SPIRITUAL GIFTS – Part Six

The Speaking Gifts – Part B

By Michael K. Farrar

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Ephesians 4:11-13

“And He gave some as… teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

 

As we learned in the last segment of this series there are five Speaking Gifts. They relate specifically to preaching, teaching, explaining and expositing the Word of God to other followers of Christ. The revelation of God is complete in the Old and New Testaments so we do not have any additional content being added to Holy Scripture. Those who have the spiritual gift of teaching teach from God’s Word so as to edify, exhort, encourage, convict, counsel, comfort and inform other followers of Christ in their faith with the purpose to promote spiritual growth. We know the Holy Spirit is a teacher, comforter and counselor to us and thus is the best influence in our lives as a follower of Christ to empower us to express these teaching gifts.

 

John 14:26-27  “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

 

TEACHING (Greek = Didaskon) (Instructor)

 

Romans 12:6-7 “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: …he who teaches, in his teaching…”

 

1 Corinthians 12:27-28 “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church,… teachers,”

 

Charles Swindoll gives us a good definition of who a person is who has the gift of teaching.

 

“Cousin to the pastor-teacher gift is the gift of teaching. The former is a guardian of the flock while the latter is a guardian of the truth. What the professor is to the university, the teacher is to the church. Unlike the prophet, the teacher originates nothing new; he merely defines, describes, and declares existing revelation.”

Charles Swindoll

 

The spiritual gift of teaching is one of the primary functions of pastors but it is also a spiritual gift used by many followers of Christ. It may be expressed in an adult or children’s Sunday school class, in a small group, a Sunday meeting of some type or even on a one-on-one basis. Teaching is specifically the spiritual gift of being able to instruct and explain in a precise and communicative manner the truth in God’s Word so that others can assimilate and understand it as well as apply it to their lives. The scriptures discussing this spiritual gift do not mean to communicate that a secular teacher would necessarily be a good spiritual teacher for teaching God’s Word. The reason behind this is that a spiritual gift is a Spirit-empowered manifestation of the Holy Spirit in a follower of Christ’s life and ministry. There is much teaching done in the world that is done with intellectual and natural abilities. These are natural skills that are present without spiritual rebirth and can be developed or learned. While these natural or learned abilities can always contribute to the expression of a spiritual gift, the Holy Spirit who empowers us to minister in our spiritual gift is responsible for God working through us as we minister. There is something dynamic about a person with the gift of teaching who is led by the Holy Spirit to express this gift. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual insights and skills that go beyond natural skills because true spiritual teaching goes beyond such natural abilities in teaching. Those who have the gift of teaching love to instruct others with more knowledge of God’s Word. They don’t care how many people show up to learn from the Word of God. Their great joy is teaching God’s Word. The spiritual gift of teaching can be expressed in many ways. It can be carried out with adults, young-adults or children. It can be done in large or small groups or even on a one-on-one basis. That’s the great flexibility of the expression of the spiritual gift of teaching. It can be done in almost any situation with any number of people. Hebrews 5:12-14 speaks of the great need for teachers in a local church.

 

Hebrews 5:12-14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach  you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. Everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

 

When Jesus ascended to heaven he gave instructions as to what He wished for us to do until He returns. One of those commandments was to teach disciples what to believe.

 

Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;”

 

While this “great commission” is mandate for every Christian to teach new disciples, those with the spiritual gift of teaching are especially empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish this task. The situations where the spiritual gift of teaching can be used and applied are numerous and varied.

 

Paul in writing to Timothy gives us a great example of this need of teachers in a local body of believers.

 

2 Timothy 4:2-4 “…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

 

A scriptural example where followers of Christ intervened in another person’s life to assist and teach can be found in Acts 18. In this portion of scripture we see a Christian couple assist another follower of Christ to excel and expand his ministry of teaching by using their own spiritual gifts of teaching.

 

Acts 18:24-28 “Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”

 

Following are some quotations from pastors and theologians on the spiritual gift of teaching.

 

 

“Teachers have the ability to communicate revealed truth with knowledge, ease, and clarity. They are gifted in brining the printed Word into flesh-and-bone life. They help others learn accurate facts, discover principles, see the practical relevance, and apply them.”

Charles Swindoll

 

“The teacher expounds the Bible’s great truths: its sublime doctrines; its underlying principles; and the broad scope of its history, theology, purpose, and impact. He compares spiritual things with spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:13), shows God’s ways with men down through the ages, and communicates God’s stirring plans for the future. The teacher develops consistent hermeneutics and discerns a unifying principle broad enough to explain all of God’s revealed ways. He teaches others how to divide the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and opens their eyes to the wonders of Scripture.”

John Phillips

 

“The Christian who teaches is divinely gifted with special ability to interpret and present God’s truth understandably. The primary difference between teaching and prophesying is not in content but in the distinction between the ability to proclaim and the ability to give systematic and regular instruction in God’s Word.”

John MacArthur

 

EXHORTATION (Greek = Paraklesei) (Counselor)

 

Romans 12:6-8 ” Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: …he who exhorts, in his exhortation;

 

The spiritual gift of exhortation or exhorting can be viewed as a form of counseling another person regarding aspects of their life, behavior or thought life. Someone who exhorts is coming alongside another person and sharing precepts from scripture and encouraging them to follow the teachings of Jesus and the example He set for us. An exhortation can be in the form of comforting, confronting, sharing or sympathizing, but the Holy Spirit will work through the person with the spiritual gift of exhortation to demonstrate how very relevant scripture is and how critical it is to apply it to their life. We see this concept shared in Romans 15.

 

Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

 

The spiritual gift of exhortation is someone who comes alongside another follower of Christ or even a non-believer who needs counsel in their life. While counseling has many facets to it, one facet is that of teaching. Often a counselor will need to teach their counselee what truths are in scripture and how to apply them. A counselor needs to have skills in listening, being sympathetic, able to confront in a loving manner, but especially in the area of teaching others. The Holy Spirit empowers every follower of Christ to be able to exhort others to some degree, but He especially gifts those to whom He distributes the gift of exhortation. The Holy Spirit is God living in us and He is the best teacher we have to enable us to counsel others in the area of exhortation. The word “counsel” literally means “one called alongside of” and this is what a person with the spiritual gift of exhortation does, they “come alongside” another person and empowered by the Holy Spirit will use this gift to minister to them.

 

David Hocking states that “In biblical counseling counselors deal with ‘what’ has happened and what can be done about it. They don’t simply want to know why something happened.” He also identifies four ways this spiritual gift of exhortation or counseling can be used to minister to people in need.

 

1. “As a father…” would counsel his children. (1 Thessalonians 2:11)

2. “With patience…” for all concerned. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

3. “With teaching…” from God’s Word. (2 Timothy 4:2)

4. “With authority…” which comes from the Holy Spirit as He leads you in lovingly exhorting others.

            (Titus 2:15)

 

The follower of Christ with the spiritual gift of exhortation (counseling) is empowered by the Holy Spirit to be balanced and appropriate in their ministry to others. They are able to “convince,” “rebuke,” and to “confront” in a loving and Christ-like manner while at the same time being able to “comfort” and “teach” those they minister to so that they are able to seek to walk like Jesus Christ.

 

WORD OF WISDOM (Greek = Logos Sophias) (Something said concerning high spiritual doctrine)

 

1 Corinthians 12:8 “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,”

 

This spiritual gift is the ability to speak forth the wisdom contained in Holy Scripture. “Word” in this passage is singular in the original language so it refers to a particular instance or situation in which wisdom is needed to be known and this spiritual gift, when expressed, addresses the need at the time. Wisdom is the application of knowledge of God’s Word. It is being empowered through the Holy Spirit to instruct others in how to apply God’s instructions in a godly and Christ-like manner.

 

Again, while we can all possess and share spiritual wisdom as we grow more mature in our walk with the Lord, those with this spiritual gift of “word of wisdom” are given special empowerment to share God’s wisdom which comes from scripture but is also facilitated by the influence and filling of the Holy Spirit.

 

An example of this type of gift very likely would be when Stephen was performing great wonders and sings among the people and sharing wisdom from God. Many people rose up to argue with Stephen about his teaching of godly wisdom.

    

Acts 6:10 “But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.”

 

WORD OF KNOWLEDGE (Greek = Logos Gnoseos) (Something said concerning true spiritual knowledge)

 

1 Corinthians 12:8 “and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;”

 

This spiritual gift is the ability to speak forth knowledge contained in Holy Scripture. “Word” in this passage as we found out with the gift of Word of Wisdom is singular in the original language so it refers to a particular instance or situation in which knowledge is needed to be known and this spiritual gift, when expressed, addresses the pressing need at a specific moment in time. Often we desire to know some godly concept or principle in scripture and someone with the gift of knowledge can appropriately and accurately instruct us in the knowledge of the Bible. This gift is not memorization of facts or scriptures references, those are skills that are naturally developed. This spiritual gift is the influence of the Holy Spirit enabling the expression of God’s Word in a situation to meet the needs that arise in the life of the local church or of a follower of Christ. Once again we see that while any Christian should have a growing knowledge of God’s Word, those with this spiritual gift of “word of knowledge” are empowered in significant ways through the Holy Spirit to minister in numerous types of situations on a regular basis that meet the needs of others.

 

Paul spoke of the need for godly knowledge in the life of the believer and in the fellowship of church members. In Colossians he shares a prayer he had for other followers of Christ that shows the necessity of this gift in the local church. Knowledge is important to properly instruct others in the Word of God.

 

Colossians 1:9 “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,”

 

There is a great danger of being arrogant if you possess this spiritual gift. Therefore it is of great importance for someone possessing this gift to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). We are to let the Word of Christ dwell within us richly (Colossians 2:16) which enables us to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and we must balance this spiritual gift of knowledge with love (1 Corinthians 13).

 

1 Corinthians 8:1 “…we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.”

 

1 Timothy 1:5-6 “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

 

As we have seen with many of these spiritual gifts; teaching, exhortation, word of wisdom and word of knowledge, it is possible to have some skills and abilities in these areas without actually possessing them as a spiritual gift. This is only natural because they are spiritual skills we all should seek to grow in as we mature as a follower of Christ. But those who actually possess one or more of these spiritual gifts will be dynamically empowered to excel in situations on a consistent basis because of the influence of the Holy Spirit who has given them such a gift or gifts to edify others in the Body of Christ. Just because we may not have any one of these specific speaking gifts, does not mean we should not seek to teach others of our faith; exhort or counsel those in need of spiritual advice or share our wisdom and knowledge of scripture with others.

 

In the next segment of this series I’ll cover the spiritual gifts of serving which include; leadership, administration, ministering, showing mercy, faith and discernment.