The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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1) Rote level—Elicits a response from memory, perhaps meaningless to the learner.
2) Recognition level—Recognition of something said in class, as to whether true or false.
3) Restatement level—Grasping the idea sufficiently enough to restate it in his own words.
4) Relational level—Discovery of a personal meaning.
5) Realizational level—Making the fact real in experience, not only understanding what
response is required but making that response in deed. 38
Often the question is asked, “If a person is capable of teaching, will he automatically have the
gift of teaching when he becomes a Christian?” Leslie Flynn points out:
“The answer is, not automatically; only if the Spirit chooses to give this gift. But it is
more likely than not that the Spirit will bestow the gift of teaching on one who
already has the talent. The Spirit of God, who operates decently and in oder, would
likely build His gift with supernatural power upon the foundation of the talent
already there. But not always.” 39
Flynn continues by showing that although strong similarities exist between the talent and the
gift, since they both deal with communication of truth, vital differences also exist:
Talent
Gift
Present from natural birth.
Present from spiritual birth.
Operates through common grace in society. Operates through special grace in the church.
Communicates any subject.
Communicates biblical truth.
Often yields just understanding of topic. 40 Prepares for involvement and obedience. 41
Ray Stedman perceptively sums up the issue:
“It is quite possible, therefore, for a Christian to have a talent for teaching, but not to
have the spiritual gift of teaching. If that is the case and he were asked to teach a
Sunday School class, as an example, he would be quite capable of imparting
considerable information and knowledge of facts about the lessons to his class, but
his teaching would lack the power to bless, to advance his students’ spiritually.
This fact helps to explain the many qualified secular teachers who do not do well at