“The Rise of the Pentecostal Fusionists: They’re uniting Spirit-led worship with the riches of historic church tradition, says a leading charismatic bishop” Christianity Today (October 3, 2022).

Pentecostal Theological Seminary (Church of God) professor Dale Coulter interviews Emilio Alvarez, presiding bishop of the Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches, about what has often been called the Convergence Movement, the purposeful blending of sacramental liturgy with charismatic worship.

Lazarus Yeghnazar and Lana Silk, “Iran’s Spiritual Awakening” Charisma (October 28, 2022).

“How the Persecuted Church Wants You to Pray: Leaders in six countries explain how Christians can best support and rejoice with fellow believers suffering for their faith” Christianity Today (November 10, 2022).

“The Rise of the Global South: John Lathrop interviews Dr. Elijah Kim” PentecostalPastor YouTube (November 16, 2022).

John Lathrop writes that in this 1 hour video: “I interview Dr. Elijah Kim, the author of The Rise of the Global South: The Decline of Western Christendom and the Rise of Majority World Christianity. In addition to discussing Global Christianity we also talk about the impact that Pentecostalism has had on Global Christianity.” Read Pastor Lathrop’s review of The Rise of the Global South.

Leopoldo Sánchez, “How Irenaeus, Ambrose, and Basil Help Us See the Spirit: When the Holy Spirit seems tough for congregants to grasp, borrow these surprising images from the church fathers” Christianity Today Pastors (Fall 2022).

Andrew K. Gabriel, “How Should non-Trans Christians Respond to Transgender and Queer People?” AndrewKGabriel.com (December 11, 2022).

Pentecostal scholar Andrew Gabriel writes: “In this short video, I share some thoughts on how non-trans Christians should respond to transgender and queer people.”

N.T. Wright, “Should We Cancel Luther and Calvin?: The Reformers believed in burning heretics. Making sense of that grave mistake means looking first at ourselves” Christianity Today (November 14, 2022).

Anglican theologian N.T. Wright introduces this contemporary issue: “Cancel culture knows no bounds, even historical ones. Based on some un-Christlike writings by Protestant reformers John Calvin and Martin Luther—along the lines of burning heretics—there have been some recent discussions about ‘canceling’ these paragons of church history. The debates sound similar to conversations we’ve had about secular historical figures being canceled for owning slaves, for example.”

PR

Richard M. Riss presents evidence for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit throughout the Church Age.

Origen

In any case, Origen, Clement’s successor as head of the catechetical school in Alexandria, makes explicit references to miraculous gifts in operation in his day, at the beginning of the third century. He wrote, “there are still preserved among Christians traces of that Holy Spirit which appeared in the form of a dove. They expel evil spirits, and perform many cures, and foresee certain events, according to the will of the Logos.”²⁴ Elsewhere, he wrote:

Moreover, the Holy Spirit gave signs of His presence at the beginning of Christ’s ministry, and after His Ascension He gave still more: but since that time these signs have diminished, although there are still traces of His presence in a few who have had their souls purified by by the gospel, and their actions regulated by its influence.²⁵

A much more extensive treatment of the gifts of the Spirit appears in Origen’s De Principiis, book II, chapter VII, which is entitled, “On The Holy Spirit”. The third portion of this part of Origen’s work appears to be a very loose paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 12: 8-11, where he writes:

For on some is bestowed by the Spirit the word of wisdom, on others the word of knowledge, on others faith; and so to each individual of those who are capable of receiving Him, is the Spirit Himself made to be that quality, or understood to be that which is needed by the individual who has deserved to participate.²⁶

The following paragraph (section 4) of the same chapter provides unquestionable evidence that he is speaking of the spiritual gifts with reference to the time in which he was living, for he writes:

We must therefore know that the Paraclete is the holy Spirit, who teaches truths which cannot be uttered in words, and which are, so to speak, unutterable, and “which it is not lawful for a man to utter,” i.e., which cannot be indicated by human language…..For if any one has deserved to participate in the Holy Spirit by the knowledge of His ineffable mysteries, he undoubtedly obtains comfort and joy of heart. For since he comes by the teaching of the Spirit to the knowledge of the reasons of all things which happens—how or why they occur—his soul can in no respect be troubled, or admit any feeling of sorrow; nor is he alarmed by anything, since, clinging to the Word of God and His wisdom, he through the Holy Spirit calls Jesus Lord.²⁷

There can be no question that Origen is speaking of revelatory spiritual gifts, for he writes very explicitly in this passage of revelation by God’s Spirit. His reference to unutterable truths which cannot be indicated by human language seems to suggest the possibility of a heavenly language in which such things can be uttered through the gift of tongues. Such an interpretation would certainly be consistent with the continual association of the gift of tongues with other prophetic gifts throughout the Patristic era.