Spiritual Gifts in the Work of the Ministry Today

Spiritual Gifts in the work of the ministry today

DONALD GEE SPIRITUAL GIFTS

in the Work of the MINISTRY TODAY

DONALD GEE

GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE Springfield, Missouri 65802

The contents of this book were presented initially in the form of five lectures to the student body of L.I.F.E. Bible College in Los Angeles in 1963. The lectureship was sponsored by the L.I.F.E. Bible College Alumni Association. CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL GIFTS?

2. SPIRITUAL GIFTS FOR PREACHING AND TEACHING ..

3. PROPHETICAL MINISTRY

4. SPIRITUAL GIFTS OF ACTION

5. SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND WORLD EVANGELIZATION .... Introduction

One of my main reasons for undertaking this work is that I have mature opinions and convictions re• garding the gifts of the Spirit which I wish to commit to others before I pass hence to be with Christ. Not that I think these involve drastic revisions of those things which I have taught by voice and pen all over the world these many years. Some convictions, however, have become firmer and now seem in greater need of being stated. One happy reason for this sense of urgency is the new era in the Pentecostal Revival which is growing to impressive magnitude in recent years. I would like to humbly submit my mature thoughts on this favorite subject to a new generation of participants in the Pentecostal Revival of the twentieth century. My chief qualification for presuming to attempt this work is that for over forty years all over the world I have spoken on this inspiring subject to eager audiences. No man can engage in such an activity without becoming increasingly familiar with his sub• ject. In teaching others we teach ourselves. In 1928 I wrote a series of brief articles in Redemp• tion Tidings, the official organ of Assemblies of God in Great Britain and Ireland, which on completion were published in a slender volume entitled Con• cerning Spiritual Gifts. It received an enthusiastic welcome, even from those outside the Pentecostal Move• ment. It manifestly met a felt need in Christian circles. Since then it has been translated in my knowledge into French, German, Swedish, Finnish, Portuguese, vii viii INTRODUCTION

Bulgarian, Arabic, and Chinese; besides it has been published as a series of articles in other languages. The most recent translation has been into Dutch, in 1961. In 1947 an opportunity occurred to publish an en• larged and revised edition in America that enabled me to incorporate more fully my personal convictions on the spiritual gift that Paul calls the "word of knowl• edge." I have been deeply sensitive that these con• flict with popular views taught by some of my esteemed British colleagues, to whom I owe an incalculable debt for giving me some of my first insights intothi sthrillin g SUBJECT. BUT through the years I have become increasingly convinced that the great spiritual gift of the "word of knowledge" manifests a teaching ministry rather than clairvoyance. I know that the other idea has been accepted by many, but not by all. Those who do not accept it deserve a clear statement of what some of us feel is a worthier presentation of the sub• ject. In this work I have attempted it. I seek not controversy, rather a synthesis of differing views which may all contain varying sides of truth. I am sure that the last word has not yet been said on the gifts of the Spirit. Of one thing I am convinced, and that is that truth is not found in extremes. Rather it will be expressed through balancing statements that at first sight may appear paradoxical. Therefore, while I trust that I have done justice to the avowedly super• natural element in the gifts of the Spirit, I also have sought to give just place to the inescapable natural constituent part of the same subject. In this, as in other high themes, the truth consists in "God and man in oneness blending." Only in holding the tension be• tween these two, the divine and the human, can pro- INTRODUCTION IX gress be made towards arriving at the ultimate truth. Throughout these studies the gifts of the Spirit are related to the work of the ministry. The scriptural and logical basis for this relationship is very clear in the 12th Chapter of 2 Corinthians, where the list of personal gifts in the early verses becomes in the closing verses a list of the ministries set by God in the Church. Soon after writing my book Concerning Spiritual Gifts I wrote, as a sequel, another book entitled The Min• istry Gifts of Christ based, mainly, on the five leading ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph. 4:11). The theme of these studies is an approach to spiritual gifts as the basis for various ministries. Moreover, these things are for today. They have more than academic interest. The testimony of the Pentecostal Revival is that they are divinely intended to possess an abiding and practical application to the work of the gospel.

DONALD GEE, Kenley, Surrey, England What Are Spiritual Gifts?

The time is opportune for a reappraisal of spiritual gifts. The Pentecostal Movement for sixty years or more has witnessed to their restoration. Yet on the whole, when we are told that "the gifts" are being exercised within our churches, we find far too often that the reference is only to messages in tongues and their interpretation. Divine healing is a related, yet separate, subject and has never been the peculiar testi• mony of the Pentecostal Revival alone. Now a fresh and arresting phenomenon has arisen in a new outpouring of the Spirit within the older de• nominations, particularly the Episcopalians. Once again the emphasis mainly is upon the glossalalia, or speak• ing with tongues. Mention of other gifts of the Spirit follows a pattern obviously borrowed from ideas cur• rent within the Pentecostal Movement and shares its limitations. This latest revival has all the exuberance of a new discovery of the Living Christ which we of the older revival have known these three-score years. We rejoice with it. Where it will lead remains to be seen. Ignorance of spiritual gifts can easily mean a repetition of some of our own, and others', hoary mis• takes. It can frustrate the full purposes of God. 1 2 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

Therefore we are wise to commence these studies with Paul's classic words of introduction to the same theme: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.'" The ignorance long ago at Corinth was not experimental, for they "came behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord." It was ignorance of the relative values of spiritual gifts, their true nature, and their right use. In understanding of these things they had to grow out of childish ideas and become men. We must do the same. It is an impressive witness to the reality of what the Holy Spirit has been seeking to do through the Pente• costal Revival that it has survived its own weaknesses and excesses and stands today as a spiritual force in Christianity that is compelling the attention and respect of the historic churches. And this has been achieved, under God, in spite of a notable lack of teachers or leaders that could justly be described as theologians. The climate of the early decades of the Movement gave scant encouragement to a teaching type of ministry. All the emphasis was upon evangelism, and that of a rather garish type. If the Holy Scriptures were quoted it was rather to support experience than instruct it. It has to be ruefully admitted that teachers, as such, often undermined their own acceptance because they brought over into the Pentecostal Revival the methods they had used in their former denominational churches. Their ministry therefore seemed to present a descent into the natural from the supernatural that accorded ill with the essence of the Pentecostal Revival. There was much truth in this complaint, and teaching by natural gifts (and sometimes even without those!) laid a

1 Corinthians 12:1. - Ibid. v. 7. 1 Corinthians 14:20. What Are Spiritual Gifts? foundation for that wrong conception of the basically spiritual gifts that are at the root of a truly Pentecostal ministry of the Word. Any realization that a teaching ministry could be as truly "Pentecostal" as healings or miracles was difficult to fit into the prevailing emphasis on the apparently supernatural at all costs. It shall be an important part of our business in the course of these studies, if God permits, to present a truer picture of the proper nature of teaching and teachers within a spiritually gifted Church. This correction is still urgently needed if the revival is going to keep its balance in the purposes of God. But for the moment let our business be to seek a satisfactory and scriptural definition of spiritual gifts as a whole. In turning to the Authorized Version of the Bible it will be at once noticed that the word "gifts" is printed in italics in 1 Corinthians 12:1, indicating that the word is not in the original. For that reason some pedants would render it simply "concerning spirituals," which in some sense is correct for the whole of the following three chapters deals with spiritual topics. Young's literal translation has "spiritual things," and even J. B. Phillips has "spiritual matters." The wider context, however, fully justifies the insertion of the word "gifts," for below, in verses 4 and 31, the word "charisma" does occur and supplies the theme of this entire section of 1 Corinthians. It should always be remembered that even the exquisite chapter on love (chapter 13) is entirely within the orbit of spiritual gifts. They provide its purpose and its application, though its divine truth and beauty extend far beyond them into all the spiritual realm. We have no quarrel with those who designate the Pentecostal Movement as a "charismatic revival." We 4 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today only wish to be more fully worthy of the name. The striking, distinctive feature of the Pentecostal Revival has been the exercise of some of the gifts of the Spirit, particularly the gift of tongues. In seeking to correct and balance any mistakes and exaggerations of these things we shall do great disservice to the truth, and the work of God, if we quench that which is truly of His Spirit in these essentially Pentecostal matters. In the First Pentecostal World Conference in Zurich in 1947 a memorable sermon was preached on the mistake of pulling up the tares with the wheat. It contained a lasting warning for those who are overzealous to elim• inate all that is doubtful on the line of manifestations of the Spirit. We do not want to justify the gibes of those who have called us a "Tongues Movement" be• cause an impression has been given that we make too much of the gift of tongues. But neither do we want to go to the opposite extreme; for we shall cease to be worthy of being called a Pentecostal Movement at all in the true sense if we cease to have any speaking with tongues in our midst. There is nothing for us to be ashamed of here, but only reason for humble gratitude to God, and adoration and praise for His continuing grace upon His redeemed people. This basic word "charisma" should make us shout for joy. It is the word for grace, and Robinson de• fines it as "That which causes joy, pleasure, gratifica• tion.'" Grace or "charis" is one of the outstanding words of the Christian gospel. We are "saved by grace." It is the grace of God, and the gift by grace "that has abounded by Jesus Christ." Enchanting vistas of

Robinson's Greek and English Lexicon (Edinburgh: T&T. Clark), pp. 846-47 Ephesians 2:8. Romans 15:15. What Are Spiritual Gifts? 5 evangelical truth allure us to leave for a time our allotted path in these studies and enjoy their mani• fold delights. But we need fear no loss if we stick to our theme, for we can be assured that the gifts of the Spirit, the charismata, will keep us well within the realm of divine grace. In the words of the learned lexicographer, they will supply us with "joy, pleasure, and gratification." Our appointed subject is "Spiritual Gifts in the Work of the Ministry Today," and the pathway runs right up to, and stems right down from, the Throne of Grace in the Godhead. Our Heavenly Father loves to give good gifts to His children. The Greatest Gift of all is His only begotten Son," and with Him He freely gives us all things." The Father, through the Son, gives the Holy Spirit.10 The Spirit Himself has these gracious gifts to bestow.11 And that is not the end; our ulti• mate purpose in these studies is to trace the ministries that result from the gifts of the Spirit and that by grace are set by God in the Church.12 One of the most grievous losses any people calling themselves "Pente• costal" can sustain is the idea that spiritual gifts are an end in themselves, and that in some way by merely enjoying and exhibiting them we have reached a goal. They are not a goal; they are a gateway. The suggestive list of nine gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (and I now think it is a mistake to always refer to the "nine gifts" as though the catalogue there is exhaustive) leads on lower down to another list of ministries or

7 Matthew 7:11. 8 John 3:16. 9 Romans 8:32. 10 John 14:16. 11 1 Corinthians 2:8, etc. 12 1 Corinthians 12:28. Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today offices in the Church of which eight are named. In Romans 12 we have seven ministries linked with spir• itual gifts, and in Ephesians 4:11 we have five. It is always what in other spheres we now call "chain re• action," and the consideration of that progression in Pentecostal grace is one of the main purposes of these studies. The ministries given by Christ to His Church are not apart from the gifts of the Holy Spirit; they are the divinely intended result of those gifts. There• fore to study them is to study a logical Pentecostal sequence. But now, in coming to grips with what we declared ought to be our first business, we seek definition. What is the nature of these gifts which reveal the Spirit of God? The popular idea is that they are supernatural. I purposely use the present tense because we have re• jected the specious argument that they were only for the apostolic age. Perhaps we can return to that in the end when we come to consider the challenging term "Today." But this idea as to their character is well described by Robinson in his Lexicon as "the miraculous gifts imparted to the early Christian teach• ers by the Holy Spirit."13 Obviously by "teachers" Robinson here means not only teachers in the narrow sense of those who inculcate doctrine, but all official ministers in the churches. On the same subject Cony- beare says, "The feature which immediately forces itself upon our notice, as distinctive of the Church in the Apostolic age, is its possession of supernatural gifts."14 It is superfluous to quote any more author• ities because this attitude is generally held and is

13 Robinson, op. cit., p. 848. 14 W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949), Chapter XIII. What Are Spiritual Gifts? correct. Our only objection, as we noted, is the idea that it no longer has relevance today. For purposes of definition we note that theologians use the words "miraculous" and "supernatural." But those who use them with regard to the gifts with which the Early Church was endowed, immediately come a- gainst a difficulty. Hut very simply it is this: That in the list of spiritual gifts and administrations given in the New Testament some are plainly supernatural, while others are apparently natural; and yet no division into these two classes is made, nor even suggested. Conybeare puts it very frankly when he writes: "These miraculous powers are not even mentioned by the Apostolic writers as a class apart but are joined in the same classification with other gifts which we are wont to term natural endowments or talents. It is desirable that we should make a division between two classes of gifts, the extraordinary and the ordinary, al• though the division was not made by the Apostles at the time when both kinds of gifts were in ordinary exercise."15 Now, although such an authority as Cony• beare says this division is "desirable," we may justly ask the reason why. It fits in with popular and easy ideas on the subject, but if we take the New Testa• ment as our guide we have to say that the division is an arbitrary one. To challenge it is to thrust us at once, willingly or unwillingly, into one of the questions at the very heart of our distinctive Pentecostal testi• mony. Various approaches to the question have been made. Those who refuse all beliefs in the miraculous element in Christianity have no difficulty. They simply seize upon this whole passage as an arresting treatment of

Op. cit. 8 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

the principle that the Creator has endowed men with a rich variety of natural talents. To this obvious fact none can demur. The Creator has given the sons of men a profusion of abilities that are the basis of all arts and crafts. They are to be the subject of mutual apprecia• tion rather than envy, and are to be diligently cultivated and used for the common good. The ready illustration of the varied members of the human body comes easily to hand. Heathen philosophers had already used it in their schools before Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, applied it to our present theme. He would no doubt have classed their philosophy as part of the wisdom of this world." Also he would have contrasted it with the "things of the Spirit of God," which cer• tainly include spiritual gifts. An attitude to spiritual gifts more attractive to evan• gelical Christians is that which admits that there were miraculous gifts in the Early Church, but they have ceased today. The teaching of these friends that the miraculous element was given because of its evidential value has been constantly emphasized, with the parallel argument that such supernatural evidence is now no longer needed. In his prefatory note to his valuable book. The Spiritual Gifts, J. R. Pridie writes: "The Charismatic Gifts have usually been considered as ex• tra-ordinary activities of (he Holy Spirit connected ex• clusively with the first age of the Church's life. Their purpose has been thought to be simply evidential of her mission and character. They were her credentials, and having established her claims, were not to be looked for in the later developments of her history."16

16 1 Corinthians 2:4-14. 17 J. R. Pridie, M. A., Vicar of Ham, Surrey, and sometime Chaplain of Clare College, Cambridge, The Spiritual Gifts (London: Robert Scott). What Are Spiritual Gifts?

Happily, Pridie takes a different view, and his book, written in 1921, is one of the best essays on the subject outside the Pentecostal Movement. He says: "They were intended to be part of the Church's timeless equipment for carrying on her work in the world." There is another line of exegesis that equates the miraculous gifts of the Spirit with natural endowments, now that the apostolic era has passed. It sees the work of the medical missionary as the continuation of the early gifts of healings, and equates an ability out of the ordinary to acquire foreign languages with the gift of tongues. Carey, the great missionary, is quoted as an example. The gift of prophecy is made synonymous with preaching. We shall not be so foolish or fanatical as to disparage, or think inconsistent with a Pentecostal testimony, the boon of alleviation of human physical suffering made possible by medical science and skill, especially when utterly consecrated in the service of Christ and the gospel. Neither ought we despise lin• guistic ability, now happily finding such scope among the Wycliffe Bible Translators. Moreover, a powerful pulpit is one of the greatest forces for spiritual revival. Indeed, there is a place which we must jealously guard for consecrated and properly trained natural talent. To discover its true place among churches quite truly des• cribed as "Pentecostal" must be one of our serious con• cerns. Our Bible schools largely exist for this very purpose. We can never stress too much the importance of full consecration, especially by our young people, of all that we have and are, both by nature and grace. This remains one of our noblest themes, inspired afresh continually when we dwell upon our Redeemer's love and sacrifice on our behalf. There should be no antagonism between a right view 10 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today of spiritual gifts and consecrated natural talent. As a matter of fact they are so interwoven that it demands quite an effort of clear thinking to keep them distinct in our minds. Spiritual gifts call for a high level of sanctification if they are to he used for the glory of God, and consecrated natural talents can find their crown in added supernatural gifts. Daniel provides us with an outstanding example, for he and his friends were given by God unusual natural ability, improved by the best education that Babylon could offer. Yet over and above all that, God gave Daniel supernatural revelation and understanding; and it is written that "God giveth wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding." 15 The spiritual gifts were something superadded. A view of the gifts of the Spirit contained in a slogan that they are "a hundred per cent miraculous" has obtained considerable acceptance in some quar• ters. We are told that "there is no element of the natural in them at all." This is the pardonable language of enthusiasm for enforcing the truth that there is a supernatural element in spiritual gifts, and we can respect it as such. But it will not do as a statement to cover all the facts. We need a more balanced view. If we do not achieve it we shall perpetuate the ex• tremes that have marred the Pentecostal testimony from its beginning. Indeed, in that way lies consider• able danger. In our task of seeking a definition of spiritual gifts we must now concentrate on what is the key word of the Scripture when it says that they are collectively the manifestation of the Spirit. Now a manifestation is a shining forth, a "phaner-

15 Daniel 1:17; 2:21 What. Are Spiritual Gifts? 11 osis." The root word is to shine forth, to bring, to let appear, to show. A helpful example of the use of the word occurs in Mark 16:9 where Jesus "appeared" to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection. Occasions of the use of cognate words abound, and because this is a key word for our purpose we must spend a little time glancing at them. There is Luke 9:9: "Some said that Elijah had appeared"; Galatians 5:19: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest"; Luke 8:17: "Nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest"; 1 Corinthians 14:25: "Thus are the secrets of his heart made man• ifest"; John 7:4: "Shew Thyself to the world" (i.e. appear publicly) ; John 1:81: "That he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing in water." One could quote many other passages, but these are enough to give a clear idea of the root mean• ing of manifestation. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to make the Presence of the Holy Spirit appear in meetings of the churches. The usual English word by which we translate "phanerosis" is "manifestation," and it is derived from the Latin "manifestus." Literally it is "that which may be laid hold of by the hand." Thus the wares dis• played in a supermarket are manifest in the sense that they can be not only seen, but taken from the shelf and handled. When we can handle something it is very real to the touch and no longer hidden. Annandale defines "manifestation" as "making evident to the eye or the understanding the exhibition of anything by clear evidence." The Oxford English Dictionary defines "manifest" as "to show plainly to eye or mind; to be evidence of; to display." One great result of light, says the Bible, is that it makes manifest. That which is already present in fact becomes clearly seen to the 12 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today senses. An example is the furniture in a room which becomes manifest after the light has been switched on; or the beauty of a landscape after the sun has risen. The importance of the manifestation of the Spirit can be readily grasped through this study of the meaning of the word. It is the exercise of spiritual gifts that make His Presence evident. Through them He becomes a reality in the meetings of the congregation of Chris• tians. It is no disparagement of the apprehension of the Spirit's presence by faith alone to affirm that we suggest a contribution by the Pentecostal Movement to the whole Church of the greatest value when we testify to the desirability of having His presence made mani• fest by means of spiritual gifts. We dare to believe that this is one of the supreme purposes of God in sending the Pentecostal Revival in the twentieth cen• tury. It is generally confessed that the whole doctrine and experience of the Church is lamentably vague where the Third Person of the Godhead is concerned. This is hardly to be wondered at when the manifesta• tion of the Spirit as described in the Scriptures is lacking. There is an impressive body of theological literature about the Spirit, and it is still being added to, for the need here is widely felt. We hope to see our own scholars working over this neglected but fruitful field of truth, though not to spend time and strength in duplicating what others before them have done so well. The field is immense. When George Smeaton was preparing his classic course of lectures on the Holy Spirit to a former generation he confessed that he found "it necessary to travel a field of vast extent."10

The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, by George Smeaton, D.D. New College, Edinburgh. The Banner of Truth Trust. What Are Spiritual Gifts? 13

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones of Westminster commends Smeaton's work on The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit as "providing the best practical teaching on the subject that I know."20 It is a massive work, and one wonders if he had lived in our day how he would have reacted to the Pentecostal Revival. He has some pungent re• marks upon the two revivals of the nineteenth century that, from different angles, emphasized the Spirit. Of Irvingism he says: "Such a supply of the Spirit as this sect claims could not co-exist with its pomp of prepared liturgical forms." That criticism was just. But of Ply• mouth Brethrenism he is not so fair, though he does admit that it "will have a longer existence probably than the other phenomenon." History is abundantly proving the correctness of that prediction. One regrets Smeaton's tart comment that "they make a presump• tuous claim to be in their assemblies under the pres• idency of the Holy Ghost." Why so presumptuous? One would have thought that this is, or ought to be, a desire of every local assembly of believers. In both cases he does less than justice to the sincerity and spir• itual courage of revivals that sought, at least, to recover some of the Church's lost territory of experience of the lordship of the Spirit in the conduct of assemblies when Christians gather together. In the Pentecostal Movement we hope that we can repudiate any claim to presumption, though we have a sacred duty to hold fast the testimony which we humbly feel the Lord has entrusted to us. Even if at times some may have made claims that more responsible Pentecostal leadership would disavow, yet the smallest amount of valid tes• timony to the reality of the Spirit is of inestimable value. To criticize attempts to encourage the man-

20 Ibid. 14 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today ifestation of the Spirit is much easier than to enter the arena and contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Even failures can possess their own nobil-

May I quote once again that impressive testimony of Dr. Douglas Mackenzie of Yale and Edinburgh, one• time President of Hartford Theological Seminary: "Paul assumes in various passages that all confessed Christians have the Spirit. It is not a doctrinal deduc• tion, but an observed fact of experience."21 Precisely so, and the reasons for this lie on the surface of the New Testament. They consist of the manifestations of the Spirit, both in speaking with tongues as the initial evidence of His coming in power, and the manifesta• tion of His other gifts in the regular meetings of the assemblies. Christians are accustomed to the "doctrinal deduc• tion," and repeat glibly the article of the Apostles' Creed—"I believe in the Holy Ghost." But for every generation it needs to become more than a doctrine. It needs to glow with experience. We can be humbly thankful that at times when there has been no open manifestation of the Spirit the promise of our Lord is amply fulfilled, and where two or three are gathered together in His Name. He is in the midst.22 The wit• ness of the Church throughout all the centuries is that again and again, in the humblest of circumstances, that Presence has been felt and the fulfillment of the Promise realized. For that reason a constant prayer has been that those gathered together may have the faith to lay hold on the Unseen Presence of the Spirit. And they have not prayed in vain. We recall the early

" The Westminster New Testament, (London: Andrew Melrose), "Gala- tians and Romans," p. 84. Matthew 18:20. What Are Spiritual Gifts? 15

Methodist "Pentecost" when John Wesley wrote: "We were present at our love-feast in Fetter Lane with about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morn• ing as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of His Majesty, we broke out with one voice, 'We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.' "23 One won• ders what unrecorded manifestation of spiritual gifts occurred on that historic occasion. Because God is a Spirit, the Holy Spirit is essentially invisible to mortal sight, and in Bible times as much as now. It would indeed be presumptuous to expect anything more. It was only at our Lord's baptism in Jordan that the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him; and we certainly are not to think of the Eternal Spirit as embodied in a dove, though the symbol of that pure and harmless bird is apt, and has become popular from St. Peter's in Rome to the rebuilt Spurgeon's Tabernacle in London. John the Baptist was conscious of Something manifest at Jordan; and so it was written that "I saw the Spirit descending like a dove." It was a momentous occasion. A comparison is permissible with the Day of Pentecost when "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire." Note in both cases the word "like," for the appearance was only a comparison with the ultimate reality of the Spirit. As a Person He remained unseen. In His talk with Nicodemus our Lord likened the operation of the Spirit to that of the wind. The wind can be powerfully felt but remain unseen. In charming

Wesley's Journal, Volume I. Monday, January 1, 1739. 16 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today language, Harriet Auber says in one of the most popular of all hymns about the Holy Spirit—"All powerful as the wind He came, as viewless too." In like manner, even though the meetings of the early Christians were enriched by the manifestations of the Spirit that we are considering, He still remained in• visible in His own Person. But for that reason there is little cause for wonder that they were prone to value too highly the more spectacular gifts of the Spirit such as "tongues" or "miracles" (note Galatians 3:5: "He that worketh miracles among you"). It was a mark of spiritual immaturity, both then and now, and Paul dealt with it as such;24 but we can sympathize with it. The way of progress was not by less manifestation of spiritual gifts, but by a true appreciation of the greater, though less spectacular, gifts. It was to the wide dif• fusion of the truly Pentecostal gift of prophecy that Paul looked for the sense of the Spirit's Presence. That this could produce a powerful effect even upon the un• believer present is stated when it is affirmed that "he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down he will worship God, and report that God is in (or among) you of a truth."25 Could any more emphatic testimony be asked for of the value and result of spirit• ual gifts in the Early Church when exercised decent• ly and in order? Let it be taken to heart that the result was worship, and not admiration of the gift. There must have been doctrine about the Spirit, but there was something more. It took time for a theology of the Spirit to develop in the Church. After the lapse of centuries we inherit a rich and diverse doctrine

24 1 Corinthians 14:20. 25 Ibid., vv. 24, 25. What Are Spiritual Gifts? 17 about the Spirit, but often have lost the actual manifes• tation of His power. Without putting a foolish premi• um upon ignorance we may at least be pardoned for seeing an enjoyment today of the manifestation of His gifts among believers with little knowledge of correct doctrines of the Spirit. Indeed, there has been in Pen• tecostal circles a suspicion, almost amounting to re• pudiation, of the term "theology" and "theological" as though they necessarily quenched the Spirit. This is far from the truth, but the deadening hand of mere head knowledge about the Spirit has to be reckoned with when Christians seek a heart knowledge of His grace and power. It is better, and indeed necessary, to have both head and heart enriched by Pentecostal outreach. The enjoyment of all the gifts of the Spirit produces just that. We noticed that the words "miraculous" and "super• natural" have been most generally used to describe the gifts that marked the Early Church. Yet it was such a gift as prophecy, exercised "with the understanding also"20 that produced the powerful effect noted above. The whole assembly would be permeated with the spirit of prophecy, and what we now usually describe as the "anointing" would charge all ministry with divine power. In whatever way it was manifested it was this sense of something supernatural that produced the over• whelming perception of the presence of God. If it had been otherwise there could easily have been a dazzling sense of the brilliant natural endowments of those who took a leading part in the gatherings. It is to the grief and shame of later eras, including our own, that this so often has occurred. The result has been glory to men, rather than the glory of God. Let us take to heart that

26 1 Corinthians 14:15. 18 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

all true manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit bring glory to the Giver alone. Since they are manifestations of the indwelling Spirit, it is fundamental that those who exercise them are filled with the Spirit at the time of their exercise. "All these worketh, or energizeth, that one Spirit."27 The bestowal of a spiritual gift does not imply an ability to use it at the will of the recipient; and doctrine on this point needs to be very carefully examined, lest we touch the prerogative of our Lord. They are a manifestation of the Spirit and not merely a manifestation of the gift. The distinction may seem subtle, but it is very im• portant. Experience has taught us in this revival that few things in a nominally Pentecostal meeting can be more barren and boring than attempts to use a gift without His divine energizing at its core. The whole performance becomes a flat denial of the very thing it is supposed to be illustrating. Apart from the Spirit there is just—nothing. But there is a vast field for the use among believers of fruitful ministries through consecrated natural talents employed under the unction of the Spirit. To try and discover the exact point where the supernatural is added will be an important part of our further studies. We must leave intact our conception of the essentially supernatural character of the charismata referred to in 1 Corinthians 12. The task will not be simple. There are some ministries that on the surface appear to have less of the supernatural about them than others. To see the Holy Spirit at work where we have not done so before, can be an exciting and enriching ad• vance in our personal life, and in this Pentecostal Revival. Perhaps one fundamental principle to guide

27 1 Corinthians 12:11 What Are Spiritual Gifts? 19 us is the recognition of the Holy Spirit as the Source and Giver of all grace in the life of the regenerate child of God. We want eyes to behold Him wherever He is at work. Pridie says, "The implication in the New Testament is always that the gifts are connected with the supernatural life of the Christians in whom they are manifested."28 One liberating line of truth is to enlarge our conception of that truly supernatural life. It is awe at the supernatural character of Christianity that clothes the Pentecostal Revival with its significance and unique value. Permit me to close this study with a testimony to the profound effect produced upon me as a young man in a Congregational church in London when I was making my first contacts with small Pentecostal meet• ings held in a private home dedicated to the Testi• mony. I admit the element of novelty at that time. Looking back, I can see the imperfect character of some of the manifestations of the Spirit. But never can I forget one night in particular when, looking at the stars shining overhead, as I walked home about mid• night through the streets of London, it dawned upon me that the early Christians must have experienced the same emotions as they wended their way home• wards through the streets of Corinth or Ephesus or Rome under those same stars after attending gatherings where the same Eternal Spirit had manifested His Presence in the same way. The centuries seemed to roll away for a brief span, and I entered into the endless communion of the Holy Ghost which is part of the benediction of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in all ages.

Op. cit., p. 58, Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching

If a Pentecostal Revival emphasizes "signs following" it must also emphasize the preaching of the Word that the signs are to confirm. If it be complained that we have had too little confirmation of our preaching with supernatural signs accompanying it, what shall we say of making a great deal of miracles of healing when there is little strong preaching and teaching of the Word to go with it? We need a balanced conception of truly Pentecostal ministry. In His earthly ministry our Lord went about teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.1 His abundant healing ministry accompanied, but did not supersede, His preaching and teaching. When the multitudes seeking only deliverance from sickness became so great that they were a positive hindrance to His teaching ministry, He deliberately withdrew into a mountain to be free to instruct His disciples in the principles of lasting blessedness.2 Paul gloried in Christ in his speech and preaching.3 When the curtain falls on his ministry in Rome he was

1 Matthew 4:23. 2 Matthew 5:1. 3 1 Corinthians 2:4. 20 Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 21 preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.4 It is true that he could boast of what Christ had wrought by him in "mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God," but it was because he fully preached the gospel of Christ.5 The teaching was the main plank of his ministry in which he was careful not to build upon another man's foundation. When writing to Corinth he was not afraid to thank God for his abun• dant ability to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave him utterance; yet he esteemed far more a gift by which, in the Church, he could teach others also.6 His letters to the churches were almost entirely devoted to teach• ing. It does not seem too much to affirm that the worldwide spread of Christianity throughout the cen• turies has been mainly accomplished by preaching and teaching. Other gifts of the Spirit, such as working of miracles, have always been regarded as handmaids to this supremely important ministry. Solid missionary work is not fulfilled by attracting huge crowds to witness a ministry of healing in a revival campaign. That is easy. It needs solid preaching and teaching to produce fruit that remains. The churches have not been entirely mistaken when they have consistently set apart and trained their choicest youth for the ministry of the Word. We rightly deplore and abjure a purely intellectual training that does not give proper place for the Holy Spirit; but emphasis upon the Holy Spirit does not mean that we turn our backs upon giving to the Lord a disciplined mind that has been well stocked by constant and sys• tematic study of the Scriptures. After all, it is by the

4 Acts 28:31. 5 Romans 15:19. 6 1 Corinthians 14:18, 19. 22 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

Word that sinners are born again and grow in grace. Only by steady teaching can young churches become established and then become centers of further evan• gelism.7 Any individual, any local church, any revival movement that does not give due importance to preaching and teaching the Word is doomed to weak• ness and inefficiency. I do not think we need labor the point. With the paramount importance of preaching the Word, and then teaching the disciples, established be• yond question, we now have to consider the place that gifts of the Spirit have in this ministry. That they do have a place ought never to be questioned. The sincere difficulty that has faced some Pentecostal believers is how to reconcile the ministry of preaching, and still more of teaching, with a conception of spiritual gifts that describes them as wholly supernatural. It may seem on the surface that even the greatest preaching and teaching only embodies the consecration and train• ing of natural talent. The existence and function of our Bible schools serve to strengthen this idea. The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit come to be re• garded as operating in a sphere above, and apart from, a teaching ministry. They may support it, and confirm it, but they do not contain and manifest it in them• selves. At least, this is what we have been told. If this be the truth then our dilemma is real. We are faced with the startling idea that the most important ministries in the Church do not contain a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit. The most we may claim for them, if this amazing idea is correct, is that they can be "anointed," by which, as I suppose, we mean be exercised under an obvious touch of God upon the soul.

1 peter 1:23; 2:2; Acts 11:26; 20:20, etc. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 23

I am sure there is much important truth here to which we must return. But it does not go far enough, or contain the full answer. An operation of the gifts of the Spirit necessitates a divine unction upon the speak• er, but it carries us further into the realm of the truly supernatural. The Scriptures place "teachers" high in the list of ministries set by God in the Church.8 They manifest the Spirit quite as much as miracles or gifts of healings. Very definitely they are not placed in a dif• ferent category. They share to the full the manifesta• tion of the same Spirit. A key passage to help us understand the matter is the second chapter of First Corinthians. In it Paul is oc• cupied with his "speech and his preaching."14 For this ministry he repudiates the excellence of speech or of wisdom that could be gained in schools of oratory or philosophy such as abounded in the world of his day. But he does not minimize the power of speech; rather he boldly claims that his "speech and his preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."15 Note carefully that he is not saying that his preaching was accompanied by such demonstrations; it was in itself just such a demonstration. It manifested the Spirit of God in action through the speaker. Two basic components are contained in the Pen• tecostal speaking: they are wisdom and knowledge. In this they follow the essential lines of general speaking and teaching, but on a different level. On the natural level the speaker handles "the wisdom of men";11 on the supernatural level he speaks "the wisdom of God in a mystery." The apparent foolishness of this to men of

8 1 Corinthians 12:38. 9 1 Corinthians 2:4. 10 1 Corinthians 2:4. 11 1 Corinthians 2:5. 24 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today this world12 is not that it is essentially foolish in the true sense, but it requires a humility of the natural mind which the wise of this world find difficult to compass. Jesus said, on the same subject, that His Father revealed these things to babes.13 In all our consideration of this matter we must keep before our minds that the two foremost gilts of the Spirit are the "word of wisdom" and the "word of knowledge." It is precisely wisdom and. knowledge that Paul testifies to in his speaking and preaching. And it is not only the possession of wisdom or knowl• edge as such: it is spoken wisdom and spoken knowl• edge. That is to say, it is a ministry of speech manifest• ing the Spirit. We believe, therefore, that in the min• istries of the preacher and the teacher we have the exercise of the two gifts that are placed at the head of the list in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. It is the Holy Spirit who gives the wisdom and knowledge which the speaker uses. "Now we have re• ceived, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."15 If our conception of -what is "supernatural" stands in the way of seeing the gifts of the Spirit in the ministries of preaching and teaching, then it is clear that our understanding of the meaning of "supernatural" needs correcting. Perhaps with some it is a confusion of "spectacular" with "supernatural." Before proceeding to seek a clarification of thought here it may be helpful to quote what outstanding

12 1 Corinthians 1:18. 13 Luke 10:21. 14 1 Corinthians 12:8 15 1 Corinthians 2:12, 13. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 25

teachers on the gifts of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge have said. So here is J. R. Pridie, to whom we referred in our first chapter:16 "In the informal list of the epistle to the Romans the gift of teaching is mentioned as one of the charismata, carry• ing with it obvious duties, which are however not defined either as regards matter or form. Hut in the companion list in 1 Corinthians 12:8 there is a clearer definition of the matter of teaching, though neither the gift of teaching nor the office of teacher is spe• cifically mentioned. But 'word of wisdom' and 'word of knowledge' imply both. 1 Corinthians 2 may be taken as an example of the word of wisdom . . . the Epistles of the New Testament are expositions of this knowledge of God, appealing to the intellectual as well as the purely spiritual faculties of those to whom they were addressed."17 And here are Professor J. Massie's notes on 1 Corin• thians 12:8: "Word of Wisdom: teaching of the deep things of God, His ways of salvation, which the Spirit alone can search out and reveal. Such teaching appeals to the rational faculty, and seeks to show the reason• ableness of the intuition."18 If any are disposed to cavil at such quotations be• cause they are not from teachers who have shared in the present Pentecostal Revival, let us at least ask the question whether what they saw was, or was not, in accord with the Scriptures of truth. And here are words from one of the finest Bible expositors the Pentecostal Movement itself has produced, the late Myer Pearl- man: The Word of Wisdom: "By this expression is meant the utterance of wisdom. What kind of wis-

16 Chapter 1, n. 17. 17 Pridie, op. cit., p. 102. 18 Notes on Corinthians in the Century Bible, p. 223. 26 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today dom?... In Paul's writings 'wisdom' is applied to knowl• edge of the divine plan, previously hidden, of providing men with salvation through the atonement of Christ. Hence all the treasures of wisdom are said to be hidden in Christ; the wisdom of God as evinced in forming and executing His Counsels.19 The word of wisdom, then, would seem to signify supernatural ability to utter forth wisdom along the above mentioned lines."20 On the Word of Knowledge Brother Pearlman says that it "is a supernaturally inspired utterance of facts. Along what lines? A study of the New Testament usage of the word 'knowledge' will supply the answer. The word denotes: the knowledge of God, such as is offered in the Gospels, especially in Paul's exposition of it; the knowledge of things that belong to God; intel• ligence and understanding; the knowledge of the Chris• tian faith the deeper, the more perfect, and enlarged knowledge of this religion, such as belongs to the more advanced," and so on. "What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?" continues Pearlman. "According to one scholar, knowledge is the insight into divine things, and wisdom is the skill which regulates Christian life according to its foundation prin• ciples. Thayer's Lexicon states that where 'knowledge' and 'wisdom' are used together, the former seems to be knowledge regarded by itself, the latter knowledge as exhibited in action."21 Wisdom is a greater gift than knowledge because wisdom is the power of using knowledge aright. But since knowledge is the raw material, so to speak, that wisdom uses, it follows that the more knowledge a man

19 1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 2:3. 20 Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible, (Springfield, Mo., Gospel Publishing House) pp. 321-22. 21 Ibid., p. 323. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 27 possesses, the larger can be his exhibition of wisdom. For example, a skilled driver can do more with a large and powerful car than he can with a little car, or a businessman with ample capital is likely to do more than an equally gifted man with meager capital. In Proverbs 15:2 we read that "the tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright," which is almost identical with the old definition that "wisdom is the right use of knowledge." Robinson defines the Greek "sophia" as "skill in the affairs of life, and especially in the New Testament of insight imparted by God in respect of the divine counsels."22 He further defines knowledge, or gnosis, as "the faculty of unfolding and expounding theoretically the deeper knowledge of fundamental principles of the Christian religion."23

It is noteworthy that in Paul's glowing prayers for the young churches of the apostolic era he prays partic• ularly that they may be granted knowledge. For the Ephesians he prays "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know.'"24 Note that this knowledge is to be granted supernaturally by the Spirit. Lower down he prays that they "may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge." 25 (Blessed paradox.) For the Colossians he prays: "We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye may be filled with the knowledge of

22 Lexicon, p. 728. 23 Ibid., p. 155. 24 Eph. 1:17, 18. 25 Ephesians 3:18, 19. 28 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." 26 We frequently hear Christians baptized in the Holy Spirit quoting the promise of Acts 1:8: "Ye shall re• ceive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you," and they pray, rightly enough, for this Pentecostal promise to be fulfilled. But is it sufficiently understood that knowledge is power? So many ideas of power run only on the lines of miracles and spectacular types of ministry, but those who touch power without knowledge usually end in disaster. No type or ministry needs spiritually gifted teaching to complement it more than a ministry of the miraculous. If the impartation of knowledge by the Spirit of God is a major means of growth in grace for all believers, it is to be looked for in a powerful ministry of preaching and teaching. A teacher who is exercising a gift of the word of knowl• edge in his ministry is liberating thereby a power that works upon his hearers in a measure that is truly supernatural. It can be life-changing. We can "feel the power." The time has now come in our study to examine what is meant by "supernatural." Taken literally the word means "above the natural, or beyond what nature will account for." 27 In our popular use of it in the Pen• tecostal Movement it becomes practically synonymous with "miraculous." Since the gifts of the Spirit are all of them classed together as manifestations of the One Spirit, the One Lord, and the One God, we must be very careful not to touch the glory due to His name. Loyalty to the truth that they do embody a unique shining forth of the Presence and Power of the Godhead is incumbent upon us all, and must be maintained in

26 Colossians 1:9. 27 Oxford English Dictionary. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 29 any exegesis of this great subject. Exposition must re• main fully "Pentecostal." In the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge there are two aspects of truth: (a) the impartation by the Spirit of the requisite basic wisdom and knowl• edge; (b) the giving of words by the Spirit whereby the wisdom and knowledge thus given can be imparted to others. As to the first, the method the Spirit employs is revelation. The word "revelation" is important. It means an uncovering; the veil is lifted; the mind is supernaturally enlightened; things become seen, or manifest, that before were only dimly grasped by un• aided natural powers. This does not supersede the importance of study and meditation on the things of God. As a matter of fact the revelation given by the Spirit is usually imparted during times of prayerful meditation. "While I was musing the fire burned."" The word means earnest meditation.29 "I meditate on all thy works: I muse on the work of thy hands." 30 Many would testify that it is during times of medita• tion they have received flashes of insight into truth that penetrated beyond the operation of their own un• aided intellect. Preachers and teachers sometimes have such revelation while in the act of preaching. I can remember hearing the late Smith Wigglesworth, who was an illiterate man, utter truths that went far be• yond his natural capacity to comprehend or express. He could amaze trained theologians by their profundity and hold them spellbound. I am sure the preacher himself did not know the full significance of what he had said

28 Psalm 39:3. 29 Young's Concordance. 30 Psalms 143:5. 30 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today though he was conscious of words that had come in a special way by the Spirit. Other preachers have tasted the same thrilling experience. And such revelation is not confined to preachers and preaching. Sometimes it involves a flash of insight upon a problem that has been completely baffling. The first gift of the Spirit is linked with the first office in the body of Christ.31 In the ministry of the apostle it is primarily governmental and can be looked for in, and by, those who occupy in some measure at least a position of leadership in the churches similar to the original apostles. Its manifestation may occur around the council table, or in giving guidance in those problems that Paul called "the care of all the churches." 32 Outstanding instances in the Acts of the Apostles occur in chapter six, with the appointment of deacons, and in chapter fifteen, at the Council in Jeru• salem. It is definitely asserted that "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." 33 In both cases the word of wisdom given by the Spirit brought peace and universal assent. It was recognized that God had spoken. But since our present study has to do with the ministry of preaching and teaching it may be startling at first to discover the word of wisdom also in evan• gelism. This links it with apostolic preaching of a mis• sionary order. Its manifestation in evangelism is exactly what Paul claims in the opening chapters of First Corin• thians. The deepest wisdom of God is contained in the cross of Christ.34 This is so far beyond human wisdom that it appears sheer foolishness to the man of this world. Only by a revelation of the Spirit can

32 1 Corinthians 12:8, 28. 33 2 Corinthians 11:28. 34 Acts 15:28. 35 1 Corinthians 1:24. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 31 the truths radiating from Calvary be apprehended. The wonder of the divine plan, once it is accepted by faith, entrances the newborn child of God. Among those no longer babes in Christ it provides a never ending source of wonder and praise that was "ordained before the world to our glory." 35 We are apt to regard evangelism as the most elemen• tary form of preaching, and speak of one who can "only" preach a gospel message. Yet to truly preach Christ and Him crucified takes us into the deepest depths of the fathomless grace of God. That is the reason why mature children of God usually enjoy a spiritual feast when they listen to one of God's true evangelists. Actually they often have listened to the first and greatest of all the gifts of the Spirit—the word of wisdom. A sadly opposite experience is when preachers try to give believers what they claim to be "deep" messages in a convention, and only succeed in fogging them with theories of their own invention. I often think that one of the greatest compliments ever given to a preacher or teacher is when people exclaim that he is so "simple." Why not? So he ought to be. But to be simple is not the same as being shallow. True simplicity has in it the greatest depth. An out• standing example in the Bible is the first chapter of the First Epistle of John. We might almost dare to add the sublime prologue of John's Gospel. How does the Spirit impart the word of knowledge? Or, more correctly, how does He impart the knowledge of which that word is a manifestation? The answer is exactly the same as for the word of wisdom—by revela• tion. Since the Scriptures make very little difference between wisdom and knowledge, we need not press

1 Corinthians 2:7. 32 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today a distinction too far. Yet there is a difference. Knowl• edge has to do with facts; wisdom is the application of those facts. A revelation of the facts gives us knowl• edge, but a revelation of the deeper meaning and perti• nence of the facts gives us wisdom. It is the function of the teacher, by the supernaturally imparted work of knowledge, to enlighten us as to the basic facts of our salvation; it is the function of the apostle and evangelist by the supernaturally imparted word of wisdom to ap• ply those facts to our spiritual condition. When we ac• cept the divine wisdom by faith (or as Massie put it, by our intuitional faculties), when our rational faculty lays hold with delight upon the reasonableness of the intuition, we are established by knowledge. It will help us to keep I Corinthians 2 constantly before us in study• ing this subject. It is a key passage. We need a correct understanding of the nature of the facts supernaturally revealed to us by the Spirit, which things we, as preachers and teachers, are to "speak." There will be no dispute that our Omniscient God, who knows all things, can convey in a supernatural way any item of knowledge which His people need. This can include clairvoyance and a diagnosis of the physical or spiritual needs of one who comes to us for prayer for deliverance; but when it becomes a settled feature of any preacher's ministry it must inevitably be suspect. God does not systematize His methods that way. Neith• er does the Holy Spirit put into our hands that which panders to men's natural love of the apparently won• derful. The question before us is whether such supernatural• ly imparted knowledge is what Paul had in mind when he put second on the list of spiritual gifts "to another the word of knowledge." The answer must surely be Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 33 in the negative when we look at the context. Lower in the chapter he gives the resultant ministries arising from the spiritual gifts. A ministry of "the word of knowledge" is not mentioned, but teachers definitely are. They are third on the list, even above "workers of miracles." A "word of knowledge" can be given by the Spirit of God on any subject, but it is not to be regarded as the very important gift in the Church of "the word of knowledge" as a classified ministry. First Corinthians 2 makes it clear that preaching and teach• ing are in mind. Really no question would arise were we not attracted to a conception of the supernatural that is incomplete. To recognize the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal ministries of preaching and teaching is a liberating truth of first importance. It can place before us a realm of thrilling new discovery in the mighty workings of our gracious God. When we turn to the true nature of the facts re• vealed by the Spirit of God as a basis of ministry we enter reverently into a profound realm of truth, for it has to do with "the thing which God has prepared for those that love Him." It is the gift of "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know." 36 Or again: "That ye may be able to com• prehend . . . and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge;"37 or again: "That ye may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spir• itual understanding."38 The importance of Christians understanding the things of God cannot be overesti-

36 Ephesians 1:17, 18. 37 Ephesians 3:19. 38 Colossians 1:9. 34 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

mated, and it is just this that makes the ministries of preaching and teaching of such transcendent impor• tance. The main function of a true teacher is to impart the knowledge that is the ground for wisdom. "The eyes of your understanding" implies the intellect and more than the intellect. Robinson defines the Greek word as "a thinking through, mature thought."39 J. B. Phillips translates it, "the inner illumination of the spir• it," and the New English Bible "your inward eyes may be illumined."36 The object of such illumination is far more than a revelation of certain facts, even though that can be wonderful on its own level. But to understand these glowing prayers aright we must see that they refer to knowledge in the highest realms. It is knowledge of God, and of His great salvation in His Son. The ministry that conveys it to the Church is what Paul rightly called "the word of knowledge." It is a ministry of the Spirit. It inspires truly Pentecostal teaching. We usually refer to the anointing upon a person's spoken ministry, and continually plead for it. The blessing is elusive and notoriously difficult to define. Perhaps the best definition would be that it is the touch of God upon a preacher. We soon recognize it, and rejoice. But is there something more? Is there something peculiarly Pentecostal? Is there a spiritual gift that can be additional even to the anointing? Can we recognize this Pentecostal "plus"? We have come to the border• line between the natural and the supernatural, and it is a fallacy to imagine that it is easily drawn. We may wish it could be so, but we must accept the truth. The spiritually immature love the outwardly wonder• ful, such as "tongues" or "miracles." They are so im-

Robinson, op. cit., p. 180. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 35 mediately recognizable as remarkable. This kind of preference for the spectacular in spiritual gifts caused the Corinthian Christians to prefer "tongues" to "prophecy"; and it was to correct this misguided sense of relative values that moved Paul to give them teach• ing that has been of high value to every succeeding generation of believers who have tasted these things. To recognize the "better gifts" in the "word of wisdom" or the "word of knowledge" is even more difficult for those whom Paul calls "children in spiritual under• standing."" He pleads with them to put away childish things and become men. To not only enjoy the anoint• ing, but to recognize the spiritual gift behind the anointing, inspiring it, is one of the deep delights of the spiritually mature. It is lamentable to see the powerful ministry of truly Pentecostal preaching and teaching laid aside while we are asked to listen to an emotional outburst in "tongues" that either interrupts or follows the greater gift. The novelty may impress the unbeliever for the moment, but the believers are not edified. When such abuses of speaking with tongues become a custom we may be sure we are heading for sterility. We do need to understand where spiritual authority truly lies. The relative values of the varied gifts of the Spirit is a principle to appreciate at all costs. To value as we ought the precious quality of divine inspiration in all the gifts of the Spirit, while at the same time we recognize the inescapable human ele• ment in them, is the mark of being well instructed in the truth." We must accept the blending of the natural with the

40 1 Corinthians 14:20. 41 1 Corinthians 14:14, 32, etc. 36 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

supernatural as part of the wisdom of God. The lad gave to Jesus his own loaves and fishes, and then our Lord supernaturally multiplied them with creative power.42 Shipwrecked on Malta, the Apostle picked up sticks as a very natural means of kindling a fire and keeping it burning; yet when a viper fastened on his hand he shook it off into the fire as a supernatural "sign following."43 Just before that, a supernatural revelation had been given to Paul that the whole com• pany would be saved; yet they all had to swim or take other natural means of getting to shore in order that the word might be fulfilled.44 Always in the Bible there is this exquisite blending of the natural and the supernatural. Happy is the man whose eyes are open to see the hand of God in the common things of life, as well as in the supernatural and spectacular inter• ferences with the ordinary course of nature. It is one of the subtle dangers to which we are subject in a revival of emphasis upon the supernatural in Chris• tianity that we strain to see the miraculous where it neither exists nor is called for. It is a deeper fallacy, which we are seeking to reveal just now, when we do not see the hand of God manifested except in some outward wonder. The application of this principle to recognizing a manifestation of the Spirit in a ministry of preaching or teaching is immediately apparent. The spiritual gifts in operation are there, but they need to be seen for what they truly are by the grace of God. So of the things which we have said, this is the sum: (a) The wisdom and knowledge of the things of God that are the essence of a Pentecostal ministry of preach• ing and teaching are imparted by the Spirit through

42 John 6:9. 43 Acts 28:3. 44 Ibid., 27:44. Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 37 revelation. This does not supersede more ordinary methods of study and prayerful meditation. By the grace of God it works through and with them. It pro• vides something added which we can justly call super• natural, (b) The words of wisdom and the words of knowledge through which these things are spoken are also given by the Spirit. They are uttered under a manifest unction of the Spirit that transcends in a super• natural way the level of gifted natural expression. The words are taught by the Holy Ghost, as saith the Scrip• ture." The spiritually mature discern such words for what they really are. The immature are conscious only of a special grace and power upon the speaker, but do not immediately recognize it as being supernatural. That is their loss and leads to fanatical substitutes for the truth. There is a vast body of preaching and teaching for which no claim for any supernatural element can be made. This ordinary level of preaching contains vary• ing degrees of truth, and fulfills a necessary function of high importance in the churches. For this vital ministry we tightly instruct and train our preachers and teachers in our schools. This was in Paul's mind when he instructed Timothy that: "The things which thou hast heard of me among witnesses, the same com• mit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. "45 Nothing supernatural is implied there. If such men have natural abilities, and if they are wholly consecrated, they will be given a grace of the Spirit upon them which we usually describe as "the anointing" and in which we rightly rejoice to the glory of God. But at the heart of such ministries there can

43 1 Corinthians 2:13. 44 Timothy 2:2. 38 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today sometimes he a supernatural operation of the Spirit that adds something that lifts them to a truly Pen• tecostal level. We believe this happens far more often than most people recognize. We frequently hear prayers that the Lord will give us "all the nine gifts," or else the "greater gifts." What these vague requests apparently have in mind is mani• festations of the Spirit so outwardly unusual that they will compel the attention of the unbeliever to that which is spectacular and extraordinary. Not long ago I was asked by a young Presbyterian minister if I could direct him to a Pentecostal church where he could see all the gifts of the Spirit in operation. I think I could have done so, but I do not think it would have satisfied him until his understanding had been purged from ideas of the gifts gleaned from misleading literature on the subject. Our supreme need where the manifestation of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge in the ministries of preaching and teaching is concerned is recognition. If we are looking for that which the New Testament leads us to expect we can rejoice that God is among us of a truth. But if we persist in demanding that which we choose to describe as "one hundred percent supernatural" we shall probably con• tinue to cry in vain for what we call the "greater gifts"; or, what is more likely, we shall imagine that we are seeing them in farfetched conceptions that lead us to fanaticism and through that to futility. To live and work in a sane, but truly Pentecostal, spiritual atmosphere can be our constant privilege and delight. To recognize the grace of God at work in a wide variety of ministries given by His Spirit, whether in the spectacular, or in the quieter, ways of life, pro- Spiritual Gifts for Preaching and Teaching 39 vides a constant delight to reverent hearts. To thank and praise Him for all that He is doing among the churches not only glorifies the Giver of every good and perfect gift, but also encourages our Pentecostal preachers and teachers to expect greater things yet- not greater gifts, but mightier operation of the spiritual gifts already tasted. In closing we offer a simple help for babes in Christ to recognize the greater gifts of the Spirit in operation. It comes from the immortal story of our Lord's walk and talk with two of His disciples on the way to Em- maus after He had risen from the dead. They said one to another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?" Now our Lord has returned to the Father, but He has sent the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, to take His place. That blessed Spirit per• forms the same functions of opening to the disciples the Scriptures concerning Christ. He does it through the gifts that He has placed within the body of Christ. And whenever we are privileged to hear those super• natural ministries we also testify, "Did not our heart burn within us?" That is the seal and token of a Pen• tecostal ministry of preaching and teaching. -3-

Prophetical Ministry

Prophesying stands at the very heart of all truly Pentecostal declaration of the Word of God. On the Day of Pentecost, when "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance," 1 Peter declared plainly that "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my hand• maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."2 So the speaking with tongues was a form of prophesying. Related to it were visions and dreams. Although the gift of prophecy is listed separately from "divers kinds of tongues" in 1 Corin• thians 12:8-10, yet Peter's linking of the two manifes• tations makes them almost identical at Pentecost. Un• der the broad heading of prophesying would come visions and dreams, and much more. What is prophesying? We must at once proceed to

1 Acts 2:4. 2 Acts 2:16-18, quoting Joel 2:28, 29. 40 Prophetical Ministry 41 definition. The Greek' word for "prophet" is "one who speaks forth a message." Its parallel in Hebrew means a speaker, or rather a spokesman, one who speaks for another. The prophet was essentially "a speaker for God." 3 He is a man with a message. Whatever place we may assign the prophet in the New Testament Church, we all recognize the greatness and grandeur of the Hebrew prophets and agree that they were "holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." 4 Our conception of the ministry of the gift of prophecy in the Church ought not be divorced from its inspired roots in the Old Dis• pensation, although in claiming a similarity we must proceed with the utmost care. Our present purpose is to rightly define and understand the place of the proph• et and the gift of prophecy in the Christian Church. For this we must build our doctrine on the New Testa• ment Scriptures. But we may justly see the guiding lines of truth leading right back into those sundry times and divers manners when "God spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets." 5 In its essentials prophesy• ing remains the same. As we have already said, the guiding mark of pro• phetical ministry is that it carries a message from God. In the brief book of Haggai this is expressed clearly: "Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people."6 The proper introductory phrase for the prophet giving his message thus becomes, "Thus saith the Lord." It is quite un• necessary to multiply references, for it is continually re• peated. The idea is that the prophet was the mouth-

3 Angus, Bible Handbook, p. 235. 4 2 Peter 1:21. 5 Hebrews 1:1. 6 Haggai 1:13. 42 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today piece of Jehovah. Luke records the father of John the Baptist declaring: "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world be• gan"7; and this is repeated by Peter speaking in the temple.8 This conviction stamped the word of the true prophet with a divine authority and branded as blas• phemy the word of the false. It could be punishable by death. The Hebrew prophets were God's messengers to the Nation, and even to the nations. This was in the realm of abiding principles of righteousness and the fear of the Lord. At times this moved them to try and in• fluence political action. A striking example is Jeremiah who made himself unpopular to the point of death by counseling that it was expedient for the Jews to submit to the king of Babylon.9 In our own times of political uncertainty and moral slackness we are tempted to cry for preachers with a prophetical ministry to the nation who can lift up their voice like a trumpet in a call to repentance and trust in the God of their fathers. We need to keep clear in our minds, however, that no Gentile nation today occupies the same position in history before Almighty God as did the Hebrews. Calls to national repentance and faith are opportune when addressed to the millions of individuals who compose the nation, but the decisions are to be personal. A political prophet, if there be such, need not be a Chris• tian at all. We are considering the ministry of the prophet in the Church. He can have a message through the Church in a recall to the basic principles of Chris• tian life and action. Possibly what we often have in

7 Luke 1:70. 8 Acts 3:21. 9 Jeremiah 26 or 29. Prophetical Ministry 43 mind when we call for some parallel today to the Hebrew prophets of old is more truly that of a great evangelist with a prophetic ring in his message. But our deeper need is that of prophets in the Church, who bring the churches the message of God that they in their turn may be sanctified to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.10 * In the Early Church there appears to be a distinction between those who prophesied and those who were officially classed as "prophets." They came second only to the apostles and are included in the "founda• tions."11 Yet even here there seems to have been "prophets" like Agabus, or Judas, or Silas, whose au• thority was considerably less than that of the apostles.12 Some were stationary in an assembly, as in Antioch,13 while others itinerated. It says of the four daughters of Philip simply that they "prophesied,"13 and the "proph• ets" referred to by Paul in the church in Corinth14 appear to have been entirely local. As a matter of fact that spiritually gifted church could have meetings where all present could prophesy. So widely diffused was the gift of prophecy among them.15 Although there appears to be a distinction between official proph-

10 Matthew 5:13-16. 11 Ephesians 2:20; 4:11. 12 Acts 11:27; 15.32. 13 Acts 13:1. 14 1 Corinthians 14:29, 32. 15 Ibid., vv. 24, 31.

* Some ten years ago I heard the late W. E. Sangstcr preach a great sermon in the Westminster Central Hall in which he listed ten of the besetting sins and spiritual needs of the British people. I felt quite a special power in his message, but I confess I was surprised to find the next morning that it had hit the headlines of the national dailies. I am sure that Sangster knew something of the unction of the Spirit, and the Lord certainly spoke by him that historic night. The condemnation of his hearers was all the greater. Messages of that order are far above the little condemnatory messages of lesser men worked up for cheap sensational purposes. There was something sublime about Sangster that night.—D.G. 44 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today ets and those who prophesied, it is arbitrary to claim for the prophets anything more than that they were those who exercised a frequent and proved gift of prophesying. The nature of that ministry is beautifully described as "speaking unto men to edification, ex• hortation and comfort,"16 and among such would certain• ly be a character like Barnabas. But all this must be held within the supreme definition of a prophet in that he was always a man with a message. He spoke to the heart, to the conscience, to the will. His message had a "thus saith the Lord" embedded in its tone. In this the teacher differed from the prophet, and that the two are to be regarded as distinct is evident from Acts 13:1 or Ephesians 4:11. The teacher brought a doctrine rather than a message. The teacher's min• istry also carried divine authority, and especially if it embodied the ministry of the word of knowledge re• vealed by the Holy Spirit, the Great Teacher. But the teacher handled abiding truth rather than a specific message for the occasion. A message has a name and address on it, but a doctrine is in the nature of an open letter or book. It seems worthwhile to attempt a dis• tinction between teaching and prophesying, although both come from the same Spirit. The teachers are ranked slightly below the prophets in the lists of ministries in I Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11; but this would only be true when the prophets were exercising their ministry at its highest level. Actually in 1 Corinthians 14 we have Paul teaching the proph• ets! It has been said that a large part of Church history has been a struggle between her prophets and her teachers, between the inspirational and emotional ele• ments, and the reasonable and logical. If this has any

10 Ibid., v. 3. Prophetical Ministry 45 truth in it then we need to understand our present subject more than ever. But instead of a conflict be• tween the two there should be the fullest cooperation; and there always is when the same Spirit is recognized in both, and the personalities He is using have known His sanctifying, as well as His inspiring, power. The ministry of both the prophet and the teacher can come within what we broadly call "preaching." But so can evangelizing and exhortation. There has to be some peculiar and particular quality in preaching before it can qualify to be classed as prophesying. The easy way the two have been equated is misleading. The Prophet must have an element of inspiration in his speaking. The Amplified New Testament enlarges 1 Corinthians 14:3 to read: "The one who prophesies, who interprets the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching." At the outset of his teaching on spiritual gifts it is significant that Paul says, "no man speaking by the Spirit of God."17 That is, he claims inspiration. It was the afflatus of the Spirit at Pentecost that made them all prophesy, and thus ful• filled Joel's prediction. Robinson in his Lexicon18 has some valuable thoughts under "Prophets." He says: "Those who possessed the prophetic gift or Charisma imparted by the Holy Spirit.... The Prophets were a class of instructors or preachers who were next in rank to the Apostles and before Teachers. They seem to have differed from the Teachers in this, that while the latter spoke in a calm, connected, didactic discourse, adapted to instruct and enlighten the hearers, the prophet spoke more from the impulse of sudden inspiration, from the light of a

17 1 Corinthians 12:3. 18 P. 693. 46 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

sudden revelation at the moment (1 Corinthians 14: 30) and his discourse was probably more adapted by means of powerful exhortations to awaken the feelings and conscience of the hearers." J. B. Pridie has some useful things to say on the subject also: "Taking then the main idea of true prophecy in the New Testament to be the same as in the Old Testament, namely that of speaking out the counsel of God, we may examine some of the instances (e.g. 1 Corinthians 14) where this charisma of the Church is claimed and its use discussed . . . The proph• et's mind is clearly at work upon his message, and the mind of his hearers as well. It is cast in a form that en• gages the intellect, yet which touches the deeper springs." This is a valuable sidelight that "the prophet's mind is clearly at work upon his message," for some hold a mistaken idea that the prophet's mind is held in sus• pension while he prophesies. This is only true if we are careful to define what Robinson means by a sudden revelation at the moment. This can come like a flash during the giving of a prophetic message, the main body of which had already been imparted by revelation. It is perfectly clear from 1 Corinthians 14:30 and 32 that the Christian prophet was not swept by an uncon• trollable impulse, and it is also clear that the others could judge the degree of inspiration in the prophesy• ing. The intellectual powers were not suspended, but enlightened. Yet it still continued to be a "message" and not a doctrine, as it would be through the word of knowledge. Pridie describes as "The Correlative Char• ismata of Prophecy" such gifts as the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge. The Pentecostal source of them all is the spirit of prophecy. In this the ministry of the Hebrew prophets helps us, for it is clear that in Prophetical Ministry 47

their case their minds "were at work on their mes• sage." It is the personality of the prophet that feels the "burden of the Lord." It was when the child Samuel "listened" that he was established to be a prophet of the Lord.19 The committing of their great messages of a later period to writing is inconceivable unless their minds were at work on their ministry. If Baruch be adduced as an example of a prophet dictating his mes• sage at speed 20 it should be noted that the message could be repeated and added to as the need arose. Although a prophet may at times appear to be, and indeed is, carried along with the wind of the Spirit like a vessel before a gale, yet control is never lost. Neither does God ask for it to be lost. The obedience of the messenger is an intelligent, and not mechanical, submission. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit does not degrade the personality of the prophet; it ennobles it. It is the essential place of the spirit of the prophet himself that constitutes the need of judging all prophet• ical ministry. Wishful thinking can so easily enter in. There is a dramatic example between Hananiah and Jeremiah.21 The spirit of the prophet cannot be elim• inated, but it must be sanctified. It reads as though the Thessalonian Christians had been deceived by proph• ets, presumably about the Day of the Lord, and as a result were tempted to despise prophesyings and so quench the manifestation of the Spirit in their midst. This would never do, and so they were exhorted not to despise, but to prove, all things and hold fast that which is good." The claim to inspiration is permissible,

19 1 Samuel 3. 20 Jeremiah 36. 21 Jeremiah 28. 22 I Thessalonians 5:17, 18; 1 John 4:1-3. 48 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today but not the claim to infallibility. The New Testament has clear instructions for trying the spirits which we neglect at our peril. The word to judge means to distinguish or to discern clearly, to note accurately.22 In plain language—not to accept a prophetical message until we have examined it, and then hold it fast if we are satisfied as to its truth. In Romans 12:6 we are told to prophesy "according to the proportion of faith." Weymouth has a helpful note: "Let there be no word spoken but from the conviction that God gives it." The prophet has a responsibility to judge the measure of his own inspiration when exercising his gift. It is a common practice for all and sundry when prophesying to use the first person singular, and so claim to be nothing less than the mouthpiece of Almighty God for rather ordinary exhortations. We hear to a point of weariness the phrase, "I the Lord say unto you." This admittedly carries the root idea of prophesying, but it is not essential. The message can be given in less elevated language. To suggest this is not to doubt the sincerity of the speaker, but it does impose less of a strain upon those who have the scriptural duty of judging the amount of divine inspiration involved. It seems very difficult for some people to recognize any source of prophetic utterance except either the divine or the satanic. They refuse to see the important place of the human spirit. As a matter of fact there can be a whole range of degrees of inspiration, from the very high to the very low. But once the idealist meets a prophecy which is palpably false, or at least very mixed, he loses faith in all. Possibly the haunting theory of the wholly supernatural in spiritual gifts adds to his difficulty. The majority of prophecies which we

23 Robinson, op cit. p. 177. Prophetical Ministry 49 feel compelled either to reject as such, or else receive with great reserve, emanate from the human spirit. They are not demonic, although that has been the fa• vorite accusation of enemies of the Pentecostal Move• ment. But it is the spirits of the prophets themselves that can be controlled," and a sound doctrine of the human spirit is important for all who have to do with proph• etic utterances. Even with many declared to be false prophets in the Old Testament it is their own spirits that are active. Thus in Jeremiah 23:16 they "speak a vision out of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord." In Ezekiel 13:2 they "prophesy out of their own hearts ... the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing." One could multiply instances. The explanation is simple —the prophet is unsanctified and seeks to impose his own will, or his own wishful thinking, by means of prophetic language. It thus assumes an authority that deceives the unwary or untaught. Once listeners sur• render their right of judgment the danger is very great. This supposed prophesying can be used to float false doctrines, or more often a system of church govern• ment. Usually it carries threats to those who do not obey, and produces a miserable system of fear and bondage, very far from the edification and comfort that come through a ministry truly inspired by the Comforter. Only recently an instance came to my knowledge of a promising revival movement in Africa that had fallen under the power of two prophetesses who have brought young churches into bondage to their ambition. Indeed, African "prophet" movements are notorious, and have caused those in authority to

24 1 Corinthians 14:32. 50 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today look with suspicion upon all such. We have had sad instances much nearer home of Pentecostal movements perverted in this way. But I will not yield to the temptation to enlarge from personal experience of these unhappy things. Thirty years ago I spoke strongly on that line one night in the Stone Church, Chicago, and felt rather self-satisfied with my words of warning. But at the close of the service a humble sister came up to me and said quietly, "Brother Gee, you have told us how to avoid the false, but you have not told us how to get the true." It was a wise word, and I felt humbled. It is much easier to be destructive than constructive. There is a true ministry of prophecy which we are commanded to covet,25 and we must not allow error to rob us through unbelief. The true prophet in the churches receives his messages by waiting upon God and thus receives some part of the "burden of the Lord." Sudden revelation there may be, but it is not given to those out of close communion with God. There are times when a servant of the Lord shrinks from telling forth what God has revealed to him. This was a frequent experience of the Hebrew proph• ets. Actually it is a very costly ministry to be a true prophet of the Lord. One of the abiding safeguards for those who wish to be true is humility of mind, and a willingness always to submit their revelation "to another that sitteth by." "It is," says Pridie, "the spiritual faculties that are employed in receiving the matter for prophecy, while the intellectual faculties are called into play in order that the substances of the prophetic communication may be transmuted into mat• ter for the edification of the Church. The spiritual

25 1 Corinthians 14:39. Prophetical Ministry 51 faculties are receptive, the intellectual are selective .. . The seer is lifted above, never set beside himself, although it may be necessary that some other members of the body should cooperate with him by the exercise of his own particular gift in order to bring the seer's gift to fruition. Indeed it may be said that this need of cooperation was itself a safeguard against the danger of Christian prophecy being confused with heathen forms of divination."26 Since our theme is spiritual gifts in the work of the ministry it would take us a little off our line to deal with the grave problems raised by the habit of giving and receiving personal "messages" of guidance through the gifts of the Spirit. Yet this possesses an attraction that often can be described as little less than a fascination for many good people. Strangely enough, it seems to appeal to the cultured and educated almost more than to the unlearned and ignorant. I suppose we all desire to hear guiding words from the Lord. The Bible gives a place for such direction from the Holy Spirit,27 and we have the privilege of keeping a place for it also. It can provide some of the most precious Pentecostal experiences of a lifetime. But it must be kept in proportion. An examination of the Scriptures will show us that as a matter of fact the early Christians did not continually receive such voices from heaven. In most cases they made their decisions by the use of what we often call "sanctified common- sense" and lived quite normal lives.28 Many of our errors where spiritual gifts are concerned arise when we want the extraordinary and exceptional to be made

26 J. R. Pridie, op. cit., pp. 97, 98. 27 E.g., Acts 8:29; 13:2; 16:6, 7 28 E.g., Romans 1 5:23-33; 1 Corinthians 16. Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

the frequent and habitual. Let all who develop ex• cessive desire for "messages" through the gifts take warning from the wreckage of past generations as well as from contemporaries. For most of our Christian pathway we are to walk by faith and not by sight. The Holy Scriptures are a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Temperance in all things is a good principle in this matter also, and, indeed, is Paul's own guiding principle when dealing with these attractive spiritual gifts in his letter to the Corinthians. He de• liberately rations their use to "two or three at the most," and all attempts to evade the principle lead to disaster. It is clear that even the inspiring Spirit of God does not make void the possibilities of perversions by the human spirit.

* * * *

All that we have written above applies with equal force to the use of the twin gifts of tongues and inter• pretation of tongues for giving what are usually called "messages." They then become an equivalent of proph• esying. One of the interesting phenomena of the Pentecostal Movement has been the development of this habit of frequent "messages" in tongues. The scriptural basis for this is extremely meager, being almost entirely limited to a few verses in the early part of 1 Corinthians 14 where it says that "greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues except he inter• pret." This follows a perfectly clear statement that the purpose of tongues is for speaking to God, but that the purpose of prophesying is for speaking to men. The Prophetical Ministry 53

most that the gift of interpretation of tongues can do is to lift the level of an utterance in tongues to that of a prophecy. How, then, can we explain and justify the frequent habit of giving "messages" of a prophetic nature by means of the dual exercise of the spiritual gifts of tongues and interpretation instead of by direct proph• esying? On the divine side we can only be humbly grateful for the grace of God that has condoned our weakness. That He has undoubtedly, and again and again, truly spoken to us in this way by His Spirit we are compelled to admit by a thousand living testi• monies. But departure from the plain meaning of Holy Scripture always is fraught with risk. In this case problems arise that really are quite unnecessary if we stick to the Word. Among the most common is the fact that so often the length and the quality of the "interpretations" bear no resemblance to the pre• ceding "tongues." The most plausible explanation is that the whole thing really is "prophesying," but the preceding "tongues" have liberated faith for the ut• terances of prophecy. This need not be, but we have been caught in a habit that has hardened into a tradi• tion. It is the unusual and spectacular nature of messages in tongues that constitutes their appeal rather than the actual substance of the messages themselves, which could more simply be given either by direct prophecy, or a word of wisdom or knowledge. Conybeare puts his finger on it when he comments that Paul "looks upon the gift of prophecy as one of the greatest instruments for the conversion of unbelievers, and far more service• able in this respect than the gift of tongues, although by some of the new converts it was not so highly es- 54 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today teemed because it seemed less strange and wonderful."29 It is not only new converts to Christianity, but new participants in the Pentecostal Revival that now prefer tongues to other less spectacular means of giving the Lord's message, just because they are "more strange and wonderful." In extenuation we can remind our• selves that the Pentecostal Revival has broken out in a period when the supernatural element in Christianity has fallen to a low ebb, and been widely denied. For that reason "tongues" have had a special appeal. Per• haps the habit of giving so many public messages by tongues and interpretation has been divinely permitted until a more mature appreciation of the better gifts of the Spirit, which we are commanded to covet,30 has been arrived at through spiritual maturity. When the Pentecostal churches arrive at that maturity of under• standing they will see what Paul meant when, although he thanked God he spoke with tongues more than them all, he was bold enough to affirm that "in the church I had rather speak five words with my under• standing . . . than ten thousand in an unknown tongue." This does not mean a descent from the supernatural to the natural, but an ascent from a lower to a higher, or "better," spiritual gift. Incidentally we also are shown that even in the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit the privilege of human preference is allowed a place. It is written that "tongues are for a sign ... to them that believe not." 31 That is to say, the manifestation of the glossalalia does provide an evidence of some• thing supernatural in a meeting of Christians that

29 Op. cit., Chapter XIV. 30 1 Corinthians 12:31. 311 Corinthians. 14:22. Prophetical Ministry 55 can arrest attention, and open the way for the preach• ing of the Word to do its work. In this case the sign of the tongue is of the nature of a miracle. This was its nature on the Day of Pentecost. Then we may expect it to be in some recognizable language, which makes it much more impressive when the language is naturally unknown to the speaker. Ordinarily there is no need to be anxious to identify a "tongue" spoken under a fullness of the Spirit. The Scripture says that "no man understandeth him." 33 At this late hour there is no need to explode the fallacy that the gift of tongues was given for "preaching the gospel to the heathen." That false idea was never supported by the context, nor by experience. Testimonies that seem to support it are to a miracle, not to the gift of tongues. It is for speaking to God "in a mystery." The context teaches that the purpose of the gift of tongues is devotional, and for uttering praise or prayer. It is a language given to the human spirit by the Holy Spirit for expressing ecstatic utterances that the speaker finds it difficult to declare in his ordinary language. Obviously this would not be of use in a public meeting where no man could under• stand it, and for that purpose the Spirit can give a parallel gift of "interpretation of tongues" in order that others may be able to say an intelligent "Amen." This does not alter the essentially devotional char• acter of the utterance in a "tongue," nor turn it into a message. We are left with the plain inference that the proper sphere for the gift of tongues is in a private devotion, and for that reason it need not occupy us unduly as a gift for ministry. That it has a true value is proved by Paul's gratitude to God that

32 Ibid. v. 2. 56 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today he personally enjoyed such a spiritual gift in a super• lative measure. The inference has been drawn that one secret of Paul's fruitful public ministry was this private, secret means of uninhibited intercourse with God by the Spirit. The idea is attractive and not without a permissible basis. In these studies we are not going outside the Bible, and need not take up the psychological aspects of speaking with tongues as a possible natural, as well as supernatural, phenome• non. While the habit of using the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues for prophetical messages remains among us there are certain wise rules to be observed. A speaker in tongues should not normally interrupt an anointed preacher of the Word. The habit of immediately following an anointed sermon with utterance in tongues also is not to be recom• mended, for it only tends to distract from the impres• sion already made by the Word. Usually these things arise from a Spirit-filled, but undisciplined, believer's feeling a personal agreement with the Word preached. His own spirit is stirred within him and he mistaken• ly feels that it is the Spirit of God. Should this utterance be genuinely interpreted it usually turns out to be nothing exceptional, and only what the preacher would have said, or has already said, in any case. The whole habit is rooted in the mistaken idea that the utterance in tongues possesses a quality of supernatural inspiration not present in the ministry of the Word, and that idea arises from failure to recognize the better gifts of the same Spirit being manifested in preaching and teaching. It is more excusable when the preaching has not been anointed, or manifesting any spiritual gift, but it is noticeable Prophetical Ministry 57 that in that case there is usually little desire to respond by an utterance in tongues. If an utterance in a tongue is not really a prophetic message then any attempt at giving an "interpreta• tion" without the unction from the Holy One is worse than useless. There are times in a Pentecostal assembly when many present feel their emotions deeply stirred. It is easy to express this by speaking out in tongues when the Spirit has given that gift; some develop great fluency in doing this and are tempted to think it is rather wonderful. Yet the speaker in tongues places upon the shoulder of anoth• er the great responsibility of making what he has said intelligible to the congregation. He shirks the real burden. Very often it is more truthful to at• tempt no presumed "interpretation" at all, but to let the meeting proceed. The speaker in tongues ought really to have spoken to himself and to God, for he had no real message, but only an overflow of personal emotion.33 As to the genuine spiritual gift of "interpretation of tongues," it is ascribed to "another" 34 and there• fore can be a separate ministry. It differs from ordinary natural interpretation from one language to another such as is common in many lands, par• ticularly in Europe. In my old teaching day in Danzig I used to have a double-barrelled interpretation, for I taught in English, and on one side had an inter• preter into German, and on the other side one into Russian. But this spiritual gift requires no natural knowledge of the language spoken, but a revelation of the mind of the Spirit. It is an interpretation or even explanation of words of ecstatic thanksgiving

33, 34 See the appropriate passages in 1 Corinthians 12-14. 58 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today and praise. The one who obviously is anointed for that occasion had better carry on," 35 but it should also be remarked that those who love to speak in tongues in meetings ought to pray for the gift and grace to interpret their own utterances." 36 In the ex• uberance of a Pentecostal Revival of spiritual gifts there is bound to be a lot of speaking with tongues, especially in its initial period; but the golden rule of love, if accepted, will soon bring things into God's decency and order. The need is to develop a sense of relative values, and covet earnestly the better gifts. All must be conducive to building up the assembly in holiness. We noticed that on the Day of Pentecost, Peter in• cluded dreams and visions among the manifestations of the spirit of prophecy. They were among the "divers manners" by which God spoke by the prophets in the Old Dispensation.37 They are also carried over into the New, where we have the Lord directing Ananias to Saul in Damascus; Peter's vision on the housetop in Joppa; Paul's historic vision of the man of Macedonia, and later in the temple at Jerusalem.38 All these visions were for divine guidance. Paul boasted in Christ of his visions and revelations of the Lord.39 Tracing the lines back into the Old Testament we find that "he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer." 40 A seer is quite simply one who sees, but officially one who sees visions, "a person of preternatural insight." There are several

35 36 See appropriate passages in 1 Corinthians 12-14. 37 Hebrews 1:1. 38 Acts 9:10; 10:3; 16:9; 22:18. 39 2 Corinthians 12:1. 40 1 Samuel 9:9. Prophetical Ministry 59

instances of the prophets possessing this spiritual abil• ity, which would now be described as clairvoyance, which also the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "the faculty of seeing mentally what is happening or exists out of sight; exceptional insight." Elisha the prophet had a remarkable spiritual gift on this line, as when he disclosed the secret counsels of the king of Syria to the king of Israel, or when he revealed Gehazi's covetous heart. He seemed almost surprised when the Lord had hidden from him the trouble of the Shunam- mite woman." Something of the same supernatural insight was given to Peter in the New Testament in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, and with Simon the sorcerer in Samaria.42 In recent years there has developed a practice with• in the Pentecostal Movement of diagnosing the secret diseases of- those who come for divine healing. There have been some remarkable instances of correct revela• tion and the obviously supernatural element has glori• fied the Lord. But, as so often happens, there has been a misguided attempt to make a habit of that which should be unusual and therefore impressive and sancti• fying. It is cheapening the holy to attempt to play upon people's love of the wonderful by systematizing it. The failures, and such are inevitable, bring much dis• credit upon the gospel. Parallel with the diagnosis of diseases is the revela• tion of the deeper maladies of the heart in secret sin. I have a vivid personal memory going back to 1921, when we held the first International Pentecostal Con• vention in Amsterdam. One of the German proph-

41 2 Kings 6:12; 5:26; 4:27. 42 Acts 5:1-11; 8:23. 60 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today ets gave a remarkable vision of the uncleanness in the heart of one of the most prominent leaders present. Out of loyalty to the brother we rejected it; but shortly after it was proved to be only too true, and the prophet was vindicated. Yet at that same period there was developed a morbid habit of encouraging such personal revelations. In the end it provoked a healthy reaction. A truly Pentecostal Church ought to be inimical to all hypocrisy. After the manifesta• tion recorded in Acts 5 it says, "Great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things." It is, however, a most unfortunate and misleading mistake that describes these super• natural revelations as a manifestation of the spir• itual gift of the "word of knowledge." This is con• fusing the function of the prophet and the teacher. Rightly understood, they are part of prophetical ministry. There is one other correlative charismata that we should notice before we conclude our study of pro• phetical ministry; it is the spiritual gift of "discerning of spirits." 43 Notice carefully that it is not discerning or judging men, but spirits. When a woman with a notoriously critical spirit came to John Wesley and claimed that this was her gift from the Holy Spirit he caustically replied, "The Lord would not be dis• pleased if you buried your talent." The genuine spir• itual gift bestows a supernatural ability to discern the source of prophetic revelations claimed to be from God. There will always be three possible sources of pro• phetical utterances—the divine; the satanic; and the human. The last may not be inspired in a superna-

43 1 Corinthians 12:10. Prophetical Ministry 61 tural way, but the human spirit can so adopt the phraseology of true prophecy that it easily deceives the simple. An ability to discern the true from the false is of special value to one in charge of a meeting where prophesying takes place. The related office in the body of Christ is that of "governments." 44 The word is connected with pilotage, and has a nautical background. The ship of the Church needs qualified pilots if she is to keep off the sandbanks. The Lord does not leave His people without the equipment they need for a Pentecostal ministry. A striking example of the gifts in question was Paul's exposure of the spirit of divination in the girl at Philippi, where the words she uttered were super• ficially true, and apparently even confirmed the gos• pel message. The spiritual gift was an addition to tests that all Christians are to apply to the supernatural. We are to "try the spirits," 45 and there are formulas given with which to judge confession as to the Lord Jesus Christ.46 They do not apply when the element of inspiration is absent, for they are tests for demons and not for men. False doctrines of men can be tested by doctrinal stand• ards. There remains our Lord's ultimate test—"By their fruits shall ye know them." 47 The spiritual gift of dis• cernment of spirits is apparently for urgent necessities of protection. Jesus taught that the peril of false proph• ets is very real, not only because their words can be seductive, but because they can accompany them with "wonderful works." Ultimately all false prophesying leads away from God, and not to Him.

44 Ibid., v. 28. 45 1 John 4:1-3. 46 1 Corinthians 12:3. 47 Matthew 7:15, 16. 62 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

Prophetical ministry thus has its own safeguard from the One Spirit of God whose Pentecostal grace and power gives all. Our watchfulness must never be allowed to degenerate into fearfulness so that we quench the Spirit. Our Keeper neither slumbers nor sleeps, but waits to keep burning brightly among us the blazing torchlight of prophetical ministry. -4-

Spiritual Gifts of Action

There is an important cluster of spiritual gifts which, although they do not directly include preach• ing, are so intimately bound up with a Pentecostal proclamation of the Word that our studies would be incomplete if we did not consider them. The opening verse of the Book of Acts states that the writer was going to continue the record of all that "Jesus began both to do and teach," or as one translator puts it, "the working and teaching of Jesus." Thus our Lord performed a dual ministry of word and deed. We believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit that ministry of Christ is intended to continue through His body, the Church. In the gifts of the Spirit we find gifts for doing and gifts for speaking. Yet we must avoid the mistake of supposing that the ministry of the Word by preaching and teaching is not also a ministry of doing. By it the Spirit of God acts in a very real sense. The Word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Preaching and teaching in the power of the Spirit changes lives and brings souls to a new birth.1 The

1 1 Peter 1:23. 63 (i4 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It is, however, the declared will of God that the preaching of the gospel shall be confirmed with "signs following," 2 and it is to those manifestations of the Spirit that particularly embody this divine confirmation of the Word preached that we now turn. Two manifestations of the Spirit that will spring immediately to mind are the gifts of healing and the working of miracles. But mentioned before these in the list is the gift of faith. This is such a mighty operation of the Spirit of God, and is so fundamental to the other gifts of action, that it demands prior and thorough consideration. First of all, our conception of faith in a general sense needs disentangling from faith as a special gift only given to some. The faith that saves a man also is a gift of God;3 but this is in contrast to works and has no connection with the gifts of the Spirit. It is given to all Christians. Neither is the spiritual gift of faith identical with what we may term, for want of a better word, "or• dinary" faith. The word "ordinary" is not the happiest designation, for all real faith in God is extraordinary to the natural man. But the great passage on this faith by which the elders obtained a good report is He• brews, chapter eleven. Without this faith it is "im• possible to please God" (v. 6). Therefore, this kind of faith, mighty though it may be in its results, does not fit the special manifestation of the Spirit only given to some. The "heroes of faith," as we some• times call them, are examples for us all to emulate. They are not beyond us through a special gift, for

2 Mark 16:20. 3 Ephesians 2:8. Spiritual Gifts of Action 65 otherwise the exhortation to imitate them would be mockery. When a well-known evangelist tells us to "turn our faith loose" he is encouraging us to exer• cise that power to believe God that is inherent in us all. It is not a special spiritual gift, though it can have mighty results to the glory of God. What, then, distinguishes this ordinary, or natural, faith from a faith that is supernatural? The distinc• tion that we are seeking to understand is conceded by Conybeare when he writes concerning spiritual gifts in the Primitive Church: "The source of all these miraculous powers was the charism of faith; namely, that peculiar kind of wonder-working faith spoken of in Matthew 17:20; I Corinthians 12:9 and 13:2, which consisted in an intense belief that all obstacles would vanish before the power given. This must of course be distinguished from that disposition of faith which is essential to the Christian life." 4 The closing sentences should be specially noted. Elsewhere I have written on this gift of faith as follows: "The spiritual gift of faith is a special quality of faith, sometimes called by our older theologians the 'faith of miracles.' It would seem to come upon certain of God's servants in times of special crisis or oppor• tunity in such mighty power that they are lifted right out of the realm of even natural or ordinary faith in God—and have a divine certainty put within their souls that triumphs over everything.. .. Perhaps one of the most striking examples of this special enduement of power is Elijah on Mount Carmel. In the face of simply overwhelming odds, he is calmly triumphant to the point of mocking his opponents; he even glories in making the thing he is asking of God more than ever

4 Op. cit., Chapter XIII. 66 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today naturally impossible; he soaks the sacrifice with water;5 to crown all, the quiet certainty of his evening prayer is one of the most powerful passages in the Bible. "What a contrast in the next chapter, where the special anointing seems to have lifted. It may be argued that there could be no special gift of faith in Elijah, since James 5:17 distinctly says that he was 'a man of like passions' with ourselves; but ... in all cases spiritual gifts operate in men of like passions with ourselves because the gracious truth is that God intends us to be 'ourselves.' Possibly the same quality of faith is in the thought of our Lord where He says in Mark 11:22 'Have the faith of God' (margin) . It was faith of this particular quality of which He could say that a grain of it could move a mountain (Matthew 17:20)... . Many of us have been conscious at times of a special faith coming into our souls upon certain matters. If this has not been the actual gift of faith, it has at least been analogous to it, and of the same order."6 Weymouth renders 1 Corinthians 12:9 "special faith," and the Amplified New Testament has "to another wonder-working faith." Peter humbly claimed this gift of faith when questioned about the healing of the lame man in the beautiful gate of the Temple, and said that it was not "by our own power or holiness." It was the "faith which is by Him," or as Weymouth renders it, "the faith which He has given" that gave the man the perfect soundness.7 It was not Peter's per• sonal faith; it was a manifestation of a Pentecostal gift. This would include a platform of personal faith

5 1 Kings 18:33-35. 6 Gee, "Concerning Spiritual Gifts" (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House), pp. 36-57. 7 Acts 3:16. Spiritual Gifts of Action 67 upon which the supernatural grace of the Spirit could work. We noticed this principle in an earlier study in the case of Daniel and his friends, how that God gave "wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." This does not deny the natural ability, nor the miraculous gift of God. The spiritual gift was superadded. Following the same principle the Spirit can give a special faith to those already exercising their own faith in a marked degree. There is a proverb that says, "The tools to the one who can use them." Examples in modern times of men of outstanding faith who at times seemed to touch the supernatural were George Muller or Hudson Taylor. We have known such in our own Pentecostal Movement and glory in them in the Lord. Reverting to the Bible and the Old Testament, there were examples like Gideon or Sam• son who are numbered among our examples of faith, and of whom it is written that the "Spirit of God came mightily upon them" for occasions of special crisis.8 They anticipated the later effusion of the Spirit at Pentecost upon all flesh. But now there is another important line of truth to follow. We noticed that Conybeare hinted at it when he said that the gift of faith was the source of other more apparently miraculous powers. J. R. Pridie, with his remarkable insight into the gifts of the Spirit, says: "What is the peculiar quality of this charismatic faith?... It is part of the charismatic equip• ment of the Church (and) may be described as faith flowing out in action, not as regards the character or the moral qualities of the individual, but as regards the work and mission of the Body of Christ.. .. The

8 Judges 6:34; 14:6. 68 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today faith which may set the healing power of the Christ free to work in the Church may be the special charisma of some individual member, though he may not him• self possess the actual gift of healing. But the member who has that charisma may not be able to use it effectively, may not even know that he possesses it, until his brother's faith has set it free to work.... Each must make his proper contribution to efficiency ac• cording to the conditions under which this law works that wherever in the Gospels the obligation of faith is enjoined in face of difficulties, the promise of power is not given to separate individuals, but to men united in common impulse, or obeying a common command; (e.g., Matthew 18:18; Mark 6:7.)" 9 To me, since I first glimpsed it many years ago, it always has seemed a truth of special beauty that the Lord in His loving wisdom has so appointed the varied gifts of His Spirit among the members of His Body that we are dependent one upon another in our several ministries. The public sees a popular evangelist exercising a ministry of miracles of heal• ing, and usually he gets the plaudits of the crowd, though he may be quite a humble man personally, and knows that the power is not in himself. What the crowd does not see, and what the evangelist himself may be quite ignorant of, is that some hidden servant of God, possibly a humble woman who would shrink from the limelight, is exercising a mighty ministry of the gift of faith in the secret place. I am sure there will be some surprising rewards on that Day when these things are declared. The true sources of Pentecostal power are not always, and perhaps not often, just where we look for them.

8 J. R. Pridie, op. cit, pp. 136-39. Spiritual Gifts of Action 69

How is the gift of this special faith bestowed? Fun• damentally it is a manifestation, a shining forth, of the Spirit of God. Therefore a first requisite is to be filled with the Spirit. This means more than hav• ing received a baptism in the Spirit at some point in personal Christian experience; it means being full of the Holy Ghost at the time of the manifestation of this special faith. Moreover the gift is not a power which the believer can operate at his own will. Put very simply it is the faith of God for the will of God. It is not trying to "use" God for the accomplishment of our own will, however right that may appear in our own eyes. If this important principle were more perfectly understood and accepted it would give light on many of our problems of unanswered prayers, some of which can be very painful. It follows that a requisite for the gifts of special faith is that the believer shall understand what the will of the Lord is. There are some things that are so clear on the line of scriptural principles that it is presumptuous to ask for any special light and lead• ing. In prayer for these things it usually is sufficient to exercise what we have called "ordinary" faith, that is, the faith that we know pleases God. But there can come calls and challenges and needs and opportunities that go far beyond all that na• turally we would ask or think. Our own faith would never reach to them. To us they present the naturally impossible. The urge to pray about them, and to pray-believingly, only comes to those who wait on God. Waiting upon the Lord is always a heart-search• ing business. It allows an opportunity for the Spirit of truth to search our motives and desires to the bottom. I believe this is why fasting has been con- 70 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today nected with prayer in matters requiring a special manifestation of faith. The idea behind fasting is not that of bargaining with the Almighty, so that we can offer Him so many days of fasting as a spiritual deposit for benefits desired. Its deeper pur• pose is to give opportunity for waiting upon God without distraction until we see ourselves in the revealing light of the face of the Lord. After that, the Holy Spirit begins to take over our intercession. We begin to understand how He helps our infirmities; "for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." 10 For the divine answer to that divine inter• cession there is given a divine faith that "laughs at impossibilities, and cries 'It shall be done.' " Such a quality of faith is restful, for the plenitude of grace is of God, and does not bring us into the emotional strain apart from God that we easily fall into when struggling to believe for something that we want. The spiritual gift of faith is thus seen to be some• thing most mighty. It is worth noticing that the character of the individual exercising does enter in. The word "to another faith" in 1 Corinthians 12:10 is, according to Dr. Massie "to another kind of man." That is to say, the quality or type of the personality plays a part in the divine choice. This well accords with our Lord's parable of the talents where the mas• ter gives "to every man according to his several

Romans 8:26, 27 Spiritual Gifts of Action 71

ability."11 It makes Us wonder whether a lot of our praying for the greater gifts might more profitably be directed to humble petition that we be granted more ability to receive and use them for the glory of God. That personal sanctification enters into these deep matters is apparent in view of the warning that we can even have faith to move mountains, and yet without love be nothing.12 The greater the power the greater the need of discipline in the one permitted to exercise it. The Spirit does not wait for an un• reasonable perfection in those He chooses to use, but neither does he ignore personal holiness. It might be added that faith as a gift of the Spirit is different from what is called "faith" among the fruit of the Spirit." 13 In the latter case the word is better rendered faithfulness or trustworthiness, and it refers to a quality of character rather than a man• ifestation of power. The spiritual gift of faith does not grow; it is given; * * * We turn now to the gifts of healings and workings of miracles. Before we separate them there are many principles that can be considered jointly. Their close relationship is obvious. The healings are miracles also in their own right. Both these gifts of power or action come in the middle of the lists in 1 Corinthians 12. They are not at the head, where some would place them. In these studies our emphasis is upon Pentecostal preaching, but to ignore these two gifts would be

11 Matthew 25:15. 12 1 Corinthians 13:2. 13 Galatians 5:22. 72 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today culpable negligence in view of the part they played in evangelism in the Early Church. In the first place, we notice that they may reverently be called God's method of divine advertising for the preaching of the gospel. After the miraculous healing by Peter of the man in the Temple we read "all the people ran together." In Samaria "the people with one accord gave heed to the things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did." In Melita, after the healing of a prominent citizen, Paul had a remarkable opening for preaching Christ.24 The evangelists found miracles of healing a constant handmaid for the proclamation of the Word. A study of the New Testament, however, soon makes evident that the ministry of deliverance from sickness and demon power was incidental and sec• ondary. The emphasis was upon repentance and salvation from sin. Souls are of much greater im• portance than bodies. The multitudes oppressed with physical infirmities will not think so, and naturally throng to where they think they can get deliverance. But it is a function of Pentecostal preaching to lovingly and faithfully urge men to get right with God. To speak about "a gospel of healing" can be misleading if we do not keep things straight. To the paralytic whose four friends let him down through the roof to bring him to Jesus, our Lord said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." To escape the multitudes following Him from all directions for a healing touch our Lord went up into a mountain to fulfill a more lasting and deeper ministry.15 There is no doubt

14 Acts 3:11; 8:6; 28:9. 15 Mark 2:5; Matthew 5:1. Spiritual Gifts of Action 73 that when by His Spirit He was continuing His ministry of doing and teaching through His servants they met the same problems, and met them in the same way. Paul separated the disciples at Ephesus, and even the special miracles of his Ephesian ministry were not allowed to crowd out his teaching publicly, and from house to house, all the counsel of God.16 So we must learn that the crowd-pulling power of a ministry of healing is never to become a ministry in its own right. It always is a means to an end. The end is the preaching of the gospel of Christ and the kingdom of God, aiming at the planting of local churches where the converted are gathered together to be established in the faith, and then in their turn become centers of Pentecostal evangelism. One of our most urgent necessities in the Pentecostal Movement is to understand and maintain in its right proportion the place of healing in evangelism. It has won some notable victories for the glory of God, but also it has suffered shameful defeats. Its right use has attracted multitudes, but its abuse has turned multitudes away. That an evangelist has a divine commission to preach the gospel and heal the sick seems plain, and he has every right to expect the Lord to confirm His word with signs following. For this there should be no need for any special gifts of healing. The promise is broadly for those who believe. The spiritual gifts refer to a ministry set in the Church. Many a successful evan• gelist will make no claim to a special gift of healing, though it may have been manifested through him on occasion. One of my intimate friends greatly used by God in healing in his campaigns has told me that at

Acts 19 and 20. 74 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today times he knows that there will be a miracle of healing, while at other times he knows, with almost equal cer• tainty, that no such healing will take place. One of the profound differences between the spiritual gifts of healing, and those psychic healing ministries that are often so like them in outward form, is the place of the human will. The natural man can will to heal; the spiritual man is only the instrument for God's will. The manifestation of the gifts of healing is a mani• festation of the Spirit of God, not the manifestation of psychic power. One is divine healing; the other is faith healing. In popular ideas they ate often confused, but in actual fact they are very different. The interesting fact that the word is in the plural ought not to be overlooked, for actually it is a double plural. It is not only gifts of healing, but gifts of healings. The simplest explanation is probably that there can be different gifts for different classes of dis• ease. This may well be so, although it is difficult to give scriptural illustrations. In any case it always is good to keep out of a rut. Systematizing of method has been one of the pitfalls of evangelistic ministries of healing, and always ends in barrenness. God is a God of variety, and the true working of His Spirit never be• comes stereotyped. Another explanation is that the Spirit will direct to different ways of conveying His healing power. In our Lord's ministry of healing we notice that sometimes He laid on hands; sometimes He spoke a word; some• time He spat and made clay; and sometimes He sent them to wash.17 It is arbitrary to attempt an explana• tion. He had His own wise reasons. The gilts of healings are set within the Church. How

17 Mark 6:5; John 4:50; Mark 7:33; John 9:7. Spiritual Gifts of Action 75 far are they particularly connected with her outward ministry of evangelism, and how far are they intended for an inward ministry among Christians? The answer to the latter part of the question would appear to be —very little. "Is any sick among you?" asks James. The direction given is that he should call for the elders of the church and that they should anoint him with oil, after praying over him, in the name of the Lord." There is no injunction to seek one with a gift of healing. If such could be found among the elders doubtless he would be approached. But the context in James teaches that there may be spiritual conditions, such as confession of sins, to be complied with before the child of God can be divinely healed. There are constant disappointments among believers because they will run off to ask the prayers of some evangelist whom the Lord is using to the unconverted, expecting to share in his deliverance ministry. Almost invariably they are disappointed. The principle operated that we saw in connection with the gift of faith; and all these ministries of the One Spirit are interlocked, so that a miraculous healing through a spiritual gift is subject to the will of God. Paul manifested during his long ministry undoubtedly miraculous gifts of healings, but among his close as• sociates were Trophimus whom he left at Miletus sick, and Timothy whose "often infirmities" were referred to a careful diet rather than the ministry of one with the gifts of healings." There are times when our request for a miracle of healing, rather than the use of more natural remedies, can savor of presumption rather than faith. Doctrines concerning the miraculous

18 James 5:14. 19 2 Timothy 4:20; 1 Timothy 5:23. 76 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

need to be wisely balanced upon all the Word of God. A "word of wisdom" might often help us here. In the spiritual gift of the working of miracles we meet the wholly miraculous full tide. Let it be so. The root meaning of the word is energy or power. Liter• ally it is "in-workings of mighty deeds," 20 or energies of dynamite. The remarkable thing is that it is listed as a separate gift of the Spirit when all of them have something of the miraculous about them. It must have special attri• butes all its own. Although intimately related to heal• ing, it is regarded as distinct. In miracles the emphasis is upon power rather than life or sympathy or com• passion, as it so often is in healing. A miracle can even be punitive and destructive. Perhaps the tragedy of Ananias and Sapphira is a case in point, and we recall also the judgment upon Elymas the sorcerer in Cyprus.21 A singular phrase is used in Acts 19:11 where it says that "God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul." (Incidentally it is strange that some wish to make a practice of that which the Bible describes as "special.") The phrase is literally "not the ordinary" miracles, and indicates that in the Primitive Church there was what one might almost call a "reservoir" of the miraculous taking place all the time. Those miracles at Ephesus were against a background of miracles that were even classed as "ordinary," they were so usual in apostolic ministry. There is a suggestion that even the shadow of Peter was believed by the multitudes to have healing power. It is written that "Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders among the people." The people of Samaria were impressed by seeing the

20 Young's Literal. 21 Acts 5:1-10; 13:11. Spiritual Gifts of Action 77 miracles performed by Philip." These included the casting out of demons, and it is possible that exorcism would be classed among miracles, as in the case of the damsel at Philippi whom Paul delivered. In the local assemblies of Christians there was a constant experience of the miraculous, so that Paul could write to the Galatians, and refer to "he that worketh miracles among you."23 The references are almost casual. There is no labored argument for miracles. Yet with all this it is of great importance that we should take notice of how little this changed the even tenor of their way. The exhortations and command• ments contained in the letters to the churches were written to people who in most ways were living lives just like our own. They had the treasure of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in earthen vessels; and sometimes they groaned in the earthly house of their bodies, being burdened, and earnestly desired to be clothed upon with their house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." It was true they were experiencing miracles through the gifts of the Spirit, but that did not make them ex• ceptional in the outward things of life. They were exceptional it is true, but it was within and in the things of the soul. The greatest miracle was, and still is, the miracle of the New Birth. They had been born from Above and knew an inward victory and peace that was more impressively supernatural than all the manifestations of outward power. One noticeable omission, if one may call it that, in their Pentecostal experience was the absence of what,

22 Acts 5:15; 6:8; 8:13. 23 Galatians 3:5. 24 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. 78 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, are called "nature miracles," such as when He stilled the storm at sea, or fed the multitude by a creative act. Perhaps one wise purpose in this is to check the idea, which has been taught among us at times, that by the indwelling Spirit and through His gifts, we can do all that the Lord Jesus did when He was on earth. This borders on the presumptuous. We must leave inviolate in our doctrine of miracles some of these signs that Christ wrought when on earth that were particularly the marks of His divinity. They were written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we might have life through His Name.25 Paul gives a long list of his sufferings for the gospel's sake, in which he mentions that "three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings oft, in perils of waters." 26 We have the story in detail of the shipwreck on Malta and al• though it was a divine Providence that enabled them all to escape safe to land, yet it was accomplished by some of them swimming, and the others struggling ashore on broken pieces of the ship. No miracles wafted the apostle to shore in a miraculous way. Once ashore in the cold, winter rain they made a fire to warm them• selves, and Paul helped to gather sticks to keep it burn• ing in a very natural way. Only when the viper fastened on his hands did the miraculous emerge that saved his life. It is particularly noteworthy in the Book of Acts that on only two occasions, as far as the records go, did the apostles raise the dead. Peter raised Dorcas to life,

15 John 20.31. 20 2 Corinthians 11:25-27; Acts 27:43 to 28:5. Spiritual Gifts of Action 79 and Paul raised Eutychus." If there were other in• stances of such a stupendous miracle they are not men• tioned. Bereavement among the early Christians must have brought them as much sorrow as to ourselves, and they must have longed for their loved ones to be re• stored to them—the husband to the widow, or the father to the orphans. But we find that for comfort they were referred to the blessed hope of the coming of the Lord, and not to the possibility of a miracle to bring their dead back to life. Miracles among them had their clearly marked limits, and as we saw earlier in studying the spiritual gift of faith they were subject to the sovereign will of God. The powers bestowed at Pentecost may have been supernatural, but they did not make the recipients unnatural. Always in the life of the Spirit there is a blending of the natural with the supernatural. To clamor too much for a constant dis• play of the miraculous is to expose us to disappoint• ment and deceit. Perhaps this is one of the most im• portant lessons to be learned by those who by the gifts of the Spirit have tasted the powers of the age to come. In this study we have not entered into a full dis• cussion of the vast subject of divine healing as a cardi• nal doctrine of the Pentecostal churches. The spiritual gifts in action that we have considered do operate, however, upon a basic conviction that disease is essen• tially evil and contrary to God's primary will for man. Our Lord healed the sick, and He gave His disciples power to do the same. We have noticed in the course of our study some of the principles revealed in the Bible that govern the operation of the spiritual gifts for deliverance, and it is folly to ignore them. God

27 Acts 9:40; 20:10. 80 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today wills the wholeness of man's nature, body and soul, and in His Son He provides the means for enjoying that full salvation. A glorious part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit by His gifts is to impart, by the grace of God, a foretaste here and now of that redemption of the purchased possession through the precious blood of Christ to the praise of His glory. -5-

Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization

Wherever the Pentecostal Movement has placed evan• gelization in the forefront of its activities, whether at home or overseas, it has prospered. From the very out• set it has engendered a remarkable zeal for sending forth missionaries. If that zeal has sometimes lacked wisdom and knowledge to direct it, with consequent waste of precious lives and money, we can still point with pardonable pride and joy to the solid achieve• ment of Pentecostal missions throughout the world. They are foremost in promoting Bible schools in many lands. They aim at planting indigenous churches. They now seek intelligent orientation to rapidly changing world conditions. The future is bright for them while the providence of God permits them opportunity to continue. But world evangelization should involve a demonstra• tion of spiritual gifts in action, and should not be en• gaged in as a substitute for them. The possibility may be startling, but it must be faced. In a worthy desire to maintain spiritual life and activity of a healthy nature in the churches, if the manifestation of the Spirit by 81 82 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

means of His supernatural gifts declines, there can be a turning to absorption in evangelism as a compensation for spiritual gifts rather than an expression of them. This involves a subtle temptation to miss the fullest purposes of God through the Pentecostal Revival, and the supreme importance of evangelization as an end in itself can obscure the issue. There is no need to choose between a passion for souls and a desire for spiritual gifts. They are mutually inclusive, not ex• clusive. An incident in my own experience as a young Pente• costal preacher over forty years ago burned this into my mind. I was invited to speak at a small Pentecostal mission in the East Side of London by a wealthy man who was running it as a religious hobby. His interest for a short time in the Pentecostal Movement was probably of the same order. The type persists. Before the meeting he approached me and said, "You under• stand, Mr. Gee, that in this place we are not after spiritual gilts; we are after souls." The false antithesis struck me like a blow in the face. It revealed the pro• foundly mistaken conception of spiritual gifts that was present in England at that time. In some quarters it still persists and not only in England! Therefore we must hold fast to rightly understanding the gifts of the Spirit as a divine equipment for the work of world evangelization. To regard them in any other way is to turn them into a specialty for groups of people that become little more than religious clubs. Particularly is this so when there is an overemphasis upon "messages" through prophetical gifts, and still more if it is by means of tongues and interpretation of tongues. They possess a strange fascination when first encountered that tends to sweep novices off their feet. Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 83

There is no future for gifts of the Spirit on that line, except in the stagnant backwaters of an esoteric sect. When the element of novelty wears off, which is in• evitable, it leaves the devotees isolated from the main stream of healthy evangelical Christianity. This has happened, is happening, and will happen again if we do not keep balanced and sane in our appreciation of spiritual gifts. They are not a hobby to play with; they are tools to work with and weapons to fight with. But for all that, we must retain a proper place for the prophetical gifts of the Spirit in world evangelization. It is speaking with tongues that has made the Pente• costal Movement a distinct and recognizable entity in the twentieth century. If its critics have dubbed it the "Tongues Movement," we must accept the implied op• probrium. There is nothing to be ashamed of in a right use of a perfectly scriptural gift of the Holy Spirit. It is love that governs such a right use, and when directed by love the gift will be neither unseemly nor disorderly. The shame rests upon those who, in flat defiance of the Scripture, forbid to speak with tongues.1 The dis• tinctive mark of the Pentecostal Movement is speaking with tongues, whether we like it or not, and to disavow it is to leave us perhaps "evangelical" and perhaps "fundamental," but not "Pentecostal" in any distinctive sense. And we believe there is a very high value in being expressly Pentecostal in our testimony. If the tongues attract thirsty souls to where there are living waters of the Spirit we can do nothing but rejoice. Balanced teaching and healthy example will soon let them see that the novelty of speaking with tongues is only an introduction to far greater and deeper mani• festations and experiences of the eternal Spirit of the

2 1 Corinthians 14:39. 84 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today living God. And many may never make this life-chang• ing discovery if they are not first attracted by the strange sign of a supernatural power at work in the Church. So many have now written concerning the continu• ance of speaking with tongues throughout the history of the Christian Church, both in times of revival and in times of emotional stress in persecution, that it has become superfluous to repeat the chain of evidence. It goes right back to Tertullian and the Montanists, and so through the persecuted Waldenses and Albi- genses, the so-called "little prophets of the Cévennes," to the Quakers, to instances during the Methodist Revival, and on to the so-called "Irvingite Movement" of the early nineteenth century. When all due allow• ance has been made for the psychological elements in speaking with tongues, there remains a spiritual ele• ment that makes it akin to the same manifestation in the Early Church. The phenomenon is identical. The chain of evidence is sufficient to correct a mis• taken argument based on a mistaken application of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 that "whether there be proph• ecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." The time is plainly stated. It is "when that which is perfect is come," and refers to a time still future when we shall see "face to face" and know even as we are known. That clear prediction was not ful• filled in the second century, immediately following the apostolic era, any more than it has been in the twentieth. It still is future. Moreover, whatever place we assign to tongues, their continuance is coeval with prophecy and knowledge. To separate them is arbitrary and in• defensible. That the Church suffered a diminution of Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 85 the miraculous gifts of the Spirit after what is called the apostolic era cannot seriously be disputed, but the reason was not that God deliberately took them away because their purposes were accomplished. John Wesley laid his finger quite plainly on the real reason when he said that they decreased "because the love of many, al• most all Christians, so-called, waxed cold. That was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer found in the Christian Church." To make the sovereignty of God responsible for that which came about through human backsliding would be ridiculous were it not serious. But to confess that the Church did, undoubtedly, suf• fer a diminution of her supernatural equipment for world evangelization after the close of the apostolic era is not the last word on the matter. The miraculous gifts of the Spirit are not the Holy Spirit Himself. The Comforter had come to abide and at no time did He cease to remain among the churches as their source of power and light and life. In the great persecutions He was their strength to glorify Christ. In the great con• troversies, though they were marred by much bitterness and strife, He was still there to guide into all truth. The period of the great numerical expansion of Chris• tianity consequent upon the changed attitude of the Imperial Power was marred by grievous declension in spirituality, but who shall deny that the Holy Spirit was still striving and at work in the ever widening outreach of the Christian Church? The course of Church history has many sad blots and tragic mistakes until at times it makes heartbreaking reading. Sometimes we are com• pelled to see the Spirit of truth working only in a remnant here and a remnant there, as in Ireland in the Dark Ages; but the Comforter never left the Blood- 8(i Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today bought Church of Christ. There have been glorious chapters of revival, and not the least in our more recent centuries. "My Spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not"2 could be spoken to the Church of the New Testament equally with the Old. There have always been wistful hearts that looked back to the Early Church and yearned for a return to her pristine equipment of manifested power from on high through spiritual gifts. Edward Irving, whatever his failures, said truly: "The shortcoming of our knowledge in respect to the gifts themselves; our having ceased to lament their absence and to pray for their return; our want of fasting and humiliation and crying to the Lord; our contentment to be without them, our base and false theories to account for their absence, without taking guilt to ourselves. Any one of these causes were sufficient, all of them are far more than sufficient, to account for their long absence from the bosom of the Church." 3 Yet it always was, and always is, the grace of God that bestows spiritual gifts. The early churches were by no means societies of angels, though supernaturally gifted. The letters addressed to them reveal in places a lamentable lack of holiness. An unwarrantable idealism can sometimes hinder our faith. We are of the same stock as they, and the Spirit of God never left them, though at times His activity was severely hindered.

Did all the gifts of the Spirit cease to be enjoyed? Were the churches of the subapostolic era entirely with• out a genuine word of wisdom and word of knowledge supernaturally imparted? Were there not in days of

2 Haggai 2:5. 3 Quoted by Carl Brumback in What Meaneth This? p. 85, from the Complete Works of Edward Irving, Vol. V, p. 560. Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 87 spiritual declension some still exercising the gift of faith, and others keeping alive the prophetic fire? Are all the stores of miracles and wonders connected with the saints and martyrs to be dismissed as sheer fiction? We are reminded that Augustine at the end of the fourth century speaks of miracles as still going on, though not so widely known as the miracles of the Gospels. It is remarkable that so far from maintaining his earlier opinion that miracles had ceased in his time he devotes some part of his greatest treatise to recount• ing well authenticated instances of healing.4 To prove, as it can be proved, by historical evidence that speaking with tonguies did not finally cease in the churches is of real value; but we err if we suppose that only by the gift of tongues was the Spirit manifesting Himself in what we call the Dark Ages. We ought never make "tongues" and the "Spirit" synonymous terms. There were always diversities of operations, but the same Lord was energizing whom He willed. Yet the loss occasioned by the diminution of the out• wardly miraculous manifestation of the Spirit was real. The intellectual achievements of the Early Fathers, though they played a great part in stabilizing the doc• trine of the Church, were not a full compensation for her supernatural gilts. It is for the restoration of those gifts that revival movements have prayed.5 It was a great part of the spiritual hunger in the hearts of the pioneers of the present Pentecostal Revival. They be• lieved that they did not pray in vain. The present charismatic revival among the Episcopalians, and others, is a continuance of the same abiding hunger. At heart it is a hunger and thirst for the Living God, but it is

1 De civitate Dei, Book XVIII, c. 10, quoted by Pridie. 2 See Irving, quoted above. 88 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today none the less that when it longs to taste the manifesta• tion of His Presence and Power. We must not minimize the important part that the speaking with tongues has played in causing the worldwide spread of the Pente• costal Movement, and hence its world evangelization. It thrills participants with hope that more and other restored gifts of the Spirit will follow. That hope must be wisely directed in the truth and not allowed to drift into fanaticism. And since we are seeking to understand the true value of speaking with tongues we ought to recognize our moral obligation to study the psychological elements that enter into glossalalia. We can use the word "super• natural" too lightly. Paul testified that when he prayed in an unknown tongue his own spirit was active.3 The various exhortations and commandments in the 14th chapter of Corinthians become meaningless and confusing unless we recognize the part that the human spirit plays in all prophetic utterances. This does not make them valueless; far from it. It is the normal order. The Spirit of Cod does not render null and void our human personality, but the rather He wishes to sanctify and inspire it. This He is enabled to perform in varying degree, according to the personality and the occasion. But since the baptism in the Holy Spirit must be an integral part of our world evangelization and since it is a cardinal doctrine of almost all Pentecostal denom• inations that the initial physical evidence of that Bap• tism is speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives us utterance, it is incumbent upon us to try and under• stand the real nature of that phenomenon. The strength of the doctrine of the initial evidence of tongues is that it makes the baptism in the Holy Spirit a reality in the

2 1 Corinthians 14:14 Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 89

Christian's experience, but its compensating weakness is that it predisposes people to seek the manifestation of the gift rather than the Giver. Zealous evangelists are tempted to cause people to speak with tongues as an end in itself. That it must never be, and the results of such tactics can be both disappointing and even danger• ous. A transient excitement that is not rooted in reality is worse than useless. Ultimately it hinders the true Pentecostal Revival. There is nothing to fear in study• ing the psychological factors that throughout Church history have caused people to speak with tongues. Con• cerning all spiritual gifts, including this one, God does not will us to be ignorant. Only by manifestation of the truth before our own consciences and before all men, can speaking with tongues be a valuable factor in world evangelization. We have some plain instances as recent as the nine• teenth century of the dangers that can accompany every revival of the spiritual gifts, especially those of a prophetic nature, or those connected with divine heal• ing. The first instance is connected with the name of Edward Irving, and the second with John Alexander Dowie. Both began full of promise. To read their early literature is to catch something of the exuberance of our own early Pentecostalism, or that of this later charismatic revival. World evangelization would have been, under God, their safeguard. They neglected it, and perished. If we have caught a truer vision we may humbly thank God and take courage. The story of the Catholic Apostolic Church should be required reading for every would-be Pentecostal leader. Edward Irving had the ears of the social, polit• ical, and intellectual leaders of his day in England. But only for a short time. Once again the "messages" by 90 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today prophetic gifts proved the downfall of the promising young revival. There was plenty of sincerity but lack of balance. The greater gifts, as perhaps they were, of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge in Irving's gifted ministry of preaching and teaching were unrecognized. He surrendered himself to "prophets." "Tongues" were allowed a place in public worship which neither decency nor order could reconcile with the Holy Scriptures. Fanaticism, and that among a group of highly cultured people, drove the movement in upon itself. It became obsessed with church order and offices. Outwardly it was, for a time, fascinating, and the proph• ets produced an amazing system with a liturgy and vest• ments that outrivalled Rome itself! They gave promin• ent place to the expectation of the soon return of Christ, but it was made an occasion for ritual rather than fervent evangelism. Money flowed freely and was lavished on ornate buildings. Irving died at the early age of 48, a disillusioned visionary who could have been a mighty leader. The denomination connected with the movement has slowly died and is almost extinct. The entire lack of missionary and evangelistic zeal to seek and to save that which is lost was largely its downfall. In emphasizing some of the gifts of the spirit it betrayed the essence of the Spirit of Christ. For us it is a solemn warning. In the later case of the Christian Catholic Church in America it seems the impressive witness of those qual• ified to express an opinion that John Alexander Dowie was truly and remarkably used of God for miracles of healing in the earlier years of his ministry. As a revival movement it attracted many truly spiritual people who were prepared to put their all into it. The founding of Zion City in Illinois was a dream that ended in frustra- Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 91 tion and near disgrace. The reasons are not far to seek. The Utopian idea of an earthly city to embody the king• dom of God before the coming of the King, and before His reign has been established in men's hearts was a fallacy. But more fundamental was the idolizing of an individual founder and leader. To his credit it must be said that Dowie at first resisted it. But flattery and pride undermined him. At first he made the declaration that he was Elijah the Restorer; but later he made the bombastic public proclamation in the Name of the Triune God that he was nothing less than the "First Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion." Members of the congregation "were not a little startled when Dr. Dowie appeared on the platform, clothed in a priestly robe of many colours, similar to the robe of the high priest of the ancient theocracy, and he claimed to be clothed by God with apostolic and prophetic authority to speak as the instructor of the nations.7 The end came dramat• ically, when he suffered a stroke on the platform. He died in 1907, and seemed in the end to recover some of his first simplicity. But the scandal connected with his name was a great stumbling block to the early pioneers of divine healing in the twentieth century. If I have referred to the movements connected with the names of Irving and Dowie at some length it is because I believe it is part of our duty to warn the people of God where danger has been proved to exist. Both those movements were comparatively small and are fast being forgotten. The present Pentecostal Move• ment has girdled the earth and is reputed to include about ten million people. It still is growing. Its health has largely been due to its world evangelization. The

Gordon Lindsay, The Life of John Alexander Doivie, p. 235. 92 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today divine impetus for that has been the baptism in the Holy Spirit accompanied by spiritual gifts. What is the future for such a movement? That will depend, under God, on its spiritual leadership; and, if it is to remain loyal to its heavenly vision, that leadership will manifest spiritual gifts. In the Early Church the gifts of the Spirit resulted in recognized ministries described in such passages as 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11. They were fundamental to its great task of world evangelization. To imitate them without the inspiring power of the Spirit of God would be futile, but to see them as indicating the divine grace should be our de• light. We have become afraid of the designation "apostle" today, and perhaps cases like Dowie are largely the explanation of our fear. But it is worth remembering that "missionary" is only the Latin form of the same word "apostolos"—"one sent forth." A Christ-sent missionary need not be a Peter nor a Paul to humbly qualify for some such designation. All missionaries are not apostles, for their work has many facets. But in our God-appointed task of world evangelization we need, almost more than ought else, men who can pioneer the work of the gospel and plant indigenous churches. It is to be remembered that great and successful evan• gelists are not necessarily apostles in the scriptural sense. Many Pentecostal evangelists seem strangely deficient of any sense of the importance of planting churches, or of the value of those already planted by others. They live and move and have their being in a whirl of continuous "campaigns." But a true apostle endued with spiritual gifts, coupled with an appreciation of the differing members of the body of Christ with whom he must work if he is to fulfil the purpose of God, will Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization beget spiritual children for whom he will live or die. We have such illustrious names on our missionary Toll. For such leadership in evangelization, whether at home or overseas or both, we desire a scriptural vision of men manifesting a wide variety of spiritual gifts. They will exercise words of wisdom and knowledge in prophetic grace and power, and not come behind in gifts of action or ability to organize. This need not be an impossible idealistic claim if we are prepared to recognize spiritual gifts producing ministries in part. The Lord's plan appears to be a multitude of gifted men and women exercising their varied gifts in har• mony for His glory. None will have all the gifts, though some will have more than others. The truly supernatural will remain securely anchored in con• secrated natural ability, for all good and great mis• sionary-evangelists are eminently practical. This is what we mean by Spiritual Gifts in the Work of the Ministry Today. When our Lord began His earthly ministry it was threefold. It consisted of teaching, preaching, and heal• ing." He taught in their synagogues, He preached in their cities, and He healed the multitudes that came to Him. The Book of Acts begins with the significant words, "All that Jesus began both to do and to teach." The ministry of the Holy Spirit is Jesus continuing to do and to teach, and for this there are given the varied gifts of the Spirit. In our usual system of one-man pastorates of local churches we can only hope to ap• proximate to a full-orbed ministry where there are exceptional men who combine something of the teach• er, the evangelist, and the healer. In Antioch there were

8 Matthew 4:17. 94 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

"prophets and teachers." 9 We wisely adjust ourselves tor practical purposes by calling in other and comple• mentary ministries, and allowing our pastors to de• velop organizing ability. In all these spheres of diverse service true spiritual gifts can shine forth. Indeed, with• out them, we cannot be truly "Pentecostal" though we carry the name. When gifts of the Spirit are lacking there are pro• duced churches that are run by natural gifts just like efficient business concerns in the world. There is nothing wrong in the organization; the failure is in the motive power. In the end such churches produce spiritual starvation, and in the older denominations we see today a hunger and thirst for a new outpouring of the Spirit of God. It is not without cause that the next general council of the World Presbyterian Al• liance has deliberately chosen as its theme—"Come, Creator Spirit." In its official organ, James McCord has said that "a vacuum exists in the life of the church, and the church's renewal through a fresh outpouring of the Spirit is necessary. ... It is a question that can no longer be postponed."10 For our own Pentecostal task of world evangelization we shall, by the grace of God, provide more than the necessary machinery of world missions and evangelism. The all-important dynamic of Holy Ghost power is manifested through spiritual gifts. There will be prophets to bring us the message of God and recall us to heart-loyalty to our Lord above all else; there will be teachers to guide us in the way of truth and enlighten our understanding of God's will; and there will be evangelists equipped with gifts of

9 Acts 13:1. 10 Quoted in Pentecost, June, 1962. Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 95 healing and deliverance to bring God's compassion to the multitude. Our Lord's ministry of healing and deliverance, al• though announced as part of the reason of the Spirit of God having come upon Him,11 was always subservient to His preaching and teaching of the kingdom of God. It was a part of that kingdom in power, but He always made clear that man's spiritual need was far deeper than his physical, and that the soul was more than the body. Compassion moved our Redeemer as He healed all that came to Him, but it was because they came to Him. He went to them with the preaching of the Word. The advertising which the healings gave to Him was in• cidental and never sought as such. Our own ministries of "deliverance" as we call them today, and all our doctrines of divine healing, need rigid examining in the truth. At times there have been sad distortions, and they have been exploited for selfish purposes and per• sonal advantage; but they must not for those reasons be denied, nor must a real ministry of the Spirit be quenched. The popularity of giving men what they want in the way of relief from immediate pain, or the attraction of the outwardly wonderful, must not deflect us from the preaching of the kingdom of God in its ethical application. Our Lord's preaching of repentance eventually led to His rejection as a preacher.12 We accept without reserve world evangelization as the supreme purpose in the will of God for the Pente• costal Revival. On the cornerstone of the new Admin• istration Building of Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri, are the words "INTO ALL THE WORLD." Nothing could be more fitting, not only for our friends

11 Luke 4:18. 12 Matthew 11:20. 96 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today of the Assemblies of God, but for the whole World Pentecostal Movement. When our Lord gave His final charge to the apostles just before He ascended to the Father He coupled with it the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost for power to fulfill a commission that extended to the "uttermost part of the earth." 13 It is recorded that they obeyed and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, "confirming the word with signs following." 14 The continuance in spiritual prosperity of the Pentecostal Revival depends upon continual consecration to worldwide missions. If our spiritual gifts cannot flourish in the wide arena of universal witness there is something wrong. Their use in evangelism is a healthy test for their validity and our use of them. But the term "evangelism" needs to be properly interpreted. We tend to use it in far too restricted a sense. It should never be separated from the deepening of spiritual life. It is a mistake to imagine that healthy pietism has no place in a zealous evangelism. Annan- dale defines pietism as "love of (God's) character; the exercise of those affections in obedience to His will and devotion to His service." 15 To maintain evangelism in depth we need holiness in the fullest sense of that great word. It is as much a part of the gospel as remission of sins, and so also is the gift of the Holy Ghost to empower for service. If some misguided souls have erred by becoming introverts, and devoted all their at• tention to the cultivation of what is called the "deeper life," it is no true remedy to go to the opposite extreme and devote ourselves exclusively to what we call "soul

13 Acts 1:8. 14 Mark 16:20. 15 Dictionary, p. 507, on "Pietism." Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 97 saving." To precipitate decisions for Christ and nothing more is not full-gospel preaching. True Pentecostal evangelism is concerned with both soul winning and growth in grace. We are not only an Evangelistic Revival; we are a Holiness Movement. The divinely appointed instrument for all this is preaching and teaching and all that should accompany the ministry of the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Great Commission is quite specific: it is to go and teach all nations ... to observe all things that our Lord commanded. They went forth and preached everywhere, and the signs that followed confirmed the Word. Repentance and remission of sins was to be preached in His Name among all nations. Simon Peter's final charge was to feed My sheep, which he later interpreted himself as giving the sincere milk of the Word.16 All this brings us back to the declared first purpose of the present work: "To promote and perpetuate the Spirit-filled preaching of the full-gospel message; and, secondly, To propagate the distinctive and characteristic qualities of the Spirit-filled preach• ing of the full-gospel message." It has been our contention in this series of studies that the gifts of the Spirit provide those distinctive and characteristic qualities which are looked for. This is not to underestimate for one moment the power and place of all anointed preaching of the Word by every consecrated and educated talent that God has entrusted to us. The witness throughout all centuries of Church history is that God has fruitfully and mightily used this divinely ordained method. It is our belief that supernatural gilts of the Spirit have sometimes been in exercise in the ministry of preaching and teaching

11 Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark 16:20; Luke 24:47; John 21:17; 1 Peter 2:2. 98 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today when they have not been recognized as such. Some• times the preachers themselves have confessed to an il• lumination that has surprised them, and carried them beyond all their prepared thoughts. Spurgeon said, "I am distinctly conscious of a power working upon me when I am speaking in the Name of the Lord, infinitely transcending any personal power or fluency, and far surpassing any energy derived from excitement such as I have felt when delivering a secular lecture or making a speech—so utterly distinct from such power that I am quite certain it is not of the same order or class as the enthusiasm of the politician or the glow of the orator. May we often feel the divine energy, and speak with power." 17 We believe that the distinctive testimony of the Pen• tecostal Revival is that we may "full often" experience this divine energy in our preaching through the super• natural gifts which are manifestations of the Spirit of God. Christ promised the power of the Spirit coming upon His witnesses. I am tempted to quote J. R. Pridie once again when he writes: "The study of the evi• dence as to the place and meaning of the charismata in the life of the Church leaves on the mind a deep im• pression that the good news of the Kingdom is meant to be a present reality in power. The Church . . . pri• marily exists to be the instrument of the Divine life touching human need at every point. . . . And as the Church, recalling the promise of power which was hers in the beginning, and has never been revoked, rises to a clearer perception of this great aspect of her mission new stages in the growth of the Kingdom will reveal

17 Lectures to My Students, "The Holy Spirit in connection with our ministry." Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 99 themselves." 18 These words of an Anglican vicar in 1921 now appear to have an almost prophetic quality. He was writing specifically about spiritual gifts. The Pentecostal Revival has caught the vision of the possibilities of the gifts of healing and working of miracles as ancillary to the preaching of the Word as they draw attention to its proclamation, and confirm its power. The Movement has also made much, some would say too much, of the gifts of diversities of tongues as a Pentecostal evidence of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the individual and the Church. There have been instances of a miraculous speaking of recognized languages as a sign to them that believe not. There have very often been utterances of a prophetic nature with a sincere desire to give it a proper place for speaking by the Spirit of God to exhortation, edification, and comfort. We are happy that these persist in spite of the fanatical twists that have been given the gift of prophecy in some quarters. But we still seem to need the full appreciation and understanding of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit as they apply to this supreme task of preaching and teaching the Word of God. It is my hope that some ideas suggested in these studies may help toward that end. For myself I cannot be satisfied with a conception of gifts of the Spirit that keeps them separate from the preaching of the Word. Nor can I be satisfied with a conception of the ministry of the Word that excludes spiritual gifts as a vital part in it. Indeed, I believe that we should covet earnestly the best gifts for that very purpose. And yet there remains the "more excellent way." 18

18 Pridie, op. cit., p. 156. 19 1 Corinthians, chapters 12. 13, 14. 100 Spiritual Gifts in the Ministry Today

It is a breathtaking affirmation of the apostle that if we have not love our very best preaching, whether by consecrated natural ability or by supernatural gifts of the Spirit, even by tongues of men and of angels, can in the final analysis amount to nothing. Can this, to use the phraseology of the purpose of this work, be "Spirit- filled preaching" at all? I hesitate to reply. Can our preaching, and our use of all the gifts of the Spirit for that matter, be supernaturally inspired and yet fail at the last? The thought is staggering. Yet the Bible says so. I am reminded of Conybeare's penetrating observation that inspiration is not sanctification. To recognize this may help us in face of some cutting problems where apparently supernatural and evan• gelistic success has accompanied the unsanctified. As Spirit-filled preachers our commandment is plain: we are to follow alter love and desire spiritual gifts. As for these others—the Day shall declare the secrets of every heart, and the Bible declares that for some the Judgment-Seat of Christ will have some startling and terrible verdicts. I must close, and I can do so in no more appropriate way than by magnifying love as the supreme priority where any study on the gifts of the Spirit is concerned. Love itself is not a gift of the Spirit in the same way that we have been considering those gifts as the base of our varied ministries in the Body of Christ. Love is a fruit of the Spirit 20 and grows in the believers by abiding in Christ, the True Vine. It is a quality of character. I am persuaded that certain gifts of the Spirit, and not least the gift of tongues, fulfill a real function in the spiritual life by enlarging and liberat• ing the soul in communion with God. Paul testified that

Galatians 5:22 Spiritual Gifts and World Evangelization 101 in this way he edified himself. Therefore, they can aid character. For our present studies it is sufficient to in• sist that the final measure of truly Pentecostal power in any witness for Christ is not what the Spirit-filled be• liever can say, nor yet what he can do, nor even what he can see; it consists in the final analysis of what he is. All comes to us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The ultimate purpose of spiritual gifts in the work of the ministry, and the ultimate purpose of world evangelization is the glory of God, the giver of all grace. Therefore of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory for ever.