Theological Issues about Spiritual Gifts

There are a number of widespread misunderstandings about spiritual gifts. In fact, these concepts—which are not taught in the Bible—may be more widely known than the truth about this topic. If you discuss “spiritual gifts” with your friends, especially those outside the church, these ideas will come up.

Misunderstanding 1: Spiritual gifts are about miracles. It is widely believed that something is not a spiritual gift unless it is a miracle. God and the spiritual are relegated only to those events that seem to be outside the known scientific laws. Once something comes into the area of explainable knowledge used on an everyday basis, then it is no longer considered to be spiritual. There is simple, straight-forward evidence in Scripture that spiritual gifts are not primarily about miracles. In 1 Corinthians 12:10 the gift of miracles is listed. That alone indicates that not all gifts are about miracles. In fact, most are not. The follower of Jesus who feels a call to heal the sick, goes to medical school or nursing school and develops the ability to treat disease or promote health is exercising a spiritual gift even if they never witness any miracles of healing. Most health professionals—including those who are not believers—will tell you that on rare occasion they witness miracles, but that is not the focus of their service to humanity; it is the exception. This does not make their work any less spiritual or God-ordained. The same is true of the other spiritual gifts, except for the obvious exception of that “gift of miracles” in 1 Corinthians 12:10.

Misunderstanding 2: The gift of languages is always miraculous and this miracle is the most important sign of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. There is a story in Acts 2 in which it is clear that the apostles were miraculously able to preach and be heard in languages they had not learned. Some have taken this event and elevated it to a mandatory miracle that every follower of Jesus must personally experience in order to have confirmation that God is really working their lives. There is no basis in the Bible to make this leap. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 clearly teach that all spiritual gifts are equally important in God’s eyes and that none should be placed on a pedestal as more significant than others. There are also a number of New Testament stories in which the gospel is brought to various communities because the missionaries had learned the language through the normal process of education.

To further complicate this issue, there are some who believe that the most spiritual experience of the gift of languages is when a person speaks an unknown tongue. This supposed unknown tongue is considered to be a “spiritual language” direct from God. This idea is specifically denied in the Bible. In 1 Corinthians 14 it is clearly required that for the gift of languages to be an authentic spiritual manifestation from God, it must be accompanied by interpretation; it must actually convey ideas to someone present. Sounds that are unintelligible to all of those present are not from God, although they may come from some other source.

Misunderstanding 3: The gift of prophecy is the only important spiritual gift. Some Adventists make the gift of prophecy of such importance that they tend to ignore all other spiritual gifts, including their own. Although it is clear that the gift of prophecy is one of the characteristics of God’s presence in the final segment of church history as outlined in the Book of Revelation, it should never become such a focus that believers ignore their own, individual spiritual gifts and call to ministry. Again, we must remember that Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 clearly teach that God considers all spiritual gifts to be equal in His eyes, and that “each” and “every” believer is gifted and expected to serve on the basis of his or her gifts.