John 16:7 “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.”
The God of the gospel is a trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In J. Gary Millar’s 2021 book, Changed into His Likeness: A Biblical Theology of Personal Transformation, he makes the case that the gospel is trinitarian - that is, it involves the Father’s plan of redemption, the Son’s redeeming atonement, and the Spirit’s abiding presence and activity in the redeemed. Millar argues well that many reformed preachers regard the role and work of the Holy Spirit as an historic event - but not in a present ongoing role and work. That is, they often have a high Christology - but at the expense of a low Pneumatology. This, Millar states is a deficiency in our collective understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, and what His ongoing role is. While some conservative pastors may respond to this by stating that they are merely protecting their congregations from charismatic excesses - such as what Charismatics claim to be ‘prophecies’, it would be somewhat difficult to see how this complies with the instructions in First Thessalonians 5:19-20.
Rather than rejecting all expressions of the Holy Spirit’s gifts (especially the verbal gifts mentioned by the apostle Paul in First Corinthians 12), we would be better advised to apply First Thessalonians 5:19 (Do not quench the Spirit) and verse 21 (but test everything; hold fast what is good).
THE PRINCIPLES FOR USING & TESTING THE GENUINENESS OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. / ¶ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; / and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; / and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. / To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. / For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, / to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, / to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. / All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
FIRST CORINTHIANS 12:3-11
We have the above record of the apostle Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians because there was misuse and misunderstanding of these spiritual gifts by some of the Corinthians. We are the beneficiaries of their ignorance and the apostle’s understanding. What we see here is that within the assembling of believers, (i) there was a time for these gifts of the Spirit to be used; (ii) the use of the spiritual gifts was for the common good of the congregation; (iii) some of these spiritual gifts were verbal (spoken) including: the utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, prophecy, speaking in tongues (unlearned languages), and, interpretation of those tongues. Other spiritual gifts referred to were non-verbal including: (i) faith; (ii) healing; and, (iii) working of miracles. Presumably, these non-verbal gifts were associated with praying.
Further to these comments, the apostle goes on to say that these gifts should be used “decently and in order” (1Cor. 14:40). (This will form a part of the testing profile for evaluating the authenticity of spiritual gifts.) What we see here from these apostolic remarks is that spiritual gifts should not be prevented, but that they should be used considerately (the remainder of First Corinthians 12 talks about this). The considerate use of spiritual gifts is also an aspect of the testing profile. Gifts should also be used decently, and in order. The apostle goes on to say that no more than three people should publicly use a verbal gift (1 Cor. 14:29). There is a testing implication in this apostolic remark that the one who wishes to exercise a verbal spiritual gift will be known by those in the congregation, and conversely, will also know their fellow congregants in order to exercise their spiritual gift considerately and in order.
What we observe thus far is that the exercise of a spiritual gift may be tested by:
- Does it glorify Christ as Lord?
- Has the spiritual gift been in accord with the revelation of Scripture?
- Is it for the common good of the congregation?
- Was the gift used to draw unnecessary attention to the one exercising it?
- Have those who are spiritual and in oversight attested to its genuineness?
- Was the person sharing the gift in good standing with congregation?
- If the exerciser of the gift was under prohibitive discipline, did they have permission to share their spiritual gift?
I have good reasons to believe that the Holy Spirit still gifts believers today, particularly those who seek it, with the spiritual gifts described in First Corinthians. I do not consider that when the apostle Paul said that “when the perfect has come, that which is partial [spiritual gifts] will be done away with” (1Cor. 13:10) that he was referring to the canon of the New Testament as being “the perfect”. The flow of thought throughout First Corinthians culminates in the supra-physical resurrection and glorification of the redeemed in chapter 15 as ushering in the perfect instead. Thus, my foundational reason for believing in the reality of the gifts of Spirit for today is theological. Secondly, I have experienced being a recipient of the gifts of the Spirit through other believers, and have myself exercised the gifts of the Spirit.
I acknowledge that there are some risks for a local church to encourage the use of spiritual gifts in their weekly worship service. However, there remains a biblical warrant for doing so. There is also a risk:reward potential benefit with the benefit being leveraged when the gifts of the Spirit of used prayerfully. This could be done by inviting people to publicly and spontaneously pray in a church service in which their spiritual gift becomes a part of their spontaneous prayer.
POSTSCRIPT: FILTERS FOR EVALUATING THE AUTHENTICITY OF PROPHECY
While I have given a theological and experiential basis for the use of spiritual gifts within a church service I think there is some wisdom in the following observations. Firstly, most prophecies recorded within the Bible were not necessarily predictive - they were more commonly a prophet reminding God’s people of God’s Word. This is kind of prophesying is forth-telling rather than predictive fore-telling. Therefore, it is more likely the Holy Spirit will similarly gift a believer with an encouraging reminder of God’s Word through a prophetic gift. Secondly, prophetic words recorded in Scripture were less likely to be directive - commanding people to do certain things. To be sure, the Old Testament prophets called people to repentance and summoned their hearers to return to obedience to God’s Word - but only rarely were they specifically directive beyond this. Therefore, it is incredibly unlikely that the Holy Spirit would gift someone with a directive word for a church to obey.
Sadly, I have pastored some people who have been sorely abused by false-prophecies. I offer this wisdom to anyone who is supposedly given a prophetic word:
1. Is this prophetic word coming from a credible person? That is, how well do you know this person, and how well are they spoken of by others?
2. Is this prophetic word a confirmation of what God has already been saying to you. Note Acts 21:10-14 where Agabus the prophet gave the apostle Paul a prophetic word which confirmed what God had already been saying to Paul.
3. Has the one giving you this prophecy insisted on you not telling anyone? Secrecy is often an indication for concern!
4. Has this prophetic word got an urgent time-frame, or certain conditions to be met in order for it to be confirmed? If so, never act impulsively on a directive prophetic word without seeking advice or counsel from someone you trust.
I conclude with one final reflection. Every preacher should be ‘prophetic’ in the way they teach and preach God’s Word forthrightly with passion and a call to obey the gospel. Wherever and whenever the Scriptures are not being proclaimed from the pulpit, there will be a vacuum created resulting in an increased amount of verbal spiritual gifts being used (even if people go looking for it on the internet)!
