BQ: My aunt and uncle were "pastors" at a large congregation and got the members of the congregation to bark like dogs as a version of "speaking in tongues." Hmmm. What do you think about that? We'll do a series on this.
Many people claim that they have various gifts of the Holy Spirit. First, what were the gifts? In 1 Cor 12:4-11, Paul lists them. "For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues."
We are told that the gifts were given as the Holy Spirit willed, but not how they were given. The Spirit is the same eternally (Heb 13:8) and never works contrary to God's word (Jn 10:35), so however the gifts were given as described in the Bible will be how they are given now. How do you think they were given? We'll look at that tomorrow.
Continuing on in our look at gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as the gift of prophecy, we ask ourselves, "How were the gifts given?" Since I want to really show what God says on this, we'll examine this in detail in the coming days.
A man called Philip was one of seven men set apart to perform special work in the church in Jerusalem, (Acts 6:1-6) and he ended up going to Samaria to spread the gospel. While doing this, he confirmed the Word with signs and wonders, after which a bunch of Samaritans believed and were baptized. The apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had received the Word, and so John and Peter were sent. In Acts 8:15-17, we see that they "came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit."
Above, we see that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were given by the laying on of the apostles' hands. God is consistent, and if we examine the scriptures further, we'll start to see a pattern. For today, just consider this from 2 Timothy 1:6: “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my [the apostle Paul—Lucas] hands.”
From the verses above, we can start to see that the laying on of the apostles' hands was the method of giving these special gifts. We'll look at this more tomorrow.
In looking into the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we've seen that every example so far of these gifts being given involved one of the apostles laying his hands on the receiver as a way of giving the gift. Let's look at our last passage which describes this occurrence. Acts 19:6 says, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men."
In the above, we once again see that an apostle (note: the word for apostle means one who is sent as a messenger. The apostles were specially selected and were eye witnesses of Jesus. See 1 John 1:1-3, Acts 1:21-22, Acts 10:39-41, etc.) had to be present in order for gifts such as prophesying and speaking in tongues to be given.
Conclusion
God chose to record this history for a reason. We can conclude from every example than one of the apostles HAD to be present to give the gifts. While people could receive the gifts, they could not pass on the gifts they had been given—only the apostles could do that. Since there are no apostles of Jesus now, gifts such as speaking in tongues can no longer be received.
We found out that miraculous gifts were only able to be given by the laying on of an apostle's hands, and since there are no apostles still alive, they can no longer be passed on. Now we need to discuss how long the gifts were around. Let's take a gander at 1 Cor 13:8-13:
"Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Notice that Paul says that speaking in tongues would cease when "the perfect" would come. "The perfect" is from the Greek words "to telion," which mean the perfect "thing," not person. The prophesying and such were "in part," or partial, and would be replaced by something complete.
So what thing do we have now that is complete that they did not have completed in that time? The answer, of course, is the entirety of the New Testament. With this "thing," this perfect law having come, the gifts were phased out. As the apostles died off, the gifts could no longer be given to people, and as the people who had been given them died off, too, these miraculous gifts completely passed away into obsolescence.
We learned that the miraculous gifts such as speaking in tongues died out long ago, but let's consider some of the deeper meaning that often gets glossed over from 1 Cor 13:8-13:
"if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love."
Paul said that he also knew "in part," and not in full. With the New Testament not yet completed at that time, the complete, perfect thing didn't exist. Amazingly, we now have a greater ability to grasp the Word than those who were around when the gifts were being used, and even than Paul himself!
How many people do you know that want to speak in tongues, or believe that they do? Paul refers to these gifts as "childish things," because they were for the early, young church that was starting to grow and didn't have the complete Word. These days we can be mature in our Christianity, and we have no need to be childish. What's worse, we know from what God has said that these gifts don't even truly exist anymore.
We need to discuss something that people claim about miraculous gifts of the Spirit these days. Often you'll hear people say that the "Spirit fell on them," and they started "speaking in tongues" or doing other "miraculous things" outside of their control. How does this compare with the Biblical record of these gifts?
Let's consider 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 in part:
"What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God...For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets..."
Here the gifts of tongues is examined in detail. Notice that speaking in tongues was not allowed without an interpreter of the language present. Period. When my relatives got people to "speak in tongues" by barking like dogs, there was no interpreter present, and indeed such babbling cannot be interpreted.
Notice also that the last verses says that the "spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." The spiritual gifts were under the control of those who had them; that's why they could choose to take turns. The fake miracles of today usually miss the mark on these accounts and many others.
So why did these miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit exist and then go away? The answer is pretty simple. While these gifts were childish, the perfect (completed Word of God) had not yet come. The entirety of the Bible was not yet around, and indeed was still being written. Christianity was very new! Hebrews 2:3-4 explains saying,
"After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will."
The gifts back then caused belief and also had great utility. Nowadays we can quote book, chapter and verse, but back then, how would they know if something was from God or not? How about the gift of "distinguishing of spirits" (1 Cor 12:10) in order that they could "test the spirits to see whether they are of God?" (1 Jn 4:1) Obviously they had a reason, and it was both to cause belief and to establish Christianity and the churches. These days we have no need of such "childish" things, but back then, the church was young just like a child, and it needed these gifts.
In summary of everything, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit:
- were given only by the laying on of the hands of the apostles
- were controlled by the user at all times
- were only in use until the New Testament was completed
- ceased to exist when the apostles died, the New Testament was completed, and those who had them died off
- existed to cause belief in the Word, to establish the churches, but were considered "childish," being needed only for the early Christian churches as the New Testament was being completed