Episode 6: What Was the Purpose of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Summary

Question: What was the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament?

There is a twofold purpose for the gifts. The first has to do with enabling the local congregations to function in the absence of the apostles.

John 16:12-13 The Holy Spirit was going to give the apostles information beyond what they had visibly witnessed. For example, the high priesthood of Jesus according to the order of Melchizedek, the ascension to the throne, or Jesus in glory are all things revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles. All the instructions for the local church are also a part of that, that’s why New Testament teaching can also be called the apostles’ doctrine.

The apostles were going to be moving on from place to place since there was only 12 of them plus Paul. Someone has to be carrying on in their absence so as a result you have the gifts of the Spirit which are listed in 1 Corinthians 12-14. You see the example in Acts 8 of Peter and John coming down to Samaria to lay hands on people in the congregation so that when the apostles and Philip leave, that congregation can function in the absence of the New Testament. So that was one of the main purposes of the gifts.

Another purpose was to confirm what was going on.

Mark 16:15-20 Another function of these gifts were to confirm the Word, confirm the testimony that Jesus was raised from the dead, and to confirm the doctrines that were being preached.

In Acts 8 when Philip came and preached in Samaria, that’s new ground. When the gospel came into Samaria and these people were being immersed, they did not know whether they were receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit. You can’t see things like forgiveness of sins and the indwelling Holy Spirit. So when the apostles are laying hands on these people in Samaria, they are receiving various gifts of the Spirit. The signs were then confirming the fact that the Samaritans were acceptable to God. You had a visible demonstration verifying what had been done.

Acts 15:12 One of the purposes of the signs and wonders was to verify the work that Paul and Barnabas were doing among the Gentiles on the first missionary journey. Which Paul and Barnabas were not requiring the Gentiles to be circumcised or keep the law of Moses, so the signs were pointing out that this was acceptable to God.

Acts 19:1-6 Apollos had been through Ephesus earlier, and all he knew was the immersion of John. John’s immersion is for forgiveness of sins but it doesn’t offer the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Scripture is pretty clear if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him. So the indwelling Holy Spirit is one of the key and most important issues. Now, one of the purposes of the gifts of the Spirit in this particular situation was to verify the accuracy of what Paul had done. Some people may have said, hey Paul, these guys were already immersed, what are you doing? The gifts were verifying the accuracy of Paul immersing these guys in the name of Jesus to get the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 2:2-4 The purpose of the gifts is to confirm the Word.

So there was a twofold function of the gifts the Spirit:

1. Make sure the church could be established in the absence of the New Testament.

2. Confirm the apostles’ doctrine as it went forth.