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Essay on Pneumatology

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THEO 201-B30

Essay on Pneumatology: Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are basically just what the name implies, they are supernatural gifts given to us by God, and the Holy Spirit to your own spirit. They come in many different forms, giving us many different abilities. Spiritual gifts are given when the Holy Spirit enters into someone’s body, and are used to further glorify God and his greatness. There are many different spiritual gifts, and as is pointed out in 1st Peter 4:10 we all have atleast one, some people may have more or some people may just use theirs more than others. There is also something called the Fruit of the Spirit, although a lot like the Spiritual Gifts there are a few differences as well. Spiritual gifts are abilities to be used to glorify God, where
Fruit of the Spirit is more about a person’s character and the Holy Spirit taking over their spirit.
As a person matures in their spiritual journey the Fruits of the Spirit take over more gradually, showing how the Holy Spirit is taking over that person’s character. So while everyone is given a Spiritual Gift it may not always show, but anyone can develop the Fruits of the Spirit. Although there are many Spiritual Gifts that people are given, the one that seems to draw the most attention is the gift of speaking in tongues. The first record of this is in the first chapter of Acts on the day of Pentecost. The act of speaking in tongues happens when the speaker is overcome with the Holy Spirit. Some say that the act of doing so is in giving a message to God’s people while others say it is simply an act of being overjoyed, or ecstatic in His presence and that just carries over once overcome with the Holy Spirit. Baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at conversion, and is where a person is placed into the body of Christ. First Corinthians 12:13 tells us” For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit”.
This tells us that at conversion we all become one within the body of Christ, and all are immersed with the Holy Spirit. To baptize means to immerse or totally surround, so at our baptism we become totally surrounded with the Holy Spirit. To me the speaking of tongues does not have to happen for someone to be filled with the spirit.
Of course it is one of the gifts, but again all of those different gifts are given to different people.
Therefore if everyone that was filled with the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues it would not be a special gift would it? I have seen people in various churches throughout my life speak in tongues, and honestly it scared me. I think though that it was because I never truly understood what it meant. Now that I do know I feel like it is still relevant in our time. It may not mean the same things to people but it still shows that the Holy Spirit is at work in the churches of today, and that God is still reaching out to us in the same ways he always has been.

Word Count:558

References:
Towns, Elmer L. Theology for Today. 2nd ed. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2001.

Elwell, Walter, ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.

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