Does God gives spiritual gifts to the unsaved?
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| Early Christians celebrating Communion at an Agape Feast, from the Catacomb of Ss. Peter and Marcellinus. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us (Rom. 5:5).
The fruit of the Spirit: Paul lists the fruit in Galatians 5:22–23. Love is listed first as the preeminent fruit of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul magnifies love over faith, hope, and spiritual gifts.
God sometimes gives spiritual gifts to those who are not truly His, as we see in the case of Balaam’s prophecies in Numbers 22–24 and in the case of the healings wrought by Judas when he was sent out by Jesus with the other disciples. Unless these gifts and talents are accompanied by love of God and love for God, they are ultimately of no value to the gifted person, though they may be used by God to help others.
Love, in the sense spoken of by Paul, is uniquely Christian. The Greek word for it is agape. Ordinary affection between people is called phileo. Agape love is a gift, the accompaniment of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because agape is part and parcel of regeneration, every Christian has it. Indeed, Romans 5:5 says that agape love has been poured into our hearts.
Agape is not so much an emotional feeling as a theological reality. We accept by faith that God has poured agape love into our hearts. We also accept by faith that the Spirit causes us to love. We can, of course, quench and grieve the Spirit. By doing so we fail to manifest the fullness of agape love. When we repent and claim the gift of love by faith, we can be assured that God is working a true loving spirit in us.
The wellspring of love is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The Spirit loves the Father and the Son, and He causes us to do the same. One sign that we are growing in love is that we spend more time in adoration of God. The spirit also loves the images of God—human beings. And so another sign that we are growing in agape love is that we are kind and servant-hearted toward others.
Still another mark of agape love is respect for God’s Word. If we love God and trust Him, we will love and trust the Bible. When we see people saying that the Bible is nothing more than a record of human religious responses, we must sadly say that they do not give evidence of agape love for God. Sin ultimately is a failure to love properly. Either we fail to love enough, as when we mistreat others, or we love too much, as when we elevate God’s gifts above love for God. Seek always to give love in due proportion to things that deserve love. Ask God to show you where and how you can better evidence His love in you.
