Summary

The Working of Miracles

The gifts of faith, healing, and the working of miracles are closely connected. As with healings, so the working of miracles was characteristic first of all of Jesus’ ministry and secondly of the ministry of his apostles (2 Corinthians 12:12). God gave miracles in order to confirm the truth of the gospel (see Acts 8:5–7; Acts 13:6–12; Hebrews 2:3–4). 

The working of miracles included casting out demons, a gift often mentioned together with healing (Matthew 10:1; Acts 8:6–7). Some miracles were miracles of judgment; for example, in the cases of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11) and Elymas the magician (Acts 13:6–12).

Prophecy

The gift of prophecy should be understood against the backdrop of the Old Testament. As in the Old Testament, so in the New, to prophesy means to speak directly on God’s behalf. The prophet Agabus, for example, boldly introduced his prophecy with the words, Thus says the Holy Spirit (Acts 21:11).

The gift of prophecy seems to have been given to specific believers. These believers were known as prophets (see 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Corinthians 14:29, 1 Corinthians 14:32; Acts 11:27; Acts 15:32; Acts 21:9–10).

In some cases, New Testament prophecy was predictive (Acts 11:28; Acts 21:10–11). But more often, the prophets received revelations concerning various aspects of the gospel (Ephesians 3:3–5; see also 1 Corinthians 13:2). By proclaiming these revelations to the church, they, together with the apostles, formed the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20).

The book of Revelation is called a prophecy in its entirety (Revelation 1:3; Revelation 22:10, Revelation 22:19). After the completion of this book the gift of prophecy, as it was known in the New Testament age, came to an end. At the end of the book we are given good reason to suppose that no new revelations will be given until Christ’s return (Revelation 22:18–19).

Yet an aspect of the gift of prophecy is still found in the church today, and that is the aspect of proclamation. God’s written Word must still be proclaimed, in the first place by ordained preachers and in the second place by ordinary believers as they testify to Christ’s name (1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 3:15). Through the proclamation of God’s Word believers are encouraged and strengthened, just as they were encouraged and strengthened by the prophets of the New Testament (Acts 15:32; 1 Corinthians 14:3).

The Ability to Distinguish between Spirits

The gift of distinguishing (diakrisis) complements the previously mentioned gift, namely, prophecy. In 1 Corinthians 14:29, Paul uses the related verb diakrino when he says that the church must weigh all prophecy.

This gift might be that of distinguishing between true and false prophecy. Although this is a task that belongs to all believers (see 1 John 4:1–6), it is conceivable that there are some who are better at it than others, and that these people can play a valuable role in protecting the church (see Matthew 24:24).

Another possibility is that the word spirits is used here to refer to the one Holy Spirit who works through different prophets (compare 1 Corinthians 14:12, where Paul literally says that the Corinthians are eager for spirits, and possibly also 1 Corinthians 14:32). In that case, a better translation may be “the discerning of spirits.” The same verb (diakrino) is used in 1 Corinthians 11:29, where it clearly means to discern.

In that case, the ability that Paul has in mind could be that of responding wisely to prophecies that come from the Spirit. We can think of Agabus’ prophecy that a great famine would come over the world. Upon this the disciples in Antioch determined to collect money and send it to the church in Judea (Acts 11:27–30). This was a wise and God-glorifying response to the prophecy, and such a response is in itself a gift.

Paul does not mention this gift again in his lists of gifts. In 1 Corinthians 14:6 he pairs the gift of teaching with that of prophecy (see also 1 Corinthians 14:26). Thus there may be a parallel between the gift of discernment and that of teaching.

The gift of distinguishing (or discernment) is one that can, and perhaps even should, be exercised by prophets themselves. In 1 Corinthians 14:29 Paul says that only two or three prophets should speak in a worship service, while the others (the other prophets) should weigh (diakrino) what is said.

Various Kinds of Tongues

As in English, so in Greek, the word tongue can refer either to the speech organ or to a language. The gift of tongues is mentioned only at the end of Mark’s Gospel, in the book of Acts, and in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It is therefore difficult to get a clear picture of what the gift entailed and how it functioned in the church.

Commentators differ, for example, on whether the gift of tongues that we read of in 1 Corinthians is similar in kind to the tongues that we read of in Acts. The tongues described in Acts were known human languages. At least, so they were perceived by the listeners (Acts 2:3–11; see also Acts 10:45–46; Acts 11:17; and probably Acts 19:6). Some commentators think that the tongues spoken among the Corinthians were of a different kind, a kind that is often referred to as tongue-speech.

Ecstatic tongue-speech was a common occurrence in some of the mystery religions that were practiced in Corinth at the time. It has been suggested that the gift of tongues was a sanctified form of such speech.

Whichever kind of tongues Paul has in mind (the phrase various kinds may even indicate that he has in mind both), two things can be said for certain:

1. The tongues had definite content and meaning. Even if the speaker himself did not understand what he was saying, someone who had the gift of interpretation would be able to explain the meaning of his speech (1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:13).

2. The content of the tongues concerned the mysteries of the gospel. This is clear from 1 Corinthians 14:2, where Paul writes that the person who speaks in tongues utters mysteries in the Spirit. In Paul’s writings, the word mystery always refers to an aspect of God’s plan of salvation which was hidden before, but which has now been revealed by God (see, for example, Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 15:51; Ephesians 3:3–9).
   This understanding of the tongues’ content is confirmed by the close connection between tongues and prophecy. When a tongue is interpreted, it has the same function as prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:5). At Pentecost Peter explained the gift of tongues as being a gift of prophecy (Acts 2:17). Indeed, the tongue-speaking disciples were busy telling…the mighty works of God (Acts 2:11).

For further observations regarding the gift of tongues, see the comments under 1 Corinthians 12:30 and those under 1 Corinthians 14:1–40.

The Interpretation of Tongues

Clearly, the person who spoke in tongues would not necessarily understand his own words. Therefore another gift was necessary: the gift of interpretation of tongues. The Greek word for interpretation (hermeneia) commonly refers to translation.

In 1 Corinthians 14:1–40 (see 1 Corinthians 14:13) we will learn that this gift ideally has to accompany the gift of tongues in the same person. Such was probably the case with Paul himself (see 1 Corinthians 14:18).