Questions and Answers Addendum

Note: This addendum is not necessarily part of the regular teaching of the lesson. It is provided to answer some frequently asked questions.

Answers to questions about gifts and signs. There is confusion, misunderstanding, and disagreement among Christians about signs, wonders, miracles and the gifts of the Spirit. God used these things in the early church to confirm His message, Hebrews 2:2-4. Since that time, the church has given them varying emphasis ... from ignoring them to overuse and misuse. Use the Bible as the basis for what you believe about these things. Several questions are answered in this section to help you discover the truth. Don’t adopt these answers as your beliefs simply because they are written here. Moreover, don't reject any of these answers simply because they contradict your experience or that of your friends. Form your own beliefs through much prayer and much Bible study. Do not be involved in any experience that is inconsistent with or contradicts Biblical truth. Be very careful about any experiences that are not in the Bible ... certainly do not emphasize those.

1. If I don't have the gift of evangelism should I witness anyway? Yes, you should witness. You are commanded to witness. Moreover, you don't have the gift of evangelism. No one has that gift because there is no gift of evangelism. There are evangelists, given by Jesus to equip believers, Ephesians 4:11-13. However, the Bible never mentions a Spirit given gift of evangelism. Evangelism is a responsibility ... not a gift.

2. Are gifts of the Spirit available today? Some Christians believe that the gifts were given only to the first century church. They use Hebrews 2:2-4 to include signs, wonders, miracles and gifts in the founding of the church. Then they extend their interpretation of those verses to exclude these things from all following generations. They point to a pattern of miraculous events concentrated at times of change ... the Exodus, the prophets, the life of Jesus, and the formation of the church. However, there is no convincing Biblical evidence that these things were only for the first generation of the church. Moreover, if we are in the end times, then this too is a period of change.

3. Are all the gifts available today? Christians disagree about the availability of prophecy, knowledge, tongues, and interpretation ... coming from two interpretations of 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. Those verses state that these gifts would end when the "perfect" comes. One opinion is that the perfect was the completion of the New Testament, noting Revelation 22:18-19 as the close of prophesy, and therefore these four gifts are no longer available. The other opinion is that the perfect is the return of Christ, and therefore these gifts will be available to believers until He returns. The Bible is not clear on what the "perfect" is ... or when it has or will come. Therefore, there is some doubt about the availability of these four gifts. It isn’t clearly defined. Therefore, it is best to base our obedience and experience on a simple and full application of the Bible's rules and limitations. If a gift is available today, and is from Him, then all of His directives for that gift will be met. If they aren’t met, the gift isn’t of Him.

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Disciplemaking 1, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org. Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless noted.