“But
to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men." Ephesians 4:7,8 NKJV
Today, when many are justifiably concerned with the health and effectiveness of the Church, the body of Christ, the question we all should be asking ourselves is am I doing my part as a member of the body. As often as we probably hear the message to be "busy" doing Gods' work, the logical question for many might be "what should I be doing?" That question is in fact, a very good one, for it should be obvious that for the body to function effectively, we can’t all be doing the same thing. Fortunately for us, God has personally taken care of the confusion that could arise by giving to each of us a special gift, or gifts, that He intends for us to use while fulfilling the responsibilities of our service to Him.
Today, when many are justifiably concerned with the health and effectiveness of the Church, the body of Christ, the question we all should be asking ourselves is am I doing my part as a member of the body. As often as we probably hear the message to be "busy" doing Gods' work, the logical question for many might be "what should I be doing?" That question is in fact, a very good one, for it should be obvious that for the body to function effectively, we can’t all be doing the same thing. Fortunately for us, God has personally taken care of the confusion that could arise by giving to each of us a special gift, or gifts, that He intends for us to use while fulfilling the responsibilities of our service to Him.
“Now
you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed
these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of
tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all
interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more
excellent way.” 1 Corinthians
12:27-31 NKJV
Now experience has taught me that the subject of spiritual gifts can be confusing to many, and occasionally even the source of some controversy. Our God, however, is not a God of confusion so it stands to reason that any confusion or misunderstanding about gifts comes from man and not from God. I want to spend some time discussing what the Bible has to say about the gifts He has chosen to bestow on us, and the purpose behind His instruction on how we go about exercising those gifts.
The best way to look at the subject of spiritual gifts is to look at them the same way that God does, and that is as a picture of a human body and how it works. It may be an oversimplification, but let's imagine our physical body made up of four distinct divisions. One would be the structural system made up of the bones and muscles which support the entire body. Without it, our bodies would simply collapse so obviously it's quite important. Second would be the nervous system, by which the muscles and bones are told what to do and what direction to do it. Third would be the digestive system by which we take in the nourishment we need in order to grow and receive the energy needed to fuel the body. Last would be the circulatory system which takes the fuel we consume to the rest of the body in order to sustain life.
When we look at these verses in Ephesians we see that Paul divides the gifts of the body of Christ into two distinct ministries. The first we could call the support ministries, and the second would be the working ministries. Look closely at the following verses.
“And He Himself gave some [to be] apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” Ephesians 4:11,12 NKJV
You can see that Paul states there are four specific gifts given to some individuals solely for the purpose of "equipping" other saints for their specific work of ministry. Let's look at these four gifts in light of the four "systems" of the body we have already mentioned.
These verses describing the gifts seem to correspond directly the picture of the body we have already painted with its four distinct divisions. The first gift listed is that of apostles, whose job it was to lay the foundation or the support structure upon which the body of Christ would be built. Second are the prophets, who were the individuals who spoke by inspiration of God, revealing His words to men. You could compare this to the nervous system of the body which tells the structural system what to do. The third gift Paul tells us is the gift of evangelism, which is how the body of Christ grows larger. You could look at this as the digestive system in our bodies where all that we need in order to grow is stored for distribution resulting in the growth of the body. Last is the gift of pastor-teachers. In the Greek, this is actually a phrase, so Paul is using two words to describe one gift. We can see where this gift is like our circulatory system which we have already described as giving life to the body by circulating the nourishment we need in order to remain healthy.
These "supporting" gifts are the foundation of the heath and effectiveness of the body of Christ. Without them, the body would collapse and be unable to perform the work for which it was intended. Paul makes it clear that God chooses which gifts to bestow on certain people; therefore He chooses those to whom He wishes to place the responsibilities of gifts supporting the body.
Unfortunately, many might look at this picture and ask "what more is needed"? But remember I said there are two divisions in the body. There are the "support" ministries which we have discussed here, and then there are the 'working" ministries. In order for the body to perform effectively, there is a division of responsibilities that many seem to miss when discussing spiritual gifts. You could look at the support ministries and think they would be able to do everything necessary, but this is not what Paul has described. Look closely at verse 12.
“for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,”
The support gifts are for the purpose of preparing the "saints" for their work.
“And
He Himself gave some [to be] apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but,
speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the
head--Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every
joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its
share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
After the support ministries, Paul now introduces us to what we call the working ministries. There are several lists of gifts to be found in the New Testament, each not quite complete, so we will put them all together and see what we find. What we find are as follows; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, helps, administration, exhortation, and tongues. To help us understand each of these better, I thought I would list each separately below with their Greek definitions and usages from the Strongs concordance.
wisdom-"sophia"... wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters
knowledge-"gnōsis"...knowledge signifies in general intelligence, understanding
faith-"pistis"...the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
healing-"iama"...a means of healing, remedy, medicine
miracles-"dynamis"...strength power, ability
prophecy-"prophēteia"...a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events
discernment-"diakrisis"...a distinguishing, discerning, judging
helps-"antilēmpsis"...in NT, to aid, help
administration-"kybernēsis"...a governing, government
exhortation-"paraklēsis"...a calling near, summons, (esp. for help) importation, supplication, entreaty exhortation, admonition, encouragement
tongues-"glōssa"...the language or dialect used by a particular people distinct from that of other nations
I think it reasonable to assume that some of these definitions surprise you, for when it comes to teaching about the gifts, there is plenty of disagreement within the body as to their meaning, uses, and even necessity. However, if we examine the context in which Paul writes about the gifts, we can see that controversy and misunderstanding is nothing new. In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul goes out of his way to say a lot about their use, and misuse, even going as far as to list them in order of their importance. All this obviously in response to some in the church believing and teaching that certain gifts were more desirable than others, and which could also then be regarded as an indicator of personal status within the body.
Paul addresses these problems in the course of three whole chapters, which we find in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapters 12-14. In these three chapters I believe Paul makes at least three main points.
The first is that it is God who chooses what our spiritual gift is to be, and not us.
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:11 NKJV
All too often we find those in the body trying to tell us what our gift should be, rather than encouraging us to look for and accept whatever gift it is that God has chosen for us. The point Paul makes here is that it is not we who choose our gift, but rather it is God who chooses to give us the gift He feels we need to perform the work He has chosen for us within the body.
The second is that the parts of the body, each with its own gift, must work in harmony with the others.
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NKJV
Paul now has to spend the rest of chapter 12 explaining that the body is made up of many individuals, and while all do not have the same gift, each is just as important as the next. Paul makes the point that in order for the body to work effectively, each part must perform the function it was designed for if we are to accomplish the responsibility of reaching an unbelieving world for Christ.
Third Paul tells us we can desire the greater gifts.
“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31 NKJV
Now there are two words in this verse that explain exactly what Paul is trying to tell us, and those are "desire" and "best". Desire in the Greek is "zēloō" which means "to desire earnestly, pursue", and best in the Greek is "kreittōn" which means "more useful, more serviceable, more advantageous". Now if we look at all the lists Paul gives us, it is the "equipping" gifts we talked about which are always listed first. What Paul is saying here is that although we should not seek to have a gift which God has not given us, it is perfectly alright to "pursue" the equipping gifts.
After the support ministries, Paul now introduces us to what we call the working ministries. There are several lists of gifts to be found in the New Testament, each not quite complete, so we will put them all together and see what we find. What we find are as follows; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, helps, administration, exhortation, and tongues. To help us understand each of these better, I thought I would list each separately below with their Greek definitions and usages from the Strongs concordance.
wisdom-"sophia"... wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters
knowledge-"gnōsis"...knowledge signifies in general intelligence, understanding
faith-"pistis"...the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
healing-"iama"...a means of healing, remedy, medicine
miracles-"dynamis"...strength power, ability
prophecy-"prophēteia"...a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events
discernment-"diakrisis"...a distinguishing, discerning, judging
helps-"antilēmpsis"...in NT, to aid, help
administration-"kybernēsis"...a governing, government
exhortation-"paraklēsis"...a calling near, summons, (esp. for help) importation, supplication, entreaty exhortation, admonition, encouragement
tongues-"glōssa"...the language or dialect used by a particular people distinct from that of other nations
I think it reasonable to assume that some of these definitions surprise you, for when it comes to teaching about the gifts, there is plenty of disagreement within the body as to their meaning, uses, and even necessity. However, if we examine the context in which Paul writes about the gifts, we can see that controversy and misunderstanding is nothing new. In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul goes out of his way to say a lot about their use, and misuse, even going as far as to list them in order of their importance. All this obviously in response to some in the church believing and teaching that certain gifts were more desirable than others, and which could also then be regarded as an indicator of personal status within the body.
Paul addresses these problems in the course of three whole chapters, which we find in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapters 12-14. In these three chapters I believe Paul makes at least three main points.
The first is that it is God who chooses what our spiritual gift is to be, and not us.
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:11 NKJV
All too often we find those in the body trying to tell us what our gift should be, rather than encouraging us to look for and accept whatever gift it is that God has chosen for us. The point Paul makes here is that it is not we who choose our gift, but rather it is God who chooses to give us the gift He feels we need to perform the work He has chosen for us within the body.
The second is that the parts of the body, each with its own gift, must work in harmony with the others.
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NKJV
Paul now has to spend the rest of chapter 12 explaining that the body is made up of many individuals, and while all do not have the same gift, each is just as important as the next. Paul makes the point that in order for the body to work effectively, each part must perform the function it was designed for if we are to accomplish the responsibility of reaching an unbelieving world for Christ.
Third Paul tells us we can desire the greater gifts.
“But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31 NKJV
Now there are two words in this verse that explain exactly what Paul is trying to tell us, and those are "desire" and "best". Desire in the Greek is "zēloō" which means "to desire earnestly, pursue", and best in the Greek is "kreittōn" which means "more useful, more serviceable, more advantageous". Now if we look at all the lists Paul gives us, it is the "equipping" gifts we talked about which are always listed first. What Paul is saying here is that although we should not seek to have a gift which God has not given us, it is perfectly alright to "pursue" the equipping gifts.
How
is that you ask? It should be clear that the equipping gifts are given as a
result of spiritual maturity and come after a believer has proven himself
worthy by study and application of his faith. New believers do not, and should
not, try to teach other believers in the body the day after they make a
decision for Christ. I believe what Paul is saying here is that if you apply
yourself to attain growth and maturity, God may choose to reward anyone with
the serving gifts one of the greater gifts in order to equip other believers
for their service for God.
The bottom line is this; are you using your gift? If so, are you striving to grow in order to receive one of the equipping gifts? As members of the body, Paul makes it clear that the life of a believer is a life of doing.
The bottom line is this; are you using your gift? If so, are you striving to grow in order to receive one of the equipping gifts? As members of the body, Paul makes it clear that the life of a believer is a life of doing.
Keep
watching.
