The Gifts of the Spirit
by Evangelist John R. Rice
(Chapter 2 from Dr. Rice's excellent book, Speaking
in Tongues)
I spoke last Sunday on Acts, chapter 2, which
is the one great definitive case in the New Testament about speaking in
tongues. There we learn that according to the Bible many people heard
Christian people speak in their own language in which they were born. They
said, 'Aren't these all Galileans? How is it we hear them speak in our
tongues the wonderful works of God?' That is, God gave, for a particular
reason, Christians at Pentecost power to speak in the language of people
who were there -- Jews out of every nation under Heaven. They heard the
Gospel and the wonderful plan of salvation because it was given to some to
understand and to speak in these languages.
The word "tongues" in the Bible simply means
languages. Now, in I Corinthians, chapter 12, I call your attention to the
first eleven verses. I want to talk to you about the gifts of the Spirit.
The blessed Holy Spirit gives certain gifts to Christian people for
Christian work and service.
"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren,
I would not have you ignorant .... Now there are diversities of gifts, but
the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations; but the
same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God
which worketh all in all. But 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 " -- I
Corinthians 12:1, 4-11.
Yes God
May Give the Gifts of the Spirit Today, as He Chooses, Just as in Bible
Times
Note that the blessed Holy Spirit gives
certain gifts to people for the Lord's service. Do I believe we can have
the power of the Holy Spirit just as in Bible times? I certainly do.
Nobody had all these gifts in Bible times and, of course, nobody can have
all these gifts now in modern times. But, as far as I know, the New
Testament churches were set up the same way, and the Bible teaching was
the same, and the practices were the same as we ought to have now.
Yes, I believe in the fullness of the Spirit,
an enduement of power from on High. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit
as God gives them.
Now, here are some lessons, as you see in
verses 8 through 10. What are these gifts of the Spirit in verses 8
through 10? To one, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge;
to another, faith; to another, gifts of healing; to another, the working
of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to
another, divers kinds of tongues; and to another, interpretation of
tongues -- all these nine different gifts of the Spirit are mentioned
here. Now, what are these gifts for and what about them?
Well, first of all, as far as I know these
gifts are still available today. I do not mean available in the sense that
you can ask for whatever you want about these gifts. The Bible never does
teach that one can decide for himself what gifts to have. The Spirit
divides "to every man severally as he will."
It is true that the Scripture says, "The
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." I
take it that that must mean that some of these works of the Holy Spirit
can be the property of every Christian but that one cannot necessarily
decide for himself, except that all should seek to prophesy.
We are expressly taught to seek to prophesy.
That means speak for God, witness for God, in the power of the Holy
Spirit. In Acts 1:8 we are told, "But ye shall receive power, after that
the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me .... "
That part we are taught to seek. We are supposed to "covet earnestly the
best gifts," but we are never taught to covet the gift of tongues.
Now, are these gifts for today? They probably
are. You would have to remember that they are not very often manifested
even in the New Testament times. There is only one clear-cut case of
talking in tongues in the Bible and that is in Acts, chapter 2. There are
two other cases where languages are mentioned, but the Bible doesn't say a
gift of languages, and maybe it was and maybe it was not. No one has
authority to say it was the miraculous gift of tongues since the Bible
doesn't say so. In the tenth chapter of Acts, in Cornelius' case, and in
the nineteenth chapter of Acts, that of a number of Christians at Ephesus,
they talked in foreign languages. So let us just say that it was not very
often that people had some of these gifts in Bible times.
No One Ever Had All the Gifts of
the Spirit
In his notes, Dr. Scofield says that every
"believer is given a spiritual enablement and capacity for specific
service. No believer is destitute of such gift (vs. 7,11,27), but in their
distribution the Spirit acts in free sovereignty (v. 11). There is no room
for self-choosing, and Christian service is simply the ministry of such
gift as the individual may have received."
I am saying that the gifts are diverse and as
God Himself decides to give. And the only gift of these named that we are
particularly urged to seek for is the gift of prophecy, that is, to be
filled with the Spirit to witness for Jesus and so to win souls. That we
are told to seek for. The others we are told are divided severally as God
wants them given.
Take the gift of healing. Do you suppose that
many people these days have gifts of healing? Do you think many people
ought to have the gift of healing? It was never so in Bible times. It is
true that Peter and John at the Temple, recorded in the third chapter of
Acts, had power to heal a man here, and other people brought the sick so
the shadow of Peter might fall upon them and they were healed, but that
was not an everyday business with all the Christians. It was not a usual
matter then; it is not a usual matter now
I have had the joy of praying for some people
who were wonderfully healed in answer to prayer. And in one case, the
healing was clearly so miraculous. A dear woman who had had T.B. for years
was about to die. God healed her, and in two weeks she was doing her own
housework. I have kept in touch with her for thirty years and she has had
no touch of that recurring disease. I know that was a miracle of God, but
I don't claim that ought to be an everyday business. If I am in need of
God's particular help, some miraculous healing, I would ask Him for it. He
has wonderfully healed others.
There was the case of my daughter Grace with
diphtheria; and my father who was about to die was wonderfully raised up
in answer to prayer. But that is not an ordinary thing. And if I could
name only six or eight such cases in a fifty years ministry, you need not
expect that everybody would have such a gift ALL the time. I don't know of
anybody who does. Now and then there is somebody whom God particularly
uses and gives the gift of healing. It is not often. It is not for
everybody.
Do you think everybody ought to go out and
work miracles? Well, if they did work miracles, would they work them every
day? It was not so in Bible times. John the Baptist never did work a
miracle. And we don't know that many of the other good men did. We don't
know that Timothy ever did, nor Titus, nor even Barnabas. We know that
Paul did in a few cases, and even in Paul's case, it was not often.
So I am saying that in Bible times these
gifts were not seen every day and they are rarely seen today.
Dr. Scofield says on this matter (and I think
I differ with him), of speaking in tongues, "Tongues and the sign gifts
are to cease, and meantime must be used with restraint, and only if an
interpreter be present."
He in my opinion has the wrong idea about it.
It is true that they are not very often now and they were not very often
in Bible times. In truth, why should they be? Why should I, when everybody
around me understands English, pray to talk in some language that couldn't
do anybody any good? That wouldn't be like at Pentecost. As Dr. Bob Jones,
Sr., used to say, "If it hasn't got any sense to it, God isn't in it." If
there is not a good reason for it, God wouldn't do it. The one main thing
God has in mind is to save poor sinners and get the Gospel to them. If
that would glorify God, well and good, but in many cases, talking to a man
in a language he can understand does a lot more good than saying something
he cannot understand.
Why Not Seek God's Power as He Commands,
Instead of Tongues He Never Commands?
These are gifts, but they are not for all the
time and not for everybody. They are as God Himself divides "to every man
severally as he will," the Scripture expressly says. Now, why can't you be
content with that?
Note now this matter of tongues as a gift
here. Not everybody has it. In this twelfth chapter we read in verses 29
to 31: "Are all apostles?" The obvious answer is no. "Are all prophets?"
No. "Are all teachers?" No. "Are all workers of miracles?" What would you
say? And "have all the gifts of healing?" What would you say? "Do all
speak with tongues? do all interpret?" Evidently, then, it is never
intended that everybody should talk in tongues. There is no command to do
it. Nobody is taught to seek to talk in tongues, and it is never given as
a sign of anything in the Bible. Men make up a reason for it but God
didn't.
Now good Christian people want the best God
has. I'll tell you what you ought to do. Get a burden to win souls and
have the enduement of the power of God on you to win souls. That is the
fullness of blessing. That is the richest of all the Christian
experiences. To have the power of God to witness for Him and win souls is
the thing we are plainly told to covet. "Covet earnestly the best gifts."
Then the Lord says that Christian love is
more important. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but
the greatest of these is charity" or Christian love and Christian
affection. The Scripture says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and
of angels -- if I talk in all kinds of languages and don't have love, it
doesn't profit anything." So, tongues is never given a place of importance
in the Bible. We are never taught to seek to talk in tongues. It is never
said in the Bible that it is to be a sign of the power of God or a sign of
anything else especially. In the case at Pentecost, for example, they
talked to people in their own language in which they were born. In 1st
Corinthians 14 it is a sign to unbelievers. Sure, they heard the Gospel
and they were amazed and so they were saved. But as far as it being a sign
that a Christian is filled with the Spirit -- nothing like that is said in
the Bible.
Every Christian Can Have
Soul-Winning Power
Let us see further. Christians then should
seek to witness, and that is the main thing. It is much better than
talking in tongues. In this fourteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians, we are
to "follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye
may prophesy." Desire rather to speak in the power of the Holy Spirit,
"For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto
God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh
mysteries."
Notice that we are not now talking about the
heresy of tongues at Corinth. They did have a heresy. They talked in
natural languages, different languages, but they made a show, using them
in public. I will go into that further on. But the Lord is saying to never
mind about tongues but seek especially that you may witness and prophesy
and that you may speak in the power of God and that you speak so you can
be heard. That is the best thing.
Now, these gifts rarely occur, so why don't
you seek to have the power of God to witness for Jesus and win souls? God
knows I need wisdom. With forty-five or fifty workers here in the office,
with broadcasts on many stations, with THE SWORD OF THE LORD and its
150,000 weekly circulation, and with many, many engagements -- how I need
wisdom and knowledge from God! And I have a right to ask it. "If any of
you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." I need God's Holy Spirit to help me,
but I don't need something so as to put on a show and claim I have
something everybody doesn't have, that I am better than you are, or that I
have the Holy Ghost and I prove it with a jabber in some tongue nobody can
understand and which does nobody any good. That is not God's plan.
Let us seek then to be filled with the
Spirit, to have the power of God and do His blessed, blessed work. That is
what He wants us to do. Now, remember, there are certain commands. One of
them is to seek and "covet earnestly the best gifts." You can pray for
wisdom and you can pray for the power of the Holy Spirit, and that would
be what you ought to do. God will help you, then, to have the power He
wants you to have.
Dear friends, remember this: We have a plain command in Ephesians 5:18,
"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit." That is a command of God -- "Be filled with the Spirit." We need
the fullness of God upon us. The Lord said in Luke 24, "Tarry ... until ye
be endued with power from on high." In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus put it in
these words: "But 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 Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
That is the plan of God. Let us seek that.
