Page 15 - The Church and Education Pro combined

The church is made up of people who all have received the Holy Spirit when they believed the gospel by
faith. (Gal. 3:1-3) What makes this fact so powerful is that God Himself indwells every believer and will
provide power to accomplish His will. Three main passages in the Bible give us a detailed list of special
abilities God puts into believers to serve Him with supernatural power. These special abilities are called
spiritual gifts.

Romans 12:4-6a Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all

have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all
the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

Although opinions differ on the actual number of spiritual gifts, God’s Word clearly indicates that the
indwelling Holy Spirit enables believers with one or more gifts. And these gifts are given to an individual
believer for the purpose of edifying other believers in the body of Christ.

Paul begins his dissertation about spiritual gifts in Romans 12 by saying, “I long to see you, that I may
impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each
other’s faith, both yours and mine.” The translation “impart to you some spiritual gift” is misleading
because it sounds like Paul wants to help them have a gift, but the text actually means that he wants to
give them the benefit of his gifts. A better translation would be, “I long to see you, that I may use my
gifts to strengthen you.”

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