and of these love is the greater: it is the fruit of the others and it survives them. For with the coming of the Kingdom faith and hope will pass as desire passes with repletion, yet love will still be exhibited, in fulness and perfection, by those who inherit the Kingdom.

[Resource Manager]

THE OBJECT OF SPIRIT GIFTS

 

In another passage Paul treats of the purpose God had in endowing men with the gifts of the Spirit. This has been considered in detail in The Christadelphian, 1931, pages 400 and 547, in connection with “The Letter to the Ephesians.” Brief reference might here be made to it. Speaking of “the grace given,” he says: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statute of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11–13).

 

Certain men, qualified in particular ways, were “given” for the equipping (as the word “perfecting” in this passage means) of the saints; and it is noticeable that all the qualifications here named are for instruction. For what was the equipment?—for the work of service. What was the service?—the building up of the body of Christ. How long would this service continue?—till we all come to a perfect man, not perfect men, but “a perfect Man,” which is the “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Jesus is the head of this perfect Man, and the church is his body; the whole forming the “fulness of Christ.”

 

Now this equipment of the saints for this work was completed when Jesus sent his angel to give to John the last message. No additions have been made since then. The scriptures make wise unto salvation; search reveals the purpose of God and the way to eternal life. They supply that doctrine, reproof, correction in righteousness, which thoroughly furnishes the man of God unto every good work. The craving for gifts is an uninstructed desire for something that was partial and temporary, but which, like all God’s arrangements, was well designed to do His work at the time.

 

Without these spirit-guided men, in the absence of the apostle the ecclesias would have been the prey of every ingenious speculator into philosophy. Their presence safeguarded “the deposit” of doctrine. But the full revelation cut out further speculation concerning any unrevealed portion of God’s purpose, and the law and the testimony in the Old and New Testaments became the standard of appeal in all subsequent contentions for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.

 

The instruction of these gifted brethren guided the course of the ecclesias through the stormy winds of doctrine; it exposed the cunning deceit of the false teachers. Equally so in our day does application to the “Word of God’s grace” fit the reader to hold fast the form of sound words.

 

God is taking out of the nations a people. The means employed is the preaching of the Word. The oral message of the first century, with its appeal to and reasoning from the Old Testament, was the authoritative expression of God’s will. The inspired writings of the New Testament collected together under the guidance of the Spirit in the prophets of the first century exercise the same authority to-day. Hence we may take to ourselves the counsel of the apostle: “I commend you to God, and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified.”

 

JOHN CARTER

 

The Christadelphian 1934

Carter, J. The Gifts of the Spirit.

 

http://www.thechristadelphian.com/

 

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