Spiritual Gifts: A Display of Love, Humility, and Unity
What are spiritual gifts? What purpose do they serve? What are we, as believers, called to do with them? These are questions that many (if not all) believers have had to work through before. Spiritual gifts can be a hot topic in our culture today because there are such differing views on them. It is not uncommon to find believers fighting within and without the church over the various issues relating to them, and there are a couple things that I want to address in our discussion about spiritual gifts.
First, the issues of spiritual gifts are important, and they should not be ignored or avoided. However, they should not cause serious division within the body of Christ, either. Philippians 2 makes it very clear that believers are to “be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” This means that we are to strive alongside our fellow believers in an effort to bring honor and glory to God. There are some issues that must be divided over, but I do not believe spiritual gifts is one of them. Rather, as we will see, spiritual gifts are meant to produce unity within the church, and any other use of them is a lie that ignores the Lordship of Christ (I Cor. 12:3).
Second, we must address the issue of sign gifts. I believe that these gifts (tongues, miracles, and healing) are gifts that have ceased to exist since the completion of the Bible. We see throughout the life of Christ and of the apostles that these sign gifts were sent from God in order to confirm that the message these individuals brought was from Him. The sign gifts existed to confirm the truth of the words that have been preserved in Scripture. However, we believe the Bible has been completed, and God has already finished confirming it (Heb. 2:3-4). As such, there is no further need for these gifts in the church today; rather, the existence of them in the past is enough for us today, because we accept that the tongues, miracles, and healings of the apostles completely confirmed the authenticity of the Word of God. Thus, these gifts have ceased. There are multiple other gifts for believers today, as are listed in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and a few other passages. With these issues stated, we can now move on to discuss the purpose and effect of spiritual gifts.
When the Holy Spirit indwells a Christian, He brings with Him many different ministries. One of the most apparent in the life of the believer is spiritual Gifts. When a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit gives them a spiritual gift – something to use in service to the body of believers for the glory of God. There are many different gifts mentioned in Scripture, and it is possible there are more gifts not mentioned in the Bible. However, every gift has a few things in common. First, spiritual gifts only exist in believers (1 Cor. 12:4-11). Second, they all are for use within the body of Christ (12:7). Third, every gift represented in a local church is necessary for that church and is useful to every member of the church—not just the person who has that gift (12:22-26). Finally, through the diversity of the gifts, the church needs to become unified (12:12-13). The purpose of gifts is to bring glory to God by serving in the body of Christ. This cannot happen when believers are fighting and disagreeing; therefore, we must focus on a few principles that the I Corinthians passage on spiritual gifts brings out. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to bring glory to Christ and to unify the church through the expression of Christlike love.
The first purpose of spiritual gifts is to bring glory to Christ. We see this in the very beginning of I Corinthians 12. The first three verses describe unbelievers being led to worship idols. However, when they are saved, those same people are then led to worship Jesus Christ, Who is God. Paul must have started his discussion of gifts this way for a reason. In his article, “I Corinthians 12: Diversity and Unity in Spiritual Gifts,” David Guzik says about verse 3 that we need to “judge things by how they relate to Jesus Christ.” That is, when we see someone claiming to have a certain gift, we should say, “Is that bringing glory to Christ? Does this person send the praise to Jesus as Lord, or to himself?” The answer to those questions will often determine whether the gift is given from and used in the Spirit or not. When we approach the Spirit’s gifts this way, much of the confusion falls away. Spiritual gifts’ purpose is, first and foremost, to glorify God. The verse most often quoted on this topic was also written by Paul in this same letter just a few pages earlier, I Corinthians 10:31: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Just as with eating and drinking, spiritual gifts are given for the glory of God. If they do not give Him glory, then they are not authentic Spiritual gifts. If we consider their purpose to authenticate a believer, then we are off focus. A spiritual gift is not given to point to the person using it, but rather to point to the God who gave it. This is what it is to use gifts to glorify God—they will point to Him, not us.
The next purpose for spiritual gifts is for use within the body of Christ. The 1 Corinthians passage on spiritual gifts is also where the church today has gotten the term “body of Christ.” I am sure you are all familiar with this analogy, but I’ll go over it quickly here. The church is called a “body” with different people making up the parts of the body. The hand, the eye, the ear, and the foot all need each other in order for the body to function properly. If one part is hurt or missing, you really notice it, because it changes the entire way you live. So it is with the church. Every member is essential to the proper function of the church. When people resist the Spirit, it not only stunts their own growth, but also hurts every person in the church. This analogy describes the church more than any other. However, we often miss that it is given in the context of spiritual gifts! God has given every Christian a gift through the wisdom of the Spirit (12:11). As such, every believer is called to use their gifts within the body of Christ—the church! Our spiritual gifts are given to use for the church in order to uplift those in the body around us. This goes back to the concept of our union with Christ. When we are saved, we are united with Christ (Rom. 5), which means that what is true for Him becomes true for us. His righteousness becomes ours (in God’s sight). We become heirs in heaven with Him (Rom. 8:17). Because every member of the church must be a saved person, our union with Christ should also extend to our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we become unified with Christ, we should also be unified with others that are in Him. So in the realm of spiritual gifts, we should be united in our purpose and focus with every other believer. Our spiritual gifts should not be a cause for dissension, but rather for unity and cooperation. They should be put to good use within the body of Christ, the church.
The final principle I will mention is that spiritual gifts are to be exercised in Christlike love. All of us are very familiar with I Corinthians 13. We know that love is patient, kind, humble, and all the other things (or we think we know it. I wonder if we look at how we act in a single day, will we still think we know this passage?). How often do we look at it in its context, though? Chapters 12 and 14 have sandwiched the “love passage” inside of a discussion on spiritual gifts. Chapter 12 is defining what spiritual gifts are and how to use them, chapter 14 is explaining what they are not and how not to use them, but in the middle, chapter 13, Paul talks about love? I Corinthians 14:1 says, “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts….” In John Gill’s commentary on I Corinthians, he says of this verse, “[Chapter 13] serves as an argument, or reason, to follow hard after [love], with an eagerness used in hunting, and with such violence as persecutors express in pursuing and laying hold on those they seek after.” He later argues that when we seek after love like this—when it becomes our primary motivator—our spiritual gifts will overflow in humble service out of love for Christ and for our fellow believers in Christ. Through, the Spirit, we can love with an action that brings us to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ without selfishness and fighting. We will, in short, bring glory to God! This discussion on love is the crux of the whole passage! The other chapters bring out what we should do and why, but this is God showing us how. When we love like Christ, we will use our spiritual gifts to serve the body of Christ. We will do so with patience, kindness, humility, and all the fruit of the Spirit. Christlike love will always manifest itself in Christlike humility. And to that, we have been called.
Written by: Katelyn Smith