Argumentative Essay On Spiritual Gifts

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Spiritual Gifts
One of the most polarizing topics coming out of the Pentecostal tradition that has gained interdenominational curiosity and critic is that of spiritual gifts. These gifts have become quite vexing in recent years as many have either utilized them for the growth of the universal church or critiqued them as work of evil. The purpose of this paper is to do an exegetical inquiry into the history, existence, and use of these gifts. The topic is one of great debate and quite frankly a greater amount of misunderstanding.
Before any discussion on gifts one has to define what a gift is: it is any spiritually empowered ability used to glorify God and His Church. To begin any discussion of gifts, one has to look into their existence and usage throughout the Bible; this includes the Old Testament. A brief survey of the O.T. will lead to Exodus where …show more content…

Each person is given a gift or set of gifts that accompany that person’s ministry and natural abilities. This free gift of “charismata” is distributed purely at the discretion of God. A perfect example of this is Bezalel, the Tabernacle contractor. He was given gifts that accompanied his natural abilities all because God, in His sovereignty, knew Bezalel would build His dwelling place for Israel. (Boice 608)
The gifts are also divided into particular groups from Eph. 4:11, I Cor. 12:8-10/ 28-30, Rom. 12 6-8, and I Pet. 4:11. They are an exclusively Pauline doctrine listed in his letters dealing with the Church. They are 24 listed in the Bible but there is a limitless number that an unlimited God could use for His glory and the edification of His church. They can be divided into two main groups: ministry (offices) and spiritual gifts. The ministry gifts are miracle workers, healers, helpers, administrators, and those with gifts of faith. Even those could be argued upon and listed among spiritual gifts. (Elwell

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