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Volume XIX, Issue 5
L
EGACY
OF
D
EREK
P
RINCE
The Holy Spirit in the Congregation
One distinctive and important result produced by the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church
may be recognized by the active participation of all the members in the life, worship and service of
the church. In the regular services of the great majority of Christian churches today, almost all the
real initiative and activity are confi ned to just a few individuals. The congregation as a whole may
take part in certain prearranged activities: singing hymns or repeating fi xed prayers or responses.
There may also be one or two smaller, specially trained groups, such as a choir or an orchestra.
But apart from this, in the vast majority of congregations, all the real initiative and activity are left
in the hands of one or two individuals while the rest of the congregation is expected to contribute
little more than an occasional
Amen
.
H
owever, if we examine with an open mind
This is clearly brought out by the teaching of Paul
in 1 Corinthians 12. In verses 7 through 11 of this
chapter, Paul lists nine specifi c supernatural gifts of
the Holy Spirit, ending with the words:
“But one and
the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each
one individually as He wills”
(verse 11). This last phrase
obviously indicates that these gifts are given in the fi rst
instance to individual believers. However, Paul does not
end there.
In the next 16 verses of the same chapter (verses
12–27), Paul goes on to say that the Christian church
is like one body with many members, and he likens
each individual believer to a single member of one body,
ending with the words:
“Now you are the body of Christ,
and members individually”
(verse 27). Spiritual gifts are
not intended primarily for the benefi t of the individual
but for the life and worship of the whole congregation.
This truth is clearly stated by Paul in the very next
Gifts Are Given to the Church
The fi rst point we need to establish is that, according
to the New Testament pattern, the supernatural gifts of
the Holy Spirit are not given primarily to the individual
believer. Rather, they are given—through the vessel of
the individual believer—to the church or congregation
as a whole. Therefore they cannot achieve their proper
purpose unless they are freely manifested and exercised
in the life of the congregation.
L
E G A C Y
T
HE
T
EACHING
the life and worship of the early church as
portrayed in the New Testament, we fi nd
that there was active participation by all the believers
present in any service. This was brought about by the
supernatural presence and power of the Holy Spirit,
operating in and through the individual believers.
fts Are Given to the Chu
Volume XIX, Issue 5
verse—that is,
“And God has appointed
these in the church: fi rst apostles, second
prophets, third teachers, after that
miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,
administrations, varieties of tongues”
(verse 28).
Speaking here of various minis-
tries and supernatural gifts of the
Holy Spirit, Paul says that all of them
have been appointed by God
“in the
church.”
That is, they are intended not
merely for private use by individual
believers, but for public manifestation
in the church—the congregation of
God’s people as a whole.
says that the Spirit-baptized believer
belongs by right in the candlestick—
that is, in the church, the congregation
of God’s people. A candle under a
basket or covered up by an empty
vessel is out of place and useless. Just
as the lighted candle belongs in the
candlestick, so the Spirit-baptized
believer is under an obligation to take
his rightful place in the congregation
of God’s people. A believer who has
received the baptism in the Holy
Spirit but never makes public use of
any spiritual gift is just like a candle
under a basket.
We see then, from these Scriptures,
that the baptism in the Holy Spirit
and the supernatural manifestations
of the Holy Spirit are intended to play
an effective part in the public life and
worship of the congregation as a whole.
When the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit are publicly manifested in
this way through various believers, the
result is that the whole life and worship
of the congregation are completely
transformed. The main responsibility
for the ministry and conducting of the
service are no longer borne by one or two
individuals while the rest remain lazily
passive. On the contrary, every member
of the congregation begins to participate
actively in the service, and the various
members minister to each other, rather
than one or two ministering to everyone
else all the time.
This is the pattern indicated by
Paul’s example of the body and its
members, and it is confi rmed by the
words of the apostle Peter:
plies, that in all things God may
be glorifi ed through Jesus Christ,
to whom belong the glory and the
dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:10–11
Peter here speaks of God’s grace
being
“manifold.”
God’s grace is so
rich, so many-sided, that a different
aspect of that grace can be manifested
through each individual member
in the total worship and service of
God’s people. God’s grace is so rich
that every member of the church
may receive a special manifestation
of it and may thus have something
to minister in turn to all the other
members. The language Peter uses
here includes every member of the
church; no one need be left without
a gift or a ministry. Peter says:
“As
each one
has received a gift, minister it
to one another.”
And again, in the next
verse:
“If
anyone
speaks . . . if
anyone
ministers.”
There is no indication
here of a church with one or two
“professional,” full-time ministers,
while the remaining members are
largely inactive.
The Lampstand
This same truth is strikingly
brought out by a brief parable Jesus
uses in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Nor do they light a lamp and put
it under a basket, but on a lamp-
stand, and it gives light to all who
are in the house.” Matthew 5:15
The two main symbols used
in this parable are
the lamp
and
the lampstand
. The symbol of the
lampstand may be interpreted by
reference to Revelation 1:20:
“The
seven lampstands which you saw are
the seven churches.”
Throughout the
whole of Scripture, a lampstand (or
candlestick) is used as a symbol of a
church or a congregation.
The symbol of the lighted lamp or
candle may be interpreted by reference
to Proverbs 20:27:
“The spirit of man is
the lamp of the L
ORD
.”
Thus, the lighted
lamp is a symbol of the spirit of the
believer, made to burn and to shine
by the fi re of the indwelling Spirit of
God. More simply, the lighted candle
represents the believer baptized in the
Holy Spirit and fi re.
Going back to Matthew 5:15, Jesus
Active Members
This picture of the church with
every member active is confi rmed by
the words of Paul:
For I say, through the grace given
to me, to everyone who is among
you, not to think of himself more
highly than he ought to think, but
to think soberly, as God has dealt
to each one a measure of faith.
For as we have many members
in one body, but all the members
do not have the same function, so
we, being many, are one body in
Christ, and individually members
of one another. Having then gifts
As each one has received a gift,
minister it to one another, as good
stewards of the manifold grace of
God. If anyone speaks, let him
speak as the oracles of God, if
anyone ministers, let him do it
with the ability which God sup-
the teaching legacy of derek prince | dpm archive
The Lampstand
Active Members
Volume XIX, Issue 5
differing according to the grace
that is given to us, let us use them:
if prophecy, let us prophesy in
proportion to our faith, or minis-
try, let us use it in our minister-
ing: he who teaches, in teaching;
he who exhorts, in exhortation;
he who gives, with liberality; he
who leads, with diligence; he who
shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
These words make it plain that it is the
express will of God for every member
of the church to exercise spiritual
gifts—the open, public, supernatural
manifestations of the indwelling
Spirit. If all believers do not in fact
have these gifts in operation, it is
not because God withholds them,
but simply because such believers
(through carelessness or unbelief) fail
to press on into the fullness of God’s
revealed will for His people.
Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:31, Paul
says:
“For you can all prophesy one by
one, that all may learn and all may be
encouraged.”
Nothing could be plainer
than this. It is within the revealed
will of God for all the members of the
church to exercise the spiritual gift of
prophecy. On this general revelation
of God’s will, Paul imposes only two
limitations. Here in the verse just
quoted, he says,
“one by one.”
That
is, believers are to exercise this gift
by turns, not more than one believer
prophesying at any one time. The
purpose of this is obvious, and is
stated a few verses further on:
to avoid
confusion
(verse 33).
The other limitation upon the
exercise of the gift of prophecy is
stated by Paul a little earlier, in verse
29:
“Let two or three prophets speak, and
let the others [the members] judge.”
Paul
here limits how many may exercise
the gift of prophecy in any service to
two or three. The purpose of this is
that the whole service should not be
monopolized by one particular form of
spiritual manifestation. The exercise of
prophecy has its place in the service,
but it does not make up the whole
service. The ministry of the Holy Spirit
through God’s people is much more
varied than that. Many other different
forms of ministry are required to make
up a complete service.
In this verse Paul also says clearly
that the exercise of the gift of prophecy
must be judged, or tested. He says:
“Let the others judge.”
The word
others
here, in Greek, is plural, meaning:
“the rest of the members” or the other
Spirit-baptized believers present who
are capable of recognizing the genuine
manifestation of the gift of prophecy.
Even in this we see that Paul brings in
all the members. He does not specify
merely one professional minister who
Romans 12:3–8
In these verses Paul once again
likens the Christian church to a body
of which each individual believer is
a member, and he lays great stress
on the activity of each member.
Paul teaches that God has allotted
to each believer a special function,
a special ministry. God has also
appointed to each member a measure
or a proportion of faith, suffi cient
to enable each particular member
to fulfill successfully his allotted
ministry. Thus, the New Testament
picture of the church is that of a
vigorous, active body, in which each
individual member properly fulfi lls
his or her special function. A church
in which only one or two members
had any active ministry would be,
by New Testament standards, like a
body in which, let’s say, the head, one
hand, and one foot were strong and
active, and all the rest of the body was
paralyzed and useless.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul lays
particular emphasis upon the
supernatural ministry imparted by
the Holy Spirit to every member of a
New Testament church. He says:
“But
the manifestation of the Spirit is given
to each one for the profi t of all”
(verse
7). And again, concerning the nine
supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit:
“But one and the same Spirit works
all these things, distributing each one
individually as He wills”
(verse 11).
Exercising the Gifts
In 1 Corinthians 14:5, Paul says:
“I
wish you all spoke with tongues, but even
more that you prophesied.”
Since Paul
is here writing under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, his words impart
to the church the revealed will of God
for all His believing people both to
speak with tongues and to prophesy.
If there are believers who do not enjoy
the exercise of these gifts, it is not
because God has withheld the gifts, but
simply because those believers have
not entered into the fullness of their
inheritance in Christ. The Lord said
to Joshua and to His people under the
old covenant:
“There remains very much
land yet to be possessed”
(Joshua 13:1).
So it is also with God’s people under
the new covenant today: There remains
very much land yet to be possessed.
In 1 Corinthians 14:13, Paul says
also:
“Therefore let him who speaks in
a tongue pray that he may interpret.”
Plainly, God’s Word does not tell us
to pray for something which it is not
God’s will for us to have. Therefore,
we know that it is God’s will for
anyone who speaks in tongues to also
interpret that utterance. Since Paul has
already said that it is God’s will for all
to speak in tongues, it is therefore also
God’s will for all to interpret.
the teaching legacy of derek prince | dpm archive
Volume XIX, Issue 5
is to judge, but he makes the believers
as a whole responsible to do this.
This is in line with what Paul says
in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21:
Notice the phrase,
“each of you
has”
—a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a
revelation, an interpretation.
Generally speaking, when Chris-
tians come together today, they come
with the primary purpose of receiving,
not of contributing. They come to get
a blessing, to receive healing, to hear
a preacher. But this was not the way of
the New Testament church. There, the
members came not primarily to receive,
but to contribute. Paul mentions vari-
ious possible forms of contribution.
A psalm
would denote some form
of musical contribution. This might
be the product either of natural talent
or of the supernatural enabling of the
Holy Spirit.
A teaching
would denote the
ability to impart some truth from the
teaching of God’s Word.
A tongue
and
an interpretation
might be taken to cover generally the
three gifts of supernatural utterance:
tongues, interpretation and prophecy.
A revelation
would cover any one of
the three main revelatory gifts: a word
of wisdom, a word of knowledge, and
discerning of spirits.
In this way—mainly through the
operation of the supernatural spiritual
gifts—all the members had something
of their own to contribute towards
the total worship and service of the
church. They are thus able to fulfi ll
the injunction given by Peter:
“As each
one has received a gift, minister it to one
another”
(1 Peter 4:10). The ability of
the members to minister effectively
to one another was due mainly to
the fact that they had received these
supernatural spiritual gifts.
Had their ability to minister to
each other depended merely on
education or natural talent, many
of them would have been just what
we see in the majority of Christian
churches today. The main burden of
ministry would have fallen upon just
a few of the members, and the rest of
them would have remained largely
passive or inactive, without any real
opportunities for spiritual expression
or development.
The only escape from this limita-
tion and frustration is through the
supernatural ministry of the Holy
Spirit in the church, dividing spiritual
gifts to all the members individually,
according to His own will. In this
way, the members are delivered from
and lifted out of their own natural
limitations into a spiritual realm
where they can all operate freely and
share together the burden of the total
ministry of the church. In this way,
all the members of the body of Christ
can be made effectually active, instead
of only a few members participating
while the rest remain as spectators.
Thus the body of Christ, as a whole,
is able to fulfi ll its appointed function.
Taken from “New Wine” magazine,
November 1970.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not
despise prophecies. Test all things;
hold fast what is good.
These three verses are addressed
to Christian believers generally, and
they must be taken closely together.
It is wrong for believers to quench or
reject the moving and manifestation
of the Holy Spirit in their midst. It
is also wrong for believers to adopt
an attitude of criticism, contempt,
or unbelief toward the manifestation
of the gift of prophecy. On the other
hand, when this gift is manifested,
believers are to test it by the standards
of Scripture and then accept or retain
only that which is good—that which
accords with the standards and
patterns of Scripture.
We see, then, that Paul is careful to
guard against anything that might be
spurious or disorderly in the exercise
or manifestation of spiritual gifts.
However, with this one qualifi cation,
Paul repeatedly and emphatically states
that all believers in the church can—
and should—enjoy and exercise the
open manifestation of spiritual gifts.
For further study, we recom-
mend Derek Prince’s CD:
How to Exercise
Spiritual Gifts
We are making this material available to you
at no charge. Just use the enclosed reply slip
to request your copy.
Reproduction of articles from
the DPM archive for free
distribution is permitted. To
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encouragement by e-mail, sub-
scribe at derekprince.org.
All Contribute
What is the result in a church when
all its members freely and publicly
exercise supernatural spiritual gifts
in this way? In 1 Corinthians 14:26,
Paul describes the kind of services
that result. He says:
“How is it then,
brethren? Whenever you come together,
each of you has a psalm, has a teaching,
has a tongue, has a revelation, has an
interpretation. Let all things be done for
edifi cation.”
Derek Prince Ministries
P.O. Box 19501
Charlotte, NC 28219
704.357.3556
www.derekprince.org
TL115
the teaching legacy of derek prince | dpm archive
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