CON(=ORDiA THEOLOGICAL N1.0mrILY

The Christian Mi.sjion, a Look into the Future R. Plbt<.CE BEAVrR

First Communion and Confirmation BERTHOLD VON SCHENK

The Lutheran World Federation: From Institution to Movement ANDRE APPEL

Charisma in the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers ARTHUR CARL PIEl'KORN

Ministry Without Fear KRISTER STENDAHL

Homiletics

Volume XLII June 1971 Number 6 Charisma In the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers Arthur Carl Piepkorn The author is graduate professor of syste­ matic theology at Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis.

THIS ARTICLE IS AN INQUIRY INTO THE MEANING OF CHARISMA IN THE SACRED Scriptures and the early church, with special reference to the relation of charisma to the "things having to do with the Spirit" (pneum atika) of 1 Cor. 12-14, to the Christian community, to "prophecy," and to the sacred ministry. s the term charisma, together with The writer's purpose in this essay is to A the cognate "charism" and "charis­ investigate the term charisma in the Sa­ matic," is conventionally used, it means cred Scriptures and in the apostolic fathers a particular personal magnetism or spir­ with a view to determining the meaning itual quality that enables the possessor to of the term in the primitive church during exert influence over broad masses of peo­ the period in which an institutional church ple and elicit their support. Or it may is widely alleged to have replaced an origi­ describe the particular virtue that inheres nally charismatic fellowship. in or is attributed to a function, an office, The investigation is handicapped at the or a position which imparts to the holder outset by the paucity of material. W ith exceptional leadership capacity or a llilique the variegated multiformity that the data claim on respect.1 from the Biblical and subapostolic periods In a religious context charisma has ac­ allow us to posit for the early church, it is quired the sense of the supernatural graces precarious in the extreme to assume that that Christians need to be able to perform any generalized pattern in which we try the tasks that devolve on them in promot­ to organize the bits of our information ing the spiritual welfare of their fellow corresponds to the historic reality in either Christians. One contemporary theologian a single community for a long period of defines charisma as "an operation of the time or in many communities at a given Spirit of God on the believer that has as point in time.3 Nor can we extensively its goal salvation in Christ, that is not in­ and with certainty conclude from the later stitutionally mediated through the sacra­ ments, and that human beings are not able und Kirche, 2d ed., 2 (Freiburg: Verlag Her­ der, 1958), 1025. to compel." 2 3 See Hans Freiherr von Campenhausen, Kirchliches Amt und geistliche VoUmacht in 1 The two-volume collection of essays by den ersten drei Jahrhunderten (Tiibingen: Fritz Taeger, Charisma: Studien zur Geschichte ]. C. B. Mohr [Paul SiebeckJ, 1953), pp.59 des antiken Herrscherkultes (Stuttgart: W . to 60. (English translation under the tide Kohlhammer Verlag, 1959-60), provides an Ecclesiastical Authority and Spiritual Power in excellent example of this use of the word. the Church of the First Three Centuries by ]. A. 2 ]. Gewiess, "Charisma I," in Josef Hofer Baker [Stanford: Stanford University Press, alld Karl Rahner, eds., Lexikon fUr Theologie 1969], pp. 55-56.) 369 370 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

content of technical terms what their Except in Rom. 1: 11, charisma occurs in original meaning may have been. both the singular and the plural without A further problem inheres in the stub­ adjectival modifiers. born historical fact that since the days of In talking about the "fall" of Adam in Tertullian W estern theological language Rom. 5: 15-16, Paul uses charisma twice to has used charisma and its vernacular de­ describe God's gracious gift in the most rivatives in a sense that the Biblical and comprehensive sense. The charisma of early post-Biblical usage of the vocable God outweighed the fall, the apostle says does not support. That is, it uses charisma in v.15. The results of the gift also out­ as the generic term for the extraordinary weigh the result of one man's lapse; the and at times miraculous phenomena that single sin of Adam brought judgment with St. Paul concludes under the term pneu­ a verdict of condemnation, according to matika, "things having to do with the v. 16, but after many falls there now comes Spirit," in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. the charisma with its verdict of acquittal.6 Thereby an element of confusion that is In Rom. 6:23 the charisma, the "free difficult to disentangle is introduced into gift," of God, that is, eternal life in Christ the question. Jesus our Lord, stands in opposition to the The vocable charisma is not common wages that sin pays, that is, death. before the New Testament. Occurrences In 1 Cor. 1: 6-7 the apostle sees a dem­ that clearly antedate the New Testament onstration of the strength of the witness are difficult to find. Philo the Jew (30? to Christ among the Corinthians in this, B. c.- A. D. 40?) refers twice in a single that while the members of the Christian passage to charisma theau, "God's community there are waiting for our Lord charisma." 4 The uncertainly dated Sibyl­ Jesus Christ to be revealed, the community line Oracles (2,54) turn the words around - scandalous as its behavior was -lacks and speak of theau charisma. Charisma no charisma of the Spirit. does not correspond to any term in the In 1 Cor. 7: 7 Paul sees the ability to Old Testament. In the Septuagint version it occurs only as a variant reading in Sirach a variant in Codex Sinaiticus}; Sirach 12 :3; 2 Mace. 1:35; 3:31,33; 4:32; 7 :22; 3 Mace. 7:33 (for charis, "grace") and 38:30 (for 5:11; 7:6; 4 Mace. 5:8; 11:12). The verb pro­ chrisma, "anointing") . vides no additional illumination of the meaning of the noun. In the strongly "spiritual" Jo­ 1. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT hannine corpus charisma and charizomai are absent, and even charis occurs only in the pro­ In the New Tesetament itself charisma log to the fourth gospel and in the salutation turns up only within the Pauline circle, formula of 2 John 3. In 1 John 2 :20, 27 we except for the one occurrence in 1 Peter have chrisma where we might expect charisma. Other functional synonyms are exousia 4:10.5 ("power, authoriry") , dynamis ("might"), and the "fruit of the Spirit" in Gal. 5 :22. 4 Allegories of the Sacred Laws, 3,78. 6 The idea of acquittal is in a sense implicit 5 While the cognate verb charizomai is at in charisma. The cognate verb charizomai is least as old as Homer, its use in the New Testa­ used to describe the freeing of an offender in ment is restricted to the Pauline corpus and Acts 3:14. See also Luke 7:42-43; 2 Cor. 2:7, Luke-Acts. (In the Septuagint version chari­ 10; 12:13; Eph.4:32; Col. 2:13; 3:13-in all zoma;, occurs in Esther 8: 9; Canticle 1: 4 [as these passages the verb means to "forgive." CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 371 lead a life of chaste continence as a cha­ when Paul laid hands on him. God's gift risma that he has from God, but he sees was not a spirit of timidity, but the spirit this as merely one gift among other gifts of power, love, and self-control. The chClr and as a gift that not everyone has re­ risma is not something that the recipient ceived. possesses absolutely and manipulates. It He calls deliverance from peril in an­ must constantly be renewed in the disci­ swer to intercessory prayer a charisma; pline of prayer and devotion? for that reason he enjoins his readers in In these passages charisma is the func­ 2 Cor. 1: 11: "You must all join in the tion and effect of the charis that has ap­ prayers for us; the more people there are peared in Christ. The recipient is under asking help for us, the more thanks will the Spirit's direction, and the Spirit of the be given for the charisma." exalted Christ supports and sustains his Rom. 1: 11 provides the single case of activity. Indeed, the charis of Christ is the charisma with an adjectival modifier, in very subject of Timothy's activity. Thus this case pneumatikon ("spiritual"). Paul the admonition to Timothy to "fan into affirms his longing to see the Christian flame" the charisma that he possesses and community at Rome for the mutual not to despise it is on a par with the in­ strengthening of their faith by sharing a junction of Rom. 12:6-7 to the recipients charisma pneumatikon with them, al­ of the charismata to use them according though he does not specify the nature of to the measure of their task.s the charisma. 1 Peter 4: 10 speaks of the individual The Pastorals relate charisma with the charisma that every Christian has received. Every Christian is a "charismatic" in this presbyteral office. According to 1 Tim. 4: 14, Timothy has in him a continuing sense. As good stewards who are respon­ charisma which was given to him when sible for the right employment of the the prophets spoke and when the college variegated charis of God, they are to put of presbyters laid hands on him (or­ themselves, each with his own charisma, translating it differently - when he was at the service of others. Concretely, if a ordained to the pres byteral office); he is given Christian is a speaker, he is to speak exhorted not to let it lie unused. In the in words which seem to come from God; context the gift has to do with Timothy's if he is a helper, he is to help as though work of leading and teaching the Christian 7 The laying on of hands in ordination is community, with the example he is to set obviously the New Covenant counterpart of the the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, Old Covenant anointing to a royal and priestly in faith, and in purity, and with his direc­ office. The sensed equivalence of the two has led in parts of the Christian community to the tion of the divine worship of the commu­ not necessarily happy substitution of anointing nity in terms of his public reading of the for the imposition of hands in confirmation and to the supplementing of the imposition of Sacred Scriptures, preaching, and instruc­ hands in ordination with anointings. tion. 8 Jiirgen Roloff, Apostolat - Verkundigung A similar exhortation is repeated in - Kirche: Ursprung, Inhalt und Funktion des 2 Tim. 1: 6-7: Timothy is to fan into a kirchlichen Apostelarates nach Paulus, Lukas und den Pasto1'albriefen (Giitersloh: Giiterslo­ flame the charisma that God gave him her Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1965), p.260. 372 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

every action is being done at God's orders. Vv. 9, 28, and 30 contain the only refer­ The objective is that in everything God ences in the chapter to a specific charisma, may receive the glory through Jesus the "charismata of healings," with both Christ. words in the plural. The plural charismata, found only in The closing 31st verse is the transition Romans and 1 Corinthians, does not ap­ to the panegyric on love in the next chap­ pear with an adjectival modifier. ter. It urges the Corinthian Christians to In Rom. 11 : 29 Paul declares with refer­ be ambitious for the higher charismata, ence to God's gifts to the Jewish commu­ without explicitly specifying what they nity of the Old Covenant that God never are.9 Chapter 14, which resumes the inter­ takes back His charismata or revokes His rupted discussion of the pneumatika, does choice. not use the term charismata. Like 1 Peter 4: 10, Rom. 12: 6 underlines the intimate relation of charisma to charis 2. CHARISMA IN THE and the gramitous character of both. It ApOSTOLIC FATHERS reminds Christians that their charismata The occurrence of charisma in the early differ according to the charis that is given Christian literamre that was not included to each of them. If the gift is prophecy, in the canon is again relatively infrequent. the recipient is to use it "according to the The Corinthian Christian communiry measure (analogian) of the faith" (a de­ that received the First Letter of St. Clement batable phrase that has evoked a great (96?) of Rome seems to have been one deal of exegetical and systematic reflec­ in which there was an end-of-the-century tion); if his gift is administration, he is revolt by enthusiasts against the estab­ to use it for administration; if it is teach­ lished leadership. The letter recalls the ing, he is to use it for teaching; the use of charisma (ta) in Rom. 12 :6 and preachers are to deliver sermons, the alms­ 1 Corinthians 12,10 as well as in 1 Peter givers are to give alms freely, the officials 4:10, when it asserts in 38:1: "So let our are to be diligent, and those who do works whole body be saved in Christ Jesus, and of mercy are to do them cheerfully. let each be subject to his neighbor as his 1 Cor. 12 : 1 introduces the subject of the particular charisma dictates." chapter as spirimal gifts, which the verse calls pneumatika ("things of the Spirit," In the documents that survive from the or "things spirimal") , not charismata! pen of St. Ignatius (35?-107?) charisma Charismata are mentioned for the first time occurs four times. in vv.4 and 5. These verses (and v.6) In Eph.17:2 he asks : "Why do we per­ affirm that there is a variety of charismata, ish in our folly, by being ignorant of the but always the same Spirit, there are all 9 Some interpreters see the context implying sorts of service to be done, but always to that the "higher charismata" include such the same Lord, and there are all sorts of "pneumatic" gifts as "prophecy." different ways of working in different peo­ 10 It is not without some importance that ple, but always the same God who is both these chapters are precisely the ones in which the metaphor of the church as a body working in all of them. first occurs. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 373

charisma 11 which the Lord has truly sent goods; it may be privileges accorded to us?" From the context it would appear Israel after the flesh; it may be deliverance that the cha'risma that St. Ignatius has in from mortal peril; it may be a kind of mind is the gift of incorruption (aphthar­ spiritual treasure; it may be God's undoing sfa), that is, salvation generally. of the "fall" of Adam; il may be the ever­ In his letter to St. Polycarp 2: 2 St. Igna­ lasting life of the age to come; it may tius encourages his fellow prelate: "As for be an individual native or acquired com­ the invisible realities, pray that they may petence like speaking, helping, teaching, be revealed to you. In this way nothing administering, or preaching; it may be the will be lacking and you will abound in qualifications needed for the responsible every charisma." The echo of 1 Cor. 1: 7 discharge of the presbyter's office, imparted that one hears here reappears in the two through (or at least in connection with) occurrences of charisma in the address of the laying on of hands; it may be the St. Ignatius' letter to the Smyrneans, which gift of "healing"; it may be the exceptional he calls a church "that has mercifully been ability to live chastely outside of marriage; blessed with every charisma and is lacking it may conceivably be any of the pneuma­ in no charisma." In all three of these in­ tika of which charismata is a kind of syno­ stances charisma is linked to the officers nym. Intrinsically, the term thus does not of the communityP imply anything that is abnormal or irregu­ lar. It is to be recognized as a gift of God The Didache depicts an isolated second­ which He bestows - as He bestows His century Chris tian community, most prob­ charis - in accordance with His own ably in Syria, which found itself com­ sovereign decision and for which H e is to pelled to devise means of distinguishing receive glory in Jesus Christ.13 the authentic itinerating apostles and prophets from those who claimed the titles 3. C HARISMA IN THE EARLY for their own gain and benefit. Charisma PATRISTIC ERA occurs only once, in 5: 1 : "The Father In the centuries that follow, the ecclesi­ wishes that a share of His own charismata astical 14 use of charisma gradually modi- be given to all." In all of these occurrences in the New 13 Otto Perels stresses the eschatological ele­ Testament and in the apostolic fathers ments, broadly conceived, in the charismata, which he calls an "expression of the eschatologi­ the gratuitous gift aspect of charisma is cal Christ-event" ("Charisma im Neuen Testa­ the most prominent and consistent feature. ment," in Fuldaer Hefte, No. 15 [Berlin: Lu­ therisches Verlagshaus, 1964], pp. 42-45) . See W hatever the charisma may be in an indi­ the parallel observations and arguments in Wil­ vidual and concrete case, it is a gift that liam C. Robinson, Junior, "The Church in the God - or by appropriation the Holy Spirit W orld," Interpretation, 19 (1965), 412-17, and the earlier survey by Gerhard Friedrich, - has given. The charisma may be earthly "Geist und Amt," in Wort und Dienst: Jahr­ buch de,. Theologischen Schule Bethel, new 11 Variants of charisma in the manuscript series, 3 (Bethel-bei-Bielefeld: Verlagshandlung texts of this verse are charis and chrisma. der Anstalt Bethel, 1952), 61-85. 12 Like charis in Smyrneans 9 :2; Romans, 14 For the few secular contexts in which introduction; and Magnesians 8:2. charisma occurs, see Walter Bauer, A G,.eek- 374 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT nes its meaning. The translation of the wrote the Gospel, the letters, and the Old Testament that goes under the name Apocalypse - possessed.1s of Theodotion has charisma in Ps. 30 The Letter of the Churches of Lyons (31) :22, where the Septuagint has eleos and Vienne to the Churches of Asia ("mercy") , to reproduce the Hebrew and Phrygia (177/178) declares that the khesedh ("steadfast [covenant} love") .15 Phrygian physician Alexander was "not St. Justin the Martyr (100?-165?) speaks without a share of the apostolic cha­ of the charismata that Christian men and risma." 19 women have from the Holy Spirit, in con­ nection with his argument that the gifts St. Irenaeus (130?-200?) uses cha­ which the Jewish community had formerly risma often; for instance, of the gifts given enjoyed had now been transferred to the both to the presbyters "who along with the Christian community.16 succession of oversight (cum episcopatus successione) have received the certain cha­ Apropos the early second century proph­ etess Ammia of Philadelphia and her con­ risma of truth according to the Father's temporary, the prophet Quadratus, the good pleasure," 20 and also of "many broth­ ers in the church who have prophetic apologist Miltiades (fl.. 161-169?) ob­ serves against the Montanists - who had charismata and talk through the Spirit had no one with the prophetic charisma in all kinds of languages, and bring to among them since the death of Maximilla light usefully the secrets of human be­ 14 years before - that "the apostle had ings, and telling the mysteries of God in detail." 21 deemed. it necessary that the prophetic charisma exist in th-: whole churc.!]. until The Montanists of this period insisted the final Parousia." 17 that the Catholics had to demonstrate the Fear of enthusiasm among the members charismata with which the former claimed of an obscure late second-century sect to be endowed if the Catholics wanted to called the Anoetoi (or Alogoi) was re­ make themselves credible.22 portedly so great that "they did not recog­ St. Clement of Alexandria (l50? to nize the things of the Spirit . . . and did 215?) is one of the first Christian writers not acknowledge the charismata in the to describe Baptism as a charisma (as well holy church" that the holy prophets and apostles - among them the St. John who 18 St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Refutation 0/ All Heresies, II, 1, Heresy 51 , 35 . English Lexicon of the New Testament and 19 Quoted in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Other Early Christian Literature, 4th ed., trans. 5,1. and adapted by William F. Arndt and F. Wil­ 20 Against the Heretics, IV, 26, 2. The pas­ bur Gingrich (Chicago: University of Chicago sage has been extensively discussed. See Nor­ Press, 1957), p.887. bert Brox, "Charisma veritatis certum," in Zeit­ 15 Fridericus Field, Origenis Hexaplorum schri/t fiir Kirchengeschichte, 75 (1964), 327 quae supermnt ... fragmenta, 2 (Hildesheim: to 331. Georg Olms, 1964), 134. 21 Against the Heretics, V, 6 (see also II, 16 Dialog with Trypho the Jew, 88. 32). 17 Quoted in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 22 St. Epiphanius, Refutation of All Here­ V, 17,4. sies, II, 1, Heresy 48, 1. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 375 as an illumination, perfecting, and wash­ the fear of the Lord, and piety) . Of con­ ing), that is, as the "charisma by which siderable interest is the later designation the punishments for sms are taken of Christ as the "uncorrupt Fountain away."23 (pege apseudes) of charismata" in stanza 4 W ith Tertuilian (160?-220?) cha­ of Ode 8 of Meneia 3, 3. risma, as we have seen, enters Latin theo­ 4. CHARISMATA AND PNEUMATlKA logical literature as a transliterated loan­ word with the general meaning of "gift" The emergence of the Pentecostal move­ and with the special meaning of the ex­ ment on a worldwide scale, with its in­ traordinary spiritual gifts described in sistence that the miraculous and ecstatic 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. phenomena of the first Pentecost and of There is an interesting use of charisma the primitive church - especially divine in an invocation over water in the early healing, "prophecy," and "speaking in third-century apocryphal Acts of Thomas other tongues as the Holy Spirit gives ut­ 52 (49): "0 Rest sent to us from the terance" 25 - must be and are being re- Rest .. . come and dwell in these waters, 25 There are apparently two phenomena in­ so that the charisma of the Holy Spirit volved, which are no always clearly differenti­ may perfectly be perfected in them." ated in the Pentecostal movement. The "speak­ ing in other languages" which Acts describes as In his venturesome reflections on the having taken place at Pentecost seems clearly to Holy Spirit in connection with his eluci­ have been intelligible speech in a language un­ dation on John 1:2 ("all things were made known to the speaker. The "speaking in a lan­ guage" of 1 Corinthians 14 seems just as clearly through [the Logos}") Origen (ISS? to to have been an ecstatic utterance needing ex­ 254?) states: "I think of the Holy Spirit planation by a person who possessed the gift as providing the 'matter' (hylen) - if I of "interpretation" (hermeneia) . The issue is outside the scope of this survey. See Frederick may say so - of the charismata that are Dale Brunner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit: from God to those who are designated as The Pentecostal Experience and the New Testa­ holy ones on his account and on account ment Witness ( Grand Rapids: William B. Eerd­ mans, 1970); James D. G. D unn, Baptism in of their participation in him, the said the Holy Spirit: A Reexamination of the New 'matter' coming into existence from God, Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism T oday (Naperville, administered by Christ, and subsisting III Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1970); Prudencio Dam­ the H oly Spirit." 24 boriena, Tongues as of Fire: Pentecostalism in In the early fathers the charismata of Contemporary Christianity (Washington: Corpus Books, 1969); Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan, the Holy Spirit are often the seven gifts Catholic Pentecostals (New York: Paulist Press, listed in the Septuagint of Is. 11: 2 (wis­ 1969); Frank Staff, E. Glenn Hinson, and dom, insight, counsel, power, knowledge, Wayne E. Oates, Glossolalia: Tongue Speaking in Biblical, Historical, and Psychological Per­ spective (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1967) ; 23 T he Teacher, 1, 6. We find the same Morton T. Kelsey, Tongue Speaking: An Experi­ thought in St. Gregory the Theologian (Nazi­ ment in Spiritual Experience (Garden City, anzen) (329-89), who calls baptism "a cha­ N. Y. : Doubleday and Co., 1964); John L. risma, as given even to debtors." (Oration 40, Sherrill, They SPeak with Other Tongues (New 4) York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1964); H. J. 24 Commentary on the Gospel of St. John, Stolee, Speaking in Tongues (Minneapolis. Augs­ II, 6. burg Publishing House, 1963). On the Pente- 376 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT vived in the Christian community of the In Qumran "God has allowed the 20th century, requires an examination of Teacher of Righteousness to know all the the extent to which charismata and pneu­ secrets of the words of his servants, the mati,ea in 1 Corinthians 12 (and 14) are prophets." 26 The author of the Book of identicaL Hymns (Hodayoth) traces to tile indwell­ Although the Old Testament has no ing Holy Spirit of God such strength that vocable that corresponds to charisma, the He cannot be moved, the knowledge of role of the breath (or spirit) of Yahweh God's wondrous secret, and the experience in the eruption of extraordinary "spiritual" of the springing up of a well of knowledge phenomena and endowments is amply doc­ within Himself.27 umented. Moses is so richly endowed that Philo sees ecstasy as a gift of the God takes some of his spiritual gifts to Spirit.28 inspire the 70 elders to prophesy (Num. Our Lord during His lifetime gave to 11: 25). The breath of Yahweh inspires His 12 disciples and to the Seventy-two Joshua, Samson, Othniel, Jephtha, and authority to expel unclean spirits, to heal David. It is to rest upon the virtuous king every disease and every infirmity, to of Isaiah's prophecy (11: 2 ) . Saul and his cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, and agents fa ll into prophetic-rnantic ecstasy to tread down serpen s, scorpions, and all (1 Sam. 10:9-13; 16:13) . Ezekiel experi­ the power of the ancient adversary.29 The ences levitation and rapture under its in­ long ending of the second gospel embodies fluel1Ce (8: 3; 11: 1). Visions, revelations, a second-century tradition that our Lord dreams, prophecies, miraculous healings, had promised to His followers that they and resuscitations are also part of the would perform signs as accompaniments record. Acts sees in the experience of of their proclamation of the Gospel­ Pentecost a fulfillment of Joel's oracle that casting out demons, speaking in new lan­ the time would come when God would guages, picking up serpents without being pour out His Spirit on all flesh to the ac­ harmed, drinking deadly poisons with im­ companiment of prophecy, visions, and punity, and healing the sick by the laying dreams. on of hands. (Mark 16:17-18) The intertestamental literature tends in After the outpouring of the Spirit on general to localize prophecy and its at­ Pentecost, the apostles (including St. Paul) tendant ecstatic phenomena either in the and even the Seven speak in tongues, past or in the future, except in the case expel unclean spirits, perform signs and of the apocalyptic material. 26 Helmer Ringgren, The Faith of Qumran: Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls, trans. Emilie costal movement see Walter ]. Hollenweger, T. Sander (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), Enthusiastisches Christentum: Die Pfingstbewe­ p. 117; the reference is to the Habakkuk Com­ gung in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Wup­ mentary (1 QpHab), 11,1. pertal: Theologischer Verlag Rolf Brockhaus, 1969); John Thomas Nichol, Pentecostalism 27 1 QH 7,6-7; 12,11-12; 13,19. (New York: Harper & Row, 1966); and Nils 28 The Migration of Abraham 7. Bloch-Hoell, The Pentecostal Movement (New 29 Matt. 10:1; Mark3:15; 6:7; Luke 9:1-2; York: Harper & Row, 1966); and Nils Bloch­ 10:9,17,19). The healings are the only com­ Hoell, The Pentecostal Movement (New York: petences that clearly correspond to what St. Paul Humanities Press, n. d. [after 1960}). explicidy calls charismata. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 377 great miracles, handle serpents without claimed to possess he intends to voice a harm, heal the paralyzed, the ill, and the measure of apostolic skepticism about the lame (sometimes through contact only authenticity of at least some of their pre­ with the apostle's shadow or items of tended gifts. clothing), and unmask the untruthful. In the absence of information about In 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 the extraor­ other Christian communities, it is precari­ dinary phenomena are called pneumatika. ous to generalize on the basis of the one A degree of synonymity with charismata at Corinth. At the same time we need to must be conceded, although it tells us less remember that without the disorders that about the meaning of charisma than about took place in connection with the celebra­ the gratuitous nature of the pneumatika. tion of the Eucharist at Corinth, we should Interesting is the quasi-Trinitarian (or have no explicit evidence that any of the at least triadic) relation of kinds of ser­ Pauline communities celebrated the Sac­ vice (diakoniai) to Christ, of modes of rament of the Altar. Without the exag­ operation (energemata) to the Father, gerations that attended the practice of and of charismata to the Holy Spirit "speaking in a language" in the same com­ (vv.4-6).30 munity, we should be dependent on the The implications of pneumatika may be inferences that we could draw from Acts illuminated by Paul's use of pneumatikos (and the second-century obiter dictum in ( "Spirit-endowed person") - a synonym Mark 16: 17), which, as we have seen, of teleios ("mature person") - to describe really describes a different phenomenon certain individuals in the external fellow­ from the glossolalia of Corinth. ship of the community in contrast to oth­ Paul's attitude toward what he explic­ ers who are psychikos ("natural, having itly calls charismata is thoroughly posi­ only a psyche - that is, mere life - and tive. His attitude toward the phenomena not pneuma") and sarkikos ("carnal") .31 that he calls pneumatika is basically ap­ It is not improbable that when Paul uses proving. He had had his own share of pneumatiko1Z to describe the extraordinary pneumatic experiences; he was no novice gifts (especially "prophecy" and "speaking even as far as glossolalia was concerned in a language") that pseudo-pneumatikoi (1 Cor. 14: 18) . A gradation has been noted in the pneumatika of 1 Corinthians 30 On the pneumatika see the discussion in Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testa· 12 and 14 - intellectual gifts, miraculous ment, trans. Kendrick Grobel, 1 (New York: gifts, gifts of spiritual instruction, the gift Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951), 154-55; and of recognizing spirits, and finally the ec­ Ernst Kasemann, "Amt und Gemeinde im Neuen Testament," in Exegetische Vers#che und static gifts. Paul's value criteria for ranking Besinnungen, 1 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & these phenomena is their usefulness to the Ruprecht, 1960), trans. W. ]. Montague under Christian community, and it is on this the title "Ministry and Community in the New Testament," in Essays on New Testament scale that glossolalia takes its place at the Themes (Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, bottom of the list. As a pneumatikon it 1964). See also Hans Conzelmann, Der erste has its merit; in contradistinction to a sar­ Brief an die Korinther (Gottingen: Vanden­ hoeck und Ruprecht, 1969), pp. 244-247. kikon, it provides access to things that are 31 Bultmann, 1, 158-59. inaccessible to the unaided human mind 378 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

(no us). In the ligllt of the history of the The firSt would the completely non- Christian church the more extraordinary technical use of ch", psma in passages like pneU1natika appear to have been relatively Rom. 1:11; 5:15; 6:23; 11:29; and 2Cor. transient, but this is an aspect that-quite 1: 11 to describe any of God's benevolent nai.uI ill ihe pI: - Paul Hever opetacioIlO in His world and in His holy comes to discuss. But beyond even the community. more eminent charismata are the univer­ A second use of both terms would de­ sally accessible three virtues that last­ scribe gifts that the Holy Spirit may im­ faith, hope, and love, with love as the part to any member of the holy commu­ greatest. It is arguable if faith, hope, and nity but does not necessarily impart to all love are themselves the higher charismata Christians. These would include in Rom. of 1 Cor. 12:28, or if in Paul's exposition 12: 6-8 "teaching," "prophecy," and "ex­ they stand in contrast to the charismata. hortation," none of which is wholly insti­ The only ika in 1 Corinthians tutionali - - ,:w Testament and 12 thai ?licitIy called charismata are subapostoli.c periods, as well as "service," the c/J, of healings. These are not "contributing," --d "the cheerful doing of part ~______00 0: ___ . Christian, but acts of .;nere ~ r. 12: 8-11 they are cl ~ . es to some and would: .. . ': utterance of wisdom," nat tv C~:~~:~~. .-!ealing in th~ icJ:t'.:rs of the New Testament CU(llCS ll1l~ those of assistance; (4) thOSe of "he community; (5) those of extraordinary powers; result of calling on God (2 Cor. 12:8; and (6) those of prayer ("Geist und Amt," in James 5 : 14-16) . The existence of illness Wort und Dienst: Jahrbuch der Theologischen is not intrinsically evidence of a lack either Schule Bethel, new series, 3 [Bethel-bei -Biele· feld: Verlagshandlung der Anstalt Bethel, of subjective faith or of divine concern. 1952}, 83-84). W. F. Dicharry groups the It "is and remains an evil that contradicts items in the eight lists that he finds in the New TestamPfYf" i1"lrA 1"hrpp l,"'';n-:!~: (1) Those ha"liog God's (. __ ". _ J:C.~H. . U ~uy case forgive­ to do with teaching; (2) those having to do ness of sins is seen as a precondition of with service; and (3) those involving extraordi­ divine healing.32 nary and miraculous competences ("Charisma: In the Bible," in New Cc!thalic Encyclopedia We can distinguish nuances of usage in [New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1967), the employment or charisnza(ta) and pneu­ 3, 460). Henri Leclercq lists a different triad matika.33 on the ba.sis of his four New Testament lists: ( 1 ) Those which concern the instruction of the faithful; (2) those which refer to the alle­ 32 Albrecht Oepke, sub iaamai, etc, T{hea­ viation of bodily needs; and (3) those having lagisches} W{orterbuch} z{um} N{euen} T{es­ to do with governing the community ("Cha­ tament}, ed. Gerhard Kittel, 3 (Stuttgart: W. rismes," in Fernand Cabrol and Henri Leclercq, Kohlhammer, 1938, 1957), 204, 12·13; 214, eds., Dictiannaire d'archealagie chretienne ee de 29-40; Eng. trans. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley in litur gie, 3 [Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ane, T[heolagical] D{ictianary} {of} {the} N{ew} 1948}, 582-83). Hans Kling, who draws on T{estament}, 3 (Grand Rapids: William B. Ernst Kasemann, "Amt und Gemeinde," in Ex­ Eerdmans, 1965), 204, 214. egetische Versuche ulzd Besinnungen, 1 (Giit­ 33 Categorizations of the pneumatika are tingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1960), 114 almost as numerous as discussions of the sub· (Eng. trans., pp. 68-70), comes out substan­ ject. Gerhard Friedrich distinguishes six tially where Leclercq did ("The Charismatic groups: (1) the apostolate, which includes all Structure of the Church," Ca1lcilium, 4 [1965}, the others; (2) those of proclamation; (3) 53). CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 379

"the utterance of knowledge," "faith," 34 nk differences - been baptized into one "the charismata of hearings," "the work­ body and they have all been made to drink ings of miracles," "the ability to distin­ of one Spirit (1 COT, 12: 12). This is true guish between spirits," "prophecy," various whether or not special manifestations ac­ "kinds of languages," and "the interpreta­ companied their baptism (or its subse­ tion of languages." At the end of the quent completion in the laying on of chapter this nuance is illustrated - in ad­ hands) .37 This gift of the Spirit takes the dition to the repetition of "miracles," "cha­ baptized person out of this present ag:: rismata of healings," and various "kinds of and seals him for the age to come. It is languages" - by the "assistances." no more - and no less - the gift of the A third use of both terms would include Spirit when the Christian is endowed with the passages which speak of gifts that have special power equipping him for a special an institutional importance, like the "one mission and enabling him to accomplish who rules (proista11Je1zos) with zeal" in extraordinary reats.as In any case both Rom. 12: 8,35 or the "administrations" of charismata and are to be 1 Cor. 12:28. "j )phecy," "teaching," and striven for.39 The pnettmatika - con­ "exhortation" lId here to the ceived of as additior~ 1. to the extent that they 'ere institutionai:-ed and Spirit and ttle savmg grace that are the possession 0 :he dis­ linked with .... "es in the ..local communIty. ;1,[; factors, ordered tow$,:d~h.~ A fourth use of both terms would refer sanctification of the community, that dif­ to those who exercised these functions ferentiate the members of the body of (or occupied offices), certainly the "apos­ Christ {10m each other.40 In some cases tles" and "prophets" of 1 Cor. 12:28 and the gift is a supervening and transient one of Eph. 4: 11, along with the "evangelists" that surprises the recipient and the be­ and the "rulL~" oa ___ ..: " ____ ~ ____ ," where holder - as'- ~.h- ~~ ~~ ~t .1-.~ ~"·pourjng the verb "give" but not the noun charisma of the Holy Spirit on the Jerusalem com- occurs. 37 Acts reports the outpouring of th.e Spirit 5. ARE THE CHARISMATA (AND before, at, and after baptism. PNEUMATlKA) FOR ALL CHRISTIANS? 38 "In the contradiction that on the one hand the Spirit is the origin of a new attitude We can admit to a certain ambiguity and capacity in the Christian, and on the other about the gifts of the Spirit. The Holy hand that his attitude qualifies him for ever-new endowment with the Spirit and that he must Spirit is in a sense the possession of all strive after spiritual gifts, an expression is pro­ Christians. They have all-without eth- vided for the insight that the might of the Spirit is not a magically (mechanically) work­ ing power, but is one that equally demands and 34 Not saving faith, but particularly potent, presupposes a transformation of the will." wonder-working faith; see, for instance, 1 Cor. (Bultmann, 1, 163) 13 : 2 (although not all exegetes would concur). 35 See the early parallel in 1 Thess. 5: 12, 39 Note the identical formulation in 1 Cor. "those who work hard among you and rule 12:31 and 14:l. over you." 40 A. Lemonnyer and Lucien Cerfaux, The­ 36 Poimenes, as the translation with poimen ologie du nouveau testament (Paris: Bloud et of the Hebrew ro'eh, "'shepherd" or "'ruler." Gay, 1963), pp. 138-39. 380 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT munity at Pentecost and on Cornelius in byters. Spontaneous prophecy becomes Joppa. In other cases the individual's na­ less and less frequent. Speaking in lan­ tive biochemical makeup and the sum total guages disappears in the Catholic Church. of his personal psychic and physiological Ecstasy and miracles become the hallmark history may have conditioned him to be of the Christian of heroic virtue or of the an appropriate candidate for a special gift mystic. Periodically a pneumatic revival of the Spirit. (This may be the case even agitates a portion of the church, as in the with such esoteric gifts as the ability to case of Montanism in the second century, foretell future events and to speak in va­ Messalianislll in the fifth to the seventh rious "kinds of languages," as well as with centuries, some of the medieval schismat­ less remarkable and more quotidian abili­ ics, the early Friends of the 17th century, ties like administration and teaching.) In the Camisards of the 18th, some 19th cen­ a world where the Spirit is from the pri­ tury movements in Russia, in Lapland mordial beginning Creator Spiritus, the ( Laestadianism ), and on the American gift is no less a gift merely because the frontier, and Pentecostalism in the 20th Spirit has been readying the recipient for century; the list could easily be extended.42 his role and cultivating his aptitude even The middle ages see the development before baptism joined him to the holy of a rudimentary theology of charismata community.41 as gratiae gratis datae ("gratuitously given In the subsequent history of the church graces") in Thomas Aquinas.43 Classic there is a gradual decline in the manifesta­ Lutheran and Reformed theologies accord tion of the pneumatika. Some of the the subject little, often no, place. "pneumatic" functions are absorbed by the officers of the community. Thus the ex­ 6. CHARISMATA AND "PROPHECY" pulsion of demons becomes the task of the It was Adolf von Harnack who argued exorcist. As early as the Letter of James as early as 1884 that there were two classes the charismata of hearings are replaced by of officeholders in the primitive Christian the anointing and intercession of the pres- communities, ( 1) the incumbents of a supracongregational "charismatic" teaching 41 "On the whole, the early Christians do ministry - apostles, prophets, and teachers, not seem to have lived in a constant atmosphere of miracles. Even though Paul recalls that his all "charismatic" persons because their vo­ apostolate has been confirmed by signs and cation was based on a communication of wonders ... it is probable that they were not the Spirit - and (2) locally elected ad­ of daily occurrence. When he was preaching in the synagogues, when he was teaching in the ministrators - presbyter-bishops and dea­ school of Tyrannus, he fell back on ordinary cons. W hile the thesis still exerts some methods, while relying on the inner help of the Holy Spirit. In the same way, the Chris­ tians did not abandon themselves to help of 42 A classic (if somewhat prejudiced) sur­ vey is Ronald A. Knox, Enthusiasm: A Chapter some extraordinary kind to rid themselves of the dross of their paganism. They knew they in the History 0/ Religion, with Special Refer­ ence to the XVII and XVIII Centuries (New had the help of God, but worked to earn their salvation 'with fear and trembling.''' (Joseph York: Oxford University Press, 1950 [reprinted 1961) ). Bonsirven, Theology of the New Testament, trans. S. F. 1. Tye [Westminster, Md.: Newman 43 Summa theologica, 2/2, qq. 171-78. Press, 1963), p.326) See also 2/1, q. 111; 3, q. 7,7. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 381

influence, it Jas soon attacked and has not the lists of primitive officeholders the stood the t"st of subsequent inquiry.44 prophets come immediately after the "Prophet" -prophetes and its cognates apostles. Barnabas and Silvanus, both -is not a univocal concept in the New prophets, exercise leadership in the Jeru­ lestament. "Ptophecy" can be <:!. vOCa­ salem church. The importance of the tion, as it were, but it can also be the prophet is mirrored in the position which activity of Christians who "prophesy" only the Apocalypse accords to them. What on occasion. The same thing is true of we are tOld about Barnabas, Silvanus, and teaching and teachers.45 The New Testa­ Agabus indicates that some prophets may ment understaEding of "prophecy" is have been itinerant preachers, but it would shaped in part the conception of proph­ be precarious to generaiize from these ecy in the Old Covenant; here prophets cases. The prophet, as is dear from 1 Cor. are conceived of chiefly as the prodaimers 14:29-33, speaks by direct revelation and of the message that they have received inspiration and on divine initiative.46 For from God, but who by virtue of their spe­ that reason he must speak responsibly, cial relation to God have a privileged "according to the measure of the faith" (kata tEm ana.' . n pi,' - ) (Rom.12:6) kne c 1ge 0' '.easr' in fu events The prim8ry function of "prophecy" in and lIas Ou\..: who ULl....:tS olJ..(I(':3 of Sed" th:..: NPlJ.f ~'~~1h:tm~:lc is ~~~;.n Lhf nroclJ.~na­ (1 Peter 4: 11) .47 The utV, ;·,l.i1ce of the proph,,': is to b" weigl ")y "th" others" tior, VL the ( le \I( and t divil e will, either in general or with specific ref­ (hoi alloi), whiCh may mean the others erence. The conte:z:t of the explicit descrip­ who compose the congregadon or the tion of prophecy as a charisma in Rom. other prophets. 12: 6 indicates that both the prophetic gift On occasion the prophet may foretell and the prophet's activity are contem­ future events, and sometimes at least, as in plal~~. Acts')·/' 17; 10·k prorhPo'"ingand speak­ The existence of a prophetic ofnee, ing in other languages are synonymous. broadly understood, in the New Testament In Pauline theology the obvious difference would seem to be adequately established, already noted between unintelligible ec- even though "prophetic" activity was not 46 Although having prophesied in Christ's restricted to these official "prophets." In name is not automatically a guarantee of salva­ tion (Matt. 7 :22-23). See E. Earle Ellis, "The 44 For a summary of the controversy in the Role of the Christian Prophet in Acts," Apos­ English-speaking theological world see C. W. tolic History and the Gospel. Biblical and His­ Dugmore, "Organization and Worship of the torical Essays presented to F. F. Bruce on his Primitive Church,"' in T. 'W. Manson, A Com­ 60th birthday, edited by W, Ward Gasque and panion to the Bible, 2d ed. by H. H. Rowley Ralph P. Martin (Grand Rapids: ~villiams B. (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1963), pp.552 Eerdmans, 1970), pp. 55-67. to 553. 47 It would seem unlikely that the subjective 45 On prophets see Apocalypse 22 :9; Her­ faith of the prophet is to be the criterion of his mas, mandat1!m xi; for teachers see James 3: 1; prophecy. We shall probably do better to think Barnabas 1:8; 4:9; Hermas, visio iii, 5,1; man­ of pistis here as referring to the totality of the datum iv, 3; similitudo ix, 15,4; 16,5; 25,2; proclamation about the Christ-event as the com­ for both prophets and teachers see Acts 13 :1; munity has received, appropriated, and con­ 1 Cor. 12 :28; Eph. 4: 11. fessed it. 382 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT static speaking in other languages that re­ In its area of the church the Didache as­ quires interpretation and prophetic utter­ signs to the prophets important liturgical ance in a language understood by the hear­ roles. Their support has a claim on the ers without interpretation is basic for the financial resources of the local Christian understanding of both "prophetic" gifts. community prior even to that of the poor. Public prayer, which has the building up When the prophets prophesy in the Spirit, of the community as well as the public they are immune to censure. At the same eJ..'Pression of petitions and intercessions time the number of prophets seems to be in the presence of God as coordinate func­ declining. Not every local Christian com­ tions, appears to be one of the functions munity has prophetically endowed mem­ of the prophet. Theological reflection is bers. The Didache encourages such com­ linked to prophecy, just as it is linked to munities to have the bishops and deacons the objective written revelation and the take over the worship responsibilities of apostolic tradition. Instruction appears to the prophets and teachers, a step that some be less the function of the prophet than of the local Christian communities seem of the teacher, just as evangelistic procla­ to have been taking only very reluctantly. mation appears to belong more in the Hermas of Rome, author of The Shep­ sphere of the evangelist than of the herd, is a mid-second-century ViSIOnary prophet, whose primary concern is the who both appreciates spiritual gifts and existing congregation and whose task is thus more closely allied to "pastoral" activi­ supports the established order. For him too the question of differentiating between ties.48 the authentic prophet and the charlatan is Prophets and teachers are a part of the a real one, and he takes occasion to deplore community and exercise their spiritual the latter's exploitation of the credulity of functions as part of the community. The the faithful. For him the criterion is the same thing is true of other offices, even prophet's way of life - the charlatan strips of those which involve administrative off his own mask by his self-aggrandize­ leadership.49 The significant thing is that ment, his desire for place and position, his all of these functions are at least ideally "service functions" (diakoniai) rather than effrontery, his addiction to worldly plea­ sures and delights, and his avarice. sources of prestige and personal power. In the subapostolic period the prophets The decline of the prophetic office is of the local Christian communities con­ also documentable in Justin the Martyr tinue to enjoy great influence and honor. and in 2 Peter. Yet elsewhere fathers of the church like Melito of Sardis ( died 48 See Gerhard Friedrich, "Propheten und 190?) are remembered by their contem­ Prophezeien im Neuen Testament," in Fried­ poraries for their prophetic gifts. As late rich, ed., TWzNT, 6 (1959),829-58; TDNT, 6 (1968), 828-856. as A. D. 300 we have papyrological evi­ 49 Von Campenhausen's assertion that in dence of the high esteem in which "the principle there was no "leadership echelon" prophetic order" was held when it is called (Fuhrerschicht) in the Pauline communities "the body of the flesh of Jesus Christ that (p. 68 [Eng. trans., p. 63) is at the very least open to misunderstanding. is mixed through Mary with the hu- CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 383 manity." 50 That in the fourth century the communication - such as evangelizing prophetic office was at least a venerated (ettangelizein) and proclaiming the Chris­ memory in the Western church is evi­ tian kerygma-less in content than in denced by the retention of the reference methodology. W ithin the Pauline com­ to the "admirable company of the [Chris­ munities the "ones who teach" continue tian} prophets" among the earthly wor­ this function of the f01L.'1ding apostle shipers of the Thrice-Holy Trinity, when (Rom. 12 :7; 2 Thess. 2: 15). In the "prison an anonymous hymnographer reworked an letters" and in the Pastorals the "one who Old Latin Easter preface, Sanctus, and teaches" has an increasing concern with post-Sanctus into the Te Deum lattdamus.51 the totality of the Christian message and The "one who teaches" is a charisma in its application to the ethical-moral realm.53 Rom. 12 :7. The shift from the abstract The didaskalos ("teacher") is the Chris­ noun in the case of "prophecy" and "ser­ tian counterpart of the Jewish rabbi; he is vice" to the masculine participle in the a teacher by vocation and profession.54 The case of "the one who teaches," "the one term thus involves a narrower concept than who exhorts," "the one who distributes "one who teaches" in the same way that alms," "the one who is placed over the "one who prophesies" is a broader concept others," and "the one who does deeds of than "prophet." 55 mercy" is probably nothing more than a In the subapostolic period the task of stylistic variation. teaching becomes more and more that of Didaskein ("to teach") is a prominent, the professional teachers.56 permanent, and irremissible function of the disciples (and specifically of the apos­ 53 Eph.4:11; Col. 1:28; 2 :7; 3:16; 1 Tim. 4:11; 6:2; 2 Tim. 2 :2. 1 Tim. 2:12 prohibits tles) of our Lord from the beginning, both women from teaching. Titus 1: 11 calls for the during H is lifetime and afterward.52 That silencing of fissiparous and avaricious Judaizers. which they are described as teaching is 54 Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 12 :28-29; Eph. 4:11, variously the interpretation of the Old where the common article at least suggests a measure of identity with the "rulers" (poi­ Testament in the light of the Christ-event, menes); 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11. the message of our Lord of the coming of 55 See Karl Heinrich Rengstorf, sub "di­ the kingly rule of God, the gracious offer dasko [and cognate words]," in TWzNT, 2 of the forgiveness of sins, and the ex­ (1935/1960) , 138-68; TDNT, 2 (1964) , 135-165. plication of the significance of the Gospel 56 See Didache 15, 1; Barnabas 1, 8; 4, 9. for the daily life of the believer. Didaskein Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Junior, argues that distinguishes itself from parallel types of at least in Smyrna teaching was not the task of the bishop, but of teachers who mayor may not have been part of the presbyteral college. 50 Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1,5,9 if., quoted in Friedrich, 6, 861, 48-50. As he sees the situation, the teacher's topos ( "place" ) was to lead meetings of Christians 51 See Ernst Kahler, Studien zum Te Deum and seekers after instruction in Christian doc­ und zur Geschichte des 24. Psalms in der alten trine. "At such gatherings baptism would be Kirche (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, administered to those who professed the main 1958), esp. pp. 31-39. articles of the Christian kerygma." ("Smyrna 52 Matt. 28:20; see Mark 6:30; Acts 4 :2, 18; in the Ignatian Letters: A Study in Church 5 :25,28,42; 15 :1,35; 18:11,25; 20,20-21; Order," The Journal of Religion, 20 [1940), 21 :21, 28; 28 :31. 145) 384 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

7. CHARISMA AND THE PRESBYTERAL of local presbyters -laid their hands upon OFFICE Timothy? 59 Or should "the laying on of The two passages that come into ques­ hands" be taken as a technical term for tion here are studded with exegetical prob­ "ordination" and "the presbyterate" be lems. "Do not neglect the chari.rma yon taken as referring to "the presbyteral of­ have, which was given you by prophetic fice," rather than to the incwnbents,60 so utterance when the elders laid their hands that the phrase would read "by ordination upon you" is the way 1 Tim. 4: 14 reads in to the presbyteral office"? If the ordination the Revised Standard Version, and 2 Tim. was a joint action of a college of presby­ 1:6 reads: "[in view of your sincere faith} ters, 'was Paul's participation essential or I re...L~..ld Y,-,,," to rekindle the charisma or accidental? Indeed, does the imphed diS­ God that is within you through the laying crepancy indicate that the tVIO letters in­ on of my hands." Some of the problems tended to describe two ordinations, or do and their solutions reflect the denomina­ they refer to the same act? Is the ordina­ tional biases and prejudices of the exe­ tion merely a symbolic action, or is it the getes. What do the words translated "given actual impartation of a grace of office? G1 you by prophetic utterance" mean? Do Do the two different r .... 1josit;"n~ tl,,·~ the} . 3ply . at COL. _ J anCL ~£ tr...... gOhul "imposition' in the two passages cha1'ismc' somehow tOOk place though ,he lll~an the same thing, 0: do LIley have a uttera'1ce of the one who ,phe .? ( diffe.re!.1t f ::.:e in ea~h case; me ~,,' in(~".­ does it mean that a prophetic utterance eating time or attendant circumstances in identified Timothy as a person upon whom the first case and instrumentality in the hands were to be laid? 57 .•lhat was the second? 62 nature of the charisma in relation to the However one may answer these ques- office upon which Timothy was about to enter? Does the charisma merely impart 59 So commonly; see, for example, Karl :;la,'~ !!nQ J0~ef l'reundoder, D,e Thessaloni­ a habitual competence and authorization to cherbriefe, Die Gefangenschaftsbriefe und die do certain things? Does it involve an Pastoralbriefe (Regensburg: Verlag Friedrich ontological change in the person? Are we Pustet, 1950), p. 198. 60 So, for instance, Gottfried Holtz, Die Pas­ to take from these verses that while the toral-briefe (Berlin: Evange1ische Verlags­ charisma is imparted only once, it requires anstalt, 1965), p, 111; John Norman Davidson continual actualization on the basis of the Kelly, A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1964), recipient's faith? 58 Do the words trans­ p. 107; Barrett, p. 72; and Joachim Jeremias lated "when the elders laid their hands and Hermann Strathmann, Die Briefe an Timo­ upon you" mean that a number of incum­ theus und Titus, .. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963), p. 30. bents of the presbyteral office - a college 61 So, for example, Jeremias and Strath­ mann, p. 31 : "Mitteilung dec Amtsgnade"; 57 So, for example, Charles Kingsley Barrett, Norbert Brox, Die Pastoralbriefe, 4th ed. (Re­ The Pastoral Epistles in the New Englisb Bible gensburg: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 1969), pp. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), p.71, and 180-182. The Interpreter's Bible, 11 (New York: Abing­ 62 So, for example, Barrett, p. 63, although don Press, 1955), 433. he concedes the possibility of the alternative 58 So Roloff, p. 257. option. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 385

dons, it is obvious that the intention of The occurrence of charismci in this con­ the author of the Pastorals in writing these nection raises the question if the presbyt­ verses (and the intention of the church in eral-episcopal office as we encounter it in affirming the canonicity of the documents the New Testament and in the subapostolic in wt-,tich they appear) is to ideatify Timo­ church is eSSential, ~ ::i"e too the answer is thy as the paradigm of every presbyter­ likely to be a function of one's denomina­ bishop. His ordination, his continuing tional and personal orientation, reflected charisma, his authority, his work are the in one's attitude toward certain passages typical counterpart of the ordination, the that are crucial for the argument. continuing charisma, the office, the au­ One line of argument holds that at firSt thority, and the work of every presbyter­ the Christian community knows no office bishop who has a similar unequivocal and that is essential to its constitution as tc'le clear vocation and institution in office. The church (ekklesia) of Jesus Christ. In this role of the con=unity, acting through the stage the leadership of the church is totally ordinator (s), is not excbsive; the cha­ corporate and finds e }ression through risma is ultimately God's gift. pneumatic individuals endowed with what Ernst Kasen1ann has made an appealing is in esseno miraculous lower, The sec­ suggestion when he concludes that 1 Tim. ond stage V. Juld then come the Pas- 6: 11-16 is tlL ------~ - r---~-.-' ~ Chris­ torals, where the c!), ... _.. ______r.:esbyter- ti;;" o,-din;;tion exhortation and tr'ut th,: conveyed by ordinatio,:-,. -rli.oC word entole in the climactic 14th verse ne;" stage "rould trace the appointment of means "commission" (Amtsauftrag) to presbyter-bishops back to the apostles, a teach and to apply the deposit of faith for stage that we meet with in Acts. The final the weal and welfare of the Christian com­ step would be taken in 1 Clement, which munity. If this is right, this passage sheds sees the presbyteral-episcopal office as con­ additional light on the distinctive implica­ stitutive cf' , , z,~ CJd com­ tions of charisma in these two verses. The missioning Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ com­ "commission" is imparted in public before missioning the apostles, and the latter by many witnesses. It has an irrevocable char­ Christ's authorization arranging for their acter that is to last during the life of the own successors. The of the recipient or until "the appearing of our Word of God becomes the responsibility Lord Jesus Christ." It participates in the of the officials of the local community and nature of a symbol of external continuity the bishop becomes the priestly president from one generation of incumbents of the of the sacramental cultus.64 office to the next, even though God is the Granted certain basic assumptions, this real source of the charisma, the real ordi­ line of genetic development has a certain nator, just as He is the real author of the plausibility about it. It is true that the deposit that is transmitted from one gen­ earliest explicit linking of charisma and eration of faithful guardians of the de­ posit to the other.63 Exegetische Vers1

ordination comes in the Pastorals and that ably the earliest document in the New a critical dating of these letters puts them Testament knows proistame1zoi in 1 Thess. as late as the early second century. It is 5: 12, even though it may use the term in also true that some interpreters are per­ a very general and nontechnical sense.67 suaded that the selection of Matthias to We do have spiritu.al leaders of the local replace Judas Iscariot is a legend and communities that the Pauline letters call see Acts 14:23, which has Paul and Barna­ prophets and teachers. W e do have bish­ bas appointing presbyters in Asia Minor ops and deacons in the Letter to the Philip­ church by church, as an apologetic retro­ pians. W e do have presbyters in Acts (and jection. Yet the idea of successors of the we may even speak of presbyter-bishops). apostles (not to be confused with the The Pastoral letters seem to imply an iden­ modern doctrine of "apostolic succession") tity of presbyters and bishops. The Letter is by this token a received datum by the of James knows only presbyters and not eighties at the latest. Again it is true that bishops and deacons. the precise formulation of a chain of com­ Thus, granted that the accent in the missions from the Father to Christ, from New Testament is on function rather than Christ to the apostles, and from the apos­ on office and that the date of the insti­ tles to their presbyteral-episcopal succes­ tutionalization of the function cannot be sors meets us for the first time in 1 Clem­ precisely fixed, the idea of an essential, di­ ent.65 Nevertheless, the whole chain of vinely sanctioned presbyteral-episcopal of­ argument depends for its force less on ex­ fice is nevertheless in the N ew Testament plicit affirmations than on the silence of itself and not only in post-Biblical history. the limited source material. Furthermore, there are leadership offices 8. CONCLUSIONS in the church from the very beginning, The evidence examined admits of cer­ even though we must stipulate that the tain conclusions : New Testament apparently has no term 1. On the basis of the usage of the New for the "priesdlood" or the "sacred min­ Testament and of the apostolic fathers, istry" 66 Apart from the possible and charisma is an unhappy choice among the sometimes hotly debated implications of available words to describe what "charis­ Matt. 16:18-19; 18:18; John20:21-23; 21: matic" has come to imply in the church; 15-17; and the position of James the Elder pneumatikon might have been more ap­ in the Jerusalem community, what is prob- posite.6s Intrinsically, charisma implies

65 The earliest explicit designation for the 67 Hegoumenoi in Heb. 13:7, 17, 24 is leader of the eucharistic celebrations is "presi­ a parallel usage. dent" (proestos) in Justin the Martyr. The 68 Burkhard Neunheuser, "Gnade, Geistes­ eucharistic bearing of prosenenkontas ta dora gaben, Heiliger Geist in mittelalterlicher und tes episkopes in 1 Clement 44 is debatable. neutestamentlicher Sicht: Terminologische und 66 Ernst Kasemann, "Amt und Gemeinde sachliche Probleme - Ein Versuch," in Liturgie im Neuen Testament," in Exegetische Versuche u1~d Monchtum, 20 (1957), 34-47, has traced und Besinnungen, 1 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck the changes in meaning that the subject words & Ruprecht, 1960), 109 (Eng. trans., p. 63). and related vocables have undergone in the A possible exception might be presbyterion in course of time. He holds that it makes good 1 Tim. 4:14. sense to "take up the terminology of the New CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 387 nothing more than "a gratuitous gift of concern and the desire for justice in deal­ God." ing with parallel and analogous phenomena 2. The primitive church recognized and in terms of precedents may have been­ operated with the necessity for responsible has always produced tensions, of which we spiritual and administrative leadership have an early example in the paradigmatic from the beginning.69 case of John of Ephesus and Diotrephes in 3 John. 3. The polar tension between structure and "spirit" has always existed in the 4. Since the source of all ecclesiastical church. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5 - all but offices "is the outpouring in the church certainly the earliest document in the New of the Holy Spirit which becomes mani­ Testament canon-finds it necessary to fest in them" 70 and since all charismata couple his exhortations to "respect those and pneumatika are the gift of the same who labor hard among you and are over Holy Spirit who abides in the church, it you in the Lord" with the injunctions, "Do would seem to be the task of the church's not quench the Spirit; do not despise administrative leadership at every echelon to take to heart the apostolic injunction prophesying" (vv. 12, 19). The effort to not to quench the Spirit.71 catalog criteria, to create canons, and to apply discipline -laudable as the pastoral St. Louis, Mo.

In addition to the standard commentaries and 1·eference works, the following resources are potentially useful.72 In general they operate with the interchangeabiliy of the terms charismata and pneumatika. Bartling, Walter J. "The Congregation of Christ - A Charismatic Body," CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY, 40 (1969),67-80. Bettencourt, Estevao. "Charisms," Sacramentum Mundi: An Encyclopedia of Theology, ed. Karl Rahner and others, 1 (New York: Herder and Herder, 1968), 283-284.

Testament, provided that it is done responsibly" 1966), p.210. He argues that Paul's observa­ and provided further that in the process nothing tions in 1 Corinthians 12 "permit only the con­ be lost that "was gained in the way of clarifica­ clusion that there are charismata" - it would tion, specification, and development." have been better to say pneumatika - "that are 69 Unstructured and unregulated "pneu­ not bound to an office (glossolalia or the gift matic" movements have in the history of the of interpretation of languages, for instance), church not demonstrated a high degree of via­ but that there is no office that is not charis­ bility. Nils Bloch-Hoell's observation about the matic" (ibid.). Pentecostal movement's forsaking of "the prin­ 71 The principle enunciated in effect by ciple of nonorganization" during the 60 years Lumen gentium, 12; see also Leon Cardinal of its existence is instructive. (The Pentecostal Suenens' famous speech, "The Charismatic Di­ Movement, p. 176) mension of the Church," in Council Speeches 70 Pierre Grelot, in an essay that first ap­ of Vatican II, ed. Hans Kung, Yves Congar, and peared in Assemblees du Seigneur, No. 58 Daniel O'Hanlon (Glen Rock, N. J.: Paulist (Bruges: Abbaye de St. Andre, 1964), but that Press, 1964), pp.29-34. was accessible to the present writer only in 72 The present writer gratefully acknowledges Mathilde Lehne's German translation in Jean the valuable suggestions kindly offered by his col­ Giblet, ed., Vom Christus zur Kirche: Charisma league, the Rev. Victor A. Bartling, professor of und Amt im Urchristentum (French title: Aux New Testament exegesis at Concordia Seminary, origines de t'eglise) (Freiburg: Verlag Herder, St. Louis. 388 CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Bittlinger, Arnold. ChM"isma und Amt. Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1967. Brosch, Joseph. Charismen und Amter in der Urkirche. Bonn: Peter Hanstein Verlag, 1951. Buonaiuti, Ernesto. "I Carismi," Ricerche religiose, 4 (1928), 259-61. Bultmann, Rudolf. Theology of the New Testament, trans. Kendrick Grobel. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1951. Bultmann, Rudolf. Exegetische Probleme des zweiten Korintherbriefs. Darmstadt: Wissen­ schaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1963. Pp. 20-30. A critique of Ernst Kasemann's article, "Die Legitimitat des Apostels" (see below). Campenhausen, Hans Freiherr von. Kirchliches Amt und geistliche Vollmacht in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten. Tiibingen: J. c. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1953 (2d ed., 1963). (English translation under the title Ecclesiastical Author#y and SpiNtual Power in the Church of the First Three Centuries, trans. J. A. Baker [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969}') Coenen, Lothar, art. "Presbyter," Theologisches Begriffslexikon zum Neuen Testament, ed. Lothar Coenen, Erich Beyreuther, and Hans Bietenhard. Wuppertal: Theologischer Verlag Rolf Brockhaus, 1965-. Pp. 1008-1016. Conzelmann, Hans. Grundriss der Theologie des Neuen Testaments. Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1967. (An English translation by John Bowden bears the title An Outline of the Theology of the New Testament [New York: Harper and Row, 1969}') Crehan, Joseph. "Charisms," A Catholic Dictionary of Theology, 2 (Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1967), 19-22. Danker, Frederick W. Minist1'Y in the New Testament. Fort Wayne, Ind.: Institute on Church and Society, Concordia Senior College, 1966. Dix, Gregory. '"The Ministry in the Early Church," The Apostolic Ministry: Essays on the History and Doctrine of Episcopacy, ed. Kenneth Escott Kirk. London: Hodder and Stough­ ton, 1946. Pp. 183-303. Eichholz, Georg. Was heisst charismatische Gemeinde? 1 Korinther 12. Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1960. Friedrich, Georg. "Geist und Amt," Wort und Dienst: Jahrbuch der Theologischen Schule Bethel, new series, 3 (Bethel-bei-Bielefeld: Verlagshandlung der Anstalt Bethel, 1952), 61-85. Grau, Friedrich. "Der neutestamentliche Begriff charisma, seine Geschichte und seine Theologie." Doctoral dissertation in the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the University of Tiibingen, 1946. (A microfilm copy of this important dissertation, difficult to come by in North America, is in the library of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.) Greeven, Heinrich. "Propheten, Lehrer, Vorsteher bei Paulus: Zur Frage det 'Xmter' im Urchristentum," Zeitschrift fUr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 44 (1952), 1-43. Greeven, Heinrich. "Die Geistesgaben bei Paulus," Wort und Dienst, new series, 6 (Bethel-bei-Bielefeld: Verlagshandlung der Anstalt Bethel, 1959), 111-120. Kasemann, Ernst. "Amt und Gemeinde im Neuen Testament," Exegetische Versuche und Besinnungen, 1. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1960. Pp.103-34. (An English translation of this essay by W. J. Montague bears the title "Ministry and Community in the New Testament," Essays on New Testament Themes [Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1964J, pp. 63-94.) Kasemann, Ernst. "Die Legitimitat des Apostels: eine Untersuchung zu II. Korinther 12-13," Zeitschrift fiir die neutestamentliche Wissenschaff, 41 (1942), 33-71. (Re­ printed in Karl H. Rengstorf, Das Paulusbild in der neueren deutschen Forschung [Darm­ stadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1964J, pp. 475-521.) Kiing, Hans. "The Charismatic Structure of the Church," Concilium, 4 (1965), 41-61. CHARISMA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 389

(Abridged in Kung, The Church, trans. Ray and Rosalee Ockenden [New York: Sheed and ~ard, 1968],pp. 179--91) Leclercq, Henri. "Charismes," Dictionnaire d'Archeologie chretienne et de Liturgie, ed. Fernand Cabrol and Henri Leclercq, 3 (Paris : Librairie Letouzey et Ane, 1948), 579 to 598. (This article has appended to it an excellent bibliography of the older literamre.) Lohse, Eduard. Die Ordination im Spatjudentum 1tnd im Neuen T estament. Berlin: Evan­ ge1ische Verlagsanstalt, 1951. Moody, Dale. "Charismatic and Official Ministries: A Smdy of the New Testament Con­ cept," Interpretation, 19 (1965), 168--81. Neuenheuser, Burkhard. "Gnade, Geistesgaben, Heiliger Geist im mittelalterlicher und neutestamentlicher Sicht: Terminologie und sachliche Probleme --Ein Versuch," LiturgiB und Monchtum, 20 (1957) ,34--47. Perels, Otto. "Charisma im Neuen Testament," Fuldaer Hefte, No.15 (Berlin: Luther­ isches Verlagshaus, 1964), 39--45. Pollet, J. V.-M. "Les charismes," Initiation theologique, 2d ed., Vol. 3. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1955. Pp.l081--1108. Rahner, Karl. "Das Charismatische in der Kirche," Stimmen der Zeit, 160 (1957), 161 to 186. (English translation under the title The Dynamic Element in the Church, trans. W. J. O'Hara [Freiburg: Herder und Herder, 1964].) Roloff, Jiirgen. Apostolat --Verkiimdigung --Kirche: Ursprung, Inhalt und Funktion des kirchlichen Apostelamtes nach Paulus, Lukas und den Pastoralbriefen. Gutersloh: Guters­ loher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1965. Schlier, Heinrich. Die Zeit der Kirche: exegetische Aufsatze und Vortrage. Freiburg: Herder, 1956. Schnackenburg, Rudolf. Die Kirche im Neuen Testament. 2d. ed. Freiburg: Herder, 1963. (English translation by W. J. O'Hara under the title The Church in the New Testa­ ment [New York: Herder, 1965].) Schweizer, Eduard. Geist und Gemeinde im Neuen Testament und heute. Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1952. Schweizer, Eduard. Gemeinde und Gemeindeordnung im Neuen Testament, 2d. ed. Zurich: Zwingli-Verlag, 1962. (English translation of the 1st ed. by Frank Clark under the title Church Order in the New Testament [Naperville, IlL: Alec R. Allenson, 1961].) Schweizer, Eduard. Das Leben des Herrn in der Gemeinde und ihren Diensten. Zurich: Zwingli-Verlag, 1946. Schurmann, Heinrich. "Die geistliche Gnadengaben," De ecclesia: Beitrage zur Konstitu­ tion "aber die Kirche" des zweiten vatikanischen Konzils, ed. Guilherme Barauna. Freiburg: Herder, 1966. Pp. 494--519. Semme1roth, Otto. "Ecclesiastical Office. II: Office and Charism," Sacramentum Mundi, 2 (1968),171--173- Shepherd, Massey Hamilton, Junior. "Smyrna in the Ignatian Letters: A Study in Church Order," The Journal of Religion, 20 (1940),141--59. Smalley, Stephen S. "Spiritual Gifts and 1 Cor. 12--16," Journal of Biblical Literature, 87 (1968),427--493. Sterrett, T. N. "New Testament Charismata." Dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, 1947. Streng, ~illiam D. "Charismatic Teaching," Lutheran Quarterly, 12 (1960), 144--51.