Thread by @derekradney

Thread on spiritual gifts:

For many yrs, I've believed that Christians across most traditions wrongly assume spiritual gifts are abilities, powers, or enablements imparted by the Holy Spirit. I'll call this the "conventional view" (CV). This erroneous produces many prblms.
1/25

The CV says each Christian receives at least one ability upon conversion, & each person should discern what that gift is so that he or she can properly serve the body by using that gift in the ministry of the church.
2/25

There are, of course, many disagreements among those who hold to CV, for example: 1) continuationism v cessasionism, 2) whether or not church offices are spiritual gifts or something different, & 3) how many gifts/abilities a person can have.
3/25

1 of the debates re: spiritual gifts w/in the CV is whether or not women should be ordained as pastors. Proponents regularly argue women have the gift/ability of preaching/teaching & these gifts should not be neglected.
4/25

IOW, since women have the HS given ability to preach, to deny women the role of pastor is to quench the HS.
Those against women's ordination typically respond by arguing: a person can have the ability to preach, but that doesn't mean they should hold office.
5/25

They can serve by preaching to women, thus exercising their gift for the edification of the body w/out violating the biblical qualifications. IOW, office is distinct from HS gifting.
6/25

But this rebuttal separating gifts & offices runs into problems when you look at 1 of the key NT passages on the gifts of the HS: Eph. 4:9-11. Christ ascended & gave gifts to men, including pastor/teachers.
7/25

So traditionalists & progressives get stuck. Either traditionalists r wrong abt the qualifications for pastor & the seeming prohibitions of women preaching (i.e. 1 Tim.), or progressives are wrong abt Eph. 4:9-11. But they agree that spiritual gifts are abilities.
8/25

Another tension in the CV.
Both sides of the continuation v cessation debate assume spiritual gifts r abilities. 1 side says the ability to heal/prophecy/tongues is still given for edification/ministry. 1 side says the HS doesn't give these abilities anymore.
9/25

On a more practical level, CV raises ?s for the everyday believer seeking to serve in his/her church.
What is my HS given ability? Is it different from the natural strengths/talents/skills I had before becoming a Xian or must it be something different? Do I have only 1?
10/25

Is this the right church for me if it doesn't have a ministry in which I can serve that matches my special ability?
11/25

Thesis: The CV is fundamentally flawed & necessarily leads to these debates/tensions & others b/c spiritual gifts are not abilities/powers/enablements. Rather, spiritual gifts are assignments, functions, ministries,& roles given by the HS who promises to empower us in them.
12/25

Rather than permanent skills/abilities, spiritual gifts are assignments to ministry that are normally momentary & temporary, though sometimes they are prolonged or perpetual.
13/25

For example, if a fellow church member needs a place to live, I temporarily have the gift of hospitality as I take him in for a season to live with me. Or when I see a discouraged member at church & encourage him, I have the gift of encouragement for the moment.
14/25

Or if I am called to be the pastor of a church, I have the gift of pastoring/teaching as long as I fill that office.
All of these gifts come with the promise that God is with us by his HS so that as we walk in the Spirit, we will be empowered by God.
15/25

This means some spiritual gifts come with special abilities, for example: healing, prophecy, tongues.
16/25

In short: Spiritual gifts are sovereignly administered assignments/callings to ministry which do no necessarily match our strengths/abilities in which God promises to empower us as long as we have the ministry.
17/25

We often say a person is "gifted" when they are good at something like singing, teaching, or leading. But that is not what the NT means by spiritual gifts. Those abilities are rooted in creation & providence. IOW, u can be a gifted teacher but not have the gift of teaching.
18/25

Of course, we can & often should use our strengths to benefit the ministry & mission of the church. But nowhere does Scripture teach that we should only, primarily, or necessarily serve the body in areas where we are naturally strong or "gifted."
19/25

This unconventional view (UCV) provides a new way forward in the debates I mentioned above.
1) Regarding the miraculous gifts, we do not have to rule out the possibility of God assigning & empowering Xians in miraculous ministry.
20/25

Particularly, in places where the gospel is advancing to new ppl groups & regions, we should not b surprised that God would work this way to confirm the gospel message as he did in the time of the Apostles as the gospel went to the diaspora Jews & to the Gentiles.
21/25

2) Regarding women's ordination, the UCV cuts thru the confusion regarding preaching ability & office. Undoubtedly, the offices Eph. 4:7-11 r r spiritual gifts. The HS doesn't give the gifts of Apostle/Prophet anymore b/c the foundation has been laid (Eph.2:20).
22/25

But the HS continues to give the church pastor/teachers,& other passages tell us how we recognize those gifts by listing qualifications & prohibitions. There r many talented women preachers/teachers, but this in no way necessitates these women be pastors.
23/25

3) Furthermore, the UCV disrupts the ridiculous & uniquely contemporary approach 2 discerning what gift(s) we have. Rather than taking a spiritual gifts tests or asking 10 ppl 2 tell me what I'm good at in order 2 find my gifting, I look 4 where the church needs me 2 serve.
24/25

The UCV moves us from the individualistic navel-gazing that treats church like a place 4 us to self-actualize in our service, & orients us toward looking 4 ways we can build up the church in the moment as we walk with others in community or in ongoing more structured ways.
25/25