WHAT ARE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT? By definition, gifts of the Holy Spirit (spiritual gifts) are special abilities or powers freely given to born again Christians by the Holy Spirit to: 1.) - help them live godly lives as followers of Jesus, 2.) - to help them understand and discern the Word of God, 3.) - to help them successfully preach the Gospel of salvation to the unsaved, and 4.) - to help them build up fellow believers in the Church or Body of Christ. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are supernatural and divine; they do not originate with the natural human being. The New Testaments lists a number of specific gifts of the Holy Spirit, and they are classified as either practical gifts or as apostolic gifts: PRACTICAL GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Word of Wisdom Word of Knowledge Faith Service Discernment Helps Teaching Administration Encouragement Giving Leadership Pastorship Mercy APOSTOLIC GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Healing Prophecy Miraculous signs & wonders Tongues Interpretation of tongues Virtually all Christians agree that the Holy Spirit continues to distribute all of the practical gifts today for the benefit of the Church and individual Christians. However, there is much debate among Christians as to whether the Holy Spirit continues to distribute apostolic gifts today, or ceased distribution of apostolic gifts when the cannon of the Bible was completed. Those Christians who believe the former are continuationsts, while those Christians who believe the latter are cessationists. The Bible indicates that all Christians have multiple practical gifts from the Holy Spirit, including discernment; however, the Bible also indicates that a significant fraction of Christians also have at least one apostolic gift. Christians are strictly commanded by the Bible to use their spiritual gifts responsibly and not carelessly. God will hold each Christian accountable for how they utilized the spiritual gifts endowed to them.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 19:13:19 +0000
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