Supernatural Sign Gifts and Their Place Today

Mark 16:14-20/Acts 2:41-47

What were the signs that God used in the Bible and what was their purpose?

By biblical definition a sign is a mark; token; miracle with a spiritual end and purpose. According to Noah Webster a sign is a token; something by which another thing is shown or represented…any visible thing or event which indicates the existence or approach of something else.

Signs in the Old Testament were supernatural acts given by God to authenticate His message and messenger, confirm divine direction, warn of judgment, deliver from oppression, and point people to trust in Yahweh alone.

Signs in the New Testament were miraculous incidents that took place in the company of unbelievers. The miracle was performed to validate both the authority of the individual performing the miracle or to substantiate the veracity of their message.

In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul writes to the church what had already been demonstrated by Jesus as well as the Apostles from Acts 2: that Jews require a sign.

In 1 Corinthians 12-14 Paul talks more about spiritual gifts in the church and includes some ‘sign gifts’. Of the spiritual gifts mentioned specifically in the New Testament at least four seem to be temporary in nature.

Tongues, the supernatural ability to speak in a known language which is unlearned.

The interpretation of tongues, the supernatural ability to understand a person speaking in a known language which is unlearned.

Miracles, the supernatural ability to perform miraculous acts.

Healings, the supernatural ability to heal any and all diseases.

Interestingly, in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, it is these same four temporary gifts that are emphasized as being most significant in God’s program for every believer today but one appears more prevalently: tongues.

Since God is unchanging in His person and power, He certainly could bestow any of the gifts upon an individual believer as He might choose.

It appears from Scripture that God gave certain miraculous abilities to Christians who were not Apostles in the church at Corinth. But it is also apparent that those believers, much like today, put more of an emphasis or value on a specific gift or the wrong gift rather than purpose for the gift.

The only way to truly understand the placement and the purpose of miraculous sign gifts is to put them into context. The book of Acts is what many of us call a transition book: a period of time between the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and the arrival of something else which would bring an end to the necessity of miraculous gifts as a sign.

What about churches who believe in the continuation of all sign gifts to all Christians today?

Many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches practice the gifts of healing and speaking in tongues today. These churches believe that these spiritual gifts continue to be active and relevant in modern worship.

Glossolalia: Fabricated and non-meaningful speech, especially such speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes.

It is important to note that churches who are wrong on the doctrine of sign gifts to all Christians are also wrong on the doctrine of salvation.

Like all theological discussions we cannot allow ourselves to be dragged into spiritual arguments over differing doctrinal positions. But it is important to search the Scriptures thoroughly in order to know what the Bible actually says and remember, your study of the Bible is so that you can help people, not to prove that you’re right.

If a church is wrong on the doctrine of salvation, they will probably be wrong in other areas of Bible teaching. If you put an emphasis on the wrong thing in your life there will be other areas of your life that will be wrong.

When someone is filled with the Spirit, the evidence will not be speaking in an ecstatic language, but they will be speaking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people who are lost and dying without Jesus Christ.