Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit

1. Types of Miraculous Gifts
   1. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10
      1. Wisdom
      2. Knowledge
      3. Faith
      4. Healing
      5. Miracles
      6. Prophecy
      7. Distinguishing Spirits
      8. Tongues
      9. Interpretation
   2. (Mark 16:16-18) Some will be able to:
      1. Drink poison and not die
      2. Be bitten by snakes and not die (Acts 28:5)
2. Types of "Laying on of Hands"
   1. Blessing (Acts 13:3)
   2. Healing
      1. Ananias heals Paul's blindness (Acts 9:17-18)
      2. Paul heals Publius' father on Malta. (Acts 28:8)
   3. Passing on the Gifts
      1. Apostles pass on the gifts. (Acts 8:18)
      2. These people could not pass on the gifts that they received.
      1. Acts 6:1-8: Context is the choosing of "The Seven." This is the first occasion that the gifts were passed. Stephen immediately starts to perform miraculous signs among the people with God's power (v.8).
      2. Acts 8:1-25: Context is after Stephen's martyrdom. Great persecution breaks out. Many leave, but apostles stay in Jerusalem. Philip, one of "The Seven" who had received the gifts in Acts 6:1-8, goes to Samaria. He performs many miraculous signs and healings to get people to believe (v. 6), including Simon the Sorcerer (v. 13), and they are baptized. (They became Christians and thus receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift (indwelling) of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38). When apostles come to Samaria, Simon saw that the Spirit's gifts were only given by apostles' laying on of hands and offers them money for this ability (Acts 8:18). Note: Simon didn't ask Philip for the gifts because Philip could not pass them on. Simon is rebuked for having the wrong motivation.
      3. Acts 19:1-6: Paul finds disciples in Ephesus who didn't know what the Holy Spirit was because they had only received John's baptism of repentance. Then they were baptized into the name of Jesus Christ to receive the forgiveness of their sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (v. 5). Then they receive the miraculous gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues by the laying on of Paul's hands (v. 6). Paul is an apostle.
3. General Observations
   1. Apostles were able to pass on the gifts because they were apostles. The Apostles possessed the ability to perform miracles even during the ministry of Christ (Luke 9:1). This ability to pass and perform the gifts was not given at Pentecost.
   2. 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 are not the directives on how to receive tongues (the church there had already received them), but rather the correctives on how to use them because everyone was speaking at the same time and misusing the tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28-30 shows that tongues as a gift were not given to everyone in the church. Thus the concept of a "Pentecostal church" (every member speaking in tongues) is contrary to Scripture.
   3. 1 Corinthians 13:8-10: "Perfection" here could not mean the coming of Christ because it is in the neuter gender in Greek, not the masculine gender. When perfection comes probably refers to the canonization of the Bible some time after the first century. At that time, all the miraculous gifts would be gone because all the apostles and those to whom they passed the gifts would have died.
   4. The purpose of the miraculous gifts from 1 Corinthians 14:20-22:
      1. To get non-believers to believe (tongues were only to be used to bring non-believers to faith).
      2. To edify the Christians and strengthen their faith.
      3. Now the Bible fulfills these needs — thus the church today does not need apostles or miraculous gifts.
   5. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 shows that there can be miracles by Satan today. Satan's purpose is to deceive people about the truth, so they will not be saved.
   6. Speaking in "tongues" is common in many religions (Mormon, Catholic, Islam, etc.), because religion gets dried and staid. These are also called "ecstatic utterances" — non-understandable sounds and fragments of speech.
   7. A person can be filled with the Spirit without speaking in tongues (Ephesians 5:18-20).
   8. Jesus never spoke in tongues and he was accorded the full-measure of the Spirit (John 3:34-36).