Miraculous Gifts Of The Holy Spirit
Jack Critchfield

In the early days of the church, followers of the Lord did not as of yet have the written word to guide them. As they "went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4), they needed some means to convince unbelievers that what they were teaching was actually from God. That is the reason for the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" which the apostle Paul lists in 1 Cor. 12:8-10. "For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues." This list includes nine "gifts of the Spirit," all with a common purpose.

When Jesus told the apostles to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), He promised both guidance and confirmation of the message that was preached. The result of this is stated in Mark 16:20. It says, "they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs." The message they preached was the result of the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 12:12; Jn. 14:25-26; 16:7-13), and their preaching was confirmed (or proved) by the miracles (signs) which they performed. Later we read, "God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will" (Heb 2:4). The purpose then of these "gifts of the Holy Spirit," was to deliver and confirm the word of God, so that all could know the truth of what Paul declared in 1 Thess. 2:13, "when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God."

The apostle Paul gives some very important information in 1 Cor. 12:4-11 about these "gifts of the Holy Spirit." First, he shows they were given "of the Spirit...for the profit of all" (v. 7). That means, as the NIV reads, "Is given for the common good." This is vital, if one would understand the real purpose of these gifts. Not one of the gifts was given to benefit the person to whom it was given, nor was it for that one's personal blessing. Thus, the "gift of healings" was to benefit the one healed. The "gift of tongues" was to bless the hearer, not the speaker. Each "gift of the Holy Spirit" was given so that a Christian might serve others with it. Secondly, Paul shows that these gifts were given by "the same Spirit...distributing to each one individually as He wills" (v. 11). These gifts were not given in response to man's desire, but in accordance with God's will. They were given to fulfill God's purpose, not to fulfill man's ego. This is really what Paul is addressing in 1 Cor. 12:31 when he exhorts, "earnestly desire the best gifts." For he goes on to say, "And yet I show you a more excellent way." That excellent way is explained in the next verses, and is defined as love (1 Cor. 13:1-8).

The apostle Paul shows that these miraculous "gifts of the Holy Spirit" would cease (or be done away with) some day. He wrote of three of these, as typical of the nine that he had named (1 Cor. 12:8-10). "But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away" (1 Cor 13:8-10). The term for "that which is perfect" in this passage is the Greek "to telion." Greek-English Lexicons define this as meaning: "Complete, perfect, entire, mature, fully developed." In other words, during the time when the word of God was being delivered to man, these "parts" that brought it into being were necessary. But when the revelation of God was completed, His inspired word delivered and confirmed there would be no more need of these gifts. That inspired word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17) has now been "once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3) and confirmed by the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Heb. 2:4).

It is evident that the above meaning is correct when we compare 1 Cor. 13:8-10 with other passages. Paul wrote, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (1 Cor. 13:12). Here he says we look into this "perfect" and see ourselves as in a mirror. When only the "parts" were available, the reflection was dim, hazy and dark. But when "the perfect" is come, the reflection is clear and we see "face to face" seeing ourselves as we really are. James wrote of this also. He says, "if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:23-25).

Notice that this passage in James has the same things that Paul wrote about in 1 Cor. 13:8-10. The "perfect" is the "mirror" in which we see ourselves; and that is "the word." Paul writes again of reading the word of God (2 Cor. 3:1-17), and then adds, "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory" (v. 18). The mirror in James 1, 1 Cor. 13 and 2 Cor. 3 is clearly stated to be the word of God. That is the mirror which is defined as being "perfect" (1 Cor. 13:10, 12; James 1:25). When that word was completed, the "parts" that brought it into being were "done away" and "ceased." The word of God has been delivered and confirmed, thus there is no more need for the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" which brought it to us. We have the "perfect law of liberty."