The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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Qualifications for the Twelve
1. They had been with Jesus from the beginning (Acts 1:21-22).
2. They had seen the risen Christ and could therefore testify to His resurrection.
(Acts 1:22; Gal. 1:16; I Cor. 15:8)
3. They had a personal call from Christ (Mk.3:14; Jn. 20:21).
4. Their ministry was characterized by signs, wonders and miracles.
(II Cor. 12:12; Mk. 16:14-20; Heb. 2:3-4; Rom 15:17-19; Acts 14:3)
• Signs—Refers to the purpose of miraculous deeds signifying some truth to be learned.
• Wonders—Refers to something that is observed and kept in the memory. It means
to “watch, keep or observe” and is used always with the word “signs.”
• Miracles—Refers to the power of God behind the miraculous deeds.
These terms are used on 53 occasions to refer to the miracles of Christ at both His first and
second comings. They are used 5 times to refer to Satan or the Antichrist. They are used 49 times
to refer to miracles performed in the days of the apostles. Most of these refer to the “mighty
works” done by the apostle themselves.
The purpose of these “mighty works” was confirmation. They confirmed the message of the
early apostles (Mk. 16:20; Heb. 2:3-4).
Ministry of the Twelve
1. They gave doctrinal foundation of the church (Acts 2:42). Jesus’ promise that when the
Holy Spirit came that He would lead His people into all truth (Jn.14:26; 16:13) found its greatest
fulfillment in the New Testament revelation. This revelation was accepted by the early church as
belonging to the Old Testament revelation and was therefore accepted as part of Holy Scripture.
Only those books which were written by the apostolic circle or their close associates ( e.g. Mark
Luke, James, the brother of Jesus, Paul) were accepted as Scripture.
2. They provided the structural foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20). The apostles were
the first to receive the keys of the kingdom (Mt. 18:18-19) and thereby were enabled to open the
door for the gospel to the Jews (Acts 2:38-41; Gal. 2:7) to half-Jews (Samaritans--Acts 8:14-17)
and the Gentiles (Acts 1:8; 8:1,4).