Gifts of the Spirit can exist without grace

Now, we come to the great mystery which is going to raise the question that I am going to have to try to answer. Here is the mystery: the gifts of the Spirit can exist without grace. That is a mystery.

Sometimes they can exist where there is very little grace. What do you think was the most gifted church in the New Testament? Well, from the records it seems that the church in Corinth was far on the way the most gifted of all the churches. Paul writes to them in 1 Corinthians 1:7: You are not lacking in any spiritual gift. The apostle looks at the church and he says, there is no gift that you do not possess; you have it all. In terms of giftedness, the church in Corinth was number one. Yet, two chapters later in 1 Corinthians 3:3, he says to them, you are still of the flesh. He means immature, undeveloped, and worldly. They caused him endless trouble. They broke his heart. They rejected his authority. They fell into serious sin. So, here was this supremely gifted church who had some grace, but very little grace. They were very, very immature. Gifts can exist where there is a little grace.

Even more mysteriously, gifts can exist where there is no grace. I will give you two examples. One from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. The first example is the prophet Balaam. He was an inspired prophet. God puts his words into Balaam mouth. Balaam gives one of the most striking and beautiful early prophesies of Christ. Yet we know from the records that Balaam was a wicked godless man, who drew Israel to sin and brought disaster upon them. Gifted, but no grace.

The example of the New Testament is probably very obvious to you: Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve chosen disciples. We read in Mark 3:14 that Jesus sent the twelve out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. We are not told that that was just given to the eleven; we are told that it was given to the twelve. Judas was sent out to preach and he was given authority to cast out demons. Do you remember how the disciples reacted when Jesus told them, one of you will betray me? Did they all look at each other and say, It is probably Judas. We have been suspicious of Judas for some time? No, they had no idea, none at all. No shadow of suspicion clung over his name. Nobody had ever thought Judas is a bit iffy. You know, I am not so sure about Judas. No, they never thought about it. They all asked, Lord is it I? Yet Judas was the traitor.

You may say to me, Well, those examples are unusual and exceptional. You cannot take them as the norm. But I remind you of what our Lord says in the sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:22, Many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast our demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? Here were preachers, gifted preachers, who cast out demons and performed miracles. There were many of them! But Jesus says, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Dear readers, this is a very solemn, frightening truth. Gifts can exist without grace. It is mysterious. Yet the history of the church, over and over again, proves it to be true. There are many such tragedies today. It can happen to church leaders, gifted men, men who have been used by God and through whom many people have been converted. Suddenly some sexual or financial scandal emerges and it becomes clear: this gifted man is a rascal. There is little or no grace in his heart. Thus, gifts may exist without grace.¹

Edward Donnelly