Dr Paul Allen

For the sake of convenience, the gifts will be considered in three groups.  First, gifts for the establishment of the church and for bringing it to a maturity where all the members can receive their own gifts and contribute to the up-building of the local body ( Ephesians 4:11–16). These are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers who are chosen by the Lord, taken captive by Him, and given as gifts to the Church , not just to some particular local church.  In each ministry more than an occasional manifestation of a gift of the Spirit is involved. Like the first apostles, these are mature, trained people, who were not sent out until they had gained experience under the great Teacher ( Jesus , then the Teacher Spirit, the Spirit of Truth ). Their ministry was not limited to one local church. They sooner or later moved on, because they were given to the Church as a whole. Second, gifts of the edification of the local body through individual members...

The ministry of the Spirit and His mighty deeds were the portion of the Early Church in lavish generosity (as the Greek indicates in Galatians 3:5; Philippians 1:19). The abundance of gifts and the wonderful way they fitted the needs of the Body shows that God’s way is always, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). There is, however, no special order in which the Bible lists the gifts. Romans 12:6–8 begins with prophecy. First Corinthians 12:8–10 begins with the message of wisdom. The other three lists begin with apostles.  Some attempt to classify the gifts according to their natur e, such as gifts of revelation, gifts of power, and gifts of speaking.  Others distinguish between traveling gifts , such as apostles, teachers, and evangelists; and local gifts such as pastors, government, and helps. Or they divide them according to function, such as proclamation, teaching, service, and administration. These are all legi...

That's an excellent question because so much is at stake in the Christian faith in terms of the truthfulness of Scripture. The Bible is our primary source of information about Jesus and about all of those things we embrace as elements of our faith. Of course, if the Bible isn't true, then professing Christians are in serious trouble. I believe the Bible is true. I believe it is the Word of God. As Jesus Himself declared of the Scripture, "Your word is truth."  But why am I persuaded that the Bible is the truth? We need to ask a broader question first. How do we know that anything is true? We're asking a technical question in epistemology. How do we test claims of truth? There is a certain kind of truth that we test through observation, experimentation, eyewitness, examination, and scientific evidence. As far as the history of Jesus is concerned, as far as we know any history, we want to check the stories of Scripture using those means by which histor...

English: Church of the Holy Spirit in Munich - Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Spirit of Strength. Painter: Peter Horemans (1753) Deutsch: Heilig-Geist-Kirche (München) - Sieben Gaben des Heiligen Geistes: Der Geist der Stärke. Maler: Peter Horemans (1753) Latina: Spiritus fortitudinis (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all (1 Cor. 12:7). There has been an unprecedented interest in the person and work of the Holy Spirit . What a wonderful thing this is, not to be feared but to be embraced. Much of that interest has focused on the gifts of the Spirit. Chapters 12 through 14 of 1 Corinthians are an extended discussion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit . Much here is difficult to understand, but much is plain, too. It is clear that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to all believers (12:7). These gifts include the word of wisdom , the word of knowledge , faith, healings, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning...

“For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind .” ( 2 Timothy 1:7 ) The gift spoken of in the previous verse is based on a transfer of authority from God, and we are exhorted to “stir up” that gift ( 2 Timothy 1:6 ) because God did not give us a “spirit of fear.” The word deiliastresses timidity or cowardice, not terror. The gift does not function well if we are too timid to use it. The gift referred to is not power. That spiritual gift comes with dunamis—the innate ability to “do” the gift. Whatever the Holy Spirit has gifted us with upon our entrance into the Kingdom ( 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ), that gift comes with the power necessary to implement and use it. The gift also comes with love. Again, love is not the gift, it is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that comes with the gift. Were it not for the reflection in us of the unilateral and sacrificial love of our Redeemer, these supernatural gifts could well be misused, distort...

In most cases, it seems that the New Testament pictures a permanent possession of spiritual gifts. The analogy of the parts of the body in 1 Corinthians 12:12–26 fits this, in that the eye does not become a hand, nor does the ear become a foot, but various parts exist in the body permanently. Moreover, Paul says that some people have titles that describe a continuing function. Some people can be called “prophets” or “teachers” (1 Cor. 12:29) or “evangelists” (Eph. 4:11).  We would expect that those people have a permanent possession of the gifts of prophecy, teaching, and evangelism, unless some unusual circumstance would come along which would take that gift away. Similarly, Paul talks in terms of possessing spiritual gifts when he says, “If I have the gift of prophecy” (1 Cor. 13:2 NIV).  And when Paul requires that there be an interpreter present for anyone to speak in tongues (1 Cor. 14:28), he assumes that the church will know whether someone who has the gift ...

Paul says that if we have the gift of prophecy, we should use it “in proportion to our faith” (Rom. 12:6), indicating that the gift can be more or less strongly developed in different individuals, or in the same individual over a period of time. This is why Paul can remind Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift you have” (1 Tim. 4:14), and can say, “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you” (2 Tim. 1:6).  It was possible for Timothy to allow his gift to weaken, apparently through infrequent use, and Paul reminds him to stir it up by using it and thereby strengthening it. This should not be surprising, for we realize that many gifts increase in strength and effectiveness as they are used, whether evangelism, teaching, encouraging, administration, or faith.  Apollos had a strong gift of preaching and teaching, for we read that he was “mighty (or “powerful,” Gk. δυνατός, G1543) in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24 NASB). And Paul apparently had a frequently use...

The New Testament epistles list specific spiritual gifts in six different passages. Consider the table on the next page. What is obvious is that these lists are all quite different. No one list has all these gifts, and no gift except prophecy is mentioned on all the lists (prophecy is not mentioned in 1 Cor. 7:7, where only the subject of marriage and celibacy is under discussion, but it is certainly included in the “whoever speaks” of 1 Peter 4:11). In fact, 1 Corinthians 7:7 mentions two gifts that are not on any other list: in the context of speaking of marriage and celibacy, Paul says, “Each has his own special gift6 from God, one of one kind and one of another.” These facts indicate that Paul was not attempting to construct exhaustive lists of gifts when he specified the ones he did. Although there is sometimes an indication of some order (he puts apostles first, prophets second, and teachers third, but tongues last in 1 Cor. 12:28), it seems that in general Paul was almost...

The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts in the New Testament Age. Spiritual gifts are given to equip the church to carry out its ministry until Christ returns. Paul tells the Corinthians , “You are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ ” (1 Cor. 1:7). Here he connects the possession of spiritual gifts and their situation in the history of redemption (waiting for Christ’s return), suggesting that gifts are given to the church for the period between Christ’s ascension and his return.  Similarly, Paul looks forward to the time of Christ’s return and says, “When the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away” (1 Cor. 13:10), indicating also that these “imperfect” gifts (mentioned in vv. 8–9) will be in operation until Christ returns, when they will be superseded by something far greater. Indeed, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in “power” at Pentecost (Acts 1:8) was to equip the church to preach the gospel (Acts 1:8)—something...

1 Corinthians 14:26–40 a) Contribution To Worship By All 14:26 26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. “What then shall we say” shows that Paul expected the Corinthian believers to draw the right conclusions from the principles of love and edification of the local assembly. The first rule for the expression of spiritual gifts is that no gift is unimportant and no gift should be set aside. People baptized in the Spirit will have the fullness of the gifts available for the health of the church. “Everyone has” means that everyone should have a part and contribute something to the building up of the whole assembly. Over too much of church history, the body of Christ has been paralyzed, with clergy dominating the laity and smothering their gifts.80 We are not to be like a theater audience, where one or several pai...