Throughout Scripture we see the Holy Spirit empowering the people of God to do incredible things. Before the coming of Jesus, many of these events were one-offs. The Holy Spirit would choose one person, sometimes for a single miracle (as in Numbers 11), to use a gift the Holy Spirit gave. Some of these gifts we then see Jesus utilizing during his earthly ministry, also empowered by the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1). After Jesus’ ascension, we see the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Acts 2), just like the prophets had predicted. Now the gifts of the Spirit will available to all of God’s people and would be used much more frequently. We see the Apostle’s demonstrate this throughout there ministry, and finally, many of the gifts are explicitly called out for use by everyday Christians.
Below is a list of gifts of the Holy Spirit that we see employed in the Old Testament, then by Jesus, then by his Apostles, and finally see an invitation given to all Believers to use them.
Wisdom
Wisdom is a grid through which we can understand life and the universe. Throughout the Bible we see people either leaning on their own wisdom – defining right and wrong for themselves – or using God’s wisdom to approach life.
- 1 King 3 - Solomon asks for wisdom from God, and God grants his request.
- Luke 2:52 - Jesus grew in wisdom, as well as physically and socially.
- Acts 17 - Paul uses God’s wisdom to defend himself to a court of philosophers.
- James 1:5 - Christians are told that if they lack wisdom, they should ask God for it.
Healing
Death and sickness were never designed to be members of God’s good world. Part of God’s restoration plan included healing people of all sorts of sickness and disease, and ultimately, the resurrection of all God’s people.
- 2 King 4 - Elisha raises a woman’s son from the dead.
- John 11 - Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead.
- Acts 9 - Peter raises a Christian woman from the dead.
- James 5:14 - Christians are told that if anyone is sick, they should be annointed with oil and prayed over that God might heal them.
Signs
At times, God will choose to reveal himself for a particular purpose through sign acts. These seldom fall neatly into any other category of supernatural work, and tend to be lavish.
- Exodus 7-12 - God uses Moses to demonstrate his power to the king of Egypt through a variety of signs and plagues.
- John 2 - Jesus changes water into wine at a wedding feast he attends. The author of the story notes that this is one of seven signs throughout the book which reveal Jesus’ glory.
- Acts 5:12 - The Apostles are described as performing many signs and wonders, increasing the number of those who believed.
- 1 Corinthians 14:22 - Tongues are described as a sign for the unbeliever, which should lead them closer to belief in Christ.
Prophecy
Prophecy is an interesting gift, as it is a direct revelation from God, often with God’s own words. Most of the time, prophecy is a call to faithfulness and a reminder to live according to God’s direction. Occasionally, a prophecy will include a prediction of events to come. The list below includes examples of future-telling only, but you can read the Major and Minor prophets to see all of the previous examples.
- 1 Samuel 3 - Samuel receives a prediction about judgement and destruction coming to the high priest, Eli, because of his family’s unfaithfulness to God. We see this prophecy come true shortly after when Eli and his whole family dies in battle.
- Mark 13:1-2 - Jesus predicts that Jerusalem will be destroyed. We see this prophecy come true when Jerusalem is destroyed by Rome in 70 AD.
- Acts 21 - A Christian named Agabus prophesies that Paul will be captured by the Jewish authorities. We see this prophecy come true in the same chapter when Paul is indeed captured in Jerusalem.
- 1 Corinthians 14:5 - Paul wishes that all Christians would prophesy.
Teaching
Teaching is an important job by which the Gospel is pronounced and the commands of God are passed down. The Bible says that those who teach are worthy of double honor (1 Tim 5:17) but that we must be careful, as teachers will also be judged more harshly on the last day (James 3:1).
- Leviticus 10:8-11 - The Levitical priests are given the special task of instructing the people in God’s own teaching. (Hint: they didn’t do a good job. See… the rest of the Old Testament).
- Matthew 5-7 - Teaching was a core part of Jesus’ ministry. He taught the people the Gospel as well as what living as a Gospel-community looked like.
- Acts 4 - After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter teaches the Jewish leaders the Gospel through the lens of the whole of Scripture.
- Matthew 28:19 - Christians are tasked with making disciples of all the nations and teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded.
Discernment
Jesus said that his sheep would know his voice. In discernment, we can tell when a voice or a spirit is from God, and when it is opposed to God.
- 1 Kings 13 - In bizarre this story we see a prophet who cannot discern a prophecy from God versus a made up – or even malevolent – prophecy. As a result, he winds up being devoured by lions.
- Matthew 16:23 - Peter attempted to rebuke Jesus for predicting his crucixion. Jesus immediately discerns that this is the Devil tempting Jesus, not simply Peter coming up with the idea on his own.
- Acts 16 - Paul identifies a girl who is fortune-telling as having a demon. He then casts out the demon, freeing the girl.
- 1 John 4:1-6 - Christians are warned to test spirits and thereby to avoid false prophets.
Tongues/Interpretation
Tongues and interpretation are unique among the gifts, as they are nowhere mentioned in the Hebrew Bible nor does Jesus employ this gift. It is a unique gift to the Church.
- Acts 2 - The burgeoning Church in Jerusalem receives the Holy Spirit and speaks in other languages.
- 1 Corinthians 14 - Paul says that he wishes all would pray in tongues, but that interpretation of tongues is what brings value in a corporate setting.
