TOOL KIT TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sermon Passage breakdown for Sundays
Three Foundational Questions on Spiritual Gifts
The Specific Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Finding Your Gift and Your Place
There are a couple of formative questions that you may have asked or that someone has asked you. Here are a couple that may help your own journey and your shepherding of others.
Among good, sincere believers, there is significant discussion in the church today about the continuance of some of the spiritual gifts, particularly the sign or miraculous gifts. This conversation is kind, respectful and bible-based at its best, but at its worst it can be angry and divisive. It sadly smacks of devilish influence when the very gifts the Holy Spirit gives the church for her maturity and growth become fuel for division, conflict and condemnation. We must carefully guard our hearts against such disunity and continue to strive for biblical integrity and relational grace.
Of the different views, there are some who believe the sign and miraculous gifts were only operative in the transitional period of the church’s infancy, roughly the first century AD or so. This view sees these gifts functioning to authenticate the apostles and the birth of the church under their leadership. As the church grew, expanded and matured, the sign gifts faded. Those who hold this general view are diverse in their understanding of the particulars.
There are others who maintain that all of the spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament remain available and operative in the church today, including the sign and miraculous gifts. This view, as its alternative, has great diversity in its particulars, especially regarding the place and practice of the gifts within worship services and the fuller life of the church.
Personally, as I (Scot) have read and studied the New Testament and spiritual gifts at length, I find the biblical arguments for a continuation of all gifts more convincing than the arguments for a cessation of certain gifts. My experiences with hundreds of believers on diverse mission fields and in churches around the world seem to confirm this interpretation. But I also believe that the Scriptures specifically prescribe why and how the gifts are to be employed, as Paul reminds us generally and specifically. Ultimately, faithfulness to the biblical revelation and the revealed power and purposes of the Holy Spirit’s grace gifts should be our continual goal.
The classic case for cessationism (the theological belief that the “miraculous sign” gifts of the Holy Spirit were intended for the transitional phase of the birth of the church (essentially the timeline of the Book of Acts) and are now longer available today) is rather new on the theological timeline of the church era. Every explanation for cessationism that I’ve personally encountered leans heavily on 1 Corinthians 13:10: “...but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” Within the context of spiritual gifts, chapter 13 is about love as the glue that holds all of the gifts together, yet it explicitly relates prophecy, tongues and knowledge in the verses just before verse 10. Here some find an anchor text for cessationism, as they translate “the perfect” as the church age or completion of the transition to apostolic authority, etc. Yet this is a forced interpretation for “the perfect.” Written likely in the early 50’s AD, Paul here is most assuredly referencing the return of Christ. Until then, gifts will remain, even if “partially” corrupted by the flesh and sin.
Apart from this text there seems to be no other direct textual evidence that suggests an end to some of the spiritual gifts and a continuance of others. The full force of all five of the spiritual gift lists (Romans 12; Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12 (two distinct lists) and 1 Peter 4) are clearly applicable and available to the contemporary reader. There is no substantive change in spiritual reality or occasion for us today. Thus all of the gifts listed (and likely many others intimated; the lists do not appear to be exhaustive) are available to the church today.
The only place that directly addresses this question in the NT is 1 Corinthians 12-14. As we’ve mentioned briefly above, the context in Corinth was church gatherings that expressed arrogant divisions, unaddressed sin, idolatry and foolishness in community, issues in the celebration of Lord’s Supper, misunderstandings on theology related to the gospel and resurrection, as well as a “love feast” and “worship” gathering that seemed to be a mixed salad of gift expressions, superiority complexes, interruptions and distractions. This gives color to Paul’s words, which keep returning to the “test” of church edification. “Is it edifying to the church?” seems to be the central question. “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.” 1 Corinthians 14:12
“Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.” 14:20.
“What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent.For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” 14:26-33. (We will save the following “women are to keep silent” pericope for a future discussion.)
“If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment. But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.” 14:37-40.
The entire multi-chapter section on spiritual gifts concludes here. Rather than see this instruction as a strict set of legalistic rules (yet without dismissing or whitewashing the instruction), perhaps it is best to practically focus on the corrections and the test of edification, particularly as it relates to gifts that are corporate or expressed (i.e. tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge/wisdom, exhortation, etc.). Church gatherings must retain a certain measure of messiness and “danger” if they are to be real, authentic and reflect the experience of real life in a corrupt world. This does not conflict with Paul’s call for things being done “properly and in an orderly manner.” It simply allows for a receptiveness to the unexpected and unplanned. Yet all church gatherings must also have a great measure of holiness, reverence, somber realization of the presence of God, etc. This creates a “tension” rather than a “rule” or, much less, a safe “routine.” Leaders must lead and be recognized as leaders. The church family must submit to their recognized shepherds. And shepherds must be mature, spiritual, trustworthy and free from guile as they care for and guide the body in gatherings (whether up front or behind the scenes). The expression of spiritual gifts in Sunday gatherings, or other gatherings, will best happen within this kind of free yet reverent atmosphere, a culture of wonder and awe, yet order and edification. We must embrace the tension and reject the fear of man that will keep us from seeing all that God wants to do in our church.
In greater specificity to the question above, Paul instructs that tongues expressed in church gatherings should be “limited” rather than “unlimited” in number of speakers, and they should be interpreted rather than left uninterpreted. This conclusion is undeniable from the texts we note above. The alternative is a personal prayer tongue that is not intended to be interpreted as a broadcast message to others, but meant to edify the person’s spirit in prayer, regardless of whether the prayer is personal in nature or directed toward the benefit of another. This distinction is important and helpful. This distinctly identifies the “congregational edification” of an interpreted tongue message meant for the community from the private personal tongue prayer or worship not intended for direct congregational edification, but rather the edification of the individual expressing the gift.