The Gifts of the Holy Spirit essay

The “Holy Ghost” is an important part in Christianity because he is the third hypostasis in the triune nature of God. Being God, it is impossible to understand the Holy Spirit in totality. Christians must, however, strive to understand this important part of God that dwells within us hence theologians study the spirit in a discipline known as pneumatology. Many aspects of the “Holy Spirit” are studied in Christian theology ranging from the gender of the “Holy Spirit”, the manifestation of the “Holy Spirit” through different times in the Bible, the gifts of the “Holy Ghost” and the origin or procession of the Holy Ghost. Although Christians often think of the Holy Spirit as having first appeared during the Pentecost, Bible scholars argue that the existence of the Holy Spirit is dated back to the very beginning of life.

By the time that the first Nicene Creed was formulated in the year 325, it was influenced by the Arian Hersey which taught that “God the father” and “the son” were not equal with God being superior to the son5. This treatment of the second hypostasis of the holy trinity was influenced by the contentions about the Godliness and humanness of Jesus. After some time, the church council was repeatedly challenged on its denial of the acknowledgment of Jesus as God. The challenge led to the inclusion of the expansion of a part of the creed from reading “who proceedeth from the father” to “who proceedeth from the father and the son”6. The additional clause, “and the son” was later to be referred to as the filioque.

In the same scripture, he also emphasized on the importance of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” to individual Christians and the church of Christ by using the analogy of the body of Christ and the importance of each body part to the whole body. Consequently, the gifts of the Holy Spirit have also been raising issues in the society today. Some of the issues surrounding the topic of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” include the abuse of certain gifts and the faking of some gifts for personal gain. The Origin of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit” The origin of the “Holy Ghost” has been a matter of grave concern to the scholars of the bible. Two opposing arguments existed in the early days.

Right from the beginning, the Holy Spirit was in existence even before the creation of the earth. The first chapter of Genesis mentions the existence of the Holy Ghost by referring to him as the spirit of God. “The spirit of God was hovering over the void earth” before God began the creation process. The fact that the Holy Spirit existed even before the creation confirms that he is God and is therefore equal to the son in the holy trinity as opposed to being a subordinate to the son15. The spirit of God was also present in the creation as God called upon the son and the spirit saying “let us create man our own image”16. In this case, the son and the spirit are portrayed as equals who operate under the orders of the father.

Just like God the father had sent Jesus to earth in the form of a human being to save his people, he was the only one with the power to send the Holy Ghost to the disciples and all who accepted the good news of Christ. Jesus could not go to heaven and send the Holy Ghost to his followers. He had to ask “the father to send the spirit”. Again Jesus said that “the advocate to be sent by the father in Jesus’ name, who was the Holy Spirit would remind them of every teaching that Jesus taught them”. In John, the disciples locked themselves up in a room on the evening of that Sunday “The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room”22.

When Jesus found them huddled together in a room instead of continuing with the spreading of the gospel just like he had taught them, he promised to send them a helper. In some versions, the word comforter is used. From the context of the disciples locked up in the room, it is logical to conclude that the “Holy Spirit” was being sent to give them courage23. They needed the courage to continue with the work that Jesus had started. Their peaking in tongues was attributed to the Holy Spirit whom the disciples had received on that day. Speaking in tongues was a new thing based on the startled reaction of the crowd that witnessed the Pentecost. The disciples received a new ability to communicate in other languages other than their normal language.

The crowd heard what the disciples were uttering in the native dialect of every individual in the crowd hence there is proof that the disciples were not making noise but speaking sensible things. The “gifts of the Holy Spirit” give Christians the power to be ambassadors of Christ27. The different gifts enabled Christian to perform different works in the church but all the works were for the same God. To make them understand better, he used the analogy of the body of Christ. Paul explained that although the body had different parts which performed different functions, they were all important for the well-being of the body. They all needed each other and the absence of one would affect the functioning of the others.

He likened them with the body parts. In modern society, the church is used as a source of income for individual preachers who take advantage of the offering given by their congregation. The greed for money leads to greed for large congregations. Faking to have the gift of healing is one effective way of attracting members to one's church because many people are increasingly suffering from health issues and most of them associate the gift of healing with superior anointing33. Some people who possess a genuine gift of healing also abuse their gift by using it to make money. They ask for payment in order to heal the sick34. The gift of prophecy has also been abused since the Old Testament times.

False prophets existed in the times of Jeremiah and Elijah38. The main reason for people to fake the possession of the gift of prophecy is to gain popularity. Today, preachers claim they have the gift of prophecy so that they can entice laity who believe that prophecy is superior to other gifts and want to be associated with the blessed ‘servants of God’. True prophets can easily be identified by tracking the fulfillment of their prophesied occurrences. The gift of speaking in tongues is genuine if the speaker passes a message to benefit the whole church and there is someone to interpret the message. Christians should learn to pray for the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” and be content with whichever gifts they are blessed with.

The gifts should only be used for the honor and glory of God. Conclusion The “gifts of the Holy Spirit” are a divine blessing from God himself because they can only be given to a Christian who has received the “Spirit of God” into their life. The “Holy Ghost” is given to Christians from “God the father” and not from “Jesus the son” as was expressed in the Nicene Creed in the fourth century. “Gift Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today. ” Journal of Evangelical Theological Society 45, 3 (Sep 2002): 535-536. Bloesch, Donald G.  The Holy Spirit: Works & Gifts. Vol. "The phenomenal growth of Pentecostalism in the contemporary Nigerian society: A challenge to mainline churches. " Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 5, no. Dragas, George D.