As it was for Adam in Eden, the temptation with the spiritual gifts is to take dominion without prior submission to God.
From the course notes for Bull’s Bible School.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” (1 Corinthians 12:1)
As in Corinth, there is much ignorance in the church on the subject of spiritual gifts. This is partly because we do not take to heart what Paul says about the gifts of the Spirit. So our first task is to study what Paul says about these gifts.
But it is also partly because the unique experience of the first Christians can only be truly understood in the context of the entire Bible. So our second task is to understand the special work that was given to the apostolic church. The apostles were called to build the foundation for the Christian age, but they were also called to bring an end to the Jewish age whose ministry was now fulfilled and completed in Christ.
1 The gifts of the Spirit in the apostolic church
Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the “helper” of the church (John 14:26). Not only would He teach the saints and guide them towards a great understanding of spiritual truth, but His gifts would enable the church to carry out its task.
Like natural talents, spiritual gifts can be misused. Natural gifts require discipline, practice, and wisdom in order to bring a blessing to others. Paul’s words were written to provide guidance concerning the use of the spiritual gifts.
The key point is that they had lost sight of the fact that these gifts were not given primarily for the benefit of the ones who received them but for the purpose of bringing benefit to others in the church. This aspect of the gifts relates directly to the nature of the generous God who gave them.
Put bluntly, these saints were spiritual children who treated these gifts like toys instead of tools and they needed to develop some maturity.
The 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit that are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 are arranged so as to picture the different roles of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But this arrangement also reflects how the pattern of the Trinity is stamped into the creation. As Paul’s list progresses, the first three gifts focus on the direct ministry of God to man (above); the next three gifts focus on man’s ministry to man (beside); and the final three gifts focus on the church’s ministry among the nations (below).
In this progression, we see a representation of the Spirit taking possession of what was corrupted by idolatry: the heavens above; the land beside; and the waters of the sea below (Exodus 20:4; Ephesians 1:10; Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 5:3, 13).
This sequence of gifts describes the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven to take dominion of the world of man and “recreate” it just as He created the world (Genesis 1:2). The spiritual gifts given to the apostolic church were the beginning of a process that will culminate in the restoration of the entire cosmos.
• The work of the Father: the direct ministry of God to man (above):
– A word of wisdom
– A word of knowledge
– Faith
• The work of the Son: the ministry of man to man (beside):
– Gifts of healing
– The working of miracles
– Prophecy
• The work of the Spirit: the ministry of the church among the nations (below):
– The discernment of spirits
– Different kinds of tongues
– Interpretation of tongues
It seems that this same “above, beside, below” pattern is also found within each of the three domains of gifts. For instance: wisdom (the ministry of God to man); knowledge (the ministry of man to man); and faith (the ministry of the church among the nations).
a) The direct ministry of God to man (above):
God knows everything, but He does not give all His knowledge to a single individual. He gives people partial knowledge as is necessary to carry out their task in the world. Even the Son of God while on earth was not given all knowledge.
– A word of wisdom is the discernment required to make a wise decision. It is for decisions that require insight into the spiritual realm, such as the state of men’s hearts.
Old Testament examples are the divine wisdom given to Jacob in order to outsmart Laban (Genesis 31:6–12), and to Joseph when Egypt faced a great famine (Genesis 41:33-40).
A New Testament example is the setting apart of Paul and Barnabas for special ministry (Acts 13:1-4).
– A word of knowledge is an insight given by God for a particular situation, usually involving a particular person. It is knowledge that could not gained by study or from a human source.
An Old Testament example is the revelation to Jeremiah that the false prophet Hananiah would die within a year (Jeremiah 28:15-17).
New Testament examples are: the revelation to Peter that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:16-17); the revelation that Ananias and Sapphira had lied about giving to the church all the proceeds from the sale of their property (Acts 5:1-4); and the revelation to Peter that three men were seeking him (Acts 10:9).
– Faith is a gift given to each person when he or she believes the Gospel. But the faith that Paul mentions here is a special degree of faith given in order to trust God for the accomplishmen of extraordinary things. The disciples asked the Lord to increase their faith (Luke 17:5) and He did so by the power of the Spirit.
These three initial gives lay a foundation for the gifts that follow. To clarify, healing, miracles and prophecy are not possible without having first received the ministry and benefit of wisdom, knowledge, and faith. Likewise, healing, miracles, and prophecy are all required for dealing with demonic influences in individuals and nations.
b) The ministry of man to man (beside):
The second tier of gifts shifts the focus from the passive receiving of things from God to the active ministry of believers.
– Gifts of healing come via various means and this is because they serve various purposes in the will of God. When Jesus healed people instantly, the condition and the method were both chosen in order to teach something.
For instance, the restoration of physical sight was a demonstration of Jesus’ power to bring sight to those who were spiritually blind. This link is found in the physical blindness of Isaac whose spiritual blindness led to his choosing of Esau, his unbelieving firstborn, to be his heir.
It is also seen in the fact that Jesus’ acts of freeing people from demonic oppression were regarded as miracles of spiritual healing (Acts 10:38).
An important factor in Jesus’ healings is that He healed Jews of conditions that made them unfit for the assembly of God under the Law of Moses. Israelites had to be physically perfect, because they were to be living sacrifices. Like the animal sacrifices, they were to have spotless skin (Leviticus 13) and be physically whole, not blind or lame, in order to serve as mediators in the court of God.
Based on the requirements for the priests (Leviticus 21:17-23), the Pharisees considered themselves holy because they were not like the beggars in the street. But despite their outward wholeness and prosperity, they were spiritually covered in sores (Isaiah 1: 5-6), and spiritually “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). That is why He advised them to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand or a limb. It was better for them to have a purified life and be disqualified from the court of God on earth than to be physically whole yet rejected from the court of God in heaven (Matthew 18:8-9).
Like Jesus, the apostles performed miraculous acts of healing. The unique features of each incident were likewise intended to be instructive. It is these miraculous and instantaneous incidents that Paul has in mind in this text.
The Lord still answers prayers for healing—either through instant divine intervention, or through gradual processes including medicine. There is some evidence that the Apostle Luke was an apothecary or physician.
Let us remember that bringing healing to the sick even in natural ways, just like bringing food to the starving, is a God-given opportunity to demonstrate the love of God (Matthew 25:37-40). By whatever channel it comes, healing is a work of the Spirit, and is thus pictured by an anointing with oil (James 5:14-15).
A lack of healing is not a sign of a lack of faith. Many great people of God have suffered from illnesses that God did not heal. This is because His great work through them necessitated a greater degree of humility. Timothy suffered from a minor condition that was not healed by a miracle (1 Timothy 5:23).
The sickness in such cases is not the result of a lack of faith but a divine means of increasing faith. Like fasting, sickness mortifies the flesh for great spiritual benefit. By making a person more dependent upon God for daily help, even an illness can be an avenue of grace because it prevents us from being lifted up with pride.
And we must remember that the ultimate act of physical healing, which is guaranteed to every believer, is the resurrection of the body. Just as the Lord, our great physician (Matthew 9:12), can raise us up from the sick bed and even the death bed, so also He will raise us all up from the grave at the last day (John 6:40).
In all cases, whether God chooses to heal us, or how He chooses to heal us, we must trust in His wisdom as He carries out His purposes.
– The working of miracles can be defined as a supernatural intervention by God in the ordinary course of nature.
However, it has been said that miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story that is written across the whole world in letters that are too large for some of us to see. In other words, the same power of creating everything from nothing is demonstrated in a miracle. It is not a breaking of the laws of nature. It is magnification or concentration of the same power for the purpose of proving of the existence of the one who wrote those laws and whose power is thus not subject to those laws.
This is another reminder that these special gifts of the Spirit in the apostolic church were more about teaching us what God is like than they were about what we can get from Him.
– Prophecy is a term that covers a number of things. The word “prophet” comes from the Greek word for a spokesman, so to prophesy is simply to speak forth or announce. For this reason, the word can include ordinary preaching as well as predicting the future.
In the Bible, prophecy is distinct from teaching because its purpose is moral exhortation. Even the ancient prophets foretold the future as a warning and a promise to the people of their own day. The revelation of the future consequences of obedience or disobedience always served as a call to repent and return to God. Prophecy is never without this moral component.
Whereas the words of wisdom and knowledge were more personal in nature, this gift of prophecy was an unction intended for the saints more generally. This was a fulfillment of Moses’ desire that all the Lord’s people would one day be prophets (Numbers 11:29). Although some are given the special gift of prophecy, all of God’s people are called to speak forth the Word of God—the Gospel of Christ—as prophets in the world.
This is why Peter quoted the prophecy of Joel in which God promised to pour out His Spirit to make even the common people prophesy (Acts 2:17-18). It is also why Paul esteemed the gift of “speaking forth” over the other gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1). It is the Word of God, and not miracles, that really changes the world, because it miraculously changes the hearts of men and women.
However, the same standards apply to the church as they did to Israel under the Law of Moses. If one claims to be a prophet yet contradicts the Word of God, or if his or her words turn out to be false, they are disqualified from this ministry and their words are not to be feared (Deuteronomy 13:1-3; 18:20-22).
Such people in the church are like the false prophets who served under the kings of Israel and told them what they wanted to hear in order to keep their jobs. In Jude 1:11 and Revelation 2:14, they are given the spiritual name of Balaam, the false prophet who misled the people of God for the sake of money.
c) The ministry of the church among the nations (below):
– The discernment of spirits is a supernatural ability to look beyond the words that somebody speaks and see whether their message is from the Lord or from the devil.
This gift is necessary because the devil mixes truth with lies in order to deceive. This is precisely what the serpent did when he spoke to the Woman in Genesis 3.
In Acts 16:16, the apostles were harrassed by a medium who spoke the truth about them. Paul discerned that although her testimony was true, the source of this knowledge was an evil spirit. She was being exploited for her gift, so he freed her from bondage as Adam should have rescued Eve from the influence of the serpent.
There are two important aspects we must remember in our dealings with the demonic.
Firstly, notice that neither Jesus nor Paul went looking for instances of demon oppression or possession. They only dealt with these things as they came across them. Their primary focus was the ministry of the Word. A church that spends its time and energy focusing on darkness instead of proclaiming the light of Christ has been distracted from its true mission.
This brings us to the second aspect. Many portray the power of the devil as being equal to that of God, but this is a lie. Jesus and the apostles cast out demons with a single command because they had the authority of God. Proclaiming the Word is like lighting a lamp in the darkness. The darkness is dispelled because it has no power over the light. Jesus is the light of the world (John 1:4-5; 8:12). So “Let there be light!” (Genesis 1:3).
It is the same with proclaiming the truth in order to expose false doctrine. The use of the gift of discerning spirits was crucial when the church was infiltrated by Jews who desired to lure their brothers back to Judaism (Jude 1:3-4). John also taught the Jewish Christians to discern false brothers by their lack of love (1 John 3:11-15; 4:7-8). Despite their pious words, the religious zeal of these people was motivated by hatred. That was what revealed the dark character of the spirit in their hearts.
The acid test for discerning the spirit of a prophet in the first-century context was a confession that Christ is the incarnate Son of God (1 John 4:1-3). This fact was offensive to the gods of the Gentiles and to the false god of the Jews who rejected Christ. The Temple itself became a “synagogue of Satan,” that is, an assembly of the adversaries of the Gospel (Revelation 2:9; 3:9).
The test for discerning those who know God today is whether or not they listen to the teachings of the apostles (1 John 4:1-6). “By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Those outside the church who oppose the Scriptures, and those inside the church who oppose certain Scriptures, are motivated by the spirit of the world, not the Spirit of God.
– Different kinds of tongues was a curse that God brought upon the nations that gathered at the Tower of Babel. Unity is strength, but instead of relying upon God for strength via spiritual unity, they manufactured their own under a false religion. If they were united, nothing would be withheld from them, so God divided them by confusing their language, multiplying their tongues.
This is the context of the miraculous speaking in foreign tongues that began on the Day of Pentecost. It was a sign that the curse of multiplied tongues that divided the nations was being spiritually reversed by the Gospel proclaimed in every tongue. Jesus had prayed that all those believed in Him would be united as one (John 17:20-21), and this fellowship would be accomplished by the power of the Spirit who binds us together (1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Philippians 2:1-2).
As with all the gifts of the Spirit, the gift of tongues can be counterfeited. Speaking in what appears to be foreign languages can be found in pagan religious ecstasies. So how are we to discern what is true?
– Interpretation of tongues was one of the guidelines that Paul provided for the practice of speaking in tongues. If practised without these disciplines, any visitor would make a mistake similar to that made by many on the Day of Pentecost—the babbling saints were either drunk or insane.
Paul provided some guidelines for the discernment of the true gift and for its orderly practice in the apostolic church:
- What was spoken had to be a real, existing language (1 Corinthians 14:10-11). The interpretation of a tongue was a means of verification.
- It was addressed to God and not to men. Without interpretation, speaking in tongues in church was a selfish act that benefited no one but the speaker (1 Corinthians 14:2-12).
- It was a warning of judgment upon “this people,” that is, the first-century unbelieving Jews (1 Corinthians 14:21). It was a also sign to them regarding the vocation of believing Gentiles as fellow heirs with believing Jews (Acts 10:44-48).
- Speaking in tongues was not a sign for believers but for unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22). It confirmed that, contrary to the claims of unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, the union of Jew and Gentile in the church of Jesus was truly a work of God for all nations.
- Its practice was to be carried out with the complementary gift of interpretation of the foreign tongues or it was not permitted (1 Corinthians 14:28).
- Chaos is the hallmark of pagan worship. Self-control is one of the marks of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-23) which reveals that much of what happens in some churches is of the flesh, not of the Spirit. The practice of speaking in tongues—like the rest of the worship—was to be carried out decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40).
If any of these conditions were not met, the saints were disobeying the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:37).
2 The gifts of the Spirit in the church today
There are those who read the Book of Acts and expect that all of those gifts and miracles should be occurring in the church today. And there are those who rightly observe that this characteristic of the apostolic church did not continue after the first century. Both sides are partly right and partly wrong, and the failure to put the correct aspects of both sides together has resulted in two opposing errors.
a) The “charismatic” (from the Greek word charisma which Paul uses for “gifts” in 1 Corinthians 12:4), maintains a constant expectation that God will regularly work the sort of wonders recorded in the Book of Acts. Because those events are regarded as the standard for the Church in all ages, there is a tendency to judge the faith or spirituality of Christians and churches upon the practice and prevalence of such miraculous gifts. This is a mistake.
More seriously, the expectation and desire for miraculous gifts very often leads to false claims of divine power and prophetic authority, as well as the fabrication of supposedly extraordinary events. When such charlatans are exposed, it brings ridicule and shame upon the church.
Christians are not only deceived by such false prophets, but also disappointed when they do not see miraculous power or experience supernatural events in their own lives. When God does not answer their prayers with instant and obvious divine interventions, they begin to doubt their own faith in God, and God’s love and favor for them as His son or daughter, for no good reason.
b) On the other side, the “cessationist” (the one who believes that the miraculous gifts ceased at the end of the era of the apostolic church (that is, at the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in AD70). The reason is that the gifts of the apostolic era were primarily a sign to the Jews that the ministry of their priesthood and its sacrifices was coming to an end.
The cessationist insists that God no longer works in miraculous ways, and that we should not expect Him to ever intervene in such ways. Due to the false and sometimes bizarre claims of miracles throughout Christian history, anything that might be interpreted as an overt miracle (such as an instant healing) tends to be regarded with suspicion and skepticism. The cessationist never expects miracles and limits God to answering prayers in natural ways (such as healing naturally or through the benefit of a medical intervention). As a result, the work of the Spirit in the Church is often obstructed.
This situation is the result of two misunderstandings. The first one is the general nature and purpose of gifts from God—both natural talents and spirit gifts. The second one is the special nature and purpose of the gifts of the Spirit in the apostolic church.
a) The general nature and purpose of gifts from God
The basic theme of the Bible is that submission to heaven brings dominion on earth. If Man is faithful and obedient to God, God will give Him the blessing required to prosper in all that he does. For Adam and Eve, this twofold pattern was pictured in the Tree of Life (dependence upon the Creator in heaven) and the Tree of Knowledge (the wisdom required to build cities and civilization on earth).
This twofold pattern is also found in the offices of the priest (submission to heaven) and the king (dominion on earth). It is also why God established the priesthood of Israel (under Moses) before He established the kingdom of Israel in Jerusalem (under David).
If Adam had obeyed God as a priest (submission to heaven), the Tree of Knowledge would have been given to him freely as a king (dominion on earth). We know this because Solomon faced a similar test for qualification and he passed it. He humbled himself before God and asked for the wisdom (the ability to discern between good and evil) required to rule his people. God gave him that wisdom, and also gave him the glory and prosperity that the kings of the nations desired.
Jesus tells us to likewise put the kingdom of God first (as priestly servants) that we might be exalted with all the things that the nations desire (as royal heirs who inherit the earth) (Matthew 6:33). If we humble ourselves (like priests) we will be exalted (like kings) (Matthew 23:12). Jesus humbled Himself, even unto death, and was given all authority in heaven and earth. He was also given all the nations as His inheritance (Psalm 2:7-12; Revelation 5:9-10).
But like all godless kings, Adam exalted himself and was humbled by God. He refused to submit to God and instead attempted to steal what God had intended to give to him as a gift. He wanted everything that God had to give him, but he did not want to be subject to God’s authority.
This is the sin of all human rulers, and indeed of all human beings. All sins are not only rebellions against God, but also thefts from God. There are no inherently bad things in the world, only distortions of the good things that God created.
After Adam’s disqualification, his office as priest-king was split between his two sons, priestly Abel and kingly Cain. Cain was the firstborn heir, but he required the ministry of his priestly brother before he could approach the throne of God.
As the intended ruler, the lineage of Cain possessed all the gifts, that is, the natural talents that were required to rule the earth (Genesis 4:17-22). But because these men were thieves like Adam, their glorious kingdom degenerated into unrestrained violence and bloodshed, and God destroyed the world in the Great Flood (Genesis 6:5-13).
Even natural gifts—which can be used for good or evil—come from God, and they are related to the task of taking dominion of the earth.
The point here is that the kingly nature of gifts in general (either natural or spiritual) explains why the gifts of the Holy Spirit did not come in full force until the coming of the kingdom of God on the Day of Pentecost. That spelled the end of the priesthood established by Moses. And it established the royal priesthood of Jesus, one comprised of believers from all nations.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
Like our natural talents, our spiritual gifts are given to us in order to edify, that is, to “build up,” the church as a holy temple for Christ. This was pictured in the special gifts given to the craftsmen Aholiab and Bezalel in order to construct the Tabernacle according to God’s specifications (Exodus 31:1-11; 35:30-35; 37:1). And Hiram of Tyre, who was specially gifted in working with bronze (1 Kings 7:14) donated his talents for the construction of Solomon’s Temple.
b) The special nature and purpose of the gifts of the Spirit in the apostolic church
As mentioned, the work of the apostles was to establish the foundation for the new age, the era of the Christian church, and then to destroy the foundation of the old age, the age of Judaism, which was made obsolete by Christ. The ministry of the Temple was growing old and was ready to pass away (Hebrews 8:13).
This work was much like the work of Noah. The apostles were building a bridge from the old world to a new world, like Noah building the ark. And when that work was complete, God wiped the old order from the face of the earth in AD70. Like the destruction of the world by the Great Flood, the age of animal sacrifices that began in the Garden of Eden was ended forever.
This is the primary context of the New Testament, and it helps us to understand why these special gifts were necessary at that time of transition. They were the tools of a momentous change.
As it was with the miracles performed by the primary Old Testament prophets and by Christ, the prominence of miraculous gifts in the apostolic church confirmed the authority of the apostles as the true prophets of God.
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. (Mark 16:19-20)
Once this authentication was carried out, and the signs had fulfilled their duel purpose (warning the old order and building up the new), these tools were replaced to a great degree by more mature gifts. This is why Paul told the Corinthians to desire the higher gifts, but then showed them something even better: love.
But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13)
Paul is saying that even these mighty gifts that heralded the kingdom of God were childish in comparison to the spiritual maturity that he was calling them to. As he had written earlier in this letter, even though the Corinthians practiced these miraculous gifts, they were not yet spiritual people, but people of the flesh, “infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1).
When Paul says “when that which is perfect is come,” the word “perfect” means “mature,” “complete,” or “full-grown,” like a tree that has begun to bear fruit. Jesus, although sinless, was made “perfect” (mature) by suffering (Hebrews 5:9). And it is the Word of God that enables a Christian to be “complete” (mature) as a fully-equipped laborer for Christ (2 Timothy 3:14-16).
The era of the apostolic church was “partial” because the Scriptures were not complete, the foundation of the church was not complete, and the abolition of the old order was not complete.
- Just as the Books of Moses were completed just before God’s people were on the cusp of conquering the Land, so also the entire Bible was completed just as God’s spiritual people were on the cusp of conquering the World. The gifts were necessary to build up and protect the church until the authority and influence of the New Testament was established.
- The Lord was still cutting off the fruitless Jewish branches and grafting in the fruitful Gentile branches (Romans 11:17-24). The gifts were a warning and a promise to both the Jews and the Gentiles. As it is with trees, engrafting is only a short and temporary process. Once it was complete, the nature of the tree of Israel was changed forever, and it continues to bear much fruit across the entire globe. The old order was still challenging the new.
The believers had been promised an indestructible spiritual Jerusalem but the old city was still trying to corrupt, persecute, and kill them. The new age could not properly begin until the old was taken out of the way. Those first Christian martyrs suffered more than any believers did before or since, and this required a special dispensation of the Spirit.
When the Temple and the city were destroyed, what remained were faith, hope, and love. And Paul was calling the believers to “grow up.” The obvious glories of the Spirit in which they revelled would be coming to an end.
But that does not mean that the charismatics are wrong and the cessationists are right. The end of old Jerusalem was only the beginning of Jesus’ spiritual conquest of the nations and ultimate transformation of the world.
That brings us to three very helpful things we must understand concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit as He works in the world. These follow a pattern similar to the “triune” progression from “above” to “beside” to “below.”
- The theft of the gifts (Garden)
- The frontier of the gifts (Land)
- The passing of the gifts (World)
a) The theft of the gifts (Garden)
When Simon the magician asked Peter if he could buy the power of the Spirit, he was expressing the same desire of all men—to have the power of God without submitting to God (Acts 8:9-24).
As it was for Adam, the temptation with the spiritual gifts is to take dominion without prior submission to God. The Spirit will not allow Himself to be manipulated, and will withdraw whenever Christ is ignored or dishonored. A church that does not focus on Christ but claims to experience miracles is not working by the Spirit. It has the appearance of godliness but denies its power. Paul likens these “miracle workers” to the magicians who challenged Moses (2 Timothy 3:1-9). Jesus will condemn them at the last day (Matthew 7:22).
This is why all disobedience is as the sin or sorcery (1 Samuel 15:23). It is a theft of the miraculous power of God that we might gratify our own desires (James 4:3). This is the reason why Paul was disciplining the use of the gifts (among other problems) in the Corinthian church. If they continued in this manner, they would be subject to judgment.
b) The frontier of the gifts (Land)
The tongues of fire upon the Jews and then the Gentiles were a primary sign that was never repeated. Although the tongues continued, the fire did not. Like the initial appearance of the Lord’s glory at the inaugurations of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the fire was a visible promise of the continual invisible presence of God. The sign itself was no longer necessary.
Likewise, the tongues were a sign that the Gospel would be taken to all the nations, translated by Spirit-filled men. Miracles, dreams and visions still occur today on the frontiers of the Gospel, where the true Word of God is being authenticated. But once the Word is established, God calls the believers to more mature things.
Importantly, when a people, nation, or culture has had the Word of God for a long time but has hardened its heart and turned away from Him, the people who now disbelieve the Word often ask for the signs and miracles of childhood. They have become spiritual infants once again. Only a wicked and adulterous generation doubts the Word of God in its possession and seeks instead after a sign of authentication once again (Matthew 12:38-42; 16:1-4).
However, the frontier of the Gospel does not have to be in foreign lands. Anywhere that great risks are being taken for the ministry of Christ, the work will be accompanied by extraordinary events of some kind. If we attempt great things for God, He will do great things for us.
c) The passing of the gifts (World)
The greatest miracle is a holy life. Although Jesus had no outward glory, and appeared to be a mere commoner among the Jews, John says that His glory was “grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Adam corrupted the Garden, Cain corrupted the Land, and the sons of Cain corrupted the World, but the holy lives of the patriarchs reversed this pattern. Abraham and Isaac were a promise of a miraculous sin in the Garden. Jacob escaped from his murderous brother and prospered in the Land. And Joseph remained faithful to God despite repeated betrayals, rising to rule—and save—the surrounding nations of the World.
Not only did each patriarch face more intense tests of faith as he matured under God’s tutelage, but this entire lineage matured. Abraham faced tests later in his story that he could not have faced at the beginning of his ministry. Likewise, Joseph faced tests of greater enormity than either Jacob or Abraham did.
But what we must notice here is that while Abraham saw some miracles, including angels, and Jacob experienced some miracles, including an angel, Joseph saw no miracles. As the epitome of spiritual maturity, and a clearer prefiguring of Christ, Joseph himself was the miracle. That is the point of Paul’s desire to show the Corinthians a more excellent way. An internal spiritual glory is better than any display of external spiritual powers. To be in the presence of such a person is like being in the presence of God.
When we are mature in faith, hope, and love, we are the miracle. The “extraordinary event” is not a childhood lesson. It is a life lived in perfect submission to, and in harmony with, the Father and the Son by the power of the Spirit.
And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” (Genesis 41:38)
Artwork: The four spiritual seasons: Tree of life, 1987
John Coburn, Australia
1925 – 2006
