I've been participating, to some degree, in a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit, and thought it important to that discussion to do a fairly full survey of what the New Testament has to say about that and related topics. Having done that, I thought it would be good to post what I wrote here as well in a series of posts to make reading it all a little easier. I'll start by setting out, first, some terms of reference: how I will use Scripture; what I will endeavor to show from Scripture; things I am not saying.
Taking the last item first, I will neither claim all instances of purported speaking in tongues or prophecy are genuine, nor proper usage thereof. I do not and cannot know every speaker nor be there to witness everything every speaker does. So making such a claim would be silly, defying common sense. Making the reverse claim – that no instances of purported speaking in tongues or prophecy are genuine and proper usage – would be equally silly for the same reasons, IF there is a Scriptural basis for such activities.
That ”IF” leads me to what I will be endeavoring to show – and not show – from Scripture. Much of what will follow will be quotes from Scripture – not brief, out-of-context, snippets. First, I will show that speaking in tongues and prophecy happened in the church, and these were: part of “normal” for the church; useful in the life of the church; gifts from God. I will not, however, claim that these things were a central focus for the church. That would be silly. I view speaking in tongues, prophecy, and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit as tools. A contractor's focus is not on the coolness of his/her tools – saw, hammer, drill, trowel, air compressor – but on what (s)he makes with those tools. In the same way, the church's focus was and should be on the needs served by the gifts of the Spirit in the greater context of the purpose of the church, not on the gifts themselves.
Finally – and foundationally – I will use Scripture as authoritative. Scripture is not exhaustively complete: it does not instruct Peter to be an electronics technician and Steven to be a pastor; Scripture usually speaks to and at a general level. Where Scripture so speaks, it sets a standard. More practically, if I have a problem with something Scripture says (or seems to), the problem is me. I may misunderstand what is said, or the context or people addressed. But if I do understand a Scripture properly and ignore it because it seems weird to me, I am dismissing instruction from God. Not a good idea. In using Scripture, I will focus on the clear and plain meaning of a text; if I express interpretive opinion that goes beyond the meaning of a text, I will indicate that I am doing so.
As I move on to quoting and pointing out the meaning and significance of Scripture passages having to do with these topics, I want to note that I will not be citing the second half of Mark chapter 16. Its genuineness is disputed: I don't want to dive into the Textus Receptus vs. Westcott & Hort ditch; as will be seen, scriptures pertaining to this topic are plentiful and clear. Finally, unless noted otherwise, the translation I will be using is the New American Standard Version. I've used it for many years, but, more importantly, it's fairly literal, not idiosyncratic, and doesn't mix commentary into its text. No translation can be perfect, but the NASV is among the best modern English translations.
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