Spirit,

Spiritual Gifts,

Spiritual Myths

(A Brief Study of Charismata)

Art Thompson

 

Foreword

The following material is primarily for my beloved brothers and sisters who are not yet comfortable with the Comforter. I used to be more that way than I am today. I’m not yet where I want and expect to be. I still have a long way to go. But, this is written to offer encouragement and hope to any who may "just have a nagging feeling" that there’s more to the Holy Spirit than they know.

There is.

I believe that there’s so much more, not just to the Holy Spirit, but to our entire relationship with divine persons. That relationship can be ours. We can know it. We can share it. We can grow in it. It’s a part of our heritage from our Father.

I suggest that you pause here, before reading further. Go to some private place, or at least shut out all distractions. Turn to the Lord and pray. Ask him to calm any fear or misgivings you have. Ask him to give you peace. Ask him to help you lay aside all opinions and ideas you now hold about how he works in our lives and to open up your mind, making it ready to accept knowledge from him. Ask him to keep you from fear of what you will learn, but pray to be able to examine all things carefully and to accept truth when you find it. Ask God to give you enlightenment from his word. Ask to understand things about him that you’ve never been aware of before. Ask God to let you see him work in your life and in the lives of others.

Then, get a firm grip on something and hang on.

If you can pray like that from your heart, then God will pour out knowledge of himself into you as fast as you can take it. Perhaps, even faster. It will be a little like trying to drink from a fire hose. You may not get it all as it comes by, but you can certainly drink your fill and there will still be more for you.

I am not speaking of this work. The following study is absolutely nothing compared to the knowledge from God to which I refer. Neither do I want you to think that I think that I have arrived at all truth. I know that perhaps I have not even begun to understand the things of God. I certainly recognize that I am a spiritual infant, still longing for divine milk. However, every day I stand in utter awe of God and what I see him doing.

If you are anything at all like me, you will want to be convinced of things, simply by reading scriptures and by applying logical reasoning to what you find there. You’ll miss a lot that way. There’s no question that what is written in scripture is reasonable. It is not necessarily logical. We can certainly learn and grow a lot by applying those study techniques. But, I caution and urge you to remember the warnings of Paul about wisdom:

And Paul, standing in the middle of the Aeropagus, said: "Men, Athenians, I observe how very religious you are in everything. Because, while I was passing along and looking up at the objects of your reverence, I also found an altar, in which it had been inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you reverence in ignorance, I am now announcing to you (Acts 17:22, 23).

In ignorance?

In ignorance!?

Who was this Jew who came from the intellectual wilderness of Judea to the seat of all learning – to the capital of world wisdom – to bumble and fumble by telling the world’s wisest, most learned teachers that they did anything in ignorance?

That’s where their intellectual reasoning ability had brought them. It brought them to reverence some faceless statue without a name. No, not even a statue, because they had absolutely no knowledge about this god at all, but they built just an altar, not a statue as they had built for countless others.

Their reasoning ability did not have the power to bring them to any kind of a knowledge of a God "in whom we live and move and are." The reasoning abilities of some of the wisest men who have ever lived failed them and left them far short of any kind of real knowledge of the God who created all things – even their power to reason. Why should any of us think we can think any better than they could think?

For Christ did not send me to immerse, but to spread good news – not in [wise,] reasoning speech, so that the cross of the Christ will not be made useless. For on the one hand, to the perishing, the word of the cross is foolishness. On the other hand, to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

For it has been written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise ones, and I will set aside the understanding of the clever. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is today’s debater? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish?

For, since in God’s wisdom, the world – through its own wisdom – did not know God, God thought it to be wise, through the foolishness of the things proclaimed, to save the believing ones. Seeing that both Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, instead, we proclaim Christ as having been crucified. On the one hand, that’s an offence to Jews, and on the other hand, it’s foolishness to the Greeks. But to those – the called ones – both to Jews and to Greeks, Christ is both the power and the wisdom of God. [This is] because God’s foolish thing is wiser than men and God’s weak thing is stronger than men.

For brothers, think carefully about your calling, that not many wise men according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many [who were] well-born; but, God selected the foolish [simple] things of the world in order to put the wise men to shame; and God selected the weak things of the world in order that he might shame the strong ones; and the world’s elementary things, and the despised things, God has selected – the things that do not exist in order that he might abolish the things that do exist, so that no person would be able to boast before God.

But by his doing, you are in Jesus Christ, who, to us, became wisdom and righteousness and both sanctification and redemption from God, so that, just as it has been written: "The one boasting in the Lord – let him boast."

What I’m trying to say is that, sure, there’s an amount of God’s revelation that you can figure out from the scriptures with your head, using reference books, translations, commentaries, concordances, word studies and all the reasoning ability which God gave you. But, to understand everything, if you trust only in your God-given power to reason – you’re going to miss the most important, most life-enriching parts. You’ll miss the richness and the depth of what God has for you to know, to understand and to enjoy. You’ll miss the great relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which relationships are poured out from his grace for us to enjoy even in this life.

But there are some things that "pass understanding". There are things we can come to know – even things which transcend our ability to reason. Please accept that as fact and your quest will go easier. God does many things that I am aware of every day. You can be aware of them, too. Those things are sometimes confounding, but always powerful, effective, and they build my faith. However, in most cases, they are not usually done as I would have done them. Using "my God-given wisdom," I would have figured them out to be done an entirely different way. But, if I had designed them and had done them my way, then they would have been very simplistic by comparison and would not have accomplished as much (if anything), and would not have affected so many areas, events, people and circumstances simultaneously. But, that’s a part of the difference between God’s wisdom and my own (man’s wisdom).

Just pray for an open, loving, accepting heart. Pray for enlightenment. God will hear and will give it to you. Please read all of 1 John, but especially 1 John 2:25-29; 3:16-24; 5:13-21.

What follows is the text of a lecture, given in July 1991, in West Memphis, Arkansas, about the Holy Spirit and his work among us. It is a follow-on to the one which precedes it, and expands the thoughts of the former one to a slight degree. This one also deals with several errors which the author had formerly believed and taught.

 

Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Myths

An almost unbelievable paradox exists today. At once, individuals, societies, and nations around the world sanction increasing sinfulness, violence, taking of innocent lives, and all kinds of abhorrent perversions, while among some there is a heightened interest in spiritual things. There is a concurrent intensification of interest in the New Age, the occult, Satanism, mysticism, and humanism, right along with matters of God’s spirit and his nature. Recently, many whom I know have become more interested in understanding the Holy Spirit and his mission. I hope you are one also who has an interest in the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.

I don’t know about you, but I neglected this study far too long.

Though I will be quoting many scriptures, I will give only the citations for several others. Toward understanding what God has revealed, I believe it is critical for each of us to read each scripture cited, along with its entire context. I urge you to do that. This way we can get along toward "un-learning" some things, and learning some others. Give each scripture some prayerful and open-minded meditation. Take your time as you work through this. I pray that it will not be as difficult for you to digest these ideas as it was for me.

 

Trees

At first, this may seem unrelated, but I invite you to think of an oak tree

If you were standing in the thick woods, looking straight ahead, what would you be likely to see? Probably a tree. An Oak. A Pine. Perhaps a Sweet Gum, a Palm, or Redwood, or Dogwood, or Birch, or Aspen.

But, if you were to back away just a few feet into the meadow behind you, now what would you see? Instead of being able to distinguish Oak from Pine and Sweet Gum and Redwood and Dogwood and Birch and Aspen – from a greater distance you could still see them individually, but you could no longer identify each tree. You could see just trees.

Now, suppose that you could fly over all those trees at approximately 10,000 feet. Then, what would you see? Since from this distance you could no longer distinguish individual trees, you’d call what you see a "forest".

You’ve heard the old expression about not being able to see the forest for the trees. This is where it came from. When you’re standing in the middle of a forest, you can’t see the forest. All you can see are different kinds of trees. You’re too close to the individual trees to see the forest.

 

Colors

Have you ever seen an arc of many colors across the sky? Within that arc you see violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red?

What are you seeing?

I might say, "I’m seeing violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red." Or, I might say, "I’m seeing seven different colors."

It’s more likely you would be more perceptive than I and would say, "I see a rainbow."

All of those things about oaks and pines and reds and indigos are true. But when we look up to see a rainbow, what is it we really see?

Light.

A rainbow is made when bright sunlight shines through raindrops. The water drops act as tiny prisms, breaking pure, white light up into its component parts. There are also colors in light that we cannot see – even in a rainbow. On the red end of what we call the light spectrum is infra-red. Without infra-red, many of us could not even operate our TV’s. The remote control for most home electronic equipment operates with infra-red light we cannot see. Toward the other end of the light spectrum is ultra-violet. Those are the light rays that cause skin tanning, skin sunburn, and skin cancer.

It’s all there. Light is made up of all its component parts. But there are still even more colors than these in the spectrum. Just think about it. The red doesn’t suddenly stop and the orange starts with a fixed boundary between them.

The red gradually blends into orange. There are other colors in between the two that are not quite red and not quite orange. How many are there?

I don’t really know, but scientists call it a continuum. That’s another way of saying a never-ending array. Light does not stop and start and stop and start with each color. Light starts somewhere with some color we cannot see, and continues through all the visible colors on into other colors we cannot see.

It’s amazing!

However, that’s the way God does things.

 

Take God’s grace for example.

It’s a little like the forest, and a little like light. As a forest consists of trees of all different sorts, sizes and shapes; and as light is made up of a never-ending continuum of colors, so is God’s grace made up of many facets.

The King James translators called these "manifestations" of grace.

The original Greek word for grace is charis (charis). To Paul, Peter, and their contemporaries who spoke and wrote the language, God’s charis was a continuum.

No one particular thing has ever been labeled "grace". Because grace itself is not a gift. Grace is the loving / caring / giving part of God’s nature. Salvation is a gift. Jesus Christ is a gift. Eternal life is a gift. Each gift is in the continuum of God’s grace.

Grace is expressed in many ways. Just as the forest has many different and varying trees, and as light contains many colors, so God’s grace comes in many appearances, strengths, and sizes, and for many purposes.

His grace is both the source and the cause of all the gifts God gives.

In Titus 2:11, Paul said:

. . . the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.

In that one phrase, he sums up the coming of Jesus, his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and reign. In Ephesians 2:5, grace saves us. The free exercise of his grace justifies us in Romans 3:23. Justification in Galatians 2:17-21 is a gift from God.

In the first ten verses of Ephesians 2, Paul says that salvation is what God’s grace does for people in Christ. He emphasizes in verses 5 and 8, that salvation is by God’s grace alone.

All the gifts God gives us through Christ are gifts from his grace: the renewal of life, the rebirth from death to life, justification, sanctification, forgiveness, adoption, acceptance, glorification – everything that "being a new creature in Christ" means – are gifts, expressions, manifestations, of God’s grace.

Paul deals with the concept of grace much more than any other writer of our scriptures. One of his objectives seems to be the combination of the ideas of God’s gifts from his grace, with his power. The gifts seem to be "grace-powers".

I find it very interesting that the original word for grace is charis. The original word for a grace-gift, or a grace-power, is charisma.

Thus:

Grace is to Grace-gift

as

Charis is to Charisma

Each tree in the forest has a unique identity. Each is different, has different leaves and most certainly has different fruits. Just as light has many colors, some bright, some dim – all colors from the invisible through the visible and back to the invisible again – so is the grace of God. We can see the "light" of his grace, but only through the "color" of each charisma. Like light, there are even some charismata that are not visible. A charisma is to charis,¹ as colors are to light and as trees are to a forest.

So, these are parallel concepts:

Forest – Tree

Light – Color

Grace – Gift

Charis – Charisma

The smallest element of a forest is a tree; the smallest element of light is a color; the smallest element of grace is a gift; thus, the smallest element of charis is charisma.

The plural form of charisma is charismata. We have already mentioned some of those charismata: Jesus Christ; salvation; justification; all the gifts God gives us through Christ; the renewal of life; the rebirth from death to life; sanctification; forgiveness; adoption; acceptance; glorification. Everything that adds up to "being a new creature in Christ" is a gift – charisma – from the charis of God.

Consider the following:

In this connection it may be mentioned that the Spirit gives grace-gifts (charismata), which are, in effect, grace-powers. The one Spirit gives differing grace-gifts to individuals (1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 12). In Romans 12:6, Paul speaks of gifts differing "according to the grace given us." But charismata (grace-powers) and pneumatica (spirit-powers) are the same (compare 1 Corinthians 12:1; 14:1 and 1 Corinthians 12:4; 1 Tim. 4:14). This suggests that Paul makes no sharp distinction between grace and the Spirit as the source of personal power in the Christian age.

In scripture, grace also gives power of many kinds or appearances. Paul was quick to credit all that he had accomplished (1 Corinthians 15:10) to "the grace of God which is with me." When God promised him (2 Corinthians 12:9) that his grace was sufficient for him with his "thorn in the flesh," that, too, was a promise of power God would put within him so he could both endure and subdue his problem.

A charisma is a part of God’s grace that is usually apparent to people in some way. Whether or not it is apparent, it is no less real.

In 1 Corinthians 12:1-13, Paul sets out the principle that he will discuss for at least the next two chapters.

Especially in verses 4 through 7, he says that though there is only one Spirit, there are different manifestations of that one Spirit.

Sticking with the King James translation (and others which copy its archaic wording) for too long, often has robbed us of a deeper, richer understanding of what God revealed to us.

In this case, many other translations also use the word manifestation. Having a more current word to translate the original – phaneroo – would be better. There are several from which we could choose, i.e., confirmation; evidence; indication; symptom; display; show; exhibition; or revelation. To make manifest would be better as: to display; to exhibit; to illustrate; to reveal; to show; to make visible.

Thus, our scriptures teach us that though there is only one Spirit, there are different ways in which that Spirit is made visible to us, or is revealed to us.

 

Grace

God’s grace is a wonderful phenomenon. Since God himself is All-Wise, I guess if grace didn’t already exist, he would invent it.

Many language experts have written lengthy passages, telling what the original word translated grace means, but we’ll not look at them in this study. Rather, I would prefer to let the scriptures themselves define the term for us. For the time being, try to visualize grace from two different points of view – God’s and ours.

From God’s point of view, grace is free giving, motivated by his great, immeasurable love. There are no strings attached to God’s love nor to his grace. Grace is giving that pours out from the limitless and steadfast love God has for us. Grace is God’s spontaneous generosity to man, his undeserving creature. There is nothing one of us can do to earn his grace. God gives because he loves us and wants to give us all that we need.

In Colossians 1:6, grace is the good news; in Ephesians 1:6, 7, grace is the divine "favor" shown in Christ; in Hebrews 4:16 Christ embodies grace; and in chapter 7:25, one receives grace at God’s throne. By the grace of God, Christ suffers, Hebrews 2:9; and in 10:29, Christ’s death comes into association with the covenant and grace. From God’s point of view, we are saved by his grace alone.

Looking at grace from our own point of view, we see an outpouring of gifts from God that we can never deserve, from one who is superior to us in every way. We can never earn his grace, nor can we pay it back by returning his favors.

A charisma makes God’s grace apparent, observable, detectable, evident, obvious, plain, or unmistakable. To try to describe better what a charisma does: It displays, exhibits, illustrates, reveals, or shows God’s grace.

In other words, the only way God’s grace appears is as charismata. Each appearance of God’s grace is an individual charisma. Each charisma is a piece, or a part of God’s grace that we can observe.

So, where does each charisma come from? What is its source?

Each charisma (grace-gift, grace-power, "grace-let", spirit-power) is a part of the charis (grace) of God.

In the middle of Paul’s detailed discussion of charismata and their role and purposes among disciples, he says,

. . . when the complete comes, that which is in part (partial) shall be abolished. (1 Corinthians 13:10)

Paul works hard to teach in this context that each charisma is a part (Greek - merous) of the complete (teleios).

If each charisma is a merous (part) of charis (grace), then what is the teleios (complete) thing?

Please never forget this: "The complete" is the finished work of Jesus Christ. The finished, final, and completed grace of God. "The complete" will not be complete until all the saved are at home with God – the great and final charisma from God’s love.

The completed grace of God includes every grace God has ever given, ever gives, or ever will give, starting from before time, through and including the resurrection, our eternal salvation, and the gift (charisma) of eternal life.

Once we get high enough above the oaks and the pines so we can see more than just individual trees, the forest is so much easier to see.

Once we put all the colors together, it is much easier to see the light.

Once we rise high above the individual charismata of revelation, knowledge, prophecy, tongue-speaking, and all the rest, it is so much easier to see the complete – the full, complete, full grown, mature grace of God.

For several years, I wanted to know more about the Spirit, but didn’t know exactly how to start to find out. I guess I had some mixed emotions about such a study, because, while I wanted to know more, simultaneously I was also apprehensive about what I might learn. One of my concerns was the possibility of being ostracized by my friends. Another was of being considered a fool by others. I suppose all of us have an innate desire to be socially accepted, but, though it is strong, fear of losing that acceptance is not an acceptable excuse for neglecting to learn about the Spirit.

I grew up deep in the piney woods of East Texas where many friends and acquaintances believed that the Holy Spirit was still active in the lives of God’s children. I didn’t believe that.

I even had one friend there who believed that he was an Apostle of our Lord, like Peter or Paul.

The major part of the East Texas population looked down on these friends as ignorant, or uneducated, or fools; or all three. They called themselves ‘Postolics. For those who have never heard it, the word has emphasis on its second syllable, and is the east Texas pronunciation of Apostolics. They called themselves, and we also sometimes affectionately (and unfortunately, less than affectionately, as well) called them: "holy rollers." Later, town folk began to call them Pentecostals. For the information of others with a background similar to mine: studying about the Holy Spirit used to raise the hackles on my neck immediately. Perhaps that’s what will happen to you, too. You may even feel that you must "draw a line" somewhere short of the truth for fear of being identified in that fellowship. A scripture study should not make any of us feel that way, but just don’t be surprised if you find within yourself some resistance (which you do not understand) to this study.

I’ve believed and taught several things in the past that are just wrong. Each time I’ve discovered my error, it has been a very humbling, though richly rewarding, experience. Through this process, I’ve learned that in any study, the hardest part comes first – that is, putting my own ego out of the way, forgetting everything I already think I know, and starting my study from scratch.

It is an absolutely necessary first step.

Start by praying for an open, unbiased mind, and for a willingness to accept whatever you find.

Also, remember that Satan has blinded us to so many things over the years and that we all fall for his simple tricks at one time or another. It’s a lot easier to be fooled by Satan than we’d like to think it is. He’s been a liar from the beginning. He certainly does not want you to understand and develop an appreciation for things "in the heavenlies" (Ephesians 2:6). That’s his own realm where he’s been confined by God (Ephesians 3:10). It is also where we are (Ephesians 1:3). Nor does he want you to understand and desire all the riches of God’s blessings available to his children through their faith, either. He would like to keep each of us as ignorant as possible about the abundant grace of our God.

I also urge you never to underestimate the lengths to which Satan goes to help us believe a lie. Be assured: spiritual warfare is no myth. Spiritual warfare is no joke. Spiritual warfare is very real and we are all either in it or casualties of it.

When Paul warned:

For the rest, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of his strength. Put on the whole armor of God so you will be enabled to stand against the craftiness of the devil; because our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:10-12).

Don’t be fooled! Our warfare is not against other human beings (not against blood and flesh), but our warfare is against "the spiritual hosts of evil in the heavenlies".

I have dear friends and loved ones who believe that Satan has been totally bound since Jesus’ triumph over him when our Lord conquered death – that he is not our personal enemy today. Consequently, they believe that our enemy is totally within ourselves, that our struggle is only against our own desires to do wrong. Against our own "sinful nature." Dear friend, have no doubt, Satan wants you to believe that, and he will actively help each of us to misunderstand what God wants us to know.

Unfortunately, we give Satan too much help in his mission, and too little credit for his seemingly limitless skills.

How can we possibly be equipped and ready to fight a spiritual battle when we don’t even know there’s a war on?

That’s the way our adversary wants it, you know.

Remember? In the garden, God told Adam and Eve,

In the day you eat of that tree, you shall surely die!

Satan took that simple statement and changed it. But not much. To the statement’s 41 letters, he added only three more: NOT. Satan changed what God said by less than 8%! But, when Eve believed Satan’s standard revised version of what God had really said, she acted from faith in a lie!

She believed exactly the opposite of the truth God had revealed.

Please don’t kid yourself! You and I can be as naive as Eve, and can do the same as she.

The point is, Satan does not have to change truth much at all to turn it into error. Any change at all will do. No matter how slight, any change causes truth to be no longer truth, but error, instead. He can add a simple word, leave one out, or give a slight twist to what God said, and the result is that from that point forward we are acting from another of Satan’s lies and not from God’s truth. That’s why he’s called a "deceiver" (Revelation 12:9). He is a liar by his very nature and the "father of all liars" (John 8:44).

In studying the Holy Spirit and his gifts to men, there are a few things Satan has twisted for us that cause us to start our study from a position of error. We can never expect to find truth if we start from the wrong place! But, starting from the wrong place is exactly what Satan wants us to do. He knows where we’ll end up!

One of the serious consequences of believing Satan’s lies instead of God’s truth is that we fail to enjoy the fullness of God’s limitless grace toward us.

The errors we have had ingrained in us came directly from Satan.

I call them myths.

Myth: 1. a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some superhuman being or some alleged person or event, whether without or with a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation; esp., a traditional or legendary story usually concerning deities or demigods and the creation of the world and its inhabitants. 2. stories or matter of this kind: in the realm of myth. 3. any invented story. 4. an imaginary or fictitious thing or person. 5. Sociol. a collective belief that is built up in response to the wishes of the group rather than an analysis of the basis of the wishes. see legend. – The American College Dictionary, Random House.

In this study, all these definitions of myth seem appropriate. However, I believe that the fifth definition – the Sociological definition – is most fitting for this study.

In the religious groups with which I have been most closely associated, there has not seemed to be a propensity for legend, invented or imaginary stories, so much as a sometimes strained interpretation of scripture, bent, perhaps, "in response to the wishes of the group" or in reaction to another doctrine that the group believed to be false.

 

 

Myth: God created all things, and has "rested" ever since, taking no further action in nature nor in the affairs of men and nations. As someone said, "God created, then vacated." Or another way: After creation . . . vacation.

 

I’m sure some basis for this myth comes from either a misquotation or a misunderstanding (or both) of what scriptures say that God did after he created.

I am convinced that the root of this myth is a misunderstanding of "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done" (Genesis 3; Exodus 20; Hebrews 4). This does not mean that from that time forward God would do absolutely nothing but rest, ever again. It does not mean that he would not be involved in the affairs of men or nations again until the end.

In Genesis 1, we pick up the story:

Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed, that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to every thing that moves on the earth, which has life, [I have given] every green plant for food": and it was so.

And God saw all that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made (Genesis 1:29 - 2:3).

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work: But the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, or your cattle, or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy (Exodus 20:8 - 20:11).

And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to come short of it. For indeed, we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For us who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day. "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."; And again in this passage, "They shall not enter my rest." (Hebrews 3:19 - 4:5).

What scriptures do say is that God created all things during six days. Then on the seventh day – he rested from creating. He stopped creating. In other words, the sixth day was the last day he will ever create anything. Beginning with the seventh day forward, God is out of the creating business.

On the seventh day, he rested from the work he had done. At this point, these scriptures say nothing about God’s future activities. The failure of these verses to mention that God will be active in the future, does not prove the beliefs of the Deist. These mean only that God would not be creating again.

There are other scriptures telling us how God spends his "time".

The belief that God created everything, then left creation to run its course, is known as "deism". Deists believe that, like a person who has wound a clock, God walked away to let his creation run down. It has been degenerating ever since.

Most conservative Christians claim to be "theists," however. Theists believe in a living, active God who still gets involved. A God who is not only still interested and concerned, but who is active in the affairs of men. Though many believe themselves to be theists – Satan has twisted truth just slightly, and has caused many Christians to be just the opposite of what they think they are.

There is so much material in scripture to refute this idea and to teach us that God is not only Creator, but, indeed, is the very force that continues to hold all things together.

The doctrine that God takes no active role in men’s lives is pure "bunk", and it totally overlooks what Paul said on Mars Hill:

. . . if perchance they might feel after Him and might find Him, though He is being not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and are . . . (Acts 17:28)

And, what he said to the Colossians:

. . . all things have been created through Him and for Him and He is before all things and in Him all things hold together . . . (Colossians 1:16, 17)

And what the writer of Hebrews said:

God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom indeed He made the world. Who, being the radiance of His glory and representation of His reality, and upholds all things by the word of His power. (Hebrews 1:1 - 3a)

All of those verbs – is being . . . live . . . move . . . are . . . is before . . . hold together . . . upholds all things – are all present tense, action words. As Paul spoke or wrote, they were happening. They continue to be happening today and for as long as earth stands.

We had better hope that God doesn’t ever lose interest nor walk away. It’s his power and his might holding together everything that we know. I hate to think about what would happen if God ever just turned everything loose. It seems to me that we and everything we know would just "blow up"!

David asked God the question, "What is man, that You are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4). David recognized and found it incredible that God is so vitally interested and active in the lives of his people.

I’ll mention just a few, but there are many demonstrations of God’s intervention in human events.

1. Leading Moses and Israel, God parted the Red Sea to save his people. (Exodus 14)

2. Moses prayed and water came out of a dry rock in a dry desert to save his people again. (Exodus 17:1-7)

3. Joshua prayed and both the sun and moon stood still to save God’s people. (Joshua 10:12-15)

4. Hezekiah prayed and the earth stopped, and for a few moments, it rotated backward. Then it stopped and started forward again. What an incredible sign for just one man! (2 Kings 20:1-11)

5. Through Paul, God intervened and a dead man returned to life (Acts 20:1-12) for the benefit of a single person.

6. Jesus said, "If you say to this mountain, ‘Be plucked up and thrown into the middle of the sea,’ it will happen." (Matthew 21:21, 22; Mark 11:22-26)

Did Jesus have any idea what he was talking about? Was he just joking to see if he could make his disciples laugh? Today, would one of those flying mountains be a miracle or would that be a "natural" power given by God to those with faith?

Some questions we all need to answer in pondering this position are:

1) Were these things abnormal (miracles), or were they normal things for God’s people?

2) Has God stopped doing these kinds of things?

3) If God has stopped, then when? Why?

Remember when Jesus told his disciples that the Father knows when each sparrow falls from the sky, or a hair falls from your head? (Matthew 10:29-33) Doesn’t that tell us anything at all about God’s involvement not only in our lives, but in his entire creation? It should tell us that there is not a detail of our thoughts and lives in which he is not interested.

If that’s not what God means, and if that’s not a statement of his interest and involvement with the minutia of our lives, then what does it mean?

If God is not really interested when a bird dies or my hair falls, then what did Jesus mean when he said it? Just how important does any thing have to be before God would be interested in it? What is trivial to God?

I was one of those people who believe that God doesn’t have the time to get involved in our lives. I figured he probably didn’t even care about most of the details I cared about, scriptures to the contrary notwithstanding (Psalm 34; 1 Peter 3:8-22).

If you are one who believes that God walked away from his creation (as I used to believe), then why even bother to pray?

If he did just walk away, how can you think he even cares what you want, need or think?

What did Jesus really mean when he said, "Ask, and you will receive"?

How can a loving God answer the prayers of his children without intervening in the affairs of men? Of nations?

Consider just two cases with me. The first case is of Jesus and the ten. In Luke 24, after his resurrection:

Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:44, 45).

How could he do that? Was that a miracle? Or was it normal?

Then, remember Lydia? In Philippi, Paul spoke to a group of women, assembled by a river. She heard and heeded Paul’s words. She and her entire family were immersed.

All of the women heard what Paul had to say. Why did they not all react the same way that Lydia did?

What action do you suppose she would have taken if God had not opened up her heart to the things they all heard Paul say? (Acts 16:14)

Did God do that without supernatural intervention?

Was it a natural process?

Was it something completely normal?

Afterwards, did Lydia realize that anything supernatural had happened to her?

Did this make God a respecter of persons, because he did not act in the same way on the hearts of the other women who also heard?

Someone explained these two events to me by saying that the future apostles and Lydia had attitudes that were already disposed to understanding the Lord’s will. Thus, when each heard it, each responded positively. It was a purely natural process. It happens every day when one of us is confronted by a new fact, which opens up our understanding and causes us to comprehend something we did not perceive before.

At first thought, that explanation sounds right. Don’t you think?

The real problem with it though, is that it explains how the ten and Lydia opened their own minds, by purely natural means. In one case, scripture says that Jesus opened their minds. In the other, the Lord did it.

This is an important distinction that must not be passed over lightly nor swept under the rug. There is a decided difference to be considered, based on who took the action, opening the minds of these eleven people. I do not deny that in either case, the people had a proper, receptive attitude toward truth. However, they did not open their own minds. Scripture could not be clearer! It was the Lord who did something to their understanding that had not been in place before. Based on that action by the Lord, they now understood something that only moments before, they had not understood.

The real question is: When God opens someone’s heart, as he did Lydia’s and his disciples’, is that a natural or a supernatural action?

These are tough questions, I know, but they need to be answered. They are tough only because of the myths that have been propagated about how God works. When we can clear away all the myth, which is shrouding truth in a dense fog, and begin to understand how God really deals with us, those kinds of questions should be much easier to answer.

 

Supernatural Intervention

Some contend that God does not involve himself in our lives, because if he did so, that intervention would be supernatural. "Supernatural intervention is a miracle," they say, "and God does not perform miracles today."

There is a belief that has been stated to me, which goes something like this:

	God does not perform miracles today.
	A miracle is a supernatural intervention by God into the natural world, temporarily setting aside the "laws of nature".
	Therefore, if your prayer requires God to act, it will not be answered, because that would be supernatural intervention in nature (a miracle), and God does not do that today.

Can you imagine what our lives would be like if God actually did not involve himself with us?

I don’t mean this to sound calloused, sacrilegious, sarcastic, nor irreverent in any way, but can’t you just imagine God’s not being involved, and can’t you just hear God answering prayer this way:

Oh, you want me to make your sick child well? I’m sorry, making someone well would be intervening in a supernatural way in your life, so I can’t do that. Don’t you know a good doctor? (James 5:14, 15)

What? You want me to give that preacher a "happy recollection of the things he has prepared"? I’m sorry, jogging his "recollection" (happy or otherwise) would be intervening in a supernatural way in his thinking process, so I can’t do that. He’ll have to remember "the things he has prepared" all by himself. Enjoy the sermon! (Matthew 7:7-12)

You want me to "help spread the gospel to the lost, especially those in ‘foreign fields’"? I’m sorry, that would be intervening in a supernatural way both in their lives and in the affairs of nations, so I can’t do that. They’re going to have to find out the truth without my help, even if they don’t even suspect it exists, and even if they wouldn’t know where to find it if they did suspect. (Matthew 28:19, 20)

You want me to comfort the woman who is mourning the loss of her husband? That would be a good thing to do, wouldn’t it? But, you probably already know by now that if I interfere, it would have to be in a supernatural way. She’ll just have to get over it by herself. Remember, it’s "time" that heals all wounds. Not I! (James 1:27)

You want me to show you whether to take that new job and move your family halfway across the country? I’m sorry, that would be intervening in your thinking process in a supernatural way, and I can’t do that. Can’t you figure it out yourself? Does it pay more? (Matthew 6:31-34)

What? You want me to pluck up that mountain and throw it into the ocean? I’m sorry, that certainly would be intervening in nature in a supernatural . . . what’s that? Oh, Jesus said you could say that to the mountain and I’d do it? Well, what does he know? (Matthew 17:20; 21:21, 22; Mark 11:20-26; 1 Corinthians 13:2)

Thank God Almighty, he does not answer our prayers that way. But, do you get the point?

God did not create and vacate, but remains interested and active in our lives. He answers prayer (James 5:13-20). That’s normal and is just as natural as human parents listening to the cares and concerns of their children and granting them what they ask and need.

Have you noticed? There is no scripture anywhere that says God ever did or ever will stop intervening in the natural world.

God’s answering our prayers by intervening in the affairs of both men and nations, and by opening the minds of people, is not in the least abnormal nor supernatural. To say that it is either, is just the "little twist" Satan has given to the truth. So many of us have fallen for it, too.

 

Myth: A "Baptismal Measure" of the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles only and to no one else.

and

Myth: The baptism in Spirit in Acts 2, was given only to the twelve and it empowered them for their mission as apostles of our Lord.

 

First, we need to get the phrase "baptismal measure" of anything out of our minds, immediately, if not sooner! (If you’ve never heard it before this – you’re blessed! You don’t have a misleading concept to un-learn.)

That phrase simply does not exist at all in scripture. Would it even sound right if the original word had actually been translated, and this modern phrase had become the "'immersional' measure" of the Holy Spirit, instead? It’s a totally human concept, you know. So let’s throw that out and forget we ever heard or said it.

However, I am fairly sure that this human idea came from John’s statement about Jesus, that the Son of God would "immerse in the Holy Spirit and fire." (Mark 8:1; Luke 3:16; John 1:33)

I have brothers and sisters who believe that this immersion in Holy Spirit, promised by John, the prophet and immerser, was delivered to the apostles only. Another argument and the credibility for this belief also come from Jesus’ words recorded in Acts 1:5.

It is true that the apostles were immersed in the Holy Spirit, but were they alone in that immersion? Was immersion in the spirit promised to the apostles only?

 

"Born From Above"

Consider what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus:

Unless a man becomes born from above of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

You may or may not have an opinion about what "the immersion of the Holy Spirit" is, but don’t you think there would be some ways you could detect such an immersion if it happened to you? No?

Did Jesus promise to do something for us in this regard that we can never verify?

Did he promise to immerse us in his Spirit, but there is no way for us ever to know whether he keeps that promise?

Can we never know whether it really happens or not?

Didn’t Paul tell the Ephesian Christians that the Holy Spirit was given to each as a "sign" of salvation? The earnest of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:9-16)?

How can anything absolutely invisible and totally undetectable be a sign to any one of anything?

If I have done all that I know to do to be born from above – and if that birth from above is of water and spirit – how can I know whether I have been reborn? I can tell when I’ve been immersed in water. I come up wet all over. Can I tell whether I’ve been immersed in spirit? How does that feel?

How could one tell?

If the Holy Spirit is given as God’s "seal" upon me, and as a down payment (earnest) of my inheritance, how can I know I’ve received the down payment?

Please don’t tell me I can never know!

What kind of down payment is that? One you never know whether you have or not? What kind of God would play that kind of trick on us?

If you believe you can receive a down payment and never be able to tell whether you ever received it or not, I’d like to buy your house from you. (I’ve already given you the down payment and you accepted it. Remember? What? You never saw it?) You don’t do business that way. Why would you expect God to deal with you that way? Why do you think he would give you a down payment you couldn’t even detect? One that you couldn’t even tell whether you had?

Jesus was telling Nicodemus that to enter the kingdom of God, he had to be born of water and spirit (John 3). How is one born of water? Other scriptures tell us that the first century disciples were immersed – being completely covered up – in water (Romans 6:3, 4). They had to come up out of the water, or drown. Immersion in water and coming out of the water completes the symbolism of the burial and resurrection of our Lord and is the birth from above of water.  We "arise to walk in a new life."

 

Rebirth of Spirit

What is the birth of the spirit, if not an immersion – being completely covered up – in the spirit? What Jesus said to Nicodemus implies that both immersions happen simultaneously. Immersion in Holy Spirit occurs with immersion in water. Jesus showed us that the two immersions are tied together in the "birth from above." In fact, it is the immersion in spirit (not water) that regenerates one – making him a new creation (Titus 3:1-8).

Another way of saying it is that one is regenerated, re-begun, or reborn. If this were not true, then Peter would have said (1 Peter 3:21) that immersion is only the putting away of the filth of the flesh. That is all immersion in water would be good for. Getting dirt off your body. In fact, immersion in water without the simultaneous immersion in the Spirit would be less useful than taking a bath. (No soap! You see?) The spiritual transformation that occurs during immersion in water and the spirit is the birth from above Jesus was explaining.

 

John’s Promise

Immersion in the Holy Spirit was promised, not just to the twelve, but to all who came to hear John preach in the wilderness. That is a part of Paul’s point to Titus (Titus 3:1 - 8). Those saved are saved – not by anything they themselves can possibly do – but by his kindness, love, and mercy and by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (the birth from above of water and spirit). Anyone who is saved is saved this way. No other.

I once said that we have no evidence that any of the twelve were even present when John made those statements. I was reproved by someone who pointed out to me that some of the twelve had been John’s disciples as well. Of course, that’s true. However, I believe they were following Jesus – not John – by this time. Even if they did hear the promise, to whom else was the promise made? It was never made to the twelve only.

John’s audience was "all of Judea" who came out of the cities, towns and countryside to hear him preach (Matthew 3:5; Mark 1:5 - 8; Luke3:3, 7, 16 - 18). All the people of Judea, who came out to hear John, were the ones to whom the immersion in the spirit was promised.

 

What Happened In Jerusalem?

In the past, I had been skipping right over most of Acts 2 in my study. Perhaps you have been, too.

It seems fairly clear that these unusual events were in Jesus’ mind just before he ascended (Acts 1:5), when he promised the eleven that they would be immersed in the Holy Spirit in a few days, if they would stay in Jerusalem and wait.

In explaining the strange events that brought the crowd together that morning, Peter pointed to Joel’s prophecy as the simple explanation.

For these men are not drunk as you imagine, for it is the third hour of the day. But this is the thing having been spoken through the prophet Joel:

"And it shall be in the last days," says God, "I will pour out from my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams, and on my male slaves and on my female slaves I will pour out from my spirit in those days and they will prophesy. And I will give wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and significant day of the Lord comes. And it will be that everyone whoever invokes the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2:15 - 21)

And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:28 - 32)

The "pouring out" of the Spirit was promised to "all flesh", Peter said. Joel said "all mankind". I have previously misunderstood that statement, by applying it only to the twelve (who were all Jews) and to Cornelius’ family (who were all Gentiles). In the past, I believed that those two groups comprised the "all flesh" upon whom God promised to pour out his Spirit in the last days.

But, if the twelve and the family of Cornelius were "all flesh", then who were the sons and daughters prophesying in those two cases? Can you identify them from scriptures? Who were the young men seeing visions in either case? The old men dreaming inspired dreams? The prophesying male and female bond slaves?

Whose sons and whose daughters? Which young and old men? Whose male and female slaves? The twelve might qualify as "young men," but they would certainly not qualify as anyone’s daughters, old men nor slaves. Who were these people, then?

The happenings in Acts 2 clearly were the beginning of what Joel envisioned. But there is no plausible way that those events in Jerusalem included everything Joel foretold. Neither did the events at Cornelius’s house (Acts 10). Even if we lump both events together, the total still does not answer to what God promised through Joel.

It takes a closer study of both Peter and Joel for me to catch on to what they were saying. Joel spoke his prophecy 400 to 800 years before Peter interpreted it for his audience. We need to understand Peter’s application of the prophecy to get the point. Some believe that Joel may have been pointing specifically to the events shortly before and leading up to Jerusalem’s devastation by Titus in 70 A.D. In which case he would have been bearing a message similar to the one Jesus delivered in Matthew 24 and 25.

Carl Keil, considered expert in his field, in his commentary on Joel, emphatically states the position that the fulfillment of this prophecy would commence with the pouring out of God’s Spirit on all nations and would continue until the end of time. He said that the term "to pour out, signifies communication in rich abundance, like a rain-fall or water-fall."

Keil further believed that the reference to bond slaves also receiving an abundant portion of God’s Spirit, testifies to the universality of the gift, since in the times prior to Christ, slaves were never chosen to receive a gift of the Spirit nor to speak for God. Perhaps Joel himself came as close as anyone, since he was a servant – a shepherd – but not a slave.

God just did not send his Spirit to slaves, prior to the grace of Jesus Christ to mankind and the fulfillment of God’s promise through Joel to pour his Spirit in rich abundance onto all who seek him.

Some argue that Jesus and his apostles often gave the message of the Hebrew scriptures a different application from the prophet’s original meaning. That certainly is true occasionally, but not in this time.

In this case:

1. Peter said, "This is that, spoken by Joel . . . " What his hearers had witnessed was at least a part of the prophecy’s fulfillment. Pentecost morning was the start of "this," of which Joel spoke.

If the last days began shortly before 9:00 a.m. on the first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection, when do/did they end?

It seems to me there are only two logical choices to consider. Either (1) they were the last days of the Jewish nation, and they ended with the destruction of the Jewish nation 37 years later; or (2) they are the last days of time and will end with Jesus’ final appearance.

A significant clue is that:

2. During the fulfillment of this prophecy – the last days – "everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Thus:

3. If the last days are indeed the period during which "everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved," then all time from then until the return of Christ is included.

I believe that it is more reasonable to believe that the last days began with that Pentecost and will end when Jesus Christ returns to claim his own, than to believe they spanned only the subsequent 37 years.

So, now we can more easily understand when God would be "pouring out of his Spirit on all flesh". He would begin that morning and continue for as long as people invoking the Lord’s name are being saved. When is that? From Pentecost until the return of Christ.

Some believe that the last days began with Peter’s discourse and ended with the death of the last apostle. Another similar version has the last days ending with the death of the last person who received gifts by the laying on of an apostle’s hands. Others believe that these "last days" ended when all of God’s will had been revealed and written down.

However, if any of those options were the last days, then what are these days in which we live? The days after the last days? Then, instead of being "the last days," Joel and Peter must have really meant to say, "the next to the last days".

God speaks more accurately than that!

No, the last days are the time, immediately before the return of Jesus Christ, beginning with that Pentecost morning in Jerusalem. During those last days, people would be calling on the name of the Lord, and would be being saved.

When is that time? That time is now!

That time began with Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2, and will end when Jesus Christ returns. Any other theory just does not fit the facts.

Facts: Jesus said all must be born from above of water and spirit to see the kingdom. Joel promised that the spirit would be poured out on all flesh. It started in Jerusalem. For as long as "some flesh" exists, people will be being saved and God’s Spirit will be being poured out.

The truth as the Lord revealed it is so simple. It takes no contrivance of eloquent reasoning to arrive at it. However, when Satan gets involved and gives truth just a little twist, it becomes very complicated – a myth – a lie.²

 

 

Myth: Gifts were never intended nor used for one’s personal benefit.

 

How about:

The miraculous flour in the house of the widow who was feeding Elijah? (1 Kings 7:7-14)

Elijah being fed by ravens during a deep famine? (1 Kings 17:1-6)

The she-bears that came out of the woods and mauled the children who mocked Elisha, calling him a "bald-head"? (2 Kings 2:23-25)

The miraculous oil that appeared in the barrels of the poor widow because of Elisha? (2 Kings 4:1-7)

Raising the son of the Shunammite widow from death? (2 Kings 4:8-37)

The axe-head that floated? (2 Kings 6:1-7)

How about the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law? (Matthew 8:14, 15; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38)

The coin Jesus told Peter to take from the fish’s mouth to pay their personal taxes? (Matthew 17:24-27)

Agabus’s prophecy that Paul would be killed if he went to Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-16)?

For whose benefit were those? Especially the last one in this list? There are some others. So many, in fact, as to leave absolutely no doubt of the error of this Myth.

I do not believe that all of these things just enumerated were a part of the charismata, given by the spirit to Christians (except the last one). However, those who teach this myth, generally have "miracles", and "gifts of the spirit", and charismata all mixed up together in their own minds.

 

 

Myth: The only way gifts were given was by "laying on" of the Apostles’ hands. Therefore, gifts ceased soon after the last apostle died.

 

And the apostles in Jerusalem, hearing that Samaria has received the word of God, sent Peter and John to them, who, going down, prayed for them so they might receive the Holy Spirit; for He had not fallen on any one of them yet, they had simply been immersed in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And Simon, seeing that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Spirit was given, offered them money, saying: "Give the authority to me as well, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit." (Acts 8:14-19)

That the exclusive method of imparting gifts was by apostles laying their hands on people is a myth of long-standing. I believed it myself, but now, in retrospect, I realize how inconsistent with scripture this myth really is. Even while believing this myth, I was still conscious of other methods the Lord used to impart gifts. But, those didn’t seem even to "register" on my mind, for some reason. (Remember how Satan works!)

 

By Presbyters

Remember the gift that Timothy received from the laying on of the hands of older men (presbyters) (1 Tim. 4:14)?

 

By "Desire"

Remember Paul’s advice to the Corinthians to desire the better gifts? Did their desire cause them to receive gifts? If not, then just what did Paul mean by what he told them?

Remember Paul’s advice to the tongue-speakers to pray that they may translate/interpret? Translating/interpreting was a different, additional gift to what they already had.

In 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul taught, "Desire the greater gifts." In 14:1, he said, "desire eagerly spiritual gifts (spiritual powers), and rather that you may prophesy." Would that desire get gifts for them?

It is apparent from these scriptures that not everyone had gifts. Some have taught and some still teach that to be an acceptable child of God, one must have at least the gift of tongue-speaking. That wasn’t so in Corinth! It is not true today, either!

God never required that. He gives the gifts – as needed! Remember?

What good would it do for a person to "desire" greater gifts, or to "eagerly desire" spiritual gifts – especially the gift of prophecy? Did "desire" bring those gifts? If desire did not bring gifts, did the apostles pass through regularly, laying hands on people to endow them with gifts? If so, what part did the disciples’s "desire" for gifts have in the process? What did desire have to do with anything? How did new Christians get gifts if Paul had left town just before their conversion? Did apostles "ride a circuit," laying their hands on new disciples, giving them gifts? Did apostles ride through occasionally, giving greater gifts to those who already had lesser gifts? Did apostles come by, passing out gifts greater than each already had?

That idea did not come from scripture.

 

By Prayer

"Be eager to prophesy" (14:39).

"Wherefore, the one speaking in a tongue, let him pray that he may interpret" (14:13).

Why pray for a gift you don’t have if it is necessary to wait for an apostle to come along and lay hands on you to give it to you? Why wouldn’t Paul have told them just to pray for an apostle to come to see them instead?

 

By Disciples

In Acts 9:17-19, there is no doubt that as a result of Ananias laying his hands on Saul, in addition to having his blindness healed, the future apostle also was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Was Ananias an apostle? Was he a totally unique disciple? Was he the only disciple (other than apostles) to whom the Lord gave the ability to impart the Spirit by laying his hands on someone?

Besides the laying on of apostles’s hands, gifts were also given by the Spirit to one (1) as a result of his/her own prayer; (2) by the laying on of the hands of older ones (elders); (3) by desiring the gifts; and (4) by other disciples laying hands on the recipients.

Score another one for Satan who gave just a slight twist to truth and turned it into another myth.

 

 

Myth: To use or exercise gifts of the Spirit was to "perform miracles".  In other words, all gifts of the Spirit were gifts that enabled one to perform miracles (as Jesus did);

and

Myth: There was an Age of Miracles which has ended.

 

The works done by early Christians through spiritual gifts – were they miracles or natural works? Should the answer to that question concern us at all? Is the answer just a matter of semantics? Should we even be concerned about whether the nature of those works was natural or supernatural?

I believe that answers to those questions are crucial to our understanding, primarily because of confusion about the nature of charismata.

First, let’s define some terms:

miracle – n. 1. an effect in the physical world which surpasses all known human or natural powers and is therefore ascribed to supernatural agency. 2. a wonderful thing: a marvel. 3. a wonderful or surpassing example of some quality.

miraculous – adj. 1. of the nature of a miracle; marvelous. 2. performed by or involving a supernatural power: a miraculous cure. 3. having power to work miracles; wonder-working: miraculous drugs. – Syn. 2. MIRACULOUS, PRETERNATURAL, SUPERNATURAL refer to that which seems to transcend the laws of nature. MIRACULOUS usually refers to an individual event which apparently contravenes known laws governing the universe: a miraculous answer, or success. PRETERNATURAL suggests the possession of supernormal gifts or qualities: dogs have a preternatural sense of smell, bats have a sense of hearing that is preternatural. SUPERNATURAL suggests divine or superhuman properties: supernatural aid in battle.

nature – n. 1. the particular combination of qualities belonging to a person or thing by birth or constitution; native or inherent character: the nature of atomic energy. 3. character, kind, or sort: a book of the same nature.

natural – adj., 1. existing in or formed by nature; not artificial: a natural bridge. 2. based on the state of things in nature; constituted by nature: the natural day. 3. of or pertaining to nature or the created universe: a natural science. 7. having a real or physical existence, as opposed to one that is spiritual, intellectual, fictitious, etc., 8. of, pertaining to, or proper to the nature or essential constitution: natural ability. 16. in conformity with the ordinary course of nature; not unusual or exceptional. 17. happening in the ordinary course of things, without the intervention of accident, violence, etc.: a natural death. 19. based on what is learned from nature, rather than on revelation: natural religion.

supernatural – adj. 1. being above or beyond what is natural: supernatural phenomena. 2. abnormal or extraordinary. 3. of or pertaining to the supernatural. – n. 4. that which is supernatural. 5. the action of the supernatural as it intervenes in the natural order.

There is no word used in the Greek scriptures which is equivalent to our English word: supernatural. Perhaps we should just throw that word out of this study, but the word has become so ingrained in us, that it would be extremely difficult to do so.

Straying from the words and meanings of the original language and substituting or mixing them with words and meanings from our current vocabulary instead, may be the major source of our misunderstandings and difficulties with this subject.

However, if we can understand the English words alike – even for as short a time as this study together – then perhaps we can arrive at a better understanding of what happens.

If we take the word supernatural and agree temporarily to apply it only to the source of whatever works we are talking about, then I believe we can make some progress.

There’s no question in my mind about whether the dramatic, powerful things performed by Jesus and his apostles were of a supernatural source. Especially, giving new life to some who had died, giving sight to some who had never seen, or instantaneously healing some who were sick or crippled. The source of power to do those kinds of things was God – actually the power of the divine nature of Jesus himself as he was empowered by the Spirit.

There is also little question about the source of the charismata given to the disciples. These charismata were poured out from the charis of God. Their source was divine. Supernatural. They were referred to as gifts of, or from, the Spirit.

Though the source of charismata was divine, their appearances and purposes were different from the powerful things done by Jesus and the twelve. When the kind of work done by Jesus and his apostles is confused with that of the disciples, the whole concept becomes muddled and very difficult – if not impossible – to understand.

When Jesus gave new life to Lazarus, whose body had already begun decaying in death, not only did the power to give life come from a supernatural source, but the resurrection also looked supernatural to those who saw or knew about it.

In Luke 7:2-10, it looked supernatural, too, when Jesus healed the servant of the army captain without even coming near him.

When the man born blind was given sight for the first time by the Son of God, that one also appeared to be supernatural, didn’t it?

When Peter raised Dorcas to renewed life and when Paul breathed life back into the dead Eutycus, those also had a supernatural look about them.

Those things which Jesus and his apostles did not only had a supernatural source, but they appeared to be supernatural, as well.

 

Supernatural Source vs. Supernatural Appearance

In our thinking, it helps if we can separate the source of charismata from the appearance of charismata.

Together, if we agree and understand that everything in God’s realm is supernatural, then we’ve come a long way.

Based on that mutual understanding, then, let’s assert that everything from God – any gift, any power – even life itself – has a supernatural source.

But, how do those things from God’s realm appear to human beings? Let’s take a few examples that we can be pretty sure about.

 

Jesus' Raised Body

First, please read and (as much as it is possible) digest 1 Corinthians 15, especially verses 20 through 49.

The first man is out of earth, earthy; the second man is out of heaven. As is the earthy man, of such also are the earthy ones; and as is the heavenly man, of such also are the heavenly ones. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. And this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption (vv. 47-50).

I don’t know that human understanding can fully comprehend what Paul teaches here about the differences between the natural and spiritual bodies. However, we can be fairly sure of one thing – the two bodies are different! You may think that to be a very elementary observation. Of course, it is elementary. But, we must start somewhere.

Try to imagine the spiritual body. Paul says it is imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, heavenly, immortal.

Would you say that such a spiritual body is natural or supernatural?

On the one hand, Paul says such a body is not natural. But he doesn’t say that the opposite of natural is supernatural, either. Rather, it is spiritual which is the opposite of natural.

But, on the other hand, Paul’s overall message here is that the progression from a natural to a spiritual body is a natural process. It’s just as natural a process as seed being planted in one form, and sprouting and maturing into an entirely different form.

While our bodies which we are to have after the resurrection are not natural bodies, the process of change from this body to that spiritual body is totally natural.

The point is that we should not claim that every appearance of spiritual things is supernatural. Such an appearance may indeed be totally beyond anything we have ever experienced or can possibly imagine or describe, but it is a natural process.

Though Jesus’ new, raised body could apparently pass unimpeded and uninjured through solid walls (John 20:19, 26), the progression from his old natural body to this new, spiritual one was a natural process. His body even appeared to be natural – not supernatural. The fact that it could pass uninjured through solids is also natural – not supernatural. It is natural for a spiritual body to be able to do that.

My point is that everything spiritual is not necessarily supernatural. It may be difficult or even impossible for us human beings to fully know and comprehend, but spiritual things can be natural, nonetheless.

 

Jesus’ Power

Jesus is divine. In him is all the fullness of "Godness" (Colossians 2:9). There is nothing that God is that Jesus is not. No power nor ability was denied him. Everything that God is, Jesus is. It was Jesus’ nature to be able to do the amazing things he did. It is sad to consider, but some of my brothers in the Lord claim that the divine abilities Jesus demonstrated while on earth are the same as the disciples’s charismata.

Next, let’s consider Jesus’ apostles. Elsewhere in this study we talk about Jesus breathing the Spirit into The Ten the night he was raised back to life. Prior to this, he had already given them the power to "heal the sick and to raise the dead." (Matthew 10:8; Mark 3:15)  Breathing the Spirit into them, on this occasion, Jesus gave them the power to forgive sins (John 20:23)! No one else was ever given such authority and power. No disciple you can name.

 

Natural? Supernatural?

In our scriptures, the powers Jesus gave to The Ten were never called charismata. Not anywhere that I can find.

By laying hands on others, could The Ten pass along these powers which Jesus had given them? Healing the sick? Giving new life to the dead? Forgiving sins?

There is no scriptural evidence that they could.

I was taught and have taught that the apostles of the Lord had all gifts, and with all gifts, they were given the power to pass them along to others by laying their hands on them.

Not so. The Lord’s apostles could not duplicate their powers in others at all. The charismata were not the same as the apostles’s powers which the Lord gave to them by breathing the spirit into them.

Spontaneously healing the sick is supernatural. Raising the dead is certainly supernatural. Is there any doubt about the power to forgive sins being supernatural? That was something only Jesus had a right to do. He gave his authority to forgive sins only to his apostles. Why should anyone think any other disciple could/can forgive sins? I don’t think anyone thinks that, do they?

If not, then why would anyone claim that disciples could heal the sick instantaneously or raise the dead?

Were the first century disciples able to do supernatural things? Yes. But they generally appeared to be quite natural things – even speaking foreign languages.

 

The Disciples’s Charismata

What did the disciples receive and exercise as charismata?

A list appears elsewhere in this study.  Look the gifts over carefully. Is healing the sick among them? In the Corinthian list we find gifts of healings. I don’t believe that those gifts of healings included the power to heal, such as Jesus and the apostles exercised, however. I do believe that each person who was healed of something received a gift of healing – the charisma of healing. Multiple persons being healed of ailments, or even the same person being healed of more than one sickness constitute those gifts of healings.

In other words: the gift was being healed of something, not the power to heal someone else.

Healings as a result of prayers as prescribed in James 5 should also be included among the gifts of healings.

In any list of charismata, do you find raising the dead? Forgiving sin? Healing the sick?

No. Instead, you find things like knowledge, prophecy, administrations, and sharing.

One of Satan’s neatest tricks is to get us to mix up in our own minds the powers exercised by Jesus and his apostles with the charismata of the disciples. I don’t know how he did it, but it is quite effective.

 

An "Age of Miracles" ?

Using the phrase "The Age of Miracles," assumes a point that the one saying it must prove first. In formal debate, this ploy is called "begging the question." By simply saying "the Age of Miracles," a speaker (or writer) gets many who hear the term to accept its existence as fact with no further proof. That saves the speaker or writer a lot of work, but it also teaches and perpetuates a lot of error.

Saying, "The Age of Miracles is over," neither proves there ever was such an age, nor that if one ever existed that it ever ended.

Next, miracles were never confined to an "age". Supernatural wonders began with creation and we find them at least throughout the period covered by the Hebrew and the Greek scriptures. Even writers well after the first and second centuries claim the continued existence of both gifts and supernatural wonders. That being true, then we must ask ourselves, "When and why would God ever stop them?"

Simply using the phrase itself predisposes minds who have not fully studied this subject to accept such an "Age" as fact, when it is pure fiction. When someone says, "The Age of Miracles," most people will assume some things:

1) That there actually was an age of miracles.

2) That the "age" of miracles is over.

3) That there were (or will be) no miracles outside that "age".

Before going further, just to be sure we’re thinking the same way, we need to define "miracle".

miracle - 1. an effect in the physical world which surpasses all known human or natural powers and is therefore ascribed to supernatural agency. 2. a wonderful thing: a marvel. 3. a wonderful or surpassing example of some quality.

Before getting involved in a study of the subject of miracles, it’s important for each of us to be working from the same definition. According to definition 1., above, miracle is the intervention of a supernatural power into the natural realm where we live. That is the generally acceptable meaning of the term – miracle.

In that sense, all the gifts were miraculous, simply by definition. All of the gifts came from God and have been superimposed into the natural world and onto natural people.

However, that’s not exactly the definition scripture gives. There are several words in the original language which various translators have rendered as miracle in English.

One of the most common is dunamis. You may recognize the word as the source of our powerful words: dynamic, dynamite, dynamo. The word in some form appears 120 times in the Greek scriptures. By far the most common English translation of the word is power, 76 times. Might or mighty works 17 times; Miracle, 8 times.

Another is seemeion. It appears 77 times, most often as sign (51). Miracle, 21 times and wonder, three times.

The final one is teras. It appears 16 times, all as a form of wonder.

From these uses, we concluded that a proper definition of the thing under consideration is a power, or something that demonstrates the power (dunamis) of God.

The reason other Greek words are used is to convey some of the purposes of a dunamis. Some would be to provide a sign (seemeion) and to cause wonder (teras) in those who saw such power demonstrated.

It is important to understand these concepts because the English word miracle is not only overused today, but it is also misused much too often. I need to offer no other evidence than the second and third definitions quoted above. Those two uses show the dilution of the meaning of the term miracle in our time. For this study, let’s stick with the definition used in scripture.

So, what we are talking about is powers, and whether an age of powers has existed or ended.

In spite of what many think, all manifestations of the Spirit did not appear as a power (miracle) from the supernatural realm. A power was a demonstration of such awesome power as to cause wonder or amazement in the witnesses. Only a few of the gifts had this effect. Most appeared to be quite ordinary human abilities.

One appearance of the spirit which demonstrated a supernatural power was speaking in other tongues. That’s why the Corinthians wanted that ability so much. That’s why it caused such turmoil and envy among them. Speaking in other languages was flashy. It attracted attention to the one with the charisma. It looked and sounded like a supernatural power.

Paul said there were better gifts than tongue speaking and that the Corinthian disciples should pray to receive them. One better gift was prophecy. Another was knowledge. Another, wisdom. Now how powerful (miraculous) did those gifts appear to be?

 

Paul’s Point

That’s Paul’s whole point, by the way. Most of the gifts did not appear to be supernatural powers at all. Their appearance was quite normal and ordinary. They were not showy nor flashy. They did not attract attention to the one using the gift.

For example, what would appear to be the difference in the comments of a wise man, speaking with the wisdom attained through age and experience, and the comments of another wise man, speaking through wisdom attained through the gift of wisdom?

See what I mean? That same question applies to a gift of knowledge, and the others, as well. Even the gift of prophecy.

Paul’s point was that exercising the gift of prophecy did not even appear to be a power from God. That’s why the Corinthians despised the gift of prophecy and wanted tongue-speaking.

I believe that "The Age of Miracles" is a label put on to the first century (only) by those who try to prove that the time of God’s gifts of grace to his people is passed. They try to prove that God did, in fact, create and vacate. That he’s not involved with his children anymore.

My conclusion is that supernatural events began with the dawn of time and until the our Lord’s work is finished. That’s a period of approximately 6,000 years, already, and has covered several "ages". The person who believes that a single "age of miracles" existed, that coincided only with the lives of Jesus and his apostles, and ended shortly after their deaths, will (1) need to find some scriptures which define it that way. (There aren’t any!) And, (2) explain the strange exercisings of divine power which fill the Hebrew scriptures. And (3), those who read "church" history, will have a very difficult time as well, pinpointing when these gifts stopped. Historians have acknowledged that gifts have continued being commonplace in every century since Christ.

Isn’t it amazing what Satan can do to us with just a tiny twist?

 

 

Myth: "The gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38) and "spiritual gifts" (1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14) are one and the same.

 

We should not get the Spirit himself confused in our minds with the gifts he gives any more than we should get Christ confused with the gifts he gives, nor God the Father with the gifts he gives.

The Holy Spirit is given to penitent believers as the substance of a gift (Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1). Then, the Spirit himself gives gifts to those in whom he lives.

In Acts 2:38, some have emphasized repentance and immersion for remission of sins and have skimmed too lightly over "and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." In this case, the Spirit himself is the gift given by God. Some have said that this is the beginning of the Spirit’s living in saved ones. I guess that’s a pretty good way to put it.

In speaking of this gift in Ephesians 1, Paul said the Spirit is the seal that God places on the saved to seal us into him, and an assurance that we are his.

In the same place he also says that the Spirit is the "down payment" (earnest) of our inheritance. It is the down payment which we hold "until the redemption of his possession, to his praise and glory." I understand that to mean that receiving God’s Spirit who begins living in us is just a small part of our total inheritance as his heirs.

If you and I agree that you will purchase my house, normally you will give me a down payment of money. The money you give me is a part of the total of the same "stuff" we agreed you would give me in exchange for my house. Normally, I would not expect to receive 14 chickens as a down payment, followed by payments of cash money.

The down payment is a part of the same stuff as the entire purchase price.

This "down payment" in Ephesians 1:14, is a pledge of the same kind (same "stuff") as our total inheritance. Being given the Holy Spirit to live in me is only a part, but just like the substance of my entire inheritance.

I don’t think I am capable of fully comprehending our inheritance, but I do believe that this part of it is clear.

But, again, Satan has added his "twist" to truth, making us believe that God would give us a guarantee that we could never detect. A guarantee that we must accept with our intellectual and logical reasoning abilities only.

 

Gifts The Spirit Gives

In addition to the Spirit himself being given as the substance of a gift, Jesus and the Holy Spirit give other gifts to men (Ephesians 4:1-16). I think it would be best just to enumerate them rather than to attempt a lengthy discussion of each. I count about 30 separate gifts of God’s grace (charisma) in scripture. Some are repeated, so I count those only in one place.

	(4) Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teaching pastors (Ephesians 4:11).
	(8) A word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, faith, gifts of cures, workings of powers, prophecy, discernings of spirits, kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
	(4) Apostles, prophets, teachers, powers, gifts of cures, helps, governings, kinds of tongues, and "greater gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:28, 31).
	(1) Revelation, knowledge, prophecy, teaching (1 Corinthians 12:6).
	p (3) Prophecy, understanding, love, knowledge, faith, hope (1 Corinthians 13).
	(1) A psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation (all for edification) (1 Corinthians 14:26).
	p (4) Prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting, sharing, showing mercy (Romans 12:6-8)
	Speaking for God (prophecy?), serving (1 Pet. 4:7-11).
	(1)  Righteousness (Rom. 5:15, 16; Ephesians 2:1-10)
	(1) Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:12-21)
	(1) Eternal life (Rom. 6:23).
	(1) Intervention through prayer ("favor" - NASB and SEB) (2 Corinthians 1:11).
	(1 or 2) Celibacy/non-celibacy (1 Corinthians 7:7)

There are others, but they are not identified as straightforwardly in scripture as these. For example, there were the "better gifts" Paul mentioned to Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:31). Were they among those included in his lists somewhere, or were they not enumerated at all?

"Dreaming dreams" and "seeing visions", promised by Joel and quoted by Peter (Joel 2; Acts 2), were also gifts given by the Spirit. Those gifts were a result of God’s Spirit being poured out on people. However, scripture does not specifically call them charismata, nor gifts of the Spirit.

What is the significance of Jesus’ promise to the twelve that "these signs will follow them who believe"?

Remember Mark’s account of "the great commission" (Mark 16:14-20)? There were others not mentioned in the epistles: throwing demons out of people; picking up poisonous serpents without harm; drinking deadly poison without harm; and healing sick ones by laying hands on them; in addition to the speaking of new languages. Were these gifts of the Spirit?  Or do these things just naturally follow faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ?  They not only did follow all believers when Jesus said it, but they continued to do so for at least several hundred years.

Persons who believe that all charismata ended shortly after the first century, will have difficulty with the end of Mark’s biography. These things were not mentioned in any list calling them charismata. So, did they ever end?

Paul laid his hands on Timothy and imparted three others which are not mentioned anywhere else. In 2 Tim. 1:1-7, there may be a reference to charismata that Paul himself had and passed on to the young preacher: A spirit of power, a spirit of love and a spirit of self control.

So, the only conclusions I can draw from what scriptures say is that God gives the Holy Spirit as the substance of a gift to believers. The Spirit then begins to live in that person. Gifts (of the spirit) are given to disciples. They are given by God, by Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit himself and the gifts of the Spirit are different from each other!

 

Myth: Spiritual gifts were given only "to confirm the Word". Once the Word had been confirmed, gifts ceased.

 

How many times have I said that one, myself? This myth goes well with "that which is perfect" of 1 Corinthians 13:10. The logic I used was that once the word had been completely delivered and confirmed as being from God by the gifts demonstrated by the apostles, prophets and other teachers, then the need for gifts would end. The gifts would end when the "canon" was complete. It would all have been revealed, it would have been written down, and it would be complete.

However, this myth comes from two places. One is Mark 16:20, the passage above. The other is Hebrews 2:1-4.

First, I find it fascinating that neither passage says that the gifts ceased nor that gifts would cease once the word was confirmed. Men have added that part.

As a brief aside, if the only purpose of spiritual gifts was "to confirm the word", then why were these gifts given to anyone other than the apostles?  Weren’t the apostles the ones revealing the word of God?  Weren’t the apostles (and a few others) the ones writing the word down into what would become the New Testament canon?  What was the purpose of anyone else’s gifts? Why would others ever need a gift if they were not revealing the word and needing to confirm it?