Spiritual Gifts in the Church Today
These days we find two views among Christians in regard to the permanency of spiritual gifts. Some believe that edifying gifts, such as knowledge, wisdom, teaching, exhortation, faith, and mercy, are permanent gifts but that the sign gifts, such as prophecy, healing, tongues, and miracles, ceased with the death of the apostles. Defenders of this view claim: “The sign gifts had a unique purpose: to give the apostles credentials, that is, to let the people know that these men all spoke the truth of God. Once the Word of God was inscripturated, the sign gifts were no longer needed and they ceased.”—John F. MacArthur, Jr., Charismatic Chaos, p. 199. Other Christians believe that all the spiritual gifts will be present in the church until the Lord comes.
What do the following texts say about the permanence of spiritual gifts? 1 Cor. 1:6, 7; 13:9, 10; Eph. 4:11–13.
According to Paul, the charismata, the spiritual gifts, will be in the church until Jesus comes, but does this mean that all the gifts will be present all the time?
The Church Father Irenaeus (A.D. 120-195) wrote about the presence and operation of spiritual gifts even in his day. Thus, according to Irenaeus, spiritual gifts were still in evidence at the end of the second century A.D.
During the next two centuries, however, the church suffered a serious spiritual and theological deterioration, and the spiritual gifts by and large disappeared. During the time of the Reformation, beginning with John Wycliffe in England, God used the Reformers to restore neglected truth, and they certainly had the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, and teaching. None of the main Reformers, though, claimed to have the prophetic gift. This particular gift, according to Revelation 12:17, was to be manifested again in the end-time remnant church.
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