Relationship Of Spiritual Gifts To The Bible-1

February 22  Relationship Of Spiritual Gifts To The Bible

 

And he gave some as apostles, ans some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Eph. 4:11-13, NASB.

Early Sabbatarian Adventists held that the Bible taught that spiritual gifts, including the prophetic one, would exist in the church until the Second Advents.

Uriah Smith provided them with an illustration that makes the point nicely. "Suppose," he wrote, "we are about to start upon a voyage. The owner of the vessel gives us a book of directions, telling us that it contains insturctions suffient for our whole journey, and that if we will heed them, we shall reach in safety our port of destination.

"Setting sail, we open our book to learn its contents. We find that its author lays down general principles to govern us in our voyage, and instruct us as far as practicable, touching the various contingencies that may arise, till the end; but he also tells us that the latter part of our journey will be especially perilous; that the features of the coast are ever changing by reason of quicksands and tempests; 'but for this part of the journey,' says he, 'I have provided you a pilot, who will meet you, and give you such directions as the surrounding circimstances and danger may require; and to him you must give heed.'

"With these directions we reach the perilous time specified, and the pilot, according to promise, appears. But some of the crew, as he offers his services, rise up against him. 'We have the original book of directions? Those who reject the pilot, or those who receive him, as that book instructs them? Judge ye.

"But some. . .may meet us at this point like this: 'Then you would take Sister White as our pilot, would you? It is to forestall any efforts in this direction, that this sentence is penned. We say no such thing. What we do say is distinctly this: that the gifts of the Spirit are given for our pilot through these perilous times, and whenever or in whomever we find genuine manifestations of these, we are bound to respect them, nor can we do otherwise without in so far rejecting the Word of God, which directs us to receive them."

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

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