Gifts of the Spirit
“Love is never lapsing: yet, whether prophecies, they will be discarded, or languages, they will cease, or knowledge, it will be discarded. For out of an installment are we knowing, and out of an installment are we prophesying. Now whenever maturity may be coming, that which is out of an installment shall be discarded." (1 Corinthians 13:8-10)
There are those who think there are still gifts of the spirit operating in the church today. I do not. My study of the Bible has convinced me that these once necessary gifts have not been operating in the body of Christ since the Apostles Paul and John received the final revelation of what God wanted humanity to know. The Bible is the “maturity” which was “coming” and it is now complete. Until it was completed our knowledge of God’s plan was “out of an installment”.
Only that written in the pages of Scripture is authentic prophesy written by the prophets. There are no prophets today because the scripture is “complete”.
“…since surely you are persisting in the faith, grounded and settled and are not being removed from the expectation of the evangel which you hear which is being heralded in the entire creation which is under heaven of which I, Paul, became the dispenser… in accord with the administration of God, which is granted to me for you, to COMPLETE the word of God - the secret which has been concealed from the eons and from the generations, yet now was made manifest to His saints, to whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is: Christ among you, the expectation of glory.” (Colossians 1:23-27)
Nevertheless, we are seeing many today claiming the gifts of the spirit, including the gift of prophecy. And in the past few months many of these prophets have claimed to have received a prophetic word from God that President Trump will be reelected, or in some other manner continue to be the President of the United States. Although I do not agree, I empathize with their hope and will change my mind about gifts of the spirit if they turn out to be correct.
There are those who think there are still gifts of the spirit operating in the church today. I do not. My study of the Bible has convinced me that these once necessary gifts have not been operating in the body of Christ since the Apostles Paul and John received the final revelation of what God wanted humanity to know. The Bible is the “maturity” which was “coming” and it is now complete. Until it was completed our knowledge of God’s plan was “out of an installment”.
Only that written in the pages of Scripture is authentic prophesy written by the prophets. There are no prophets today because the scripture is “complete”.
“…since surely you are persisting in the faith, grounded and settled and are not being removed from the expectation of the evangel which you hear which is being heralded in the entire creation which is under heaven of which I, Paul, became the dispenser… in accord with the administration of God, which is granted to me for you, to COMPLETE the word of God - the secret which has been concealed from the eons and from the generations, yet now was made manifest to His saints, to whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is: Christ among you, the expectation of glory.” (Colossians 1:23-27)
What God wants us to know is in the Bible for us to read for ourselves.
Nevertheless, we are seeing many today claiming the gifts of the spirit, including the gift of prophecy. And in the past few months many of these prophets have claimed to have received a prophetic word from God that President Trump will be reelected, or in some other manner continue to be the President of the United States. Although I do not agree, I empathize with their hope and will change my mind about gifts of the spirit if they turn out to be correct.
One thing for sure, if they are wrong the scripture is still the word of God and I hope all bible believing people will then consider what it says about how to tell if a person is actually speaking the Word of God.
“In case you should say in your heart:How shall we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken? When a prophet shall speak in the name of Yahweh, and the word shall neither come to be nor come about, then it is a word that Yahweh did not speak, In arrogance did the prophet speak it.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)
“In case you should say in your heart:How shall we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken? When a prophet shall speak in the name of Yahweh, and the word shall neither come to be nor come about, then it is a word that Yahweh did not speak, In arrogance did the prophet speak it.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)