Scripture Index

"operation of the Spirit which they had witnessed. When the convicted Jews said unto the apostles, “What shall we do?” Peter answered, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:37-39 . This certainly provides for the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church, even in its special manifestations, to all coming time, as long as mercy shall invite men to accept the pardoning love of Christ. PP 23.1"

Twenty-eight years later in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul set before that church a formal argument on the question. He says ( 1 Corinthians 12:1 ), “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant”—so important did he deem it that this subject should be understood in the Christian church. After stating that though the Spirit is one it has diversities of operation, and explaining what those diversities are, he introduces the figure of the human body, with its various members, to show how the church is constituted with its different offices and gifts. And as the body has its various members, each having its particular office to fill, and all working together in unity of purpose to constitute one harmonious whole, so the Spirit was to operate through various channels in the church to constitute a perfect religious body. Paul then continues in these words: “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that …