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Hello, I'm Kevin DeYoung, pastor at Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina. And you are listening to Doctrine Matters. Each week on Doctrine Matters, we explore the rich doctrine of the Christian faith. We'll pull from the church's long history, complex debates, and over the course of the year, the hope is that we'll begin to frame out what is a clear, accessible, systematic theology. We'll be looking at different Christian doctrines and their relationship to each other. And the hope, Lord willing, is we will grasp more and more the riches and the beauty of God's word. Thanks for listening. Let's turn to this week's Doctrine Matters. Today on Doctrine Matters, as we continue to talk about the doctrine of the church, want to think about the work of the Holy Spirit? Now, this goes into the soteriology section in some ways, and there we talked about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Pneumatology. But in particular, I want to think about the work of the Spirit to empower and to gift the people in the church. So we're talking about spiritual gifts. And let's talk about this in a few different ways. The key text when it comes to understanding spiritual gifts is 1 Corinthians, Corinthians 12, 4, 11. And let me just highlight a few of the big ideas. Well, we see in this passage that the word gift as it is in English, if you knew the Greek, you could see it comes from the word charisma. Now we have that word in English, meaning someone who's got a lot of personal pizzazz or influence or people are drawn to a magnetic personality. But that's that's not what charisma means here. Here it simply means gift. And we see throughout the New Testament that and we see it in 1 Corinthians 12 that this gift is these gifts are given by God, and we think of them as spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit. But there's a trinitarian structure. Paul says there are a variety of gifts from the same Spirit, varieties of service from the same Lord, and varieties of activities from the same God. Gift, therefore, is virtually synonymous with service and activity. We see that trinitarian structure, Spirit, Lord, God, gift, service, activity. So this is really helpful, not only the trinitarian structure, but to understand the charisma. The gift is no more and no less than what the triune God does in the church. That's what we're talking about. So to demystify it a little bit, spiritual gifts are what the triune God does through his people in the church. A second observation, we can make is that Paul's lists are not meant to be exhaustive. So we have one here. In 1 Corinthians 12 he mentions nine gifts, though technically only healing is labeled as a gift. But he also talks about the utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, faith healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, various kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. The other major lists of gifts, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, repeat some of these same gifts and they add others to the list. We could also refer to 1 Corinthians 7:7, 1 Peter 4:11. They mentioned some other things labeled as gifts as well. Now, these lists are not precise. That's the point. They're not meant to be complete. Paul isn't saying, now put this all together and then the one from first Peter, put this all together and you'll have a complete list. And then you can take a spiritual inventory test and you can find out which of these gifts you have and which ones you don'. It's more ad hoc than that. It's Paul's way of saying, wherever God's grace is evident. And here are some examples. There we see spiritual gifts at work. The purpose here's the third observation we'll make. The purpose of the gifts is to build up the church. This is really important. The manifestation of the Spirit is for the common good. 1st Corinthians 12:7. God's gifts in the church are not for the exaltation of the one exercising those gifts. Sometimes we say that or I've heard that as a pastor. But Pastor, I want to offer this special music number in order that I may really use my gifts. You're not letting me use my gifts? No, God does not distribute gifts so the individual Christian can feel fulfilled in ministry or experience a sense of closeness to God. Oh, we are given gifts. It's important to use them. It's not an irrelevant consideration. But that is not the trump card. That's God doesn't give us gifts so that we can go tell people. Here, let me find my personal satisfaction. No, that may be a side effect. When people are using their gifts and they're good at something, they usually do feel better about them and they enjoy it. But we must always keep in mind that gifts are for building up the church. Now with that as a little bit of introduction, let's get to the more controversial part. What about the so called miraculous gifts? Does God still empower Christians with the ability to heal diseases or the ability to speak in other languages? Or maybe an ecstatic prayer language Does God still speak words of revelation through living prophets? Does he guide us by dreams, impressions, Spirit led nudges? Now how do we think about these so called miraculous gifts? And good Christians don't see this exactly the same way. On the one side are what are often called continuationists, I.e. those who claim that all of the New Testament gifts are available. They continue. And here's some of the arguments they would make. They would say one without a clear word to the contrary, we should assume the gifts are still in effect and we should earnestly desire them. 1 Corinthians 14:1. A second argument would be to look at 1 Corinthians 13. It talks about the perfect that is coming, and that refers to the return of Christ. So we haven't had the return of Christ, Therefore don't all of the gifts operate? None of them pass away until the perfect comes. The perfect hasn't come, therefore don't all the gifts still operate? And another explanation argument would say these revelatory gifts, though still present, do not have the same authority as Scripture. So yes, there still may be prophets, God may still reveal things, but of course they need to be tested against the Bible. And then a final consideration, continuationists might say, well, whether the gifts are identical with the first century or not, we should welcome the Spirit's work in our midst. Isn't that the default? Shouldn't that be our inclination to welcome the Spirit's work? So on the other hand are those who are sometimes called cessationists. That is, they claim that some of the gifts have ceased. And namely this usually means tongues, prophecy, maybe healing, not that God can't heal people, but as a gift that comes through someone's hand that I know when I lay my hand on you and say a prayer, you will be healed. Usually they're talking about tongues in prophecy. And there are arguments on the cessationist side. They would contend, one, the miraculous gifts were only needed as authenticating signs for the initial establishing of the gospel, like Hebrews 2 refers to. A second argument says, well, yes, 1 Corinthians 13 does talk about the perfect coming and prophecy, tongues and knowledge ceasing when the perfect comes. But this leaves open whether they might cease before that time, not trying to give us an exact stopwatch about the continuation or not of the gifts. A third argument says these revelatory gifts like tongues and prophecy, if they were to continue, they would undermine the sufficiency of Scripture. And tongues and prophecy seem to be virtually equivalent in Paul's mind that an interpreted tongue is the same came as a prophecy. And if God really is revealing himself to us, doesn't this undermine Ephesians 2:20 that the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church? And then four, the miraculous gifts we see today are not the same as the gifts exercised in the New Testament. And surely that's an important difference. Now these two positions, and I'm not going to just pretend to sit on the fence, I would call myself a cessationist, but I want to explain this. These differences, they're real differences and I'll explain why I come down on the side of cessationism. But let's not ignore what both sides best representatives in any ways on both sides really agree on. One, every proclamation must be tested against Scripture. So the best arguments on both sides are going to say we don't want anything to be equivalent to Scripture, always needs to be tested to Scripture, we're not adding to the canon. Two, we should be open to the Spirit working in mysterious ways, whether that's called prophecy, a word of knowledge, a spirit prompted illumination, an application of Scripture. So these two realities, okay, everything needs to be tested according to Scripture, nothing added to Scripture. And we're open that non discursive means of communication that that simply means sometimes we have a sense of what we ought to do or a nudge and we can't quite explain it. It's not a linear thought progression, it doesn't map out on an Excel spreadsheet. And God can surprise us sometimes. Now, for my part, several additional considerations lead me to embrace the cessationist side. For starters, in Acts 19:6 Tongues and prophecy are linked to just as they are throughout 1 Corinthians 12:14. So I'm not convinced that the tongues in Corinthians were different from the ones in Acts, and the ones in Acts were known foreign languages. And yet almost all the tongue speaking today is in the form of ecstatic utterances without any fixed interpretive content. This is important in my mind. What I mean is I've not met anyone who thinks that if you have someone who supposedly has the gift of tongues, give a tongued pronouncement and then two people who say they have the gift of interpretation and one hears it and the other one who has their ears muffled, they hear it later. Do we think that they're going to give the same interpretation? I don't think many people are confident that they would. Meaning there's not an objective content linguistic content behind these tongues utterances. And in fact, Gordon Fee, an excellent scholar on the continuationist side has acknowledged that contemporary tongue speaking is only analogous to the kind in the Pauline churches, which is a big admission in my mind. And then most important, as I alluded to a few moments ago, is Ephesians 2:20 includes prophecy as a part of that once for all non repeatable foundation of the Church. Just as there are no more capital A apostles, so there are no new revelatory utterances and no more prophets. Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And the prophets coming second there makes most scholars think he's talking about New Testament prophets, not just Isaiah and Jeremiah. But this prophecy has ceased. That was a part of God's way. There aren't apostles, capital A apostles, who are eyewitnesses to the resurrection. And in the same way there aren't prophets. And if tongues interpreted are equivalent to prophecies, then we would be right to see that prophecy and tongues have both ceased. And while we certainly still believe in the miraculous. And could God give to someone an immediate facility with a foreign language on a mission field? He could. Does God answer prayers for healing? Oh, praise the Lord. All the time he does. But in terms of a gift, like we see a handkerchief falls, a shadow passes by, let alone Jesus laying his hands on people, that gift of healing is no longer operative in the church. It was part of the corroboration of the apostolic deposit and the work in the incarnation, resurrection and ascension. One final consideration then, as we're just trying to deal with some controversies, what about the baptism of the Spirit? That phrase, baptism in with by the Spirit, the Greek is enumity occurs seven times in the New Testament. Four instances are in the Gospels where John the Baptist prophesies that the Lord Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. The fifth occurrence is in Acts 1, where Jesus alludes to John's prediction. The sixth instance is in Acts 11:16, where Peter recalls Jesus words. So six of the seven refer to baptism in with by the Spirit, that is the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. So that six of the seven is looking. They're about Pentecost looking forward or looking back. The seventh passage, First Corinthians 12:13, is unique because it does not refer directly to Pentecost. The Corinthians and Paul weren't there to be baptized with the Spirit in Jerusalem. Some Christians therefore, with this verse which says, for in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greek slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Some people have understood this to be a second blessing experience, one that comes subsequent to conversion and only some Christians enjoy. So you're a Christian, but are you? Have you been baptized in the Spirit? Have you received your Spirit baptism? Have you received this second blessing? But that explanation will not work. For starters, the verse emphasizes that all were baptized, for in one Spirit we were all baptized and we were all made to drink of the Spirit. Whatever Paul is talking about there, it's clear that he assumes everyone at Corinth has experienced it. Furthermore, given the larger context, Paul could not possibly be talking about a unique second blessing that only some Christians experience, because the point of that passage is to talk about the diversity of gifts in the body. But having talked about that diversity, he now turns to focus on the unity that the Corinthians share. They may have different gifts, but Paul says, look, look what you all have different gifts, but you all have been baptized in one Spirit. Baptism in the Spirit is something every Christian has experienced because every Christian has been born again and joined to Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is, in other words, nothing less than our union with Christ. The same Spirit, first poured out at Pentecost, now dwells in every believer, joining us to Christ, immersing us in all of his benefits. Jesus baptizes us in the Spirit that we might know his power be awash in his blessing. Here's how John Stott puts it. Spirit baptism is a distinctive blessing only realized in the New Covenant, an initial blessing given at conversion and a universal blessing poured out on every genuine believer. Spirit baptism is not something that should divide Christians. It is a blessing true of every Christian, a blessing that should unite us in thanksgiving to God for His work in our lives and the powerful outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. Thanks for listening to Doctrine Matters with me. Kevin DeYoung Our hope and prayer is that this has been helpful to you as you look at your scripture and try to understand the best of our theological tradition as Christians. Please consider subscribing to Doctrine Matters through Spotify, Apple Music or however you listen to your podcast. And if you'd like to learn more about this week's doctrine, you can ask your pastor for good resources or check out my year long mini Systematic Theology book Daily Doctrine, which is available in print or audio at Crossroads. Until next week. Thanks for being with us.