Expositions on Spiritual Endowments

“Spiritual Gifts For Today”
Being associated with Christ in His headship of the whole universe the believers now have attained their majority. The inauguration of the present administration of God’s grace has brought many changes with it. This called for an adjusting of the saints, in the language of inspiration (Eph. 4:12). It is figuratively presented as the change from minority to manhood (Eph. 4:13; 1 Cor. 13:10). The new celestial destiny severed the saints from earthly, physical blessing, which they had enjoyed as guests of Israel’s covenants. The new status of the nations demanded that their spiritual growth be completed, so that they may truly be the complements of Christ among the celestials. The spiritual manifestations of so-called “gifts” give us a graphic illustration of the changes involved.

“Spiritual Endowments”
The tremendous growth and success of the modern charismatic movement has brought considerable respectability and acceptance to practices which nearly all deemed spurious only a few decades ago. It is of no consequence, however, insofar as truth is concerned, whether any certain belief should be popular or unpopular, applauded or condemned among men. Our appeal can only be to the Scriptures themselves, as we seek to discern the truth concerning various issues of present-day spiritual endowments.

“The Duration of Languages”
Just as 1 Corinthians 14:22 is the only passage which states the purpose of the gift of languages, 1 Corinthians 13:10 is the only passage that reveals when this gift will cease. The question, then, is not whether the gift of languages—even as those of prophecy and knowledge—will cease, but when it will cease. This exposition addresses the principal issues involved in this question of the duration of languages and related gifts.

“The Primitive Passed By”
—with afterword, “The More Excellent Way.”
The path “suited to transcendence” (1 Cor.12:31), is the path of truth for believers today. On this pathway, only “faith, expectation, love–these three” are “remaining” (1 Cor.13:13). The gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 as a whole were concerned only with the early period of the ecclesia’s development, and were being given with a view to expedience (1 Cor.12:7), since the word of God had not yet been completed (cf Col.1:25). Yet now, since the word of God has been completed, much that was once expedient is no longer appropriate. Hence such provisions have ceased or been discarded.

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