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Term Paper: "The Gifts of the Holy Spirit"

Port Harcourt, Nigeria
April 15th, 1998

It is my intention in this term paper to relay my feelings, revelations, and convictions concerning what I learned during this study of "The Gifts of the Holy Spirit", hopefully any said convictions will be thoroughly explained and will reveal the specific way in which the Spirit revealed His truths to me through His Word. The specific gift in which I've chosen to elaborate on is the Gift of Faith as mentioned in 1 Cor. 12:9. This gift to me is by far the greatest of all the gifts although it may not appear as such . Outwardly it isn't very expressive (it's mainly passive in nature) or better put, it doesn't often manifest itself in the natural in the measure that gifts such as the "Gifts of Healings" or " Working of Miracles" do, however it is grouped in the same group as the other two mentioned and is called by scholars one of the three "Power Gifts". Right from the beginning it would not be doing this "Gift" justice if I didn't begin with a clear definition and a few examples of what this gift isn't. First off, we look at the definition found in Strongs Concordance: FAITH is the moral conviction of truth on the truthfulness of God which brings about a reliance upon Christ (and the manifestation of His salvation) for salvation. In my studies which are based upon the tape study and the book by Harold Horton as well as the written Word of God, I find that there are three distinct forms of faith that are different than the gift of faith itself. Those being:

1. "Saving Faith" This is a gift from God to the unbeliever crying out to God for help, this "Saving Faith" goes before salvation!! In Acts 16:25 - 34 we find the Apostle Paul and Silas imprisoned in Philippi where they were singing hymns to God and were released from their bonds through God's miracle earthquake-like power and the prison guard being fearful for his life was about to kill himself. He was utterly without hope! In verse 29 he falls before Paul and Silas trembling, then, in verse 30 he asks how it is that he too might be saved by this great miracle making God of theirs, they tell him in verse 31 to simply "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household." In this and the following verses, we see how God reached down to this guard and his household and gave them the faith to act and in so doing believe unto salvation. Without an act on God's part, (saving faith) the guard might simply have never known that there was even a need to be saved! The scripture states in Ephesians 2:8 that by grace (God's grace) are we saved, through faith (saving faith from God) and that not of yourselves, It is a gift of God. The scriptures declare (Jesus speaking) in John 6:44 that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him, that is exactly what saving faith is, the "drawing" of the Father to His glorious Son, Jesus! Having stated my case here, I hope you would agree that this is not the faith spoken of as a gift in 1 Corinthians 12:9. Another kind of faith is

2, "General Faith." This can be described as the way we live our daily lives in the light of the gospel. We are not only saved by faith, but God gives us this faith to enable us to live our lives as a statement of faith in Christ. Romans 12:3 sums it up by saying that "God has given us a measure (the capacity to hold and live) of faith". We can see examples of this faith in the first chapter of Romans where the Apostle Paul refers to faith as a lifestyle (vs.5) and in verse 8 where he says their faith is known worldwide, that is a lifestyle, an epistle written in flesh that all can see. And in verse 12 he makes the same case, Martin Luther's revelation came from verse 17 where God says that the just shall live by faith! Or again repeated in Galatians 3:11 that, "the just shall live by faith." As it is plainly seen, this clearly is faith as well but it is not the faith of 1 Corinthians 12! Yet another example of what the Gift of Faith is not is

3. "The Fruit of Faith." Often confused with the Gift of Faith, this speaks of godly character. This faith is brought about by our embracing of God's working in our lives! The fruit of faith can further be described as a demonstration of faithfulness. In contrast however, the Gift of Faith speaks specifically of a demonstration of the power of God to bring about faithfulness. See Galatians 5:22 , the fruit of the Spirit (God's power in us) is faithfulness. It comes from without! The fruit of faithfulness is best described as the very nature of our Lord Jesus, as He indwells us by His precious Holy Spirit (Galatians 4:6) imparting into us the very nature that made Him faithful in and through the Garden of Gethsemane and to the cross for our benefit, such faithfulness as this we can only know in part, (1 Corinthians 13:9) as His nature becomes our nature. By God's faithfulness we are being conformed to Jesus' image (Romans 8:29) and as such we receive this precious fruit of His Spirit, faithfulness. Again, this is not the gift Paul was describing in 1 Corinthians 12! It would be an opportune time now to interject the following; saving faith comes before salvation, general faith comes after salvation as we live together with God and His Spirit and faith the fruit of the Spirit with it, and faith the gift of the Spirit comes after our baptism in the Holy Spirit. Faith in all it's forms can be likened to nature as I hope to make clear in the following. Faith is actually like a seed that germinates and grows! See Romans 1:17 once again, "From faith to faith...", we'll begin by saying that saving faith is the seed, a seed germinates and brings forth a tree or plant or whatever type of life form, you can have the gift of faith but not the fruit of faith or perhaps only a little fruit, however there must be a seed. Likewise there might be fruit of the Spirit but no gift of faith, still, the seed (saving faith) is necessary. The gift does not include the fruit nor does the fruit include the gift, one thing is evident, the more fruit we have the better the gift will work. (As with all of the 9 gifts!) Fruit comes from the seed, but the gift of faith comes directly from the hands of God Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit as He so determines. Having said all the above, let me begin now by explaining more thoroughly what the "Gift of Faith" is. The Gift of Faith can best be described as a supernatural manifestation of the faith of God in the Church, so that one may work or receive miracles in their lives. We must also understand that this manifestation can be but is not limited to the immediate, however it is assured to take place. The gift of faith is for heavenly miracles this side of heaven for the Father's children. It is a gift to the saints of God that they might work or receive miracles! Our guarantee is a simple but straightforward one, that the Maker of all heaven and earth, Elohim, El Shaddai, Jehovah God Himself has promised it! The gift of faith proves God as His people trust in Him for miracles! The Bible is full of scripture to back up this claim, I think I'll not need to go far into that since if He has the power to make everything that we can imagine and things we can't, He can deliver on His promises! One quick glimpse into the Book of Daniel will show two examples of His faithfulness in providing miracles of different proportions to His children as they had absolute faith in His ability to deliver them. See Daniel Chapter 3, verses 8 - 25! Specifically in verse 17 the children of Israel stated confidently (God's gift of faith) "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king"! Is that faith or what? Or Daniel 6:10 - 23, where Daniel by God's gift of faith did not regard his life but continued praying in open disregard to the king's decree, thereby having to be placed in a den of hungry lions, his faith in the ability of his God to deliver him if the need arise was such that God provided a miracle and kept the lions mouths shut while Daniel slept peacefully! Faith calmly faces peril while God supports or extradites! God's gift of faith can also be described as a supernatural endowment by the Holy Spirit whereby that which is spoken or desired by God's children or spoken by God Himself, shall eventually come to pass. In the Book of Hebrews alone there are more than 40 verses dealing with faith! We can see every example of faith within those wonderful verses! Hebrews 11:4, 13, 26, and 36 deal with the "fruit of faith", verse 31 deals with "saving faith", and by verses 3 and 6 we are shown the "general faith" I mentioned earlier, all the other verses deal with the "gift of faith" and surely deserve careful review! In the entire Bible, (as per Thompson's Chain Reference Bible NIV Version) there are 471 verses where the word "faith" is mentioned, another 168 times the word "faithful" is made mention of. Faithfulness, faith's, and faithfully are mentioned a total of 88 times for a total of 727 times that this thought is brought across by the Holy Spirit! These facts should enlighten us as to the importance that God Himself puts on our understanding and operating in this element which we call faith. The reality is, "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6) and Romans 11:23 says "whatever is not of faith is sin!" In Genesis 13:16 we see that Abram is about 75 years old and God appears to him. In the verse God promises to make his descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then Abram's descendants could be numbered. All the while Abram is without his first child, and at an advanced age! We can see by the written Word that Abraham did not see this promise come to fruition during his lifetime on earth, however it caused him to have the faith to bring his beloved son Isaac to Mount Moriah as in Chapter 22, in apparent direct contradiction to God's promise. Hebrews 11:19 shows the mighty gift of faith Abraham had received from God's Spirit whereby he had faith that even should he follow through with Isaac's sacrifice, that God was able to raise him up again from the dead! In Abraham's case, the fulfillment of God's promise was certainly not immediate, never the less he trusted God and God certainly performed as promised! By this illustration we see that the manifestation of faith can often times not be immediate but we must remember that He who promised is faithful! (Hebrews 10:23!) Truly, I could go on forever with instances of where the gift of faith was manifested in the lives of God's people but due to the size requirement of this term paper, I'll move on to a few other areas that must be covered to do this subject justice...

This gift of faith is designed to bring one to a place of greater faith in God and service to Him. Lets look at a few of the major purposes of the gift of faith: 1. To bring about the supernatural blessings of God to those to whom the Word has been spoken. (A Sovereign move of God to deposit in us the faith to receive or manifest miracles) See Heb. 11:20 - 27. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, all perfect examples as per the scripture text!!

2. To bring assurance to the believer of God's personal protection in their life from dangerous circumstances. To aid us in defeating the enemy, Satan. See Acts 28:5, the Apostle Paul after suffering shipwreck and landing on the Island of Malta while gathering firewood is bitten by a serpent, (most likely a deadly adder) whereby he calmly shakes it off into the fire and by the gift of faith, trusts God and His Word as in Mark's Gospel, Chapter 16 and verse 18 whereas the believer is promised that serpents would not harm them.

3. To bring assurance of God's provision in the midst of hard times. Surely Elijah is a great example as he went trusting in God's promise of feeding him using ravens as waiters, quite frankly something quite hard to believe without the Spirit's gift of faith! ( See 1 Kings 17:3, 4, ) Or elsewhere in 1 Kings 17:17 - 24 where Elijah without hearing from God first in faith acts on the circumstance presented him, (the death of a child) and in faith prays that God would raise the child back to life again. This is an instance where the gift of faith operates in the believer who believes God in such a way that God honors their word as His own and miraculously brings it to pass. .

4. To give assurance to the believer that what is impossible to man is possible to God. (Gen. 21:5, and Romans 4:20 - 25. 100 yr. old Abraham is a father? How? "With God all things are possible" Matthew 19:26!)

5. To give us the assurance and comfort that God is with us in the midst of our pain, suffering, and persecution. See Heb. 11:36- 39 where we see clearly the trials, tribulations, beatings, mockings, and torture unto death that the faithful have had to endure, all through it we see that God never left them nor forsook them as per His promise in Joshua 1: 5 and 9! We can also look at the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 11:23 - 30 where he reluctantly boasts in the sufferings he was made to endure for Christ's sake and describes the perils, beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, and imprisonments amongst other things which he determinedly endured that the gospel of Jesus Christ might be spread as per his commission from Christ necessitated. All the while by faith he knew that Christ was with him and by the gift of faith he joyfully endured all for Christ's sake! (Philippians 4:11) Having stated all of the above let me make a few more points before closing, Real faith is of the heart, whereas natural faith is of the mind! Remember James 2:19, even demons can have head or mind faith, and tremble, but that type of faith is unfruitful, dead even! Remember that faith is SUBSTANCE & EVIDENCE! (Hebrews 11:1) It is material, solid, something we can hold onto! Having said that, we must remember that all the gifts are really an analysis of the sum of the wisdom and power of our Most High God! Keeping in mind that the gifts are really one graded and indivisible expression of the fullness of God's infinite ability. Like the colors of the rainbow, you can differentiate between them but without their standing together as one, there wouldn't be a rainbow. Even though it appears as such, the gift of faith is not the basis of the other gifts but often works in close conjunction with them and like all the other gifts is a temporary ends until that which is perfect is come. (1 Corinthians 13:10) However, in the here and now I am determined to seek after and earnestly desire the best gifts, hoping that in love I might use them to glorify my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and edify His body in doing so. Amen!
Richard P. Duffield

Bibliography of References used:

1. The HOLY BIBLE , (Believer's Study Bible) by: W. A. Criswell , Nelson Publishers, and editor's comments contained therein.
2. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, (Tapes Study course with Student Syllabus) by: Dr. Bob Roach © CALVARY BIBLE INSTITUTE.
3. The Gifts of the Spirit, (Softcover Book) by: Harold Horton, Radiant Publishers
4. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible, (HyperBible Computer Disc) by: B. B. Kirkbride Bible Co. and Beacon Technologies Inc., Zondervan.

Express thanks given to all of the above and to the precious Parakletos (Holy Spirit) who opened my understanding using the above mentioned media.

Richard P. Duffield

Please forgive me if this paper is hard to stay focused on, the actual formatting was lost and it is awkward I have to admit! I think you'll find however that the information herein is well worth the efforts! Reformat it yourself if your computer can or print it and read at your leisure...

I pray it answers questions for you as it did for me!

This was one of my term papers while working on my Bachelors degree in Biblical Studies... (It is mainly my understanding of the book "The Gifts of The Spirit" by Harol Horton and revelations received while studying same.)

Be blessed of God my dear brothers and sisters!

In His eternal service...

Richard P. Duffield Jr.

(If you enjoyed this study, if you have comments, criticisms, or anything else to say please feel free to let me know!)