1Corinthians 12:1-11
1*Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2* Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3* Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4*Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5*And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7*But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8*For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9*to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10*to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11*but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Notice that there are nine different gifts listed. I find it best to group them in three different categories as follows.

The vocal inspiration gifts.
gift of tongues
gift of interpretation of tongues
gift of prophecy

The revelation gifts.
gift of word of knowledge
gift of word of wisdom
gift of discerning of spirits

The power gifts.
gifts of healing
gift of working of miracles
gift of faith

Inorder to make this as easy as possible I will make this a three part study , one for each category of the gifts. I will post them all here in this thread, starting with the vocal inspiration gifts.

Hello Jiggy,

This is really wonderful. I am looking forward to the rest of the study. God bless you.

Best wishes,
Snowrose

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Part 1) The vocal inspiration gifts.

The gift of tongues is the vocal expression given by the Holy Spirit through a person in their normal voice, but not in a language understood by the one speaking. Let me say that this is not the same as "speaking in tongues", the praise and prayer language given to every believer that has experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The difference is simple, speaking in tongues or singing in tongues is where the believer is speaking, praying, singing and praising God by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now concerning the gift of tongues, God is speaking to us by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It may be in a language known or unknown to man. A good example of the gift of tongues is seen in Acts 2:7-11, where the language spoken is known to those hearing it but not to the ones speaking.

7*They were beside themselves with wonder. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8*and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands where we were born! 9*Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11*Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”

The above incident is a confirmation of what brother Paul said in 1Corinthians 14:22.

"So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers."

I think that this is one of the reasons that Paul also instructed the Church not to forbid the speaking in tongues (1Cor. 14:39).


The gift of interpretation of tongues is ofcourse a gift that follows the gift of speaking in tongues. This gift is really self explanatory, it is the interpretation of a message spoken in an unknown tongue into the known tongue of those hearing it. Generally it is not word for word, but will express the whole thought that God is articulating through the messenger. It is not uncommon in meetings where one person speaks in tongues and two or three people interpret in part until the whole message is interpreted.

1Corinthians 14:13
"So anyone who has the gift of speaking in tongues should pray also for the gift of interpretation in order to tell people plainly what has been said."


The gift of prophecy is the vocal expression in an articulate way in the known language of those that the message is directed to. Prophecy is to build up the Church, to strengthen, encourage or comfort her members to the glorification of Christ.

1Corinthians 14:3&4
"But one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them. 4*A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally in the Lord, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church."

A good example of the gift of prophecy is found Acts 21:10-12

10*During our stay of several days, a man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea. 11*When he visited us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit declares, ‘So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Romans.’” 12*When we heard this, we who were traveling with him, as well as the local believers, begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

Other incidents where the gift of prophecy is noted.

Acts 19:6
Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.

Acts 21:8&9
*8 Then we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen to distribute food. 9*He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.

In conclusion of this study of the vocal inspiration gifts, it is important that when ever any of these three gifts appear to be in operation, they should be measured or judged by God's Word and the Holy Spirit.

Please feel free to comment or ask questions.

Amen, jiggyfly:

Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Christ's Serf

Hi Jiggy,

I am confussed and it concerns 'gift of tongues'. You said quote: "The difference is simple, speaking in tongues or singing in tongues is where the believer is speaking, praying, singing and praising God by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit."

I thought speaking in tongues was just that speaking in different languages but now there is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I don't understand. Could you please clarify for me?

Best wishes,
Snowrose

Snowrose, both the personal speaking of tongues and the gift of speaking in tongues are of the Holy Spirit. When the gift of tongues is being used the Holy Spirit comes upon the person speaking and it is spoken out loud, for example in a meeting. Then an interpretation will be given, unlike in the personal speaking in tongues, where it is personal between you and God and there is no interpretation. Does that help any?

Hello,

Thank you sunshine. I just didn't realize that there were two types of speaking - I thought they were one and the same. That's what threw me off. Thank you for the clarification. God bless you.

Love,
Snowrose

sunshine,
I have a question , our pastor speaks in tounges and then he tells us what God told him. Is this an acceptable way to do this. I mean no one else in the church knows what he is saying and its a bit confuseing.

1 Cor 14:5
He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.
(from New International Version)

Does this help?

Originally Posted by Snowrose

Hi Jiggy,

I am confussed and it concerns 'gift of tongues'. You said quote: "The difference is simple, speaking in tongues or singing in tongues is where the believer is speaking, praying, singing and praising God by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit."

I thought speaking in tongues was just that speaking in different languages but now there is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I don't understand. Could you please clarify for me?

Best wishes,
Snowrose

Perhaps this will help, Snow Rose:

"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful." (1 Cor 14:14)

When I pray in tongues, I am releasing my spirit in a language known to the Holy Spirit, but unknown to me and I am prayiing for what the Holy Spirit would have me pray for. My mind is unfruitful (out of the loop, so to speak).
Its a kind of prayer in which God is totally in control.

I've had times when I would be praying in the Spirit and my mind would be occupied elsewhere for a few seconds, but the praying in the Spirit woulzd go on uninterrupted.



SLE