Gifts vs Fruit of the Spirit
I know, I haven’t posted anything here in months. It’s been a very busy summer and fall, including a move to a different city. I may explain more in another post later. But after 17 years in Indianapolis, I am back in my home town of Cincinnati, Ohio.
But the topic noted in the title is a result of visiting a local church and seeing what they have on their website. And it has had me thinking, and feeling that I need to write this down. So here goes.
This local Vineyard church apparently puts a heavy emphasis on prophecy. Now, prophecy is one of the “spiritual gifts” listed in I Corinthians 12:4-11. And these things are important. But one thing C. S. Lewis warned about has always stayed with me. He wrote that one of Satan’s most useful tricks is to get people to focus on something that is important—but not the MOST important—but to get them to regard it as most important, when it isn’t. This misplaced focus has resulted in a lot of problems in the church throughout history.
What could be more important than spiritual gifts? How about the “fruit of the Spirit” listed in Galatians 5:22-23—love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Why do I think the fruits of the Spirit are more important than the gifts? Here are some of my reasons:
For one thing, even Paul himself, in writing I Corinthians, after writing about the spiritual gifts, then goes on to say, “And I show you a still more excellent way.” I Corinthians 12:31 (NASB). And then he goes on to write what is now called the “Love Chapter",” I Corinthians 13.
There is a strong case to be made that the “spiritual gifts” are given to meet the needs of the church in this life. I think I have written elsewhere that they are not really given to the individual, but are given to the church through the individual. And because they are for this life, they are temporary, not permanent. They are for this world. And in Heaven, they may not be needed. There won’t be anyone needing healing in Heaven, Prophecy will be over, because everything predicted will have happened.
In contrast, the fruits of the Spirit are not actions; they are personality traits that we learn from the Holy Spirit. And having learned them, our actions will then be guided by them. But unlike the spiritual gifts, these personality traits are going to be permanent—we will take them to Heaven with us. I think there is a case to be made that these personality traits, if we learn them from the Holy Spirit, turn us into the kind of person who can enjoy Heaven.
Yes, the spiritual gifts have some importance; but there are other things more important still. We need to keep our priorities straight.