Spiritual Gifts-Given by Christ by John Norton Loughborough

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 42.

Spiritual Gifts—Given by Christ

By John Norton Loughborough

By J. N. Loughborough

THE three and one-half years' sojourn of Christ with the disciples, during which they saw a manifestation of His tender love, so endeared Him to them that they were filled with grief at His mention of leaving them. But He said to them, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." John 16:7. "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come." Verse 13. "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26.

Again, "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." John 14:16, 17.

This is the power of which Christ spoke in giving to His disciples the great Gospel commission, "Wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. . . . Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:4-8.

This "promise of the Father" respecting the Gospel work is found in the prophecy of Joel, "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit." Joel 2:28, 29.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke of that outpouring of the Spirit on this wise,

"This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." Acts 2:32, 33.

It is thru the working of the Spirit that Christ is to be with His Gospel ministers to "the end of the world." Matt. 28:20. This is evident from the further testimony of Peter, when he said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:38, 39. From this we learn that the work of the Spirit is coextensive with the Gospel work, even to "the end of the world."

We read of Christ, "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Eph. 4:8. The gift of the Holy Spirit was the first of His gifts. It is called the Spirit "of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 1:7. By it we are baptized into the body of Christ. 1 Cor. 12:13. It bears witness with us that we are children of God. Rom. 8:16. And it helps our infirmities (verse 26). It accomplishes these things thru its manifestations, dividing to every man severally as He will. 1 Cor. 12:11.

There is not only the gift of the Holy Spirit spoken of, but also the gifts of that Spirit. These, to the beholder, are a demonstration of the presence of that Holy Spirit in the believer. Of this working the apostle says, "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." 1 Cor. 12:7-11.

This delineation of the working of the Spirit is in exact harmony with the apostle's statement respecting the gifts which Christ placed in the church after His ascension, "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 [building up] 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. 4:11-13.

Returning to apostolic instruction respecting the work of the Holy Spirit, we read, "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. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way." 1 Cor. 12:28-31.

This instruction is followed by a whole chapter on charity,—perfect love,—which will abide when the perfect state shall come in, when there will no longer be need for the gifts, when the Lord says, "Before they call I will answer." The apostle does not say that there is a more excellent way than to have the gifts of the Spirit of God manifested in the church, but that there is a more excellent way than for one to simply earnestly desire the gifts while they fail in having a full manifestation of the love of God in the heart, which love is the first-fruit of the Holy Spirit.

That he did not teach that love would supersede the manifestation of the gifts in the church is seen in the first words of chapter fourteen, "Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." 1 Cor. 14:1.

The apostle compares the church of Christ, in which the gifts are all manifest, with a human body where all the members move in harmony: "For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye can not say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. . . . God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another." 1 Cor. 12:14-25.

When the Lord ascended up on high He formed His church to be a visible representation of Himself on earth. To accomplish this He sent the Holy Spirit as His representative. The Spirit thru the manifestation of those gifts has its work of building up and perfecting His people. As the need for such work still exists, it is the blessed privilege of the church to ask and receive that Spirit, that thru its working we may be members of that "glorious church" which Christ shall present to Himself at His appearing, "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Eph. 5:27.