Miraculous Gifts and the Sufficiency of Scripture
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
-1 Corinthians 13:8-10, ESV
The topic of spiritual gifts has caused much confusion and intrigue in the Church, especially the miraculous gifts of prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing, and performing miracles. Throughout the New Testament, we see these gifts in the early Church and—in the case of tongues—as evidence of salvation. This has caused some to overemphasize them and labor almost to the point of obsession trying to identify their own spiritual gifts. After all, if spiritual gifts are the evidence of salvation, not being able to identify your own spiritual gifts can bring your salvation into question. This means it is vital for Christians to understand the true nature of spiritual gifts.
Spiritual Gifts in Scripture
Starting at Pentecost, spiritual gifts are prevalent in the Acts narrative. Speaking in tongues was the sign that the Holy Spirit had entered into the early believers—first in the Upper Room (Acts 2:1-12) and then on the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48). And when Paul had baptized the twelve men who had only received John’s baptism, they spoke in tongues and prophesied as a sign that the Spirit had entered them (Acts 19:1-7). Interestingly, these are the only references to tongues and prophecy in Acts connected to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The people who believed upon hearing Peter’s Pentecost sermon received the Spirit, but there is no record of them speaking in tongues (Acts 2:38)—nor the Samaritans for that matter (Acts 8:17). Elsewhere in Acts, the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles and church leaders, gave them wisdom in certain circumstances, and performed miracles through them. However, when we consider the fact that Acts covers over thirty years of church history, the relatively sporadic nature of these miraculous gifts suggests that they were much less prevalent in the early church than many have assumed. This also means that speaking in tongues upon salvation was the exception not the rule, so we cannot view it or any other miraculous gift as primary evidence of salvation.
There is some teaching about spiritual gifts in the epistles, but it is certainly not a primary topic. While the subject spans three chapters of 1 Corinthians, it only occupies short sections of Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Peter. Among these, there is little consistency in what is classified as a spiritual gift. The most extensive list is wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-11). A different list has prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, and acts of mercy (Romans 12:6-8). Paul later talks of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers as given by Christ to build up His Body (Ephesians 4:11-12). Peter lists only teaching and serving as spiritual gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11). One thing we should immediately notice from these lists is that many of the gifts are not miraculous. This debunks the common teaching that spiritual gifts are different from talents, so unbelievers cannot possess them. All of our talents and abilities are gifts from God, so it should come as no surprise that they are listed among spiritual gifts. Second, the lists are vastly different, with the miraculous gifts diminishing as the lists get smaller, suggesting that they were more prominent in the early days of the Church and then diminished over time as evidenced by the timeline of these letters. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians circa 55 A.D. and Romans circa 57 A.D. during the events of Acts. He wrote Ephesians circa 60 A.D. after the events of Acts. Hebrews and 1 Peter were written later, so it appears that by the mid-60s A.D., the miraculous gifts had all but ceased. And their scant mention in Revelation suggests that John and the two witnesses he wrote about (Revelation 11) were the last prophets in the late 60s A.D.[1] This makes sense when we consider that the first four decades of the Church were a period of transition in which the Church was gradually replacing the Jews as the people of God, culminating with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. After that, the miraculous gifts were no longer necessary so the Spirit no longer gave them.
The Purpose of Miraculous Gifts
In short, the Spirit ceased dispensing the miraculous gifts after 70 A.D. because they were no longer required. They had fulfilled their role as soon as the canon of Scripture was finished. How can I say this definitively? Because Scripture says as much:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world….Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
-Hebrews 1:1-2.2:1-4, ESV
From this, we see first that God’s method of speaking with His people changed from various prophets to Christ Himself in “these last days”. His Word of salvation was declared first by Christ to the disciples, who then declared it to others. As they shared the Gospel—and as the Spirit inspired the New Testament—God attested to the validity of this Gospel and these new Scriptures through signs, wonders, miracles, and spiritual gifts. Therefore, the purpose of the miraculous gifts was to prove the validity of the Gospel and the new Scriptures being written. Paul wraps up the longest passage on spiritual gifts by saying this: “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:37). Such validation was necessary because the Gospel was a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:23). Since the Spirit had inspired no new Scripture in four hundred years, Jews were rightly wary of anyone claiming to be writing new Scripture due to the Law’s serious warning about false prophets (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). And as their reaction at the Areopagus shows, the Greeks viewed the claim of a man rising from the dead as preposterous (Acts 17:29-33). So both needed the miraculous gifts in order to show that the Gospel that was being preached and the new Scripture being penned was actually from God. For the elect Jews, this proved that Jesus was the prophet like Moses to whom they should listen (Deuteronomy 18:15-22), and for the elect Gentiles this proved that Jesus really did rise from the dead and was far superior to their pantheon of deities. That was the primary purpose of the miraculous gifts, but now that all of Scripture has been written and attested by these gifts, they are no longer required.
The miraculous gifts also fulfilled the purpose of helping to build up the Church. Paul mentions this as the specific role of prophecy and tongues. The Corinthians had forgotten that and were instead using their spiritual gifts as a way to claim superiority over each other. Paul silences them and redirects them toward the purpose of building up the Church, stating that using them for any other purpose renders them useless (1 Corinthians 14:1-25). He reminds the Ephesians of the same:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
-Ephesians 4:11-14, ESV
Clearly, the point of all spiritual gifts—including the miraculous gifts—is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, build up the Church to unity and maturity in Christ, and protect against false doctrine. And since the point is to bring the Church to maturity, this hints at the temporary nature of the miraculous gifts. This is even clearer when we look at the text between Paul’s comments on gifts in general and the specific gifts of prophecy and tongues: the love chapter. I cover this in my leadership paper, but it is important to note that this famous chapter begins and ends with references to the miraculous gifts. Paul says tongues, prophecy, and knowledge without love are useless before describing what love is, ending with the enduring nature of love contrasted with the fact that prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will all cease (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). While this certainly has its ultimate fulfillment in eternity when we know God fully, it also hints at the fleeting nature of the miraculous gifts. Now that the canon of Scripture is complete, the miraculous gifts have passed away. The Spirit still performs miracles and heals, but not through a gift given to individual saints. There is also no room in the modern church for tongues or prophecy.[2]
The Danger of Prophecy
But in an attempt to apply 1 Corinthians 14 more directly, many have tried to redefine prophecy to our modern context. Instead of speaking an authoritative word from God, modern prophecy has been defined as applying the truths of Scripture to particular situations. Under that definition, prophecy would be absolutely essential in the modern church, encompassing preaching, teaching, exhortation, discipleship, and even biblical counseling.[3] However, many Christians would miss this nuance and instead equate a “word from God” from someone claiming to be a prophet with the authoritative prophecy seen throughout Scripture. Then if that “prophet’s” words do not come to pass, it calls the trustworthiness of God into question. In such churches, so-called prophets carry significant authority, but in many other churches there are people do not claim that authority but claim to have a specific word from God, thereby making themselves de facto prophets. The danger is the same: whether their word ultimately comes to pass or not, they are still at great risk of blasphemy by putting words in God’s mouth.
Whether formal or informal, modern “prophets” are sinning by undermining the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Scripture must be the highest authority for every aspect of the Christian’s life.[4] Regardless of motives, so-called prophets are exhorting people to follow their word rather than subordinating that word to Scripture. More importantly, anyone who thinks we need prophets today is denying the sufficiency of Scripture. Now that the canon of Scripture is complete, in its entirety it is all we need to obey God in any situation we might face (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3-11). To seek out prophecy in any form then is to claim that the Bible is insufficient. And while the Holy Spirit may certainly lay it on someone’s heart to speak the truths of Scripture to someone, He is not giving a prophetic word. As John Newton pointed out, “the Holy Spirit teaches or reveals no new truths, either of doctrine or precept, but only enables us to understand what is already revealed in Scripture”.[5] We are not looking for new revelation from the Holy Spirit but for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to what He has already revealed in Scripture and how to apply that to our lives. Anyone who says “God told me to tell you…” is therefore lying, falsely and foolishly claiming the Spirit’s authority and thereby dishonoring God. As it has been often said: if you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. If you want to hear Him speak audibly, read it out loud!
Does this preclude us from seeking or giving advice to people? Absolutely not! Scripture repeatedly commands us to give and seek counsel, advice, teaching, and wisdom. But we should never claim that this advice is “a word from the Lord” unless we immediately follow it up with a direct Scripture reference. We can and should use Scripture as the central source for any counsel or advice, but we must always ensure we are interpreting it correctly before applying it. We must also be humble as we apply the Word, remembering that our interpretation may be flawed. In biblical counseling, we seek to understand the counselee’s issues, describe them based on Scripture, and then apply what Scripture says to their situation. I have previously given some basic examples of how to do this with depression and suicide. In this we must always remember that the only infallible counsel is Scripture itself. All human counsel—even when derived from Scripture—is ultimately fallible and must be caveated as such. We must not claim, either explicitly or implicitly, the authority of Scripture by acting like prophets. John Calvin sums it up: “Christ has so spoken as to leave nothing else for others to say”.[6]
Evidence of Salvation and the Place for Gifts
Since the miraculous gifts have ceased and the non-miraculous gifts are often no different from the talents and abilities of non-Christians, we cannot look to spiritual gifts as evidence of salvation. Instead, the Spirit provides us with evidence of salvation (Romans 8:16) by producing His fruit in us:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
-Galatians 5:19-24, ESV
As the Spirit causes us to produce His fruit, He also removes our desires of the flesh that wage war against them. So as we see the fruits of the Spirit increasing in our lives and the deeds of the flesh diminishing, we can be confident that we belong to Christ. So when looking for evidence of faith in yourself or others, look for fruit not gifts. However, that does not mean we should not look for gifts. Scripture uses the metaphors of a body, army, family, and building to describe the Church. In all of these, every part is vital. The Holy Spirit places us in a particular context and equips us to minister to the church in that context, so it is absolutely vital for us to use our gifts to build up the Body. That requires us to identify them, but not with tests or introspection. Instead, we must serve the church in various ways. As we do, certain things we do will particularly bless others. So when various saints tell you that the same thing has blessed them, you have probably found a spiritual gift. This also means that when someone blesses us in this way, we should be diligent to let them know.
All in all, the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts not as particular evidence of salvation or to create divisions between us, but to build up the Church. When the Church was young and fledgling in the First Century, that required miraculous gifts, but now that the canon of Scripture is complete, those miraculous gifts have ceased. And while the true evidence of salvation comes from the fruit of the Spirit displacing the deeds of the flesh, the non-miraculous gifts that the Spirit still dispenses are absolutely vital to the Church today. So, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6a).
NOTES
[1] The date Revelation was written is a topic of debate. While most scholars today date it in the 90s A.D. based on a comment from Irenaeus a century later, the context of the book and its similarity to the Olivet Discourse suggest a date before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. This is an area in which eschatology has skewed objective scholarship. We must let exegesis shape our theology, not letting our theology lead us to eisegesis.
[2] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue ed., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Biblical Truth, Wheaton, IL: Crossway: 2017: chapter 5; Martin Bucer trans. by Peter Beale, Concerning the True Care of Souls, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2019: 25.
[3] John M. Frame, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing: 2013: chapter 25.
[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 131.
[5] John Newton, Letters of John Newton, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2007 (orig. 1869): 251.
[6] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: Translated from the First French Edition of 1541 by Robert White, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2014: 725-726.
