The Duration of Prophecy: How Long Will Prophecy Be Used in the Church? (Part 3) by Wayne A. Grudem
Spiritual Gifts as Characteristic of the New Covenant Age
One further consideration is appropriate here. The New Testament many times indicates that one distinctive characteristic of the New Covenant age (the period between Pentecost and Christ’s return, also called the “church age”) is the possession of spiritual gifts by all God’s people.
Therefore, once the New Covenant age is inaugurated at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured out in power on the church, and one result is that God’s people are given gifts such as prophecy, speaking in tongues, and seeing visions (Acts 2:1-21). Another result is special power for gospel proclamation (Acts 1:8; cf. 2:37, 47; 4:4; etc.).
Spiritual gifts also characterize the receipt of the Holy Spirit by others in the New Testament, such as the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:46) or the disciples in Ephesus (Acts 19:6). The Corinthians experienced the characteristically “New Covenant” experience of the Holy Spirit when they believed the gospel and then in “every way” they were “enriched in Christ in all speech and all knowledge” (1 Cor. 1:5), with the result that Paul could say, “You are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:7, rsv). In fact, what Paul says about Christians corporately being the “body of Christ,” all with differing gifts, given for the common good (1 Cor. 12:12-31), we rightly understand to be true not just of the church at Corinth but of all churches and all Christians today: To be a New Covenant Christian is to be a spiritually gifted Christian.
Paul affirms the same truth in Ephesians when he says that Christ, in ascending to heaven, “gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8, rsv)—gifts that would enable the whole body to work together, so that “when each part is working properly,” the church itself “makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love” (Eph. 4:16, rsv). Once again, the possession of various spiritual gifts for the benefit of the whole church is characteristic of the New Testament age.
Category: Fall 2001, Pneuma Review, Spirit
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