Spiritual Gifts In The Early Church
Acts 191. And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
8. And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
That spiritual gifts were operating in the early church is without question. It would appear from these verses that gifts and miracles were so common as to be regarded as ordinary, because this passage mentions some special miracles. The supernatural seems to have been the natural in the church of Jesus.
Jesus had said, "Ac 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you . . .
That certainly seems to have been the case.
There was a miraculous outpouring with signs.
Ac 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Multitudes were saved.
Ac 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
People were miraculously healed.
Ac 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Ac 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
Ac 3:7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Other amazing things happened.
Ac 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
And it just kept going.
Ac 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
Miracles appear to have been a daily occurrence. If that happened in the early church, should it not be happening in the church today?
Someone will surely say, "Why miracles?" Why not? When the gospel was preached, miracles accompanied the preaching. It attracted the crowds and authenticated the message.
Ordinary people
Please bear this in mind. The disciples were just ordinary people. They remained, in spite of Pentecost, just ‘earthen vessels’ (jars of clay). They still experienced joy and sorrow, riches and poverty, strength and weakness, health and sickness, popularity and persecution. We shouldn’t expect that they, or we, should be exempt from these things simply because we taste of the powers of the world to come. We still live in a fallen world and "the rain still falls on the just and the unjust’.
The great men and women of God throughout history have been ordinary people – just like you and I.
Gifts or The Gift
The source of the miracles taking place in the early church was the Holy Spirit. The believers had received the Holy Spirit. They had not simply received the gift of tongues or the working of miracles or any such thing. They had received the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Ac 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?
Clearly, the challenge was to experience, not to doctrine. Doctrine is vital, but without experience it is nothing but dead religion.
The term ‘manifestation of the spirit’ is used.
1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
The word ‘manifestation’ means ‘ a shining forth’. The Spirit shines forth in us through these specific gifts. It is not us shining, but him shining through us.
The Corinthian Example
There is the illusion in many minds that, because of the problems in the Corinthian church, the spiritual gifts are not a good thing. It’s almost as if the problem was that they were Pentecostal, and you know how those strange Pentecostals are. They’re liable to do anything.
But the disorders in the church had nothing to do with the gifts of the Spirit, but with the weaknesses of some of the believers in that church – just as it is today.
The problem is that people have the impression that those who are truly filled with the Spirit should be models of perfect holiness and spiritual maturity. Well, they should be, but what should be and what is are two different things.
We must rid ourselves of the notion that we deserve any blessing of gift that we receive from God. We don’t and we never will. The miracle of salvation is that only those who don’t deserve it receive it. The miracle of the gifts is the same. They are graced upon us.
The biblical record makes it clear that these were weak, erring men and women who, though sanctified by the Spirit, were still afflicted with human infirmities, still made mistakes, and still needed instruction from ‘church fathers’.
Truly, they were ignorant concerning the use of the gifts, but all too often we are totally ignorant of the gifts whatsoever. Like someone said, it may be easier to control wildfire than it is to light wet wood.
Too many saints are content to sit back and watch or wait for someone else to do it. What are we afraid of? Why do we not wade out into the water and swim ourselves? The operation of the Holy Spirit is not a spectator event – it is a hands-on kind of thing.
You’ll never know the joys of the moving of the Holy Spirit until you taste of it for yourself.
Jesus commanded his disciples:
Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Then he said:
Ac 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you . . .
He said:
Mr 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe . . .
If you are a believer, then these signs should be following you.