When I was just starting out in youth ministry I attended a workshop on Spiritual Gifts. I was interested in the topic because the “Toronto Revival” was in full swing and everyone was talking about the “fresh wind of the Spirit” blowing through the Airport Vineyard Church. I had grown up in a hard core cessationist church and had not really thought much about spiritual gifts and so figured that I should attend the workshop, do a little research and figure out where I came down on this whole matter. As it turns out, the workshop was not very helpful. I think the facilitator was a run away hippie of some sort and he seemed to be confusing “talent” for “spiritual gift”. According to this free spirited fellow, everything was a spiritual gift! Your lovely singing voice was a spiritual gift, your interest in crafts was a spiritual gift, your talent for origami was a spiritual gift and your skill with a camera was a spiritual gift. Everything was a spiritual gift as long as you used it in the service of God, he said. I was not convinced.
Around the same time I decided to check out the Airport Vineyard Church where all of this “fresh wind” was blowing to see if I could learn anything there. I went twice but both experiences were essentially the same. I saw a lot of people rolling around on the ground and a lot of panicky looking ladies rushing to cover them with “modesty shawls” if their skirts happened to fall victim to the movement of the Spirit. I saw some people barking like dogs and I heard one very memorable sermon about how Baptists are likely to rise first in the resurrection because we are “the dead in Christ”. Everyone thought that was pretty funny. I remember feeling awkward and wondering why in the 15 minutes of the nearly two hour long service allotted for preaching, the funny guy never thought to read from the Bible.
Neither of those two experiences ended up providing me with the clarity that I was looking for. The confusion of the low-church hippie and the silliness and excess of the fresh wind revivalists together only deepened my conviction that the answers I was seeking would only be found in Scripture. What those experiences birthed in me was a desire to get back to the Bible. I wanted to know what the Bible said about spiritual gifts. What were they for? What was their purpose? How should they be used?
Most people begin their study of spiritual gifts too late in the Biblical canon. They begin with the letters of Paul. However, most of what Paul says in his letters is corrective or supplementary. He says what he says to the Corinthians in order to correct abuses. It is more helpful therefore, to go back to the beginning. The first real mention of spiritual gifts is way back in the Book of Exodus. In Exodus 31 we read:
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. 6 And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you (Exodus 31:1–6 ESV)
The Spirit of God filled a group of men generally and two men in particular with all manner of ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship for the specific purpose of building all the things associated with the House of the Lord. These gifted people were empowered by the Spirit of God for a specific task and they were constrained in the exercise of their gifts by the authoritative Word of God:
“Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the LORD has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded.” (Exodus 36:1 ESV)
The purpose was clear: build the House of the Lord. The parameters were clear: in accordance with the Word of the Lord.
It is beyond doubt that this Old Testament pattern was assumed as normative by the Apostle Paul in his further teaching on Spiritual gifts in the New Testament. You can hear this foundation in his teaching to the Corinthians:
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. (1 Corinthians 14:12 ESV)
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV)
You can hear it again in his teaching to the Ephesians:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV)
Spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of building the House of the Lord. Period. They are not given to identify the super spiritual, they are not given to entertain, they are not given to enrich the individual or confirm the timid in their salvation. They are given to build up the church.
In the New Testament, as in the Old, we also see that spiritual gifts must be used according to the parameters of Scripture. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about how their various gifts must be used, ordered and restrained. He said:
37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:37–40 ESV)
Paul gave commands of the Lord to regulate the use of gifts in the church. If anyone was not willing to recognize those commands than he or she was not to be permitted to use their gift in the church. Period. Likewise he said to the Thessalonians:
20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:20–22 ESV)
Let spiritual gifts be exercised. But test everything. Make everything pass the Scripture test before it is permitted. Let every gift be used according to its purpose (building up the church) and under its authority (the Word of the Lord). In so doing, you will abstain from every form of evil.
That last line is not a throw away. Abstain from every form of evil. One might think that Paul is over reacting here – surely it would be better to err on the side of openness with respect to spiritual gifts, after all, we would hate to quench the Spirit. Better to make a mess than to evict the Spirit. Paul is more cautious and more discerning. He knows that the devil will make use of our fascination with spiritual gifts to lead us into ruin. Paul felt the need to warn the Thessalonians of this a second time. In his subsequent letter he said:
9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 ESV)
People who are fascinated with spiritual gifts but who are not MORE fascinated with the Word of God are most susceptible to deception and error. They may, by means of lying signs and wonders, be led into wicked deception and ultimate condemnation. Be on guard.
I think I know why the church I grew up in was so virulently cessationist. They were afraid that if we opened the door too wide, all manner of crazy would come in and the Bible would be squeezed out and the House would not be built because the builders would be at play. That is not an unreasonable fear. However, we are not governed by fear, we are people of faith and we are under a mandate and we are provided with grace for the mission. God is building His House. The mountain of the Lord’s House will be raised up higher than every other mountain and the nations will stream unto it. He will do this work through ordinary human agents. He will give them gifts. Gifts that will serve the building of the church. Gifts that must be used in accordance with His authoritative Word. As it was in the Old Testament, so it is now.
I am not a cessationist. Saying that usually earns me a few minutes of street credibility with my charismatic friends. I am not a cessationist because the Bible doesn’t say that certain gifts will only be given at certain times and then they will be retracted. The Bible says that all gifts will be retracted when the House is built and the Master of the House returns to claim it, but in the meantime, God is Sovereign and gifts are given that serve the need at hand. That is why there is no fixed list of spiritual gifts anywhere in the Bible. There are 4 lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament; none of them list the same gifts, none of them reflect the same order, none of them even use the same terminology. Scholars agree that this clearly indicates that there is no “set list” of gifts. There are not 8 gifts or 12 gifts or 5 gifts or any other number. There is a Sovereign God who gives what is needed so that his work can be completed in accordance with his Word.
I am not a cessationist. What I believe is that some gifts will be needed at certain times and stages and then likely not needed for long stretches as the manner of work changes and the needs shift to other things. Some tools, like a hammer, are always needed. Other tools, like a shingle froe, are only used at certain stages of the process. They are indispensible for a few hours and then completely unnecessary for the remainder of the project. Many spiritual gifts may be shingle froes. They may be absolutely necessary for a very brief stage of construction. And then they may be put away – whether they come out again or not is not for us to say. Denying that these tools exist is a waste of time and an act of arrogance. Suggesting that God has forbidden their use is an act of blasphemy and presumption. Better to simply require that any suggested manifestation of a spiritual gift must demonstrate its utility to the task at hand and its willing submission to the authority of God’s Word.
My hippie friend forgot the reason for the gifts. He forgot the focus on God’s House. My airport friends forgot the authority of God’s Word. I determined not to say more than Scripture and not to believe less because of fear.
God is still Sovereign. He is still building His House. He still gives gifts. He gives those gifts toward the completion of the task. He requires those gifts to be used in submission to His Word. As it was in the Old Testament, so it remains today. Thanks be to God.
SDG
Paul Carter