Having a spiritual gift does not make someone spiritually mature. Paul acknowledged the gifts God had given the Corinthians, but he still had plenty to correct in their congregation. I need to remember that before I become impressed with a person’s ability or dismiss someone whose service attracts little attention. Scripture teaches us to use what God has given for the good of His people, and it tells us how to examine claims made in His name.
Gifts Are Grace for One Body
Before Paul discusses particular gifts in Romans 12, he appeals to God’s mercy and calls believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. Their minds need to be renewed so their thinking and conduct are no longer shaped by the world around them. Serving God begins with that response to His mercy, and Paul immediately addresses how they regard themselves.
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Romans 12:3
Church responsibilities can become a source of pride just as easily as a position at work. If people regularly come to me for help understanding Scripture, I may begin to assume I have very little to learn from them. Paul calls for an honest assessment of ourselves because none of us can supply everything the church needs. He explains our relationship through the different parts of a body.
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
Romans 12:4-5
A teacher still needs encouragement and sometimes correction. A generous giver may need someone to care for him when he is struggling. We belong to one another, so receiving help is part of church life as much as offering it. I cannot treat other believers as unnecessary because their contribution differs from mine.
Paul goes on to describe “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us” in Romans 12:6. The Greek word charisma refers to a gift of grace, a gracious enablement. God supplies the grace that equips us to serve, so receiving a gift gives us no grounds to boast. Nor should another person’s gift make us resent our own place.
The gifts Paul names in Romans 12:6–8 reach into ordinary church life. Ministry includes meeting practical needs, while teaching helps people understand God’s Word. Exhortation means urging someone to respond to the truth; that may require encouragement or a frank warning, depending on what the person needs. Prophecy must remain accountable to faith and what God has revealed. Being confident about an impression does not give someone permission to announce whatever he pleases in God’s name.
Paul is equally concerned with how the work is done. Giving is to be sincere. If I offer financial help and then expect the recipient to support my opinions in return, I am using his need to gain control over him. Leadership requires diligence, which means giving the work steady attention instead of enjoying the title while neglecting the people. Mercy is to be shown cheerfully; someone who needs care should not be made to feel guilty for receiving it.
Paul takes up the same subject in 1 Corinthians 12–14, but there he also has to correct a congregation that had become divided and disorderly.
Building the Church Toward Maturity
In Corinth, believers who shared in the Spirit’s gifts had divided around favorite teachers and were taking one another to court. The congregation had tolerated serious sexual sin, while differences in wealth and status had marred the Lord’s Supper. Some still thought in ways shaped by their former idolatry. Paul confronted those failures rather than commending their conduct simply because they had remarkable abilities.
When he turns to spiritual gifts in chapter 12, he states what the Spirit intends them to accomplish.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.
1 Corinthians 12:7
The congregation should benefit from the gifts its members exercise. If a ministry makes one person look important while leaving people confused about Scripture or dependent on his approval, it has departed from Paul’s instructions. I would look at whether believers are being strengthened in the truth before drawing conclusions from the size of an audience.
Paul also identifies who decides how the gifts are distributed.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
1 Corinthians 12:11
The Holy Spirit exercises His own will in giving them. He is a divine Person, so we cannot treat Him as a supply of abilities to order according to our ambitions. Nor can we demand someone else’s gift as though He made a mistake in distributing them. The study on the person of the Holy Spirit examines who He is and His work among believers.
In that same chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul explains that members who seem weaker are necessary, and he calls for honor toward those who receive less recognition. The eye cannot tell the hand, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21). A public speaker depends on people whose work he may scarcely notice. If his prominence persuades him that everyone else is dispensable, he has badly misunderstood his place in the body.
Ephesians 4 gives particular attention to people entrusted with leadership and teaching. Christ gives them to the church so that other believers will be equipped to serve.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-12
The saints are meant to do the work of ministry as they are equipped. A congregation that remains dependent on one personality has missed that purpose, however capable the person may be. Paul describes believers growing beyond the spiritual childhood that leaves them vulnerable to every wind of doctrine. Good teaching should help them recognize error and serve others, rather than keep them unable to function without the teacher.
We also need to distinguish a spiritual gift from a church office and from natural ability. Someone may be gifted to teach without holding the authoritative teaching office of elder. Pastors and elders must be biblically qualified men whose doctrine, character, and households can be examined. The foundational apostles were personally commissioned witnesses of the risen Christ; a modern ministry title cannot confer their authority. Natural talent may be useful, but it does not establish a person’s qualifications or prove that the Spirit approves of his conduct.
Those qualifications govern who should hold an office. They do not relieve the rest of the church of the responsibility to serve. Peter addresses every believer who has received a gift.
As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1 Peter 4:10
A steward manages something entrusted to him by its owner. He is accountable for how he uses it. A speaker therefore needs to handle God’s words carefully instead of passing off personal opinions as divine instruction. When service is tiring or goes unnoticed, we need to depend on God’s strength and remember whose work we are doing. Peter gives the purpose in 1 Peter 4:11: God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ in all things.
We do not need public recognition before we can take that responsibility seriously. A believer who is struggling may need encouragement now, and practical work may be going undone while people wait for a more prominent opportunity. If God has given us a way to help, we can begin with the people and responsibilities already before us.
Love, Character, and Order
Paul places 1 Corinthians 13 between his explanation of gifts and his instructions for using them in the gathering. He considers tongues, prophecy, supernatural knowledge, sacrificial giving, and even faith powerful enough to move mountains. None of it excuses a failure to love the people we claim to serve.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2
I cannot point to a person’s gift as a defense of cruelty or persistent pride. Paul had already confronted the Corinthians’ fleshly behavior, and their abilities did not make it acceptable. Someone may explain Scripture with remarkable clarity and still need to repent of how he treats his family or the congregation. We need to deal with the misconduct rather than excuse it because people find his ministry useful.
Galatians 5 describes the fruit the Spirit produces: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Giftedness and character are not interchangeable. We should look for the fruit of the Spirit in a person’s life as well as faithful use of his abilities.
In a church service, love also requires us to consider whether the congregation can understand what is being said. Paul’s instructions about tongues address that responsibility, but Acts 2 gives us an earlier example of the gift itself. At Pentecost, people from many nations heard the disciples speaking in their own languages.
And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
Acts 2:6
I understand the gift of tongues to involve actual human languages, as we see at Pentecost. The miracle served the gospel as it began to reach the nations. When Paul addresses tongues in 1 Corinthians 14, he likewise insists that the gathered church benefit from what is spoken. He gives specific instructions for that setting.
If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
1 Corinthians 14:27-28
Two or at most three may speak, each in turn, and someone must interpret. Without an interpreter, the speaker is to remain silent in the church. These directions allow people to understand what is said so they can be edified, or built up in the faith. If someone refuses to follow them, claiming that the Spirit made him speak does not excuse the refusal. The apostolic instructions govern the gathering even when a speaker feels strongly compelled to say something.
Paul also limits the number of prophetic speakers and directs others to judge what is said. The congregation must have an opportunity to listen and weigh it. A claimed prophetic word does not give anyone authority to introduce new doctrine or put himself beyond correction. The Spirit of truth will not contradict Scripture or authorize manipulation.
Paul’s statement that “God is not the author of confusion but of peace” belongs to these instructions for worship. I would not use it to condemn every spontaneous moment in a service. But if someone insists that questioning his revelation amounts to opposing God, he is refusing the very examination Paul required.
Do Gifts Operate Today?
I am neither hyper-charismatic nor cessationist. I do not accept every claimed manifestation as genuine, and I do not believe the miraculous gifts ceased with the apostles. Counterfeit gifts need to be exposed, and exploiting people through prosperity spectacles deserves a plain rebuke. Exposing that misconduct, however, does not establish that the Spirit has stopped giving gifts.
Believers still need His help as they teach, pray, give, lead, and show mercy. God also remains able to heal and work miracles according to His will. We can ask Him to intervene without pretending that we control what He will do.
At the same time, we should recognize the particular setting of the apostolic signs. As the gospel entered new places and the church’s foundation was laid, God confirmed the message through extraordinary works. Paul describes this confirmation in Hebrews.
God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will.
Hebrews 2:4
Those signs bore witness to the gospel God had revealed. A modern claim to a miracle does not give its messenger the foundational authority of the apostles, and no sign authorizes him to invent doctrine. Recognizing that early purpose does not require us to deny that God still answers prayer, opens opportunities for the gospel, and strengthens His people.
God may heal directly, and His provision can also come through ordinary care. We should pray expectantly and be honest about what has happened. If a sick person has not improved, pressuring him to say he has been healed only adds deception to his suffering. It is also reckless to blame him for not having enough faith when Scripture describes faithful believers who endured terrible affliction. No claimed gift gives anyone the right to exploit that distress or intimidate people into donating money.
Testing Claims and Avoiding Common Errors
Testing a spiritual claim is a responsibility God gives the church. We are not required to surrender our judgment because someone speaks confidently in His name.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1
Paul gives a similar command while warning believers against quenching the Spirit.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21
To hold fast to what is good, we have to distinguish it from what is false. Accepting every claim ignores the instruction to test, while dismissing everything ignores the warning against despising what God gives. We need to compare the teaching with Scripture, ask whether the claimed gift honors Christ, and consider whether it strengthens the church within biblical order.
The messenger’s conduct deserves scrutiny too. Is he willing to receive correction and remain accountable to qualified church leadership? Is money handled openly? If a leader relies on secrecy and intimidation to prevent reasonable questions, his claims of spiritual authority should not protect him from examination. People in the congregation need to be able to raise a concern without being threatened for doing so.
If someone says a Christian must speak in tongues to prove he is saved, the problem goes beyond disorder in a service. He is adding a requirement to the gospel. No particular gift, whether tongues, healing, or something else, establishes spiritual superiority or saves a sinner. Salvation depends on Christ’s finished work, which the Spirit applies to those who believe.
Jesus, the eternal Son, is fully God and fully man, born of a virgin and completely sinless. He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men tortured and crucified Him, and He shed His innocent blood and died for us. His sacrifice was complete through His shed blood and death before He was buried and rose bodily from the grave. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father and Son were united in providing our redemption.
Christ died for the whole world and offers salvation to everyone, although people can resist and reject Him. Everyone who repents and believes is born again. The Holy Spirit lives within that believer and seals him for redemption, so his eternal life is secure in Christ. Regeneration means actual new birth, so calling ourselves Christians does not establish that we have received it. Our obedience should give evidence of that new life, but it neither earns nor keeps our salvation. Believers still need correction and repentance; eternal security gives no permission for lawlessness.
The Spirit’s indwelling and seal belong to every true believer, while He distributes gifts differently among them. Paul’s question in 1 Corinthians 12:30 assumes that not all believers speak in tongues. I do not regard tongues as the normal pattern of Christian life. We cannot make that gift a requirement for everyone who belongs to Christ. The study on His indwelling and coming upon explains the distinction between His presence in believers and other aspects of His ministry.
My Final Thoughts
I want to use what God has entrusted to me without resenting another believer’s place or becoming impressed with my own. That means being willing to serve when the work receives little recognition and accepting correction when I need it. A gift does not exempt anyone from loving the people he serves or obeying the Word he teaches.
We can protect people from false claims and still ask God to work powerfully among us. Paul tells us to test what we hear and hold fast to what is good, so discernment should help us recognize and welcome the Spirit’s work. I do not want a preoccupation with spectacular gifts to keep us from using what God has already entrusted to us.
When someone says the Holy Spirit led him to do something, I want to know whether what he did agrees with Scripture. A confident claim does not settle the question, especially if it is being used to pressure somebody else. Yet seeing that kind of manipulation can make Christians so wary that they hardly speak of the Spirit except to warn about false teaching. We need to know who He is and what He actually does, so we can depend on Him without accepting everything done in His name.
The Holy Spirit Is a Person, Not a Force
By calling the Holy Spirit a Person, I mean that He knows, wills, and acts with understanding. I am not suggesting that He has a human body. Scripture describes Him speaking to people, commissioning servants, and interceding for believers in their weakness. He can also be grieved by their sin. We would have to disregard those personal actions and responses to reduce Him to a force or a religious sensation.
The Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma, translated spirit, can also refer to wind or breath. We cannot take one of those meanings and impose it on every passage. The surrounding passage tells us how the term is being used. In John 14, the Spirit is the One who teaches the disciples and brings Jesus’ words to their remembrance:
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 14:26
Jesus gave this promise to His apostles before His arrest. After His departure, they would be responsible for teaching others what He had taught them. They would not have to reconstruct His words from fading memories; the Holy Spirit would bring those words to their remembrance. This helps explain why we can trust their witness to Jesus, including the apostolic Scriptures. It does not mean every idea that occurs to a Christian has the same authority.
The word translated “Helper” is parakletos. Other translations use Comforter, Counselor, or Advocate to express His ministry. Through the Spirit’s presence, Christ keeps His promise not to leave His people as orphans. The Spirit bears witness to Jesus and teaches His truth. A supposed work that draws people away from Christ contradicts that ministry.
In Acts 13, the Spirit also directs the church’s missionary work. While the believers at Antioch were ministering to the Lord and fasting, He told them to set apart two men.
As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Acts 13:2
Barnabas and Saul had been called by the Spirit Himself. He identified the work as His and instructed the church to release them for it. If I think of Him merely as a power that Christians can use, I have the relationship backward. He was giving the instructions, and they were responsible for obeying Him.
The same Spirit who directed the church could also be grieved by its members’ conduct. Paul warns believers about that responsibility:
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:30
Paul writes this to people who have already been sealed for redemption. They belong to God, but that does not make their behavior inconsequential. The warning appears among instructions about lying, anger, corrupt speech, and forgiveness. If I am nursing a grievance and using my words to tear someone down, I cannot dismiss it as a personality quirk. My conduct grieves the Holy Spirit who lives within me.
Present From the Beginning and Fully God
The Holy Spirit was active long before the church at Antioch existed. Genesis introduces Him before God formed and filled the earth, and before He made the sun and moon to mark days and seasons:
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2
The Spirit was present as God brought the world into order and filled it with life. His work is much broader than spiritual gifts or what takes place during a church service. The psalmist also credits Him with giving and renewing life in creation.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth.
Psalm 104:30
Giving life in creation and giving new spiritual life to a sinner are different works, but both belong to the same God. The Spirit who gives the new birth was already active long before there was a New Testament church.
Nor was His work among Israel merely an impersonal influence. Isaiah describes their rebellion in language much like Paul’s warning about grieving the Spirit.
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.
Isaiah 63:10
Israel rebelled against the God who had dealt with them so graciously, and their rebellion grieved His Holy Spirit. They incurred God’s judgment rather than His approval. The Old Testament already describes Him as personally involved with God’s people and offended by their disobedience.
Being a Person, however, does not by itself establish that He is God. Angels are personal beings too. Peter’s confrontation with Ananias goes further and identifies the Holy Spirit as God. Ananias and Sapphira had sold land and secretly kept part of the proceeds while pretending to give the entire amount.
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Acts 5:3-4
Peter did not reprimand Ananias for making too small a donation. He said the property had been his, and the money remained under his control after the sale. The deception was the offense. Peter first described it as lying to the Holy Spirit and then said Ananias had lied to God. He was speaking about the same lie, identifying the Spirit as God rather than a lesser being acting on God’s behalf.
Paul also describes a knowledge that belongs to God Himself: the Spirit knows the deep things of God.
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:10-11
“Searches” does not mean the Spirit is trying to discover things about God that He did not previously know. Paul compares His knowledge with a person’s knowledge of his own thoughts. The Spirit knows the things of God from within, with divine understanding. What the apostles received through Him was therefore God’s revelation, far beyond what human investigation or speculation could produce.
David also speaks of the Spirit when describing God’s omnipresence, meaning His presence everywhere.
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
Psalm 139:7-8
No journey could take David beyond the Spirit’s presence. As David continues in Psalm 139:7–10, even the most distant place he can imagine would still be within God’s reach. A created messenger cannot be everywhere. Read alongside Peter’s words in Acts and Paul’s explanation of His knowledge, this passage gives us substantial biblical grounds for confessing the Holy Spirit’s deity.
The Spirit Within the Trinity and the Truth of Scripture
Confessing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as God does not mean we worship three gods. Scripture teaches one God who eternally exists as three co-equal Persons. The Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct from one another, yet they share the one divine nature. They are not three identities adopted by a single Person. Jesus names all three when He commands His followers to baptize those who become disciples.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19
Notice that Jesus says “the name,” singular, while naming the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His command holds together God’s unity and the distinction of the Persons. Trinity is the term we use for this biblical teaching; it does not mean that Christians worship three separate gods.
Paul’s blessing to the Corinthians likewise includes the Holy Spirit with the Father and Son.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13:14
The church shares in the grace of Christ, the love of God, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Paul is not putting a created servant on equal terms with God. His blessing reflects the church’s relationship with the triune God. For a fuller examination of these relationships, see A Complete Bible Study on the Trinity.
Jesus explains these relationships more fully in John 14–16. The Son asks the Father to give another Helper, who will remain with believers and testify about Christ. Father, Son, and Spirit are distinguishable in what Jesus says, and their work is in complete agreement. Jesus calls the Helper the Spirit of truth, which also tells us what to expect from the Spirit’s teaching:
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
John 16:13
Like the promise about remembrance, these words prepared the apostles for their work after Jesus left them. They would not have to devise doctrine from their own opinions. The Spirit would guide them into truth and reveal what they needed as Christ’s appointed witnesses, including things to come. We can trust the apostolic Scriptures because their teaching rests on His revelation.
As we read those Scriptures today, we depend on the Spirit to help us understand and obey what God has said. He brings the Word to bear on our conscience, exposing sin we have rationalized and giving us courage to obey. Jesus prayed for His disciples to be changed through that truth.
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
John 17:17
Sanctification is God’s work of setting His people apart and making them holy. Sometimes that requires correction we would rather avoid. If I mislead someone to secure a business deal, saying that I prayed about it and felt at peace does not make the deception right. I need to deal honestly with that person, even if it costs me the agreement. The Spirit who inspired the Word will not contradict it.
The Spirit Gives Life, Indwells, Seals, and Helps
Before we can grow in holiness, we need the spiritual life that only God can give. Nicodemus had religious standing and knowledge, but Jesus told him he needed to be born again.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:6
Paul calls this regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, placing salvation in God’s mercy rather than our righteous works (Titus 3:5). Regeneration means that someone has genuinely been born again. Calling myself a Christian cannot accomplish that, and improving my outward behavior cannot produce the spiritual life I lack.
The Spirit gives that life by applying the saving work of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son who is fully God and fully man. Jesus was virgin-born and completely sinless. He willingly offered Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked men tortured and crucified Him, and He shed His innocent blood and died for us. His sacrifice was complete through His shed blood and death before He was buried and rose bodily from the grave. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Father and Son were united in providing our redemption.
Christ died for the whole world, and His offer of salvation is genuine, although people can resist and reject it. The Spirit convicts the world concerning Christ and gives new life to everyone who repents and believes. Those who trust Christ are forgiven and justified, meaning declared righteous before God. The Spirit lives within them. He does not offer another way of salvation; He applies what Christ has already accomplished.
That indwelling belongs to every true believer. It is not a later achievement reserved for unusually mature Christians.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Romans 8:9
Paul says that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. A believer may still be immature and need serious correction, but that is different from being without the Spirit. We should address the immaturity without teaching Christians that God will only dwell within them once they have performed well enough.
The difference between His indwelling and other aspects of His ministry receives fuller attention in The Holy Spirit Indwelling vs Coming Upon.
Paul also explains when believers receive the Spirit’s seal and what that seal assures them.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14
These Christians were sealed when they heard the gospel and trusted Christ. Paul calls the Spirit Himself the guarantee of their inheritance, assuring them that God will complete their redemption. A genuinely born-again believer is eternally secure in Christ, even on a day when he feels discouraged and his faith seems weak. Our assurance rests on God’s promise, not our ability to maintain a particular feeling.
This is the same Spirit Paul warns us not to grieve in Ephesians 4:30. Eternal security does not excuse lawlessness, and a Christian label alone does not demonstrate regeneration. We should see evidence of the new creation in a person’s conduct. That does not mean obedience earns salvation or that believers reach sinless perfection; it means the life God gives has an effect on how we live.
Paul makes the responsibility especially personal when he addresses sexual purity.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19
My body belongs to God, so I cannot dismiss sexual sin as my own business. The Holy Spirit is present when nobody else sees what I am doing. A respectable appearance at church cannot make secret disobedience acceptable to Him. His indwelling brings a responsibility to honor God in private as well as in public.
His presence also means we are not left to cope with weakness on our own. In Romans 8, believers groan as they await final redemption, and sometimes they do not even know what they ought to pray for.
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Romans 8:26
I am grateful that the Spirit’s help does not depend on our ability to explain everything clearly. We may know we need God’s help without knowing what to ask Him for in a painful situation. The Spirit intercedes according to God’s will where our understanding fails. He does not promise to remove every hardship, but our uncertainty is no reason to stop praying.
The Spirit Gives Gifts and Calls for Discernment
The Spirit who lives within believers also equips them to serve one another. Paul explains the purpose of spiritual gifts before discussing who receives them.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.
1 Corinthians 12:7
A gift is given for the church’s benefit. Whatever ability someone has received, its use should help the people he serves. Paul then lists different gifts and identifies who decides how they are distributed.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
1 Corinthians 12:11
The words “as He wills” leave the distribution with the Spirit. We do not get to dictate His choices or demand the same gift from everyone as proof of salvation. I understand biblical tongues to be actual human languages, and I do not regard speaking in tongues as the normal pattern of Christian life. Every believer has the Spirit, whether or not he has spoken in tongues. Nor does an impressive gift establish spiritual maturity. Someone can draw a crowd and still need substantial correction, while another believer quietly strengthens the congregation without attracting much attention.
I am neither hyper-charismatic nor cessationist: I do not accept every claimed manifestation as genuine, and I do not believe the miraculous gifts ceased with the apostles. Abuses need to be confronted, but they do not give us grounds to deny the Spirit’s present work. Discernment requires us to examine a claim rather than accept or reject it simply because of how extraordinary it sounds.
Does the claimed work agree with Scripture and confess the truth about Christ? What fruit is it producing, and how is it affecting the church? If someone uses a supposed message from God to intimidate others or excuse his own misconduct, we should challenge it. A private impression does not acquire the authority of Scripture because the person expressing it is confident, popular, or difficult to confront.
We also need to examine our own expectations. If I prize a spectacular experience more than faithful service, I may overlook the very people whose work is helping the church. Gifts belong under Christ’s lordship and must be used in truth and love, according to His order. When worship becomes a performance designed to make one person look powerful, we have departed from the purpose Paul gives for the gifts.
For a more detailed examination, see A Complete Bible Study on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
My Final Thoughts
I do not want us to become so preoccupied with exposing false claims that we grow reluctant to depend on the Holy Spirit. We have good biblical reasons to recognize Him as fully God and to worship Him with the Father and Son. His ministry glorifies Christ, and we should expect it to deepen our regard for Jesus and the blood by which we were redeemed.
For those who have been born again, His presence reaches into the decisions we make every day. We cannot deceive Him or make disobedience acceptable by dressing it in religious language. But when His Word exposes our sin, we can accept the correction and obey with His help. And when hardship leaves us unsure what to pray, we can still come to the Father, knowing the Spirit intercedes for us. I want to rely on the help God has actually promised, with the assurance that the One who sealed us for redemption remains with His people.
