Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual Gifts 

You Should know!

Whatever our preference and persuasion, Paul exhorts all believers “^{1Co 12:1} Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant” or as the ESV has it “… I do not want you to be uninformed".
Clearly God wants us to know about spiritual gifts, to find out about them, to not be ignorant but to be informed! Therefore we have a God-given responsibility to learn about them. However, just before launching into a discussion about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is important, as we shall see below, to remind ourselves who the Holy Spirit is.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the God-head. There is the Father, the Son (Jesus) and The Holy Spirit . In fact, whenever, if ever we encounter God in this life, it is almost without exception, the Holy Spirit of God we encounter.

Gifts for all

Paul tells us that the Spirit gives gifts to ‘each one’ (^{1Co 12:7} Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.)
That means, God is definitely willing to give us all gifts – without exception, that includes you! This is a really exciting prospect. Imagine, a church full of people blessed with very special spiritual gifts – unique to God’s children and found only in His church.

Good for all

It is also really exciting to consider that he gives the gifts ‘for the common good’. (^{1Co 12:7} Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.) That means, if a church is submissive to the Lord, the spiritual gifts the Spirit gives will do the church good. That is exciting because it means as you discover and exercise your spiritual gifts – it is going to do me good, and as I do the same, it will do you good. We will all do one another good, the whole church will benefit. And as the Lord adds new people to the church, new spiritual gifts will also be added – how exciting is that!

The Manifest Presence of God!

The verse above also speaks of the spiritual gifts as ‘the manifestation of the Spirit’. That means, the Spirit Himself manifests His presence through the gifts he gives. But what does that mean? After all, the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is 'omnipresent', that means the Holy Spirit is in fact present every (the word 'omni' means 'all', the Holy Spirit is 'all-present') - there is no-where we can go from His presence (^{Ps 139:7} Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.) Well, although it is certainly true, The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, it is also true, for the most part, people are totally ignorant of His presence. People become aware of His presence only as His presence becomes manifest.

What is the Manifest Presence of the Spirit of God like?

Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as one like himself. He said ‘^{Jn 14:16} And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ^{Jn 14:17} the Spirit of truth.’
In other words, The Holy Spirit is ‘another’ like Jesus and in place of Jesus.  (^Jn 16:7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.) Here Jesus tells us that His leaving us (to ascend to heaven) is for our good. His going means He can send the another Counselor - by implication, another counselor like himself! (that is the Holy Spirit).
The ministry of The Spirit replaces and in a sense, supersedes the ministry of the incarnate Jesus! That is a profound and glorious truth indeed! 2000 years ago the Spirit ministered through the incarnate Jesus, but now the Spirit ministers through 'the Body of Christ,' the Church – us! So in answer to the question above ‘but what does that (the manifestation of the Spirit) look like? The answer has got to be; “Something like Jesus and His ministry!”

The Holy Spirit and Jesus, similar ministries

If that sounds a bit far-fetched, consider the ministry of the Spirit through the gifts he gives to the church as listed in 1 Corinthian 12. Paul tells us that God gives the following…

• The message of wisdom
• The message of knowledge
• Faith
• Gifts of healing
• Miraculous powers
• Prophecy
• Distinguishing between spirits
• Different kinds of tongues
• The interpretation of tongues

As if the above were not enough there are three other lists of 'Spiritual gifts' which include some of the above and the following ...

• Serving
• Teaching
• Encouragement
• Giving
• Leading
• Mercy
• Administration
• Helping
• Apostles
• Prophets
• Evangelists
• Pastors

Furthermore, since each of the lists are different, we should not suppose the lists either individually or combined are definitive or exhaustive. The Holy Spirit can give any gifts He pleases.
Surely, if all the above were operational in the church, it would resemble something of the ministry of Jesus Himself - I guess we ought not be surprised as we, the Church really are ‘the Body’ of which Christ Himself is ‘the head’.
^{Eph 5:23} For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
So, let’s press on in faith and expectation of how God will transform us and His church from glory to glory in the coming days!