Are the miraculous gifts of the Spirit still active? from Compelling Truth
In any discussion of the “miraculous” spiritual gifts, we must first recognize that God does still perform miracles today. It is clear both from Scripture and experience that God does continue to heal and perform miracles. But are the gifts of the Spirit as described in 1 Corinthians 12–14 still happening in the church today? We are not questioning the Spirit’s ability to give gifts to His people; we recognize that the Holy Spirit can dispense gifts if He is willing (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). The question is, does He still give miraculous gifts to the church today, or was the giving of spiritual gifts a “one-time deal” that applied only to the early church?
The apostles performed many amazing deeds, as shown in the book of Acts and the Epistles. Miracles, healing, raising people from the dead, casting out demons and many other wonders are recorded in these historical documents. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:12 that “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” From this statement, we can assume that the amazing works performed by the apostles were a sort of “guarantee” of their authenticity. It is as though God was saying “I’m giving my power to these men so that you will know they are from Me.” The same principle was used many times over in Jesus’ life. Acts 2:22 tells us that the miracles, wonders and signs which Jesus did were a sort of “credential” that lent reality to His identity. In the same way, it is clear that the signs and wonders of the apostles proved their message as coming genuinely from God. Acts 14:3 again shows that the gospel Paul and Barnabas preached was “confirmed” by the miracles they were able to do.
Returning to 1 Corinthians, we see that some of the “regular” Christians in the church were also sometimes given the ability to do the miraculous (1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30). However, there is no indication that this was common. It is likely that signs and wonders were exceptional, not something experienced by all believers. In fact, the apostles and their co-workers are the only individuals who are named as having the ability to do miracles, heal, etc.
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