On Spiritual Gifts

Ted:       Dougal, you know you can praise God with sleep.

Dougal: Can you, Ted?

Ted:       Yes, it’s a way of thanking him for a tiring day.

Dougal: There’s lots of ways to praise God, isn’t there, Ted? Like that time you told me to praise him by just leaving the room.

Ted:       That was a good one, yes.

Father Ted S1 E1, ‘Good Luck, Father Ted’ (1995)

 

We’ll get to the point about chairs in a bit. Bear with ... bear with ...

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one, through the Spirit, is given utterance of wisdom, but to another, utterance of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to yet another faith, in the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healings, in the same Spirit; to another, actions of power; to another, prophecy; to another, the distinguishing of spirits; to yet another, kinds of languages; to another, interpretation of languages.¹

That’s Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. His big point here, as you can tell, is that every spiritual gift is given by the same Spirit, so that all recipients of those gifts are equally part of one body. He continues:

You guys are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. And these God set up in the assembly: first apostles; second prophets; third teachers; then powers; then gifts of healings, of helping, of administration; kinds of languages. Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all are powers, are they? Not all have gifts of healings, do they? Not all speak in languages, do they? Not all interpret, do they? But strive after the greater gifts.

Sorry about the unwieldiness of my repetitive English rendering there, but I wanted to get across that the way the Greek is set up here anticipates a negative answer to every question. No, not all members of the body have any one gift – but we’re to strive after the greater gifts, or ‘higher gifts’ as they’re called in most English translations.

So what does Paul mean by that? Which gifts are the higher ones?

Well, I think there’s a pretty straightforward answer to that question to be found in what Paul’s just said. He talks of first apostles, second prophets, third teachers – and then powers, healing, helping, administration, languages. That then (and it’s repeated) draws a distinction. And if we keep reading, that distinction emerges all the clearer.

Paul spends Chapter Thirteen making the case that none of the gifts he’s just mentioned – not languages, not prophecy, not knowledge, not faith, nothing – are worth anything if whoever’s exercising them doesn’t have love. The spiritual gifts are temporary; they’ll only last as long as the present age, until what’s perfect is established and we see God face to face and know him fully. Love, on the other hand, never ends. And that’s all a big digression to temper the Corinthians’ enthusiasm for exercising spiritual gifts: the pursuit of love comes first.

Chapter Fourteen then begins thus: Pursue love, and strive after the spiritual things – so that’s a summary of Chapter Thirteen, followed by a little recap of the very end of Chapter Twelve to show that he’s coming back to the point – but mostly that you should prophesy. I’ve written about what I think prophecy actually is before,² so I won’t go over that in detail here, but the TL:DR is that there are two things the Bible calls prophecy: it’s both generally being in communication with God and speaking on his behalf, and also specifically speaking to God’s people to urge them to turn aside from evil and walk in his ways. In Chapter Twelve, Paul was using the term in its specific meaning: you can tell, because he distinguished it from apostleship and teaching, both of which qualify as kinds of prophecy themselves if we’re using the term in its more general sense. Now, in Chapter Fourteen, I think we’re at least drifting in the direction of that more general sense.

For the one speaking in a language does not speak to people but to God, for nobody understands him, but he speaks mysteries by the Spirit. But the one prophesying speaks edification and encouragement and comfort to people. The one speaking in a language edifies himself; but the one prophesying edifies the assembly. I want you all to speak in languages, but mostly that you should prophesy. The one prophesying is greater than the one speaking in languages, except unless he interpret, so that the assembly might receive edification. Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in languages, what will I profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation or in knowledge or in prophecy or in teaching?

Earlier, Paul spoke of there being ‘greater’ gifts; now, he declares that the one who prophesies is ‘greater’ than the one who speaks in mysterious languages that human beings can’t understand unless the Spirit grants them the gift of interpretation. He is drawing the same distinction again. The greater gifts are greater because they involve actually explaining truth about God to people. Mysterious languages are fun and cool, but they’re not going to edify or encourage or comfort anyone unless the message is interpreted – at which point it becomes a variety of prophecy in the general sense. I think we can extend this principle to other ‘lower’ gifts too. Think about it: a miraculous healing, or extraordinary help, or smooth administration – all excellent things, but the demonstration of none of them is going to establish anyone in faith in Jesus by itself. Like the gift of languages, these need someone there to ‘interpret’ – to explain that there is an almighty God who achieves these things among the people he has chosen for the glory of his Son who died to save them.

So also you guys, since you are eager for spirits, seek that you might excel in edification of the assembly. Well, that’s just ‘strive after the higher gifts’ in a slightly more unpacked form, isn’t it? A higher gift is one capable of edifying people – building them up in faith. And those are the gifts we’re to strive after.

The fullest list of ‘higher’ gifts is found in the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the assembly of believers at Ephesus, which I talk about rather a lot:

And he himself gave the apostles, and the prophets, and the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers, for the training of the saints unto the work of service, unto edification of the body of Christ.³

So these gifts are all given for the explicit purpose of edifying the body of Christ. And what do you know, they fit really well with the standard for ‘higher’ gifts described in 1 Corinthians: all of them involve speaking gospel truths to people in a manner that can be understood. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers – those same three are specified in 1 Corinthians before the ‘then’ that distinguishes them from the ‘lower’ gifts.⁴

The one remaining list of spiritual gifts in scripture is found the twelfth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans:

Having different gifts according to the grace given us – if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; if service, in service; if one who teaches, in teaching; if one who encourages, in encouragement; the one who gives, in earnest generosity; the one who directs, in diligence; the one who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.⁵

We get some different ones mentioned here, and the higher and lower are all mixed up, but then, Paul’s not making a point about higher and lower gifts in Romans 12; he’s more making a point about not getting uppity over other members of the body, which requires exercising every gift proportionally so as to show as much love and honour to them as you can. So I think we can consider him to be picking out examples fairly randomly here in order to make that point. Similarly, in that earlier section of 1 Corinthians 12, before he gets on to the question of ‘higher’ gifts, he again seems to be picking out examples of gifts fairly randomly, this time in order to make the point that all of them, higher and lower both, are given by the same Spirit.

So I think we can take that longest list in Ephesians 4 as a comprehensive roster of the higher gifts. I should clarify that I see no reason to postulate the existence of additional spiritual gifts not mentioned in scripture. Principally, it just doesn’t strike me as a very good idea to go beyond what God has said in any matter; but on top of that, if you were to really run with the thing, you could make out virtually anything to be a spiritual gift. Like, good news, brother, you have the spiritual gift of setting out the chairs! or of making sure the microphones work! or of baking delicious cakes for the post-service refreshments! et cetera. I’m not saying those kinds of things are worthless – on the contrary, big thanks to those who commit time and energy to them; I do enjoy sitting on a well-aligned chair eating delicious cake and being able to hear the speaker over the sound of appreciative chomping – but let’s be realistic, they’re not manifestations of the supernatural, are they? And in actual fact, grace has been given to each one of us to exercise gifts that do manifest the supernatural. It says so just before that bit of Ephesians I quoted above: To each one of us was given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Plus, the way it’s phrased in the Greek is super emphatic: Paul could have just said ‘to each of us’, but instead he opts for ‘to each one of us’, and puts the word for ‘one’ at the beginning of the sentence, just to highlight it even further. Grace has been given to each one of us to exercise such gifts as edify the body of Christ – higher gifts, prophecy in its general sense.

There are the lower gifts too, and it’s definitely a really good thing to be exercising whichever of them the Spirit grants you to exercise, but Paul’s exhortation is that we strive mostly after the higher gifts. Literally, he urges us to be zealous for them, which I think it’s fair to say is Bible-speak for kind of obsessed. Be obsessed first with love; then, spilling over from that, be obsessed next with edifying the body in the only way that really works. The lower gifts are meaningless without the higher gifts; and all gifts are meaningless – a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal – without love.

Strive after the higher gifts. Don’t be content to be told that your spiritual gift is setting out the chairs or something; like, do that too if you want, but God has so much more for you than that. Don’t be content with merely listening to what’s preached from the front – what’s preached by that select rota of specified individuals who are permitted to exercise their higher gifts, and so to shoulder near enough the whole burden for edification of the assembly. Don’t be content to hear them tell you that there are no more apostles and prophets since that generation who knew Jesus when he was walking about on earth died out, and that God gives the remaining gifts that involve speaking gospel truths for the edification of the body only to a select some of its members. On the contrary, to each one of us was given grace: strive after the higher gifts; strive after the spiritual things, mostly that you should prophesy; seek to excel in edification of the assembly. Or are we to suppose that we can blithely ignore the commands of the New Testament?

I’ve talked about this stuff before, I know. If you know me well, you’re probably sick to the back teeth of me complaining about it. I’m kind of sick to the back teeth of me complaining about it. But for as long as the situation continues as it is, my dear and beloved brothers and sisters are being silenced: their gifts are not recognised, and the body is not edified, and God is not glorified, and I am so intensely bothered by that that I simply can’t bring myself to shut up.

So I hope I’ve provided a compelling framework for what Paul means when he talks about the ‘higher’ gifts, and what it looks like to heed his exhortation to strive after them. God has greater things for you to do than setting out the chairs. Don’t be content to be silenced.⁶

Footnotes

¹ Whole chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+12&version=ESVUK. Leave the tab open, because we’ll be in 1 Corinthians a lot this post.

² Specifically, in ‘Non-Prophet Organisations’, under August 2018 in my blog archive. Blimey, was that really a year ago?

³ Again, whole chapter: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph+4&version=ESVUK. Further thoughts of mine on this passage are in ‘Mere Muggles’ (March 2018) and ‘One Foot in the World 1: Growing’ (January 2019).

⁴ If you’re wondering why Paul didn’t mention evangelists and shepherds too back in 1 Corinthians, I have two possible explanations. He may not have mentioned evangelists because his focus in 1 Corinthians is what the body does when it’s assembled, whereas evangelism is a gift orientated towards those outside the assembly; it builds up the body by causing new members to be added to it. And he may not have mentioned shepherds because they in some sense come under the same category as teachers: note the lack of a definite article before ‘teachers’ in Ephesians 4. Or alternatively, he may just have got bored after those first three and not really seen the point in mentioning any more explicitly. Like in the letter to the Hebrews where he gets bored of listing venerable heroes of the faith as soon as he hits the period of the judges.

⁵ Last Bible passage link for today: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rom+12&version=ESVUK.

⁶ And before I go, a quick thank you to Springfield! Springfield! for helping me out with my opening quotation: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/episode_scripts.php?tv-show=father-ted.