The Gifts of the Spirit to the Church
The Church of Christ. No. 4.
The Gifts of the Spirit to the Church.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” 1 Cor. 12:1. Nothing in all the earth has Christ honored as He has honored His church—His called-out ones. He has designated them “His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” Eph. 1:23. In other words, it is the purpose of Christ that His church shall manifest to the world the fulness of His glory of character, His power, His beauty, His love for the lost. When Christ came, He did not come to reveal Himself. If He had revealed Himself, His mission would have been a failure. He could say with assurance: “No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him.” Matt. 11:27. But when our Lord went away, He left His church to reveal Him; the actions of the body to reveal the Head. He said to His Father, of His children, “As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.” John 17:18. The mission of the church is to reveal the character of Christ, even as the mission of Christ was to reveal the character of the Father to the world. That the church might fully represent Him they must possess His Spirit, and be fitted for their work. Therefore He promised: “But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. That promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 2. But the promise embraced more than a mere infilling of divine life; it meant fitting for service, bestowal upon each member of Christ’s body just such power, that divine endowment, which would make it a useful necessary member. For thus has the apostle likened the church to “the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.” 1 Cor. 12:27. In five different scriptures is the bestowal of these gifts mentioned, twice in parable, three times literally. The following present them in parable:— “And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” Luke 19:11–13. “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.” Matt. 25:14, 15. All Bible readers are familiar with the remainder of the parables, how the master when he returned called the servants to account for the way they had used the stewardship entrusted. Here are three literal statements of the bestowal of the gifts:— “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Eph. 4:7–13. “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” 1 Cor. 12:28. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” Rom. 12:3–8. Read these scriptures carefully. Note how explicit and clear they are. All declare the bestowal of gifts; their preciousness, by whom bestowed, when bestowed, the purpose of bestowal, for how long bestowed, etc., etc. What were given?—“Pounds,” “talents,” “gifts,” “spiritual gifts” (1 Cor. 12:1). By what is their preciousness indicated?—In the first parable by the “pound,” the highest denomination current in the monetary system of Rome; in the second parable, by the “talent,” the highest denomination of money in the Hebrew system; in the plain statements of Paul, by the “gifts” which could only be bestowed by the Spirit of the Most High. Who bestowed the gifts?—The nobleman, the man, Christ, who went into a far country—heaven; He who died and ascended up on high, and who will come again. When did He bestow these gifts?—When He went into the “far country,” “when He ascended up on high.” What was His purpose in the bestowal?—To occupy till He came, to trade upon His goods, “to profit withal,” to perfect the saints, to do the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ. Upon whom were these gifts bestowed?—Upon “His own servants,” to “every man” of faith, “unto every one of us.” For how long are the gifts bestowed?—“Till I come,” “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” What are these talents, these gifts?—“First apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,” “evangelists,” “pastors,” “gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues,” “the word of wisdom,” “the word of knowledge,” “faith,” the “working of miracles,” “discerning of spirits,” “ministering,” and every other gift which can be used to build up the church, reveal Christ, and advance His cause. By whose apportionment are they bestowed?—“He,” called and He “delivered,” “according as God hath dealt to each man,” “all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will.” In the light of these plain positive answers, how clear it is that the gifts which God “set . . . in the church” (1 Cor. 12:28) were designed to continue to the end. A part of them are generally recognized. It is generally conceded that evangelists, pastors, teachers, governments, helps, wisdom, knowledge, special exercises of faith, are all still in the church, and most of them are necessary. And this is true. But the same wise Master who “set” evangelists and pastors in the church also “set” apostles and prophets there. Sometimes the former have been in the church unrecognized. Judson was truly an apostle to Burmah. Other great pioneer missionaries, such as Carey and Patterson and Taylor, were apostles in the respective fields to which God sent them and which they opened to the light of life. There have been instances of divine foretelling through men all down the centuries since the days of the apostolic church, but they have been few and far between. All of them have become more or less dimmed, or exist only in feeble imitations. All of God’s gifts are vital with spiritual power, but the feeble imitations of men are almost utterly devoid of spiritual uplift. How many evangelists and pastors are such only in name! How many times is church government perverted to a tyranny, or relaxed to a chaos! The great difficulty is that these things are looked upon as mere forms of men rather than as precious gifts of God to be used for the upbuilding of His church. The gift of prophecy among God’s people has invariably been manifest in connection with the keeping of His law, or the recognition of the authority of all His commandments. Truly the wise man spoke: “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Prov. 29:18. The inference is that the law-keeper is blessed in the instruction of visions of God. So also the promise of the Spirit in its fulness by Christ was based upon the condition of obedience to His commandments. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments; and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:15, 16. Whenever Israel departed from God and set up standards of her own, the prophets were dumb, there “was no open vision.” Even in such conditions God sent His messengers to lead them back to His word, but only as there was obedience to the message, did the gift of prophecy abide. There is another reason why God withdraws the gift of prophecy when His law is not regarded, namely, There is then no standard by which to test the mission and message of the prophet. There must be the divine standard and test, and God’s standard of correct morality is His Ten Words, or the Decalogue. Lame, indeed, is the church deprived of the wonderful powers given her by her adorable Head. Lame, indeed, will she ever be unless these gifts are restored, and the body once more manifests in its functions the wisdom and power of its Head, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” [The church will be considered in apostasy and restoration in our next.]