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The Gifts of the Spirit
Friday, March 13th, 2015 4:01pm
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One of the most talked about, and one of the most maligned, is the gifts of the Spirit, the gifts given to each new believer when they are saved.  The gifting varies between people and callings, and it grows or changes over time.  IE, some gifts are given for a time and a place, used briefly, and then never used again.  But even so everyone has at least one gift.  So what are these gifts and what is their purpose?  Well, they serve two purposes.  To the saved they are for edification and teaching.  To the lost they are for the purpose of demonstrating that God is real and bringing people to Salvation.  There are no other uses.  Not personal prosperity, or fame, or glory, or any of that.  In both purposes they are meant to serve God, edify the body and/or reach the lost for Christ.  Any other uses is unbiblical.

So what are these gifts specifically?  Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, and 1 Corinthians 12:28, which are three separate lists, gives the breakdown of the gifts as identified by Paul.  They include prophecy, helps (ie, serving), teaching, exhortation (ie, encouraging), giving, leadership, mercy, words of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, discernment (ie, distinguishing between spirits or truths), speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues.  So what are each of these and how do they apply to the Christian walk?  Well, let's take a look at each one individually.

Prophecy

Prophecy is basically the telling of others what the will of God is.  It's not telling the future or "fortune telling" as some think, although that is to some degree part of what happens.  The original Greek word for prophecy or prophesying means to "Speak Forth" or proclaim something, specifically the divine will of God, to make known His purposes, or His truth which is sent forth to influence or motivate people.  So, regardless if it's a word from God for now, or something God plans to do in the future, prophecy is the proclaiming of God's will to those who will hear, or to which it is proclaimed.

Helps

Helps, oftentimes referred to as "serving", is the most common of all the gifts.  Sometimes referred to as “ministering”, it is derived from the Greek word diakonian, which is the root word from which the English word “deacon” is derived.  In summary it means pretty much service of any way, shape, kind or form to those in need, within Biblical law, of course.  IE, sinning in order to help someone is NOT helps.  Therefore, breaking the law to assist someone is not considered part of this gift.  But sacrificing or going out of your way to help the needy is.

Exhortation

Sometimes referred to as "Encouragement", this gift is used by those who regularly and consistently call others to follow God's word and heed His commandments.  This may involve correction, building others up, strengthening the weak, or comforting those in trials.

Giving

This gift is essentially exactly what it sounds like.  It's someone who has been especially blessed by God with the desire to give far above and beyond what others do.  Sometimes those with the gift of giving are also supernaturally and exceptionally gifted with extensive resources or a pool of plenty from which they can give liberally.  But not always.  Sometimes those with the greatest and most giving spirits are those who have the least, sorta like the widow with her two mites.

Leadership

This is essentially anyone who is a leader, or presides over, has management of, or leadership over things, people, a church, etc.  The original Greek word literally means "guide" and carries with it the idea of a helmsman, or one who guides a ship or a vessel.  In today's vernacular, one could say, it's the driver of the bus.  Anyone gifted with leadership will rule with wisdom, grace, and the fruit of the Spirit, leading by example to all those around them.  This won't be an "I speak, you obey" situation, but rather something more along the lines of "I lead, you follow".

Mercy

This gift is closely associated with Exhortation, and sometimes confused with it, likely because the two often appear side by side.  In other words, someone gifted with mercy will have the gift of exhortation as well, and vice versa.  Anyone with this gift is often given an extra measure of mercy and grace which is extremely obvious to others, especially those in trials, troubles, or distress.  Someone with this gift will show exceptional mercy, sympathy, sensitivity, and a desire to lessen the sufferings of those around them.

Word of Wisdom

This gift is, as some would call it, one of the "speaking" gifts, sorta like exhortation.  Basically, anyone who has this gift can both understand and speak forth biblical truth in such a manner that they are able to skillfully apply it to the lives and situations of those to whom they are speaking, and do it with great discernment.  This is not the gift of discernment, but it does include discernment as one of its elements.

Word of Knowledge

This, like the word of wisdom, is another one of the speaking gifts.  Anyone who has this is able to speak forth truth and understand it in a way that only comes from God.  One example of someone who had this gift is Paul, as much of what he writes of in his letters was not known before until he proclaimed it through divine revelations from God.  Therefore people with this gift can understand deep things of God and mysteries in His word that others can't, and will in turn share that with others in ways they can understand.  This isn't a "mystic" gift, where only the gifted understands it.  Think of it like an interpreter.  They are given the supernatural ability to understand the deep things of God, and then are able to bring it up (or down, whichever way you want to look at it) to the level of the average person so they too can understand it.

Faith

This might seem like a given, as all believers have faith.  However, this is an extra special kind of faith.  For matter of comparison, think of this as the monster truck of faith vs the Tonka truck or the lawn tractor of faith most other believers have.  Or for the more nautical types, this is the QE2 vs the Long Island Ferry.  In other words, it's faith supersized.

Healing

The gift if healing is an exceptional or more than ordinary gift of being able to heal people.  This is the kind of gift where, when someone says, "Be healed!" people are literally, instantaneously, and visibly healed.  This isn't just praying for someone to be healed and then waiting for God, using natural processes, doctors, etc to heal someone.  This is miraculous, instantaneous healing and includes the regrowing of missing body parts, restoration of sight, healing of leprosy, making the lame walk and so much more.  Actual examples of this I've either seen, or have heard of from reliable sources include not only these, but other healings as well.  I've literally seen eyes grow back, arms grow back, broken legs mended, deformities made whole, the sick made well, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I've heard from others of healings even more extreme than even this, including the raising of the dead!  Some say this gift isn't alive or in use today.  I heartily disagree.  After what I've seen it'd be impossible to deny that this gift is in use today.  One thing I will agree on is that it's not widespread today due in part to unbelief.  Therefore it is not a common gift.  Due to its rarity of use today compared with the 1st Century, it's likely a temporary gift given only at times of need, but is not a full time anointing.

Otherwise, if it were, morgues, hospitals, nursing homes and the like would all be empty.  So, considering that they're not, it's most likely because simply "carpet bombing" these places with miracles and emptying them out would not have the desired effect that God wants, which is Salvation for all.  So the more limited and isolated uses of this gift seen today seems to fit with that desired outcome, and thus why its usage is seen in such limited amounts these days rather than happening on an almost daily basis as it was in the first centry.

Miraculous Powers

This is one of the gifts of the Spirit that is somewhat hard to explain.  Essentially it's a temporary gift, one that is given to the individual for a brief time to do a miraculous, supernatural event, and then removed.  Sort of a "one use" gifting that requires a new anointing of this gift to be used again.  This gift was exhibited by Paul, Peter, Stephen and Phillip in the book of Acts (3:6, 6:8, 8:6-7 and 19:11-12) as well as by many others in that time period.  I'm not aware of this being used, or at the very least I don't remember it being used, this century or even in the last few.  However, I suspect it will again begin appearing during the Tribulation period as it will be needed during that time.  But as for today, eh, I think this one has been shelved for the moment, so to speak.

Discernment

This gift is, for lack of a better term, the "distinguishing of spirits".  What this means is that the person with this gift has the ability, above and beyond that of the normal believer, to discern the true message of God from that of Satan.  It's a gift used to protect the church from false doctrine.  I've also seen it used to expose lies or discern truth in people, things, books, news reports, and other things around the individual with this gift.  IE, they can spot the "truthiness" of something much more easily than the average believer, and both detect and expose lies more easily.

Tongues

This is a much spoken against and maligned gift of the spirit still in use today.  Essentially "tongues" is the old English way of saying, "languages".  It's essentially the divine ability to speak in other languages you've either never heard of, never spoken, or both.  There are also two methods in which this gift is deployed.  The first is in witnessing.  This allows you to speak to someone of another language and understand what they're saying.  One great example of what this is like comes from a gentleman who actually experienced it.  He said he thought it in English and then spoke in Hebrew, and he heard the replies from the people he spoke to in Hebrew and understood it in English.  So with this gift in operation you can very comfortably speak in another language fluently and perfectly with the same comfort and confidence as your normal parent language.

Another form of this is tied closely with exhortation in the fact that the speaker proclaims a truth from God in a foreign language, but instead of it being directed at someone to whom the individual is witnessing, it is often directed at an entire group or congregation.  What makes this special is that typically the recipients don't know or have never heard the language before.  So how do they understand what's being said?  Well, a second person comes alongside them and interprets it for them in their native language.  So one speaks the foreign language and one translates and interprets it into the native language of those hearing it.  What makes this still even more unique is that oftentimes when this happens there is perhaps one, maybe two people in the audience (although not always) who speak that language, and as a result one set of listeners are edified by the translated words in a foreign language, but so is the listener, should they happen to be in the crowd, who also speaks that language.

One example would be that the person speaking in tongues does so in Russian.  By their side is someone who translates that Russian into English for the majority of those who are they so they can understand what is being said.  Then on rare occasions there might be someone among those English speakers who happens to speak Russian as their native language.  So when that occurs both aspects of tongues are employed at the same time.  Namely witnessing and edification.  However, there is one caveat to this.  If the language being spoken is NOT an authentic language, or one that is known, then it is NOT tongues.  It's merely babbling for the sake of babbling or fitting in.  There are many who authentically speak and/or pray in foreign languages (ie, tongues) as the Spirit gives them utterance, but there are far more who merely babble incoherently and are NOT expressing true tongues.

Basically the rules of tongues goes like this.  If it is a legitimate language, and it can be understood or interpreted, it's legit.  Everything else is just mindless babble and should be avoided.  That includes so called "prayer languages".  If it can't be identified as a known foreign language, understood by someone, or interpreted by someone, it's fake and mindless babbling, period.

Interpretation of Tongues

As covered in the section above, it's the other half of the second mode in which tongues can function and involves the interpretation of a known foreign language being spoken by another.  For this gift to be authentic, or tongues even, the language spoken and/or interpreted much be a REAL language, and it must be one not known by either the speaker or the interpreter.  The reasons for this are designed to ensure that it's from God and not some chicanery by either party involved in this.

The Gifts - A Summary

Well, that's a general summary of all the gifts of the Spirit.  Now, before I end this little teaching I want to make one additional statement.  The gifts of the Spirit, namely the Holy Spirit, are broken up into two general categories: Sign and Common gifts.  Common gifts are those such as helps, teaching, discernment, leadership, etc.  Those are the "daily use" gifts that everyone has.  Maybe not all of them, but certainly at least one, if not more.  They're the ones you use on a daily basis for God's service and the Kingdom.  The second type, Sign gifts, sometimes referred to as "miraculous" gifts, are for special occasions.

That's why I listed in some of them above that you won't see them in daily use.  These are kind of the "nuclear option" in God's quiver.  Some of the reasons for their infrequent uses range from a lack of faith on the part of the user or the recipient, and some of it is because they're only hauled out when the need for something above and beyond the ordinary is needed.  Hence my "nuclear option" comment.  This is a situation where the regular gifts aren't quite enough to get people's attention or make them believe.  Another reason is that some people look for signs as proof that someone is legit, but as Christ said, "no sign will be given to you, except the sign of Jonah", meaning that no signs would be done for them due to unbelief.

So ultimately their scarcity still comes down to the two primary reasons for their appearance, or lack thereof.  Namely the need for either something so far over the top that faith is born, or withheld in part or their entirety due to a lack of faith by those to whom they would otherwise be directed.  Of the gifts listed above, the common "daily use" gifts are Helps, Exhortation, Giving, Leadership, Mercy, Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge and Discernment.  The miraculous or "sign" gifts, are Prophecy, Healing, Miraculous Powers, Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues.  The first group you should see in daily use around you.  The latter you will only see on special occasions calling for their manifestation.

However, don't think that just because the sign gifts aren't all that common, and tend to be special use only, that they aren't for today or aren't happening.  They are in use today and are being expressed, albeit in limited degrees, partially because when they are made available they're often not used rightly, or in most cases it's simply due to unbelief on the part of either the user, or the observer, a measure of faithlessness that will literally kill dead in its tracks any attempted move of God, as He will not move greatly to stir up faith if there is none to be stirred up.  Anyhow, I thought this would be helpful to many of you.  For those of you wanting to know what your spiritual gifts are, I highly recommend taking a spiritual gifts quiz to see what gifts God has given to you, and then employing those gifts in your daily lives in service to Jesus. :)

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