The Greater Gifts Are the Speaking Gifts

“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for… speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects” (Eph 4:11, 15).

God only “gave some” members these gifts listed above “for… speaking the truth”. Evidently, this is a complete list of all of the greater gifts since it contains all of the speaking gifts, that is, all of the clear speaking gifts – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The greater gifts are the speaking gifts. As stated in a previous point, these are the greater gifts because they edify the whole body by ministering the spoken word of God to it (1 Cor 14:3, 5, 12) either through wisdom, revelation, or knowledge (1 Cor 12:8, 10). The main way that the church is edified is through the spoken word. All of the greater gifts are teaching gifts. They are all leading gifts. They are all ministers of the gospel. But nearly all of them have different specialties, so to speak, to fulfill God’s greater and manifold teaching purposes. For example, there is the specialty of being the highest authority in the church (apostles) to which we must all be accountable, the specialty of direct revelation from God (prophets), the specialty of outreach (evangelists), the specialty of in-reach (pastors), and the general gift without any of the previously mentioned specialties (teachers). All of these teaching parts are to be “speaking the truth in love… to grow up” all members in all things about Jesus Christ (Eph 4:15). The lesser gifts are simply the gifts that do not teach, since they do not directly, initially, or mainly minister the spoken word of God to others. But all gifts, great and small, help the church to grow.

Notice What Is Absent from Any Inspired List of the Greater Christian Gifts

·         Reverends

·         Priests

·         Cardinals

·         Arch-Bishop

·         Fathers (i.e. church fathers)

·         Popes (i.e. papas or fathers)

·         Mothers (church mothers)

·         Ph.d’s / Doctors [religious doctors]

·         Mstrs. / Masters [religious masters]

·         Church Directors

·         Church Board Members

·         Church Trustees

·         Etc.

Although they have an air of man-made greatness, these are not Christ’s greater gifts or callings. Reverend is not one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God does not call anyone to be Pope [i.e. papa] or Father [i.e. religious father]. God does not give anyone the gift of doctor or master [i.e. a doctor or master of religion]. Indeed, Jesus Himself has condemned this kind of man-made religious titling because it exalts one member over the other (Mt 23:8-12). And, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God” (Lk 16:15).You ought to be called what God called you to be, if indeed you are called to be something by Him, otherwise you are not justified in the sight of God and are detestable to him, meaning an abomination. Obviously, these religious titles or callings are highly esteemed in the eyes of mankind, but God abhors them. He hates these things. If He does not put these parts into His body, then He does not tolerate them either. But these are the callings and the traditions of men. Mistaken men create them and give them to men as a gift. They cannot cause the true growth of the Christian church because they are not true leadership gifts. These man-made gifts arrogantly carry on and honor the traditions of men and they invalidate, suppress, and dishonor the truth about the authority or the responsibility of the authorized greater and lesser gifts that Jesus Christ gave to men when He ascended on high. You must understand these things so that you will not be deceived by them. It is not God’s will for you to have a man-made greater gift. Which is better, a man-made gift or a gift from God? You must only receive or seek after the greater gifts that are clearly revealed by the will of God, not the will of man. Do not be a hypocrite.

How to Test Yourself for the Greater Gifts

.... more about this in the Bible Study on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit