IN THE WRITINGS OF PAUL
Romans 1:11-12.
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established-- 12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
Paul wanted to be with the Roman believers. His heart was to establish them in the things of God. Now, he was a man of the Scriptures, and would surely share the Word and the Gospel with them. They easily had access to the Old Covenant already, and whatever teachings were needed for them Paul and other teachers could supply.
But what Paul wanted to impart was a spiritual gift, that is, a gift of the Spirit. He wanted to lay hands on them and give them the supernatural ability to know and to experience heavenly realities. Later he mentions he wanted to see fruit among them too, and he writes them this extensive letter that goes deep into doctrine. But let us not fail to see that doctrine and scripture, wonderful in themselves, are meant to point people to an encounter with Jesus. One without the other is not a complete empowering.
Romans 8.
Here is a chapter that has been embraced by so much of the church, from those seeking personal direction for the Spirit-filled walk to those who love a good debate. My purposes again are to speak what the apostles spoke about the Spirit in the church, for our day.
Romans 8:1-11
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
It is possible to walk and live according to the Spirit. None would debate that, for sure, but what exactly does it mean to be “in the Spirit,” the phrase of verse 9? Whatever it means, Paul rules out ever pleasing God if you are not there.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit is not His. In verse 10 Paul equates Christ being in you with the Spirit being in you. That harmonizes with the promise of Jesus to the disciples, “I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.” He meant the Spirit. But He equally meant Himself.
So one thing we can gain from this passage is that receiving Christ and receiving the Spirit are synonymous. The experiences of repentance, faith, even water baptism, all usually precede the entry of the Holy One into the cleansed human tabernacle. But when He comes in, He doesn’t come in first as Jesus, then later as the Spirit. It is one event.
And as we have seen earlier, it is a know-so moment. Ever after you will look back to that event as the one that changed everything, the time when you tasted heaven for the first time, the occasion when those around you saw something different.
Romans 8:12-18
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. This section speaks of the work of that Spirit, once received. By the Spirit we live the Christian life. The Spirit keeps telling us who we are in Him. The Spirit calls us to suffer with Him.
Romans 8:19-28.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Another work of the Spirit here is mentioned. He helps us when we are weak. How? Well, since we do not know how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us. In what way? With groaning. Groanings that cannot be uttered. Then the One who knows our heart picks up the signal of the Spirit, and makes whatever it is we need, to fit in with His eternal purposes.
The point here is that the Spirit is within us, not in space communicating to the Father in a vacuum of some sort. He is speaking through us. The groan passes through the noise-makers inside of us and registers in heaven, all translated and ready to be served. Jesus “groaned” in the Spirit also. These are not terms commonly talked about, but the Scripture here is clear, I believe: The Spirit uses our body to reach God the Father.
Romans 12:3-8.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans is not noted for its “Pentecostal” content as are Acts and Corinthians, but it needs to be said that the teaching of the gifts of the Spirit is pretty pervasive in Scripture. Here in the strongest statement of doctrine perhaps of all the letters is a casual mention of the normalcy of gifts given by God. Though overlapping slightly with Paul’s other listing, the list is very different, leading us to the supposition that all that God gives to His people is not recorded in the Scriptures. Oh, everything we need is there! But once one is pointed to the Spirit by the Word of God, perhaps the Spirit leads that person into a lot of surprises!
Prophecy is the one common element whenever gifts appear or are spelled out in Scripture. Paul honored it as the premier grace to pursue in the area of giftedness. A key to New Testament prophecy is given here. The utterances are based on the faith of the believer and his ability to hear God properly. Old Covenant prophecy was an anointing that rested upon the man of God. In the New and Better Way, the graces all come from within and are ministered by faith, the key ingredient for all use of the gifts.
Ministry is called a gift here. The ability to serve others is in some cases itself supernatural. Teaching is a gift of the Spirit, as is exhortation, giving, leading, even mercy.
Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” So even things that do not look like they are from Heaven, in many cases are. Paul does not seem to differentiate the obviously miraculous other-earthly gifts from anointed and inspired giving. It’s a factor that seems lost on some when they are saying “No gifts exist today!” Should we erase this bunch of blessings too? Or simply weed out the ones that supposedly have “died out” and claim the rest?
Perhaps we can get out of it more easily by saying that Paul really meant to say fruits for this list, since he clearly leads into fruit-related instructions as the chapter rolls on. Then all you have to do is say that prophecy means preaching, and once more you’re left with a church that doesn’t need to believe God for anything that interrupts the current flow.
For me, I’ll stick with what is written so I can have what is not. Paul said that God’s grace was releasing gifts into that Roman church. I think that is exactly what happened. One person could prophesy better than anything, another had the peculiar gift of being able to stand up and exhort the brothers, that is, encourage and challenge them on in their walk with God. When the plate was passed, there was this family that just kept giving and giving, setting a miraculous example of what God was looking for in all His saints. And so on.
Why not believe God for a church like this instead of rewriting things based on the absence of such occurrences in our individual congregations?
Romans 15:13.
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Even joy and peace must enter us by a powerful Holy Ghost, says Paul.
Romans 15:18-19.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient-- 19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
Who’s into signs and wonders, anyway? Paul, for one. And he makes it clear that they were not of his doing, but solely God’s. And why did God go to all that trouble? Paul says it was to make the Gentiles obedient. Paul preached, God sent the signs and wonders. And there are many testimonies out there today of people preaching, and God doing what He used to do. He never really changed, by the way. We did.
The choices you have when hearing these things:
1. Write it off as not of the Lord, a dangerous tactic at best. Are you willing and/or able to investigate every claim worldwide and judge as to whether or not it was God? Or have you found a Scripture that I have not yet found that simply claims all of this will stop? (I know, I know, I Corinthians 13. We’ll get there soon. I have a shock for some.)
2. Theoretically accept it but ignore it. It will go away if we do that. No, it won’t. In fact it increases as I write. It will affect your ministry and your family eventually. This is a day of worldwide communication. These miracles are being heralded around the world. Are you absolutely sure you can just let it be?
3. Investigate the Word and pray and ask God if this is real, and if there is something He wants of you in these days.
I Corinthians 1:4-8.
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we move into the first letter to Corinth, we all probably understand that just as Acts is the experiential center of the Holy Spirit’s works in the Christian Church, I Corinthians is the doctrinal center on this topic.
Some are quick to write off gifting today because of Paul’s seemingly harsh corrections of the abuses in this church. But oh may God give us more churches in our day that need such correcting, rather than more churches that have no move of God’s power evident among them, and therefore have nothing to correct!
From this first chapter, clues are being given as to God’s expectation regarding the serious subject at hand. His first comments are quite positive indeed! Paul says that this church was being enriched by gifts that affected the tongue and the understanding. More. He says that the testimony of Jesus was being confirmed among the Corinthians so much that they had every imaginable gift! Still more. Jesus is going to keep confirming you this way, he says, until He is revealed from Heaven! Why? So that when He does come you will be blameless.
Sounds like a pretty high recommendation for gifts of the Spirit to me. Sounds like Paul and the Spirit have a permanent plan in place until Jesus comes. Who said this was all supposed to stop or even slow down?
I Corinthians 2:1-5.
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul was an intellect in his former days. A true scholar of Israel, trained by her finest doctors of the law. But just as Christ came into the world despising Heavenly privilege, Paul had to lay down much in order to be used of God. His fine words, doctoral degrees, ideas of men or even of the law of Moses, would not work in bringing Corinthians to Christ. What would work? Demonstrations of the Spirit and of power. That men would trust in God’s power, not the power of human persuasion.
“But that was an apostle!” everyone wants to say. To answer that, read above about Philip and Ananias. The power of God is anyone’s best way to bring people to Christ.
I Corinthians 2:9-12.
9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
God has prepared wonderful things for those who love Him. The only way for us to access those things and truly appreciate them is through the Spirit within us. Here many will take exception to the line of thought I have been following, for finally they can see where the written Word of God, the New Testament, is the interpretation of passages like these. Surely, they say, the apostles received revelations such as these, but they wrote them down for us so that we do not have to receive them in the first century way.
But any born-again student of the Bible knows that there is a difference between education and revelation, when speaking of Bible reading. It is still the Spirit of God within us that illuminates the Scriptures as they are read, speaking again individually to us the very Word He wants us to hear.
Take it a step further. There is no Bible in sight. You are driving down the street. A Word from Scripture comes into your heart, something you needed to hear. Voila! The Spirit has spoken.
Can you bear one step more? Suppose a message comes to you that is entirely consistent with Scripture but is not exactly a chapter and verse? Can you believe that that, too, is God speaking? If so, perhaps you already believe in the gifts of the Spirit today. For when you speak out this “word” that has just come to you, you are involved in prophecy! Or the word of knowledge! Or a word of wisdom!
I Corinthians 4:18-20.
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
Paul was a father figure to the infant churches he started. In the name of the Lord he was not afraid to wield the rod when needed. But some didn’t believe it, hadn’t experienced his fatherly ways up close and personal. They even thought he was a phony who knew how to talk a lot, he had no real power. Like ministers they had seen before. And like many in our own day. Paul’s critics were becoming puffed up by their self-convincing diatribes against Paul.
So Paul threatens to show up and have a showdown. “Then we’ll see who is just talk and who is real power!” Then he says it, the message that needs to be said in our generation over and over until we get it: The kingdom of God is not in word but in power. No doubt his detractors could quote Scriptures, and say all sorts of spiritual-sounding words. But Paul could come in to the assembly and cast a demon out. Or a human if need be. He could “read their mail” with a word of knowledge or wisdom. He could prophesy their coming period of sitting aside on the shelf while they learn not to come against the man of God. Such was his rod. It was the rod of God, like the one used at the Red Sea, but in our day applied to the spiritual posterior of God’s kids that get out of line. Of course, God’s corrections are meant to bring us back to Him, not judge us. But they still don’t feel so good.
My point here is that, once more, there seems no reason whatever why such powerful instruments of the Holy Spirit would be absent from the church, from the second century on.
I Corinthians 5:4-5.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
He speaks here of a man caught in the snares of sexual sin, who is to be delivered by this same power of which Paul speaks, to the enemy’s camp until he repents, so that ultimately he can be saved. Kept without this severe action, the man will never see his sin and never finish his race.
Ex-communication was a powerful tool of the Roman machine that grew out of the early church. Emperors trembled at the possibility of being kept from eternal life by a Pope’s word. And Popes on their part used to their political advantage such a powerful method. Fact was, most of those who were afraid of being cast out of the church were probably not in the true church anyway. So the threat was mere imagination. But it worked. To a lesser degree, such methods work in the church today, but are seriously difficult. This is because they are done in the natural. A pastor feels so and so must go, and he may be right, but how does one who depends on a church for his income, in our day especially, come against the powers that be in a local congregation (and we all know that they “be”)?
Paul would seem to have an answer here, when it comes to an unrepentant obviously aggravating sinner. It’s the power of God. How that might look I cannot tell, for God has many arrows in his quiver, but the feeling is that, like Israel of old, and as with Ananias and Saphira in the New age, the church would know that God had spoken on this issue.
Yes, Holy Spirit, we truly need you in our midst today!
I Corinthians 12-14.
These three chapters are the most helpful, I believe, in discerning whether the gifts and power of God are for our generation. The only nearly reasonable argument against same is found in chapter 13. Note that these three chapters should be looked upon as one, or one section of the letter, whose topic is “spirituals,” or as translated in most versions, spiritual gifts, i.e. gifts of the Spirit.
Here we will go slowly, continuing our search for clues to the mystery of the absent miracles of our day.
I Corinthians 12.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
The first thing we learn is that ignorance about gifts is not acceptable. This is a critical study. Then Paul reminds them of their past dealings with spiritual matters, albeit the wrong spirits. In their former worship they might say just about anything. Not so in Christ. When the Holy Spirit is speaking through a man today, the message will be according to God’s revealed will.
Verse 7 seems to indicate that any Christian person is a candidate for one or more of these gifts, which he enumerates. There have been some who have wanted to explain certain of these items in such a way as to minimize the miracle and thus allow them in, as natural giftings. The “word of wisdom” just means, to them, an utterance of a wise man. But, though all true wisdom is from the Lord, the “word of wisdom” is not the same as the flow of wisdom in any believer’s heart. It is a Divinely ordered solution to a problem or mystery that only God could reveal.
A “word of knowledge,” likewise, is not an idea from a smart man or woman, it is a piece of information that only God knows, released into a situation that will cause one to know God is real.
Likewise there is the normal faith God expects from all of us, and a supernatural faith expressed without effort in a given crisis.
All these gifts are given by God to various individuals in differing circumstances. They are pure grace. They cannot be earned or demanded. As the Spirit flows, the gifts flow.
12:13 is a key verse in this discussion. There is only one Holy Spirit. The Spirit in one believer is no different in identity than the Spirit in another believer. An individual can be said to be baptized in the Holy Ghost, as John the Baptist prophesied. But Paul points out that the entire Body of Christ, the true Body, has been baptized corporately by that one Spirit.
Hence it is vain for man to look for boundaries of the church. Your denomination, my denomination, this belief, that belief. The church, the body of Christ, is that group of people who have lived in every age and been baptized in the Holy Ghost, made to drink of that one River of life.
The eloquent discussion of the members of the body that follows next, continues to give the lie to the idea that these gifts are gone. How many preachers who totally ignore the possibility of gifts in our generation, have used this passage to demonstrate a point about church unity? But the verses before us are about supernatural graces. The conclusion of chapter 12 points this out again:
Here the apostle once more gives us a list of persons and ministries that ought to be in the church.
1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Teachers
4. Miracles
5. Healings
6. Helps
7. Administrations
8. Tongues
He says God has appointed all these things. So where are they today?
Chapter 12 ends with a double challenge. First, says Paul, you have the right to go after what you consider to be the best gifts. He will spell out later what the basis of good-better-best is. But second, there’s a better way than gifts available to pursue.
Here, many are certain that they can dump the whole idea of gifts and miracles, because, after all, love is so much more important. Doesn’t it seem odd that Paul would spend so much time in chapters 12 and 14 describing and regulating these gifts, if he thought they were to be abandoned once everyone decided to love?
No, Paul’s pointing people to love in no way negates the gifts. It gives the gift a reason to be. Once one has decided to love, how better express that love than by putting people in touch with the power of God? If my child is sick, love wants that child to be healed. I am in debt to find the best way possible for the healing to take place. Is there a better way I could love than by laying my hands on the child and believing God for her healing?
No, gifts are not in opposition to love. But gifts without love are meaningless. That is the point of I Corinthians 13. And beyond its description of what love is and is not, that chapter holds another secret, maybe the most important one, to the whole discussion of the termination of gifts also. Let’s hurry to it.
I Corinthians 13.
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Famous in its own right because of its beautiful description of love, this chapter also serves as a central point in the discussion of whether or not the gifts of the Spirit are available to the modern-day church.
Paul’s opening salvo in this chapter is a bit unnerving, even startling. He first suggests that it is not only possible to speak with human tongues, but also in the languages of angels. I feel it is a bit of a stretch to put our modern interpretation, that we are to speak in angelic languages, into Paul’s mind. The text sounds more like an exaggeration to emphasize his point. And his point here is that no language, however miraculous, containing however much of spiritual content, spoken out of arrogance or self-aggrandizement, is in any way valuable to God.
He does not here deny the existence of the gift. Only its improperly motivated usage.
He makes similar statements about the gifts of prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge, and faith. No love equals no value to God or man. Not: "love is, therefore gifts aren’t," as some would prefer it to be.
We must go to verse 8 of this monumental text to find the one and only verse in the entire Bible that seems to hint that there will come a time in church history when the gifts of the Spirit will pass into oblivion, swallowed up by the excellence of the practice of love.
“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”
There you have it. Tongues will cease. The verse everyone wants. Most moderns exterminate all the other gifts when tongues are done away with, for convenience of the argument. But of course, to be honest, it is only tongues that is promised an end here.
The question begging to be answered of course is, “When shall tongues cease?”
Though Paul does not mention tongues again, in principle he answers this question by talking of prophecy’s future. I will treat them as one package.
First, prophecies will fail, says Paul. It’s a fact that many have failed through the years. We are reminded often that Old Testament prophets were not allowed the luxury of a failed prophecy. Those who prophesied falsely in those days were run out of town or stoned. No tolerance was permitted, and thus it should be.
As we will see in the next chapter, New Testament prophecy, though not held to a lower standard, certainly functions in a different way. The fact that prophecies are subject to the correction of the church (as we will see) allows for the possibility that some prophecies aren’t quite mature when given. But God has ordained in our day the functioning of other gifts to keep prophecies in their place. More later.
So prophecies will fail. True love will not. Again he compares, he does not supplant. Prophecy is not doomed to leave us, not until the other gifts do.
But again, when will that be? That explanation begins in verse 9 and continues to verse 12. Understanding those four verses is, in my opinion, our gateway into the free expression of the Holy Spirit’s power in our day. That may seem like a pretty strong statement, but I challenge my readers to ask any knowledgeable “Bible-believing” Christian in our day exactly why he is sure the gifts do not exist today, and he will point you to the latter verses of I Corinthians 13. It is the only text I lived on for many years. I had to deny all that was going on all around the world. I had to exempt myself from a huge part of the church. I had to be skeptical of everyone who ever had a miracle happen to him. All because of a wrong understanding of these verses. Stay with me…
Prophecy, gifts of knowledge, tongues, are all examples of a totally imperfect body of facts at our disposal. There is just so much to know, and we know so little. The gifts give us bits and pieces at a time, to keep us going for now. We have what we need, but we don’t have all there is to have. That’s a long paraphrase of verse 9.
But, Verse 10, one day we will have total knowledge of everything, and we won’t need the little bits and pieces any longer. The mysteries will be “out there”, resolved. We will know fully about each other, about our Heavenly home, about the people and teachings of the Bible, we’ll have it all!
Verse 11: It’s like the difference between being a child and being an adult. How much does a child know about life? To a child, everything is mysterious, and then little by little this fact and that understanding is added until, as an adult, he is perfectly able to function in adult ways. So it will be when the perfect state comes. The church will be in perfect unity, perfect understanding, perfect everything.
Verse 12: Another example is the image you get in looking at yourself in a first century mirror, compared to looking at someone face to face. So many more details, total reality will be available on that day.
Why, on that day I shall have the same knowledge of myself that God has about me already. No one will have to encourage me with a short “word” from Heaven about my future or about God’s love for me or about the direction of my life or my character: I’ll know all that!
Though I have expanded the verses in what I consider to be a fair explanation of each line, I have not committed myself to the answer to the question I have posed. Hopefully you are still curious. Well I am just as eager to share with you as you are curious to know.
There are two possibilities popularly taught in the attempt at understanding of Paul’s words:
1. “That which is perfect” is the Bible. When we have perfect knowledge of doctrinal truths, we will not need someone saying imperfect and partial truths. The Bible therefore supplants all the gifts. All we must do is learn and then teach the Bible, and there will be absolutely no need for any gifts in our day. A huge portion of the Christian church operates under this assumption, and feels it is justified in ignoring anything of the miraculous, even things not officially covered by Paul here.
2. “That which is perfect” is the state of affairs that will prevail when Jesus Christ comes back to planet earth and sets up His kingdom. It is obvious that this answer deals with the doctrinal perfection that will then exist, and the unity of the faith to which we all come. But it also deals with the personal issues Paul brings up. For you see, knowing the Bible does not cover the concept of knowing myself as I was fully known. When Jesus comes I shall be known in this way, but reading the Bible does not fulfill this interpretation. Persons who believe that the gifts are here until Jesus comes are free to move into them now, as well they should. Paul in no way was trying to destroy the faith that he builds up in other places by listing gifts, describing gifts, setting regulations for gifts. Too much of our Bible is given to this subject for it to have been for the first century alone.
We are now free to move about the world, praying for the sick in the power of a never-changing Jesus! The proper interpretation of I Corinthians 13 makes people take a second look at what is happening in the church around them. Formerly they may have thought, “What I cannot see must not be available.” But herein is a great fallacy. God Himself cannot be seen. The creation and the crucifixion and the resurrection and all the rest are based on a clear Word from God and must be accepted first by faith. So it is with the Power of the Spirit and His gifts. Word first. Faith second. Then experience, the missing ingredient.
We are also free now to move on to chapter 14 to deal with some of the tongues and prophecy issues, always remembering that Paul corrects them without denying their future existence!
I Corinthians 14.
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification. 6 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? 7 Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? 8 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle? 9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance. 11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. 12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. 13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. 18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. 21 In the law it is written: "With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me," says the Lord. 22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. 23 Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you. 26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. 36 Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? 37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant. 39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
At the onset, we are told to pursue love first, and then to desire these gifts. Could it be that the gradual elimination of spiritual power through the centuries came from a lack of desire? What did men want more than God’s power? Perhaps the power of men? For the church that began to rise from the old Roman Empire became a new Roman Empire dealing heavily in politics and not in the things of God. That’s a story in and of itself. (Told in detail in my Scarlet Threads series)
Paul uses the rest of this chapter to compare prophecy with tongues, showing the clear superiority of the former over the latter. Though tongues are not to be despised, they are not to be chosen when a choice is offered. At the very least, the tongue-speaker (in church) should be in serious prayer for an interpretation of what he is saying, so that all may profit. And profit (edification is the word used by Paul) is the bottom line of all the gifts. Otherwise what one has is mere show, and can cause great confusion.
But though he seems to sound negative about tongues, it is only the abuses he wants to correct. Let no one back off from this gift! Take a look at the light shed on the subject in verses 4 and 18: “I wish you all spoke with tongues…” and “I speak with tongues more than you all.”
In each case there is a “however”, however… “However, I wish even more, that you prophesied,” and, “However, I’d rather speak five words of prophecy than 10,000 words in a language you don’t understand.”
Another fascinating and defining moment in this chapter comes in verse 15, casually answering the question that many have offered over time: What does it really mean to pray in the spirit or with the spirit? One might want to capitalize “spirit”, at least until verse 14: “If I pray in a tongue my spirit prays…” Of course, the born again man is one whose spirit has been united to the Holy Spirit.
Be that as it may, Paul equates, in these two verses, praying with the spirit and praying in a tongue. Singing with the spirit, even asking the blessing over food with the spirit, are all the same thing in this passage: tongues. And as such, they need an interpretation in the church. Otherwise, besides that lack of edification, there will be also the problem that people will say you are out of your mind. So God does not call us to be strange and weird for weirdness’ sake, but only if one of His purposes will be met.
Now at your home, there are no such rules! But notice how casually Paul mentions all of this as though these first century believers knew exactly what he was talking about, and expected this to be the way of life from that point on.
And after correcting the tongues problem he even gives rules for prophecy, suggesting that this gift, which is far beyond mere preaching, is to be honored over all the others. Prophecy is so powerful that a man’s entire heart can be revealed, driving him to repentance on the spot!
The main point he makes about prophecy in his regulations is that it must be subject to the body of Christ. It is not forced by God. It is given freely from a man’s Spirit-connected spirit. The group of prophets in the church is to oversee the gift, and keep it from getting away from the mind of God. Discernment must always be in mind, and never should prophecy be feared or un-questioned. Unlike the prophet of old, today’s prophets share the anointing with the entire church, and must submit to that anointing.
Note also that the prophet is an educator and an encourager, not only a herald of gloom and doom.
His final word on this matter: Desire! Desire earnestly. Desire to prophesy! Not spoken to prophets, apostles, leaders. Spoken to the church at Corinth, as was the message about the resurrection, immorality, marriage, and so on. All those messages are for us, today. So let’s get with God’s program and start desiring to prophesy!
Oh, Paul adds, don’t stop people from speaking in tongues either. Just remind them to keep the body in mind by interpreting.
You say, they don’t do it that way today. True, the abuses continue in the 21st century! Hence the need for Paul’s sage advice. But to admit the abuses continue is to admit that the gifts do, also.
You say, it’s all confusion and out of order. Perhaps, but not all of that has to do with abuse. Some of it has to do with the fact that the gift-less church is even more out of order for not allowing gifts, and when they are re-introduced, the status quo is disturbed. God is trying to restore His order today, not to maintain man’s.
II Corinthians 3:7-11.
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
How glorious is the worship at your church? How much of God’s glory is visible and creating excitement among your members? Paul says that even the Old Covenant was glorious. Think plagues, Red Sea, manna, Ten Commandments. Exciting stuff happened with Moses and company. Shouldn’t it be so among us too? And not only at the beginning, but all the way through our pilgrimage?
Galatians 3:2-5.
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? 5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?--
Here are some insights as to how the Spirit is received. When one hears the Word of God in faith, he becomes a candidate for this experience. The one “supplying” the Spirit via the laying on of hands or a prayer, also must operate in faith. The apostle demands that obeying the 10 commandments is not the way to receive the Spirit of God. God gives the Spirit to those who obey the command to believe.
Ephesians 4:11.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…
All denominations that I know of accept this passage after the word “prophets.” Before and including that word, it’s no dice. We don’t need prophets today. Reason, reason, reason. We don’t need apostles today. Reason, reason, reason. And that’s final. But we have seen so far in this study that there is no reason whatever to claim that the church of today should be different from the church of yesterday. Apostles are those sent by the Lord to establish His work where it has never gone. We like to add in the other qualification, that they must have seen the risen Lord. But the Bible does not back up that rule. While it is quite possible that the Lord Himself appears to all apostles even in our day, one would be hard pressed to prove that that is a necessity.
Paul says, “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ…?” Though spoken in the same breath, one idea does not support the other. Rather, all three support the one point he is trying to make: he has the right to ask for financial support. Seeing Jesus Christ may be no more a qualification for apostleship than being “free.”
The odd thing about all of this is that those who claim the loudest that there are no such things as apostles in our day, i.e., Bible-believers, would be first to tell you that they believe in missionaries. “Missionary”, a word foreign to Scripture altogether, comes from the Latin, and means exactly the same thing as the Greek-based “apostle.” A bit of inconsistency here. Are not Missionaries those sent by the Lord to establish His work where it has never been? And though they may not talk much about it back home on fund-raising trips, many of these missionary-apostles have dabbled in the power of God! You see, other parts of the world see miracles quite often.
Just as with the gifts of the Spirit, could it be that certain offices that were in the New Testament church need to be restored in our day.
I cannot close this section, though, without suggesting, and rather strongly, that there are indeed false apostles among us. These are men who pervert the Scriptures, men who have paid no price for following Jesus, and whose bank account makes them suspect.
Apostles are made apostles by direct, obvious, and documentable connection to Jesus Christ. Let none others be trusted.
And, need I say it? There is a class of apostles that are foundational eye-witnesses of the resurrected Lord, whose word is never to be doubted. These are men like Matthew and John and Peter and Paul who gave us the Scriptures and their lives.
If there be apostles today, they must be in perfect agreement with these originals or be shunned.
Ephesians 5:18-19.
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
In an allusion to that raucous experience that all had on the Day of Pentecost, Paul here strongly suggests that all drunkenness be confined to the New Wine of the Spirit. Though all today agree in principle that believers ought to be so filled, not too many see that a total fill-up is bound to have some wonderful side-effects. I’ve heard of churches that are now recommending designated drivers to get certain persons home from church! How many jaws would drop in how many churches were that suggestion made this Sunday from the pulpit? And this is precisely because the Word of God is a theory only in so many of these places.
Ephesians 6:17-18.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--
Even everyone’s favorite warfare passage cannot be fully enjoyed if gifts are not allowed today. Paul clearly instructs all believers of all time to pray with all types of prayer (petition, praise, thanksgiving, etc) in the Spirit. And he defined that latter activity in his letter to Corinth.
Philippians 3:3.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
Now Paul identifies believers as people who worship in the Spirit, obeying the wishes of Jesus expressed way back in John chapter 4. “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Worship and prayer and song in the Spirit means under control of the Spirit, and not being governed by our mind, but by His. In which case, we do not know what we are saying: that is, in other languages.
Colossians 3:16.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord
Three types of music are recommended to the believers: psalms, as those in our own Biblical collection, set to music. Hymns, probably songs based on Scripture, but not necessarily word for word quotes. And Spirit songs, songs that emanate from the heart of God, thus gaining God’s approval immediately. And remember yet again, singing in the spirit, Paul says to Corinth, is the opposite of singing with understanding.
I Thessalonians 1:5.
5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
In city after city the Spirit moved in power as Jesus was introduced by Paul’s preaching. Word is important, but word alone was never the full ticket. Here in Thessalonica also the Gospel came in the Holy Spirit. That’s not just poetic language. That’s Heaven invading Earth. And the invasion needs to continue in the same way today.
I Thessalonians 5:19-21.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
Serious warnings that need to be taken to heart by today’s church are first issued in this first century church: 1. Do not quench the Spirit. Fire can be put out. The Spirit does not force Himself on the unwilling. He is there because someone wants Him to be there. If enough unbelief, or criticism, or negativity, or strife, or lukewarm content, is present in a group, the fire will be doused. And 2. Do not despise prophecies. Assuming the church in general is flowing in Spirit fire, let not individuals privately or publicly show disdain for what is said or how it is done. The next verse admonishes honest testing, to be sure, not out of doubt or challenge, but out of desire for the truth to be manifested.
I Timothy 1:18.
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
Timothy is second generation. Not an original apostle, but considered a part of the apostolic band. Called by us the “pastor” of a “local church”, he was in fact a temporary apostolic-appointed leader until Spirit-filled elders could take the reins of the fledgling assembly. But though he was not in the “original” group he understood the miraculous. Prophecies had been made over him, and Timothy is here told to use them to be strong in the battle he must wage. We gain much of our inspiration from the Scriptures, to be sure, but we also are to receive and use prophecies that encourage us in the work of the Lord.
I Timothy 4:14.
14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
Again Paul reminds his son in the faith that he was endowed by the laying on of hands with a particular gift. Timothy does not just remember the praying event, he remembers what occurred. There is a difference. Many of us can remember when people prayed over us. But how many can remember the sensation of an impartation that took place? It is this living reality that enters from outside our own conscious self that I have been discussing in these pages. We need to know of the very Presence of God that is different from our regular physical and mental sensations.
II Timothy 1:6-7, 14.
6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
14 That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
In keeping with his comments in his first letter, Paul encourages Timothy to stir up what is already there. Quite often, new impartations are not needed, for the gifts of God are permanent. Though new gifts are available, we are often called to bring to the front burner some things we have shoved to the back.
Paul also here helps us to identify that which is and which is not of God. People who are afraid much of the time cannot blame the Spirit of God. God does not give fear. But He does give power, love, and a healthy balanced mind. Anyone deficient in these things is at present operating in the flesh, and needs a filling or re-filling with, and a healing by, the Spirit.
II Timothy 3:15-17.
15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
These verses, appearing as they do in the midst of admonitions regarding the Holy Spirit, the laying on of hands, impartation of gifts etc, need to be taken in a different light than what we have come to know in Bible-only circles. It is true that what is contained in Scripture will thoroughly equip us for all that we need. It is equally true that prayer, relationship to God, intimacy, and the power and love of the Spirit are entities that the Scripture points us to but does not fulfill in itself. That is, scholarship, Bible knowledge, memorization of texts, is not sufficient for the man of God unless he further reaches outside the written Word to the Living Word available to all believers in the form of the Spirit.
Hebrews 2:3-4.
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
The writer of Hebrews adds his confirmation of the need for signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts of the Spirit to be present when the word of the Lord is spoken, especially in times of introduction into a new culture. Of course, new cultures, new neighborhoods, new families, are being encountered daily around the world. The need continues.
Hebrews 6:1-5.
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come…
Laying on of hands, one of the elementary principles in the doctrine of Christ has been conveniently dropped out of circulation by the people of this age. Yet no cause is evident as to why. I speak not of simply laying one’s hands on another shoulders, but the results that followed such a touch in Scripture: the obvious pouring out of the Spirit, a healing, a ministry gift.
Notice in this passage the reference to a vital experience with the Holy Spirit that is possible for those who are enlightened by God. The writer says that those who so partake are actually tasting the powers of the Millennial Kingdom. Away then with the idea that we do not need such things now.
IN THE WRITINGS OF JAMES, PETER, JOHN, and JUDE
James 5:14-18.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
The book of James does not seem to be a place where one might find something fiery and Pentecostal. James is always referred to as “practical.” But in his last chapter he commands for all ages that elders of the church should pray in faith over the sick and expect them to be healed, and even forgiven. He goes on to compare the power of New Testament saints to the power of Old Testament Elijah. The same Spirit is among us to do mighty works in any generation.
I Peter 4:10-11.
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter too assumes the gifts will be around for awhile. He exhorts the flock not only to receive, but to minister gifts to others. Gifts are to flow throughout the Body on a regular basis. And those who speak out in this power are not to consider themselves merely human in those moments. They are actually releasing the oracles of God.
I John 2:20, 27.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Yes, perhaps the word “anointing” gets over-used. But then, for centuries it was hardly used at all. One cannot fault those who are excited about an endowment from Heaven that changes lives and circumstances. John clearly states to a near second century audience that all believers have an anointing of the Spirit that is so strong that potentially all knowledge dwells within them. Corporately, the assembled church has every bit of knowledge it needs to function properly. John wrote this letter as an affront to the Gnostics, the “know-ers,” who made claims of having secret hidden knowledge. John declares that we too have secrets, but we let them out through the gifting He gives us.
I John 5:14-15.
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
More things that we “know”, says John. Since we know that He hears us when we pray, we know that we have whatever we are praying for. One of those blanket statements that His Lord used to make, that so few of us in any generation have tried out.
III John 2.
2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
Yes, God really does want us to be whole. And why not?
Jude 20.
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit…
Even in this smallest of books, those who try to hide from the relevance of a Spirit-filled life are found out. Jude invites us all to build ourselves in the faith by praying in the Spirit. I think we have established what that phrase means.
Revelation 2:2.
2 I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
Those who jump on this judgment of false apostles, and want to do away with the whole office of apostle, perhaps not without basis, will have to re-visit also the lives of pastors and teachers among us who have likewise been found to be false. Yes there are false apostles. And false pastors. Does the presence of one who is false eliminate the possibility of the true?
CONCLUSION
There is so much more. But this sampler from so many books of the Bible was put together to paint a picture of a church that was and should always be totally filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Could it be that nothing has changed except our expectation and our desire?
Our only conclusion can be that the Holy Spirit who inspired all these writings is ready to enter the life of the church today as He has always been. When He does, miracles will certainly follow.
I have given you God’s words, I am convinced of their truth, and I share this knowledge in faith that God will meet all expectations that are grounded on Him.
