Charismatic Tradition

1. What faith group do you think of when you hear the word charismatic? Pentecostals?

2. Who is charismatic? – In fact, all believers, those filled with the Holy Spirit, are charismatic. Our society associates the word charismatic with the sign gifts (i.e., miracles, healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues). The reality is all spiritual gifts are charismatic.

3. Foster states, “the Charismatic Tradition centers upon the power to do . . . upon the empowering charismas or gifts of the Spirit and the nurturing fruit of the Spirit.” (SLW, 99)

4. A Theology of Spiritual Gifts
A. History of Spiritual Gifts
1) The Early Church
a) Pentecost - Holy Spirit comes on believers and supernaturally empowers them (Acts1:8; 2:1-4)
b) Gifts of the Spirit were exercised in the early church:
1) Languages (Acts 2:4)
2) Healing (Acts 3:6-10)
3) Prayer and Preaching (4:24-31)
4) Miracle, signs, and wonders (Acts 5:12)
2) Roman Catholic Church
a) Gifts were being suppressed by the church as early as AD 100.
b) Gifts were seen as for the clergy only.
c) Gifts were passed to clergy by laying on of hands.
d) During Middle Ages (AD 450-1517) spiritual gifts were almost totally suppressed by the RCC.
3) The Reformation
a) The great Reformers, Luther and Calvin, taught about the Holy Spirit but said little about spiritual gifts.
b) Marginal groups came into being who began to teach and use spiritual gifts. They were seen as fanatical and even heretical by mainstream Christians of their day.
4) The Modern Era
a) Twentieth Century Pentecostalism refocused interest and study on the Holy Spirit in the 1950s.
b) Lay Liberation Movement in the 1960s revisited the role of the laity in ministry including the use of spiritual gifts. An important work is Ray Steadman’s book Body Life and the Body Life Movement.
c) C. Peter Wagner in Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow states, “Rarely, if ever, in the history of the Church has such a widespread interest in moving beyond creeds and theologies to a personal experience of the Holy Spirit in everyday life swept over the people of God to the degree we have been seeing over the last two decades or so. One of the prominent facets of this new experience of the Holy Spirit is the rediscovery of spiritual gifts” (Wagner, 13).
B. Defining Spiritual Gifts
1) Definition from Scripture - 1 Corinthians 12:1-7; 12-27.
a) Paul uses two words in this passage to refer to spiritual gifts.
➢ Both give us unique insights.
+ pneumatika (1 Cor. 12:1) – “the spirituals” - The gifts Paul speaks of in this passage are spiritual manifestations from God=s Spirit as opposed to natural talents of the individual.
+ charismata (1 Cor. 12:4) - charis – “grace gifts” -Spiritual gifts are a manifestation of God’s grace in a gift to each of his people. This is the word most commonly used in the NT to describe spiritual gifts.
b) Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4, 11)
c) Spiritual gifts are given for service to Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 12:5)
d) Spiritual gifts are made effective by the energizing power of God the Father (1 Cor. 12:6)
e) The Trinitarian God is at work in giving, directing, and energizing the spiritual gifts of his people. (1 Cor. 12:5-6).
f) Spiritual gifts are given to each believer (1 Cor. 12:7).
g) Every believer gets at least one, but generally we have multiple gifts or combinations of gifts (e.g., leadership/administration, faith/leadership, teaching/knowledge, preaching/evangelism)
h) Spiritual gifts are given for the common good of all believers not as selfish personal possessions (1 Cor. 12:7).
i) Spiritual gifts are grace gifts received from God to be freely given away in service for the good of others and the church (1 Cor. 12:7).
j) No single believer has all spiritual gifts. Believers are dependent on God and each other to provide the spiritual gifts necessary for the whole Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-27).
2) Other Definitions - A spiritual gift is . . .
a) “. . . the primary channel by which the Holy Spirit can minister through the believer.” --Larry Gilbert, How to Find Meaning and Fulfillment through Understanding the Spiritual Gift within you, 33
b) “. . . a special attribute given by the Holy Spirit to every member of the Body of Christ, according to God=s grace, for use within the context of the Body.” --C. Peter Wagner, Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow, 34
c) “. . . a significant ability given to each believer by the Holy Spirit, who thus equips and moves members of the church to serve in special ways for Christ and his kingdom.” --Discover Your Gifts, 8
d) “. . . a supernatural endowment of God=s grace in the life of a believer.” - Bill Bryan
3) Spiritual gifts are distinct from natural talents.
a) God’s Holy Spirit working through a believer enables the believer to accomplish more than he or she could have accomplished through the exercise of natural human talents.
b) Natural talents and spiritual gifts may align, but they may not. God determines what is needed in the Body when he gifts new believers.
c) “You are given natural talents at your natural birth and spiritual talents (spiritual gifts) at your spiritual birth” (Gilbert, 27)
4) Spiritual gifts are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit
a) Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
b) Fruit relates to attitude and gifts relate to service.
c) All believers are to exhibit all the fruit of the Spirit all the time, but no believer can exhibit all the gifts of the Spirit all the time.
C. What are the gifts?
1) Rom. 12:6-8 - prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy
2) 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28 - wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostleship, administration
3) Eph. 4:11 - evangelism, shepherding
4) Are there more than 19 spiritual gifts?
a) There is no exhaustive list of spiritual gifts in the New Testament.
b) marriage and celibacy - 1 Cor. 7:7
c) voluntary poverty and martyrdom - 1 Cor. 13:1-3
d) music - 1 Cor. 14:26-33
e) hospitality - 1 Pet. 4:9-11
D. If you have never taken a spiritual gift inventory to begin the process of identifying your spiritual gifts, contact me and I will help you begin the process.

5. Foster points to three functions of the charisms of the Spirit (SLW, 126):
a. leadership
b. ecstatic empowerment – to show us God is present where we assume he is not
c. community building

6. Essential Principles for Exercising Spiritual Gifts (SLW, 127-28):
a. Taking Responsibility – Every gift is needed no matter how insignificant it may seem.
b. Accepting Limitation – No individual Christian has all the spiritual gifts.
c. Esteeming Others – Gifts are used in community with all believers dependent on each other.
d. Maintaining Unity Within Diversity – Believers have different personalities, spiritual gifts and talents but function as a whole and are linked in suffering and
rejoicing.

7. Major Strengths of the Charismatic Tradition (SLW, 128):
a. It offers an ongoing correction to our impulse to domesticate God.
b. It offers a constant rebuke to our anemic/powerless practice of religion.
c. It offers a continuing challenge toward spiritual growth and development.
d. It offers a life of gifting and empowering for witness and service.

8. Potential Perils of the Charismatic Tradition (SLW, 130-31):
a. Danger of trivialization if we focus on gift vs. Giver
b. Danger of rejecting the rational and the intellectual
c. Danger of divorcing the gifts of the Spirit from the fruit of the Spirit
d. Danger of linking our walk in the Spirit to highly speculative end-time scenarios that lack theological foundation.

9. Practicing the Charismatic Tradition (SLW, 131-32):
a. Draw near to those who have experience practicing the charismas.
b. Don’t fear that some aspect of what you do is in the flesh – It is!
c. Follow your leadings with a teachable spirit and no fear being misled.
d. Test your leadings and experiences in the Spirit and discern the Spirit’s direction and correction.

10. Foster points out three historical practitioners of the Charismatic Tradition. Which example spoke most powerfully to you and what did you learn?
a. St. Francis of Assisi
1) Power in the Spirit surrounded all he did and said.
2) Power in the Spirit is tied to spiritual growth. The Holiness and Charismatic Traditions are linked and fuel each other.
3) Holy joy is one of the most common marks of those who walk in the power of the Spirit. Remember Francis’ fist Christmas crèche at Greccio.
b. Apostle Paul – “(H)e had a well-nigh amazing balance between the rational, objective apprehension of the gospel and the ecstatic, subjective charismas of
the Spirit—enveloping both in the nurturing, maturing fruit of the Spirit” (SLW, 106)
c. William J. Seymour – The Azuza Street Revival
1) Seymour understood the implications of glossalalia for interracial reconciliation and community.
2) Seymour exercised an equality and acceptance of each person under God as potential participants in leadership.
3) Seymour stressed genuine Christian love above all else, even glossolalia.
4) The personal holiness of Seymour was critical for the leadership and growth of the Azuza Street movement.