Gifts of The Holy Spirit
GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Ladies and gentlemen, what are the gifts of the Spir-it and for what purpose did the gifts of the Spirit serve? Were all Christians in New Testament times endued with special gifts? These are important questions.
We have already learned that the kingdom of Christ was inaugurated with distinctive gifts of the Holy Spirit, in a baptismal measure, which enabled the Apostles, under complete, divine domination, through revelation, to proclaim the gospel of Christ, offering remission of sins in the name of Christ. The beginning of the kingdom was a great and notable miracle with physical manifestation, signs and tongues, enabling the apostles to attract the attention of the multitudes and speak, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God's word of salvation without fault. This power, the baptismal measure of the Holy Spirit, with miraculous gifts, came directly from heaven without human aid as a fulfillment of Christ's promise to His apostles.
For purpose of distinction, we may refer to these gifts as primary gifts to the apostles. As already pointed out, the apostles were the only ones who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, for enduement, enlightenment, and inspiration. The Gentiles received a miraculous "gift of the Holy Spirit," at the house of Cornelius, to prove to the Jews that the "middle wall of partition" had been removed between Jews and Gentiles and the gospel was to be preached to all the world, to both Jews and Gentiles!
In addition to the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, as a result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, which were performed only by the apostles, there were miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit conferred upon other Christians through the laying on of the hands of the apostles. The apostles only possessed the rare gift of transferring miraculous gifts to others, but they could not confer the power to pass these gifts from the first person to second persons. These special gifts were not imposed beyond the first receiver. We shall discuss these matters in more detail later.
Why Gifts of The Spirit The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit has al-ready been discussed, but some added remarks are in order. Christ, God's Son, had already been rejected. "He came unto his own and his own received him not" (John 1:11).
He was obscure and so poor that he had "not where to lay his head" (Luke 9:58). Even his birthday was forgotten, if it was ever remembered. Yet, he came to establish a world-empire, the kingdom of love. He had no wealth, no position of power, and His teaching was so deep and spiri-tual that few understood its meaning. Therefore, the great miracles, gifts of the Spirit, were to attract attention to the fact that He was the Son of God, to the words of His Father's will, and to confirm the word as God's will.
"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God . . ." (John 20:30, 31).
"And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (Mark 16:20).
". . . Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?" (Hebrews 2:2-4).
The apostles, His chosen ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20 ), like the Lord, from the world's viewpoint, were unlearned, humble, obscure and without influence to be heard. There was, therefore, the need for visible signs and miraculous acts to demand the attention of the people, to prepare the soil for the planting of the seed of the kingdom. These facts, of course, were secondary to the primary purpose of sending the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, which was to divinely guide them in the proclamation and declaration of the gospel.
Jesus came from God with the message of salvation. He passed it down to the apostles, revealing to them, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, the eternal truth of God which was to be to every creature in all the world. This message from God, His Son, and the Spirit, once planted in the hearts of men, with mature fruits, would ever be an abiding power for the salvation of man's soul. That word has been confirmed by the mighty wonders and gifts of the spirit, written and preserved in the New Testament, the word of God.
When men erect a great building they put up the scaffolding. But when the building is finished and it can stand alone, the scaffolding is removed. The great signs, miracles, and gifts of the spirit, revealed in the New Testament, constitute the scaffolding for the truth and the church in its infancy. Now that it is finished, there is no longer need for the scaffolding.
Gifts of The Spirit By Imposition of Apostles' Hands The gifts of the Spirit, by the laying on of the hands of the apostles, were indirect, miraculous gifts peculiar to the apostolic age. No one could impart miraculous gifts of the Spirit to others, except the apostles. As evidence of this fact let us first consider the ministry of Stephen and Philip.
According to Acts 6:2-6, "Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom , whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them."
Had Holy Spirit Before Laying on Hands
We have no further reference to the works of all these men, but we do know something about the works of Stephen and Philip. It should be observed that these men had the Holy Spirit before the laying on of hands of the apostles. One of their qualifications was to be "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." These men had obeyed the gospel and thus had received the Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:32 it is affirmed that God gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey him: "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." The Holy Spirit dwells in all God's children (1 Corinthians 3:16), but all of God's children do not have miraculous gifts of the Spirit. Peter commanded, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38). The "gift of the Holy Spirit" does not mean miraculous gifts of the Spirit.
For one, other than the apostles, to perform miraculous gifts of the spirit, it was necessary for the apostles to lay hands on him. The apostles laid their hands on Stephen and Philip, along with the other chosen five. Of Stephen it was said, "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people" (Acts 6:8). He eloquently preached the word and did great works for the Lord. "They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake" (Acts 6:10), therefore, they stoned him to death.
Philip, on whom the apostles had laid their hands, be-came the first evangelist and a great preacher who worked for the Lord. He "went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one ac-cord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hear-ing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies , and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:5-8).
Not Part of Conversion
There were signs that "followed" the preaching of the word by those men with gifts of the Spirit. Jesus said it would be so (Mark 16:17; Mark 16:20). However, it was the preach-ing of the gospel, and not the signs, or miraculous works of the Spirit, that converted the people. "But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). That is what Jesus commanded when he gave the great commission saying, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15.16). Philip preached that gospel. The people heard, believed and obeyed the gospel. They were baptized into Christ as a result of the preaching of the gospel by Philip. The mir-acles and wonders he performed caused the people to give "heed to the things which Philip spake," but they were converted by the power of the gospel and not by the power of the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit only com-manded attention to the gospel which he preached.
Philip Could Not Transfer Power The apostolic hand had been laid on Philip, which en-abled him to do the "signs and great miracles," but he could not transfer that power to another person. Only the apostles had this particular power. A person, on whom the apostles had laid hands and conferred the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, could perform the mighty works of the Spirit , but that person could not in turn lay his hand on another person and confer the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. Only the apostles could impart spiritual gifts.
Laying on Apostles' Hands When Peter and John, apostles of Christ in Jerusalem, heard that the Samaritans had received the word of the Lord they went to Samaria and conferred on the baptized believers the miraculous gift of the Spirit through the lay-ing on of hands. This is the divine record: "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:14-17).
Simon evidently recognized that it was through the lay-ing on of the hands of the apostles that miraculous powers were imposed upon the Samaritans (Acts 8:18). He "saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given" and he offered the apostles money to purchase that power. Peter informed him that this "gift of God" could not be purchased. Furthermore, he declared, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter" (verses 20, 21).
From this text we are forced to the conclusion that the "gift of God," obviously, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit , were received only by the early Christians through laying on of the apostles' hands.
Another example of the laying on of the apostles' hands is found in Acts 19:1-6. At Ephesus Paul "laid his hands upon them and the Holy Spirit came upon them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied." The Ephesians spoke in tongues and prophesied only after they had received the Holy Spirit through the laying of the apostle Paul's hands. There can be no doubt about the necessity of the imposition
of the apostles' hands before the Christians of New Testament times could speak in tongues, prophesy, and do miraculous works. It is, therefore, false to presume that men to-day can speak in tongues, prophesy, and perform miracles since there are no apostles on earth with power to confer such miraculous gifts through the laying on of hands. When the last apostle died, therefore, the laying on of hands, imparting miraculous works of the Spirit, ceased!
Miraculous Gifts Corinthian Church The church at Corinth was characterized by a diversity of apostolic gifts. These gifts are referred to in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters of 1 Corinthians. Verses I through 11 of the 12th chapter specifically reveal the character of these gifts.
"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. Where-fore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 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 discering of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
From the study of Paul's dissertation on spiritual gifts we learn much about the nature, the distribution, and object of the miraculous gifts in the early church. It seems that the gifts were so numerous in the Corinthian church that it was necessary for the inspired apostle to regulate the use of them (1 Corinthians 12 th and 14th chapters).
The objectives of the spiritual gifts are obviously stated. The different types of gifts, the distribution and value of them are unquestionably stated. The duration of the spiritual gifts is not left without attention.
It will be observed that all the gifts were not given to all the believers (verses 18-30). All believers did not receive the same gifts. Some of the gifts, evidently were more important than others. Included in the catalogue of gifts were the "gifts of healing," gifts of "miracles," gifts of "tongues," and gift of "knowledge." All these gifts were important in their time, but the apostle concludes, in verse 31, there is "a more excellent way."
QUESTIONS FOR MEDITATION 1.What was the purpose of gifts of the Holy Spirit?
2. What was source of power for miraculous gifts of the Spirit?
3. Who was able to impart power of miraculous gifts?
4. Did all believers receive gifts of the Holy Spirit?
5. Were miraculous gifts a part of conversion?
6. Did those who received miraculous gifts of the Spirit already possess the .Holy Spirit?