In spite of the huge
benefit spiritual gifts give the church as part of “the weapons of our warfare”,[1]
they have become a hugely controversial subject, with significant negative influence
on the largest expressions of the body of Christ. This has put me on a quest to
navigate these stormy waters to discover what I would need to believe and do if
I simply lived by the whole counsel of God on that matter,[2]
or, as Jesus put it, “every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.”[3]
The three positions
on spiritual gifts (as I understand) are:
Cessationists: those that deny some of the New Testament
teachings on spiritual gifts in the belief that all the miraculous gifts ceased
with the apostles.[4]
Charismaniacs (not Charismatics[5]):
those what obsess about spiritual gifts and exaggerate them beyond what was
revealed through the apostles.
Continuationists: those that believe God meant what he said
about spiritual gifts and want to live by what is written without going beyond what
is written.[6]
So far as I
understand, the Continuationist position appears to be the only one that is
developed from all relevant Scriptures without denying or adding anything to
the mix. In a sense, this position seems to be the original recipe for
spiritual gifts, while Cessationists have removed some of God’s ingredients, and
Charismaniacs have added others of their own.
After spending
considerable time studying what Paul taught in I Corinthians 12 about the kinds
of spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit distributes in the church,[7]
along with his clarifications that all spiritual gifts are needed no matter how
visible or unnoticed, and none of us are to think more highly or lowly than we
ought to think of our place in the body,[8]
I now come to this passage:
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third
teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and
various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all
speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
(I Corinthians 12)
Here are some thoughts in simple point form:
Now you are the body of Christ: a repeated theme in
this chapter is Paul’s references to who he is writing to, which is the church,
not the apostolic band. What he teaches here about all these spiritual gifts is
teaching all the spiritual gifts to the church, the unified assembly of God’s
children.
and individually members of it: we are to see
ourselves as individually connected to the rest of the body just as every
member of our physical bodies belong to the rest. The well-being of the whole
body is conditioned by the combined fellowship, activity, and attachment, of
all the parts.
first apostles: the apostles were the first and foremost
authority in the church, having Jesus’ placement as the foundation “rock” on which Jesus would build his
church.[9]
Their place of giving the church its foundation did end as that foundation was
completed with the deaths of each of the apostles. However, all they taught the
churches to live as the body of Christ continues until the return of Christ.
second prophets: prophets were also foundational in their
work of declaring the word of God to the church,[10]
much of which is now recorded in the breathed-out words of God in Scripture.
third teachers: as the apostles and prophets laid the foundation
for the church, teachers would take what was given through these men and keep
teaching these things to the congregations. While the apostles and prophets are
clearly stated as foundational, giving us cause to believe the foundation for
the church has been laid through their ministry, the teaching of the apostolic
and prophetic teachings must continue throughout the whole church age
(including their explicit teachings on spiritual gifts).
then miracles: the “then”
indicates that this is not bound to the apostles and prophets as some would
claim, but that it is something else God has given to his church. The apostles
did use miracles, signs, and wonders, in their ministry, what would be expected
of the foundation, but God has also given these to the church.
then gifts of
healing: again, the “then” indicates something else God has
given to the church beyond what he gave through the apostles and prophets. The
apostles clearly had authority to perform healings, but the plurality of the “gifts” of healing, and the “healing” nature of these gifts, is
stated as something distinctive given to the church, not limited to the
apostolic/prophetic foundation.
helping: while the whole body of Christ is to help
one another as members of the body caring for the whole body, some in the
church will be just as gifted in their helping as others are in their healing.
We ought to look for those who are gifted at helping others with the same
regard as someone who may freely express miracles or healing without any doubts
holding them back.
administrating: whether it be how to make sure all the
believers of a community are taken care of in one home or another,[11]
or how the food was evenly distributed to widows,[12]
or how to manage the monies given to the church,[13]
some would have had greater gifting in handling the administrative
responsibilities of the church than others (I do not have the gift!). While
there is good reason to consider that Paul’s concept of administrating was far more
personal than the institutional applications most common today, anyone who is
gifted at helping the church organize for ministry is just as significant as
the most influential of healings or miracles.
and various kinds
of tongues: while arguments
over what Paul meant by tongues abound, usually focusing on one of the two
interpretations of what this means, Paul indicated “various kinds” of tongues, leaving us to humbly acknowledge that
the gift of tongues could/would come in a variety of ways. The point here is that
this is “appointed in the church” by
God, and it is imperative that we know and do his will on this matter as much
as any other.
Are all apostles? No (but some were at that time).
Are all prophets? No (but some were at that time).
Are all teachers? No (but some are).
Do all work
miracles? No (but some do).
Do all possess
gifts of healing? No (but
some do).
Do all speak with
tongues? No (but some do).
Do all interpret? No (but some do).
But earnestly
desire the higher gifts.
Does Paul say that we should earnestly desire the higher gifts instead of what
he just taught about the other gifts, or as the priority in our comprehensive experience
of spiritual gifts?
Answer: we stick
with the whole counsel of God, not picking or swinging between one and another
of what the apostles taught. In other words, when Paul says we should earnestly
desire the “higher gifts”, he doesn’t
nullify what he says about the other gifts, only that we maintain our focus on
what is most beneficial to the church.
The same is when he
says, “And I will show you a still more
excellent way,”[14]
and then instructs us in the centrality of love to the life of the church.[15]
His admonition to love does not nullify his teaching on the gifts, but shows
the best way of using them all.
When he adds later, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual
gifts, especially that you may prophesy,”[16]
he doesn’t say, pursue love instead of the spiritual gifts, or, earnestly
desire prophecy but not the rest of the spiritual gifts. He is giving
priorities that influence everything we do. Earnestly desire all the spiritual
gifts in an environment of the kind of love described, and give particular
attention to earnestly desiring the spiritual gift of prophesy because of its
distinctive characteristic of having the greatest effect on building up the
church.[17]
Conclusion: In Paul’s quest to prevent the church from
being “uninformed” about spiritual
gifts,[18]
he listed the kinds of spiritual gifts we ought to expect in the church,[19]
telling us that both the variety and distribution are determined by the Holy
Spirit, not preachers who tell us what to think on the matter. God appointed
spiritual gifts in the body of Christ even as he appointed the apostles and
prophets who laid the foundation for the church.
While it may be
challenging to keep testing everything all the time in order to know the real
from the counterfeit, we must begin with a determination to deal with spiritual
gifts the way God’s breathed-out words instruct. Only the Continuationist
position (at least as I understand it), calls us to practice both the apostolic
teachings on spiritual gifts, and all the safeguards and clarifications that
would keep these gifts in their place of helping us build up the body of
Christ. The Cessationist position requires people to reject specific teachings
about spiritual gifts (something they would never allow on other teachings of
the New Testament), and the Charismaniac position requires people to turn
spiritual gifts into a three ring circus, something God never intended.
I have not settled
what some of these gifts meant to the apostles in their day, or what they
should look like in our own. I suspect I’m in no different a place than some in
Corinth who simply didn’t know what to think of things that were going on in
their church, and treasured Paul’s letter of explanation and teaching then as
much as I treasure it now.
Since the subject of
spiritual gifts has come up as we have considered what are the “weapons of our warfare” Paul speaks
about in his second letter to the Corinthians,[20]
the Continuationist acceptance of all the spiritual gifts as taught by the
apostles means that our quiver of weapons is just as full today as theirs was
then. Let us earnestly desire them as instructed, and then apply ourselves to
doing all we can to build up the body of Christ, even if we never figure out
what to call what we are doing. We who are children of God by faith in Jesus Christ
all have our place in the body; let’s determine to live it to the full while we
seek God daily to lead us in an ever maturing experience of every word that
comes from the mouth of God.
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
II Corinthians 10:3-6
[2]
Acts 20:27
[3]
Matthew 4:4
[4]
To this point, anything I have ever heard/read regarding the Cessationist
viewpoint has involved some kind of opinion about what a Scripture could mean,
but no explicit statement from God that he cancels what he led the apostles to
write down into Scripture.
[5]
I use the term “Charismaniacs” rather than “Charismatics” because there are too
many variations of Charismatic churches (as in every denomination), and I
cannot assess what any of them are making their emphasis regarding spiritual
gifts. However, the term “Charismaniacs” refers to any person, church,
ministry, or denomination that obsesses about spiritual gifts, and gives them a
prominence even the apostles never taught or allowed.
[6]
I Corinthians 4:6
[7]
I Corinthians 12:1-11
[8]
I Corinthians 12:12-26
[9]
Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:19-22 (where the apostles and prophets are
identified as the foundation of the church).
[10]
The office of prophet is included in the foundation of the church (Ephesians
2:19-22).
[11]
As the church faced from its very
beginning, meeting “from house to house”
(Acts 2:46, 5:42)
[12]
Acts 6:1-6
[13]
Acts 4:32-35
[14]
I Corinthians 12:31
[15]
I Corinthians 13:1-13
[16]
I Corinthians 14:1
[17]
I Corinthians 14:3-5
[18]
I Corinthians 12:1
[19]
I Corinthians 12:4-11
[20]
II Corinthians 10:4
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