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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons :  Don't Stay in the First Grade by A.W. Tozer

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billy1980
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Joined: 2016/3/9
Posts: 312
Tennesse-

 Re:

Going off of what TMK said, the bigger the revelation of Christ we are given the smaller we view ourselves. The first will be last, and the greatest in the kingdom will had served the others the greatest.

So not sure you will be able to compute grade point averages from a spiritual scale rightly... (Unneeded info)


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Billy Witt

 2021/4/7 22:36Profile
brothagary
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Joined: 2011/10/23
Posts: 2556


 Re:

Ahh now I see where you coming from I agree with Billy I wouldn't know where to start to try to create a grading system from 1 to 10 in it in a context of spiritual growth I've never even really thought about it and when I use the term grade one and then two, second and third grade I'm sort of speaking as a man so that that's easy to understand I suppose my view would be when you get born again you remain a babe in Christ for a certain amount of time and are more than likely, well guaranteed to be carnal because of what Paul said in Hebrews that babes in Christ who only drink the milk of the word don't know good from evil as a fully matured Saint would and I suspect as you grow from being a babe you lose some of that carnal nature through becoming aware of evil and the sinful nature of the flesh into an intermediate somewhere in between the babe and the fully mature age Saint. So my way of looking at it there's at least three stages, it could be more like 4 or 5 stages where we seem to enter into areas of deeper revelation on certain aspects of Christianity but this may depend personally on god and how much he sanctifies the individual with the baptism of the holy spirit and with further in fillings of the holy spirit May depend on how much one's prayer life is deep, he might skip a stage if he's devoted to prayer and meditation on the word I would assume that would be possible and likely, so I don't think we can put it in a box just like we can't put God in a box because you know Jesus said the spirit is like the wind and it blows where it wills and you can hear the sound but you can't tell which way it comes from which way it goes so too are those who are born of the spirit. Then when it comes to knowledge and Bible knowledge you could probably grade that out to a grade from 1 to 10 but that would be something teachers would talk about and work out for themselves in their class,
knowing this that Paul said we all have knowledge but knowledge puffs up but love edifies. So you could quite easily get someone who is 9 or 10 on the knowledge scale but is on one or two on the spiritual scale, and you might get someone who's only five on the knowledge scale when it comes to all the stories of the Old Testament and all the Bible knowledge that one can have and even on different doctrines he might only be number 5 but they may have reached a much higher spiritual level with a closer relationship with God regarding the deeper life, the idea would be to grade the students on knowledge and also on wisdom and spiritual understanding that is obtained through spiritual revelation through the gift of prophecy and the gift of the word of wisdom, if I was in that situation that you were in I would definitely distinguish between the two

 2021/4/7 23:32Profile
passerby
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Joined: 2008/8/13
Posts: 742


 Re:

Although no one can boast of anything, a sort of rating system has been instructed in the bible for example in appointing elders in the church.

It is not clear to me how are we going to incorporate the 'spiritual gifts' for leadership qualifications in the church or for checking spiritual maturity, especially in this generation of unbelief.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 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. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

 2021/4/8 6:21Profile
brothagary
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Joined: 2011/10/23
Posts: 2556


 Re:

I think generally the gifts of the spirit are different from the manifestations of the spirit, gifts are something we desire and receive keep and develop and manifestation is how God manifests himself when he wills through those with the gifts. Manifestations operate according to gods will for the edification of the body of christ it's not entirely clear and there's much debate but paul implies that prophecy can connect us with wisdom and knowledge 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, so I assume the manifestation of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom work through the gift of prophecy, but its a highly debatable subject iv seen someone with the gift of healing who heals many people one after the other, who receives prophecies and words of secret knowledge while ministering, I'm convinced one can have two or more gifts that you can major in and gods spirit will manifest different manifestation through those gifts, gifts don't get taken back, the gift of prophecy opens us up to revelations, which is why Paul said desire it. but it's not worth arguing about, as long as we seek for god and desire spiritual gifts and manifestations.

 2021/4/8 8:29Profile





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