Life in the Spirit, Part 2

Picture of God #83, Tues 2/6/01

First Corinthians 12:7

7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

This is one of the most controversial passages in the New Testament.

As we've discussed many times, one of the challenges all religious seekers must face is how they deal with Scripture.  Is it literally true, all of it, forever?  Is only part of it eternal and some of it cultural?  If so, how do you tell the difference?

Well, in the entire New Testament, the above passage is one of those that many, many people wish to believe no longer pertains.  The argument most often given is that these gifts of the Holy Spirit were necessary only until the Bible was written; after that, the Bible becomes the conduit through which the Holy Spirit works.  In other words, the gifts of the Spirit stopped (so they say) with the Apostolic Era, about 1900 years ago.

Everyone must make up their own mind.

Entire denominations center around this passage...The Pentecostals find it the center of their entire religion...Others, like the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) emphasize that these gifts absolutely, positively are gone and done; seminary students (at least through the 80s) had to swear they would never "experiment" with these gifts, or they would not be ordained.

So, where do you stand?  

Ultimately, that is the question.

 

[Home] [Colorful Introduction]  [God's Name] [The Revealing Science of God] [Jesus Died for You] [Contact] [Support] 

 

 (c) 1996-2008 The Church of Yahweh. All rights reserved. May be freely distributed, but never sold. 
If you are going to use this material in your web page or ministry, wonderful. But please have the honor to attribute where you got it from. Thank you.