The Spiritual Gifts 1: A Bountiful Diversity

To this day, the matter of Spiritual gifts is a matter of division and even name-calling, as both “charismatics” and “cessationists” tend to stereotype the other party. As judged by “charismatics,” cessationists are stodgy, proud, traditionalists, who do not really believe the whole Bible or love the Lord. They are defeatist, theologically stuffy, dull, and devoid of the Spirit in their worship. They honor tradition over revelation. To the “cessastionist,” the charismatic is profoundly unbiblical in their love for experience over truth; they are elitist, abrasive, uncontrolled glory-seekers, believing there are short-cuts to holiness and spiritual power. They honor experience over truth. While both sides claim to be “Biblical” in their stance, their views are so antithetical. So who is right? The answer, as always must be drawn from an accurate exegesis of appropriate texts of Scripture – most notably the text in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14, which begins in the sermon.

Here we lay the ground-work for understanding the rest of the chapters on Spiritual Gifts.