I received an e-mail with a question that I thought would be easier to respond to as a blog post since there might be others with the same question. In part, the e-mail asked the following:
I've been coming to Pleasantview for a few years now and have heard several sermons on the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I've noticed that certain gifts of the Spirit are mentioned and taught more than others…some aren't spoken of at all. This last group includes gifts of healing, tongues and interpretation, and certain aspects of prophecy (like dreams, visions, and specific words about the future). I know that some churches believe these gifts are no longer relevant or meant to be used in the Church today…and was wondering if you….would be willing to provide sound Biblical teaching on those gifts.
We just set up our Christmas tree (talk to my wife…I would have waited till AFTER Thanksgiving J ) and I can't help thinking of a picture of a child in front of the Christmas tree who has counted their gifts for weeks but then gets to Christmas morning and finds that some of their gifts are missing! OK…on to a serious answer now.
There's quite a spectrum of approaches from a variety of churches on this topic. Generally, they fall into one of three approaches:
1. Some churches believe that the 'miraculous gifts' (this is the term we'll use to sum up the gifts listed in the e-mail) were specifically for a time during the early stages of the church and then passed away. They believe this is supported through 1 Corinthians 13:8 and Hebrews 2:3-4. Thus, the gifts listed above do not exist today.
2. Some churches believe that the miraculous gifts continue to exist but only as an indicator of the baptism of the Holy Spirit on a person. Thus, according to this thought, people who show one or more of these miraculous gifts show themselves to have been baptized, sealed, and/or filled by the Holy Spirit. They believe this is supported by the observance of these gifts throughout the book of Acts on new believers.
3. Some churches believe that the miraculous gifts continue to exist today. However, it is also recognized that they are gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit and therefore can either be given or withheld at His own discretion. They do not constitute an indicator of the baptizing or sealing of the Spirit, nor does a person filled with the Holy Spirit necessarily exhibit one or more of these gifts.
This last one would be the position of our church. Historically, the Christian and Missionary Alliance (the denomination that we belong to) has summed up this approach as 'Seek not, forbid not.' Since the Holy Spirit gives the gifts at His discretion, we are not to seek them. He will provide them to a person whether that person is seeking them or not. And there is no Biblical indication that people seeking these gifts received them more than people not seeking them. In fact, most of the Biblical data from Acts would suggest the opposite.
However, we recognize that there are no explicit statements from Scripture that would state that these gifts have ceased to be used by God. I, for one, am uncomfortable saying that God will not or does not do something that He has done in the past-it's usually shortly after that statement that God proves me wrong. Additionally, I have too many friends (all of them missionaries, for whatever that's worth) that have observed these gifts occurring. And so, we say, 'forbid not.'
That having been said, there are a couple of caveats that I would add. First, I believe tongues to be actual languages that can be understood by others who speak the same language. I do not believe that Romans 8:26 speaks about a spiritual language and even if 1 Corinthians 14:15 is speaking about a spiritual language, Paul says in the same context that those speaking should do so individually and only with an interpreter. This does not fit with much that happens in many of the churches I've been to that speak in tongues. Paul has given us clear guidelines on a proper usage of this gift-we should follow them.
Second, though I do believe that Jesus, through His death and resurrection has become our healer, I do not believe that means that we should disregard or turn down medical treatment that could help us. I do not believe that the acceptance of such help identifies a lack of faith. I believe that God can miraculously heal a person through a person gifted to do so or through the prayer of the elders. I believe that God can use doctors and nurses as His tool to heal a person. I believe that sometimes, God doesn't heal a person. In all these situations, there are opportunities for Him to be glorified.
Finally, a vast majority of what is recorded as prophecy in Scripture is a forth-telling of God's revelation. What I mean by that is that most prophesying is the prophets saying (and, obviously, I'm paraphrasing here), 'Listen, God already told you this stuff in the past, but I'm going to tell you again and apply it to all that's happening today.' Some of what is recorded as prophecy in Scripture is foretelling-the ability to identify the course of future events. But even in most of those circumstances, it was within the context of explaining the outcome of people disregarding the forth-telling. In a very small minority of recorded cases, the prophecy of future events-whether through dreams, visions, or utterances-are not related to prior prophecy. Unfortunately, when we think of this gift, we focus on the spectacular minority instead of the common majority.
One last point that was made quite well by Pastor Joseph a few weeks ago. When we define spiritual gifts, we typically try to identify them with specific gifts listed in Scripture. The spiritual gifts analysis that we have begun using at Pleasantview has 23 listed and that's about as broad a listing from Scripture as one can get. However, one would be hard-pressed to state that Bezalel or Oholiab one day had no knowledge of 'all kinds of crafts' and yet the next day understood all these things. It would seem to be that they had some of this knowledge that they acquired over the years. However, it becomes something more than an ability-a spiritual gift-when those abilities are combined with the work of the Spirit of God in their lives. If that means anything to us, it should mean that God can use ANY of our abilities, experiences, or interest to His glory so long as the Holy Spirit is what is behind how they are used.