I believe that it is proper to divide the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament into permanent gifts (Ephesians 4:11-16)—which are given by God to His churches throughout all ages for their profit and edification—and temporary gifts, which are further divided into the sign gifts and the revelatory gifts.
I believe that the sign gifts recorded in the New Testament were given for the purpose of convincing unbelieving Jews that the preaching of the gospel by the apostles was of God (1 Corinthians 14:21-22), and that they ceased when the last of the apostles passed away.
I believe that the revelatory gifts recorded in the New Testament were given to reveal the fullness of God’s truth in the New Covenant to his churches until such time as His apostles had completed writing the New Testament, at which time they ended.
I believe that the modern Charismatic movement with its emphasis of love over truth, its disdain for sound doctrine, its love of compromising associations, and ungodly rejection of Scriptural guidelines for the use of tongues shows itself to be part of the prophesied lying sins and wonders of these, the last days.
In the New Testament there are four biblical lists of the “gifts of the Spirit”, also known as spiritual gifts. The four main passages describing the spiritual gifts are Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11-16.
Every time we read or speak about the “gifts of the Spirit”, we have to consider the division mentioned in the first paragraph of this article.
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