ONE IN CHRIST / SAME SPIRIT
The Gospel, the Power of the Spirit, Diverse Spiritual Gifts, Truth, Love, and the Unity of Christ’s Diverse Body
Summary
My heart in writing this is not to attack Pentecostals or charismatics, and it is not to defend cessationism. It is not to diminish speaking in tongues, healing, deliverance, prophecy or any genuine work of the Holy Spirit. Nor is it to criticize faithful Christians who believe that some of the miraculous gifts associated with the apostolic era have ceased.
At the same time, truth matters deeply.
The New Testament repeatedly warns Christians about false teaching. Jesus rebukes churches in Revelation 2–3 for tolerating serious error and compromise. Paul warns about false gospels. John warns about denying the truth about Christ. Jude urges believers to contend for the faith. So Christian unity can never mean pretending doctrine does not matter.
We are called to:
“Test everything; hold fast what is good.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21
But testing everything also requires us to distinguish between essential truths of the gospel and important but secondary questions on which faithful Christians may disagree.
We should hold firmly to the essentials.
We should challenge genuine false teaching.
But we should also be very cautious about placing Christians into the category of heresy merely because they disagree with us about tongues, cessationism, healing, eschatology, modes of baptism, worship style or other matters on which Scripture allows more than one serious interpretation.
Truth matters.
But Scripture also calls us to grace, humility and love.
Jesus came:
“full of grace and truth.”
— John 1:14
And Paul tells us to:
“speak the truth in love.”
— Ephesians 4:15
So the Christian calling is not truth instead of love, nor love instead of truth.
It is:
truth carried by grace, expressed in love, centred upon Jesus Christ.
That is the heart behind this entire discussion.
Over time, several conversations and experiences have forced me to examine these issues more carefully.
An earlier situation involved a Christian friend who became convinced that speaking in tongues was necessary evidence of genuinely being born again. The issue eventually became sufficiently dogmatic and divisive that boundaries had to be established within a Christian fellowship I was involved with.
More recently, conversations with another relatively new believer, passionate about healing, deliverance, tongues and spiritual warfare, have broadened the question considerably.
But I have also had to examine my own tendencies.
When I first came to Christ, one of the strongest gifts that emerged in me was teaching. I developed a hunger for Scripture, theology and understanding how the whole Bible fits together. Naturally, I gravitated toward churches that strongly emphasized preaching, teaching and careful biblical interpretation.
Over time, however, I began to realise something very important:
My gifting was not the whole body of Christ.
Someone who receives a strong teaching gift can begin assuming that churches without the same emphasis are shallow.
Someone gifted in healing may gravitate toward churches where healing and signs are normal and begin assuming that churches without those manifestations are powerless.
Someone who speaks in tongues may enter a fellowship where everyone appears to speak in tongues and begin assuming that this is simply what all Spirit-filled Christianity should look like.
Someone strongly gifted evangelistically may wonder why every Christian is not constantly evangelising the way they do.
Someone passionate about prophecy may begin viewing churches without prophetic ministry as spiritually deficient.
Someone formed in a strong doctrinal tradition may begin distrusting any church that does not use the same theological vocabulary.
This is one of the dangers of receiving a genuine gift from God:
we can mistake our particular part of the body for the whole body.
My own journey has therefore taken me through very different Christian traditions—Presbyterian, Baptist, Reformed Baptist, charismatic Baptist, briefly Hillsong, Pentecostal contexts, and even a period observing and engaging with Seventh-day Adventist Christianity.
I have seen strengths, weaknesses, genuine faith, theological blind spots and things worth learning from across very different parts of the Church.
I no longer want to belong to a faction.
A denomination is not automatically a faction. Christians naturally gather around theological convictions, histories, forms of worship and church structures.
But denominational identity can become factional when we begin thinking:
“Our stream has Christianity right, while the others are inferior, compromised or barely Christian.”
Paul confronts exactly this spirit in Corinth:
“I follow Paul.”
“I follow Apollos.”
“I follow Cephas.”
His response is devastatingly simple:
“Is Christ divided?”
— 1 Corinthians 1:13
So I do not primarily want to identify with one denominational stream.
I want to be a fellow believer within the Body of Christ, united with other Christians around the apostolic gospel and the foundational truths Christians have historically confessed in summaries such as the Rule of Faith, the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Definition, insofar as these faithfully summarize Scripture.
These historic formulations are not Scripture and do not possess authority over Scripture.
But they can help us identify the historic centre of Christian belief:
the Triune God,
the true divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ,
His incarnation,
His saving death,
His bodily resurrection,
His Lordship,
the work of the Holy Spirit,
the forgiveness of sins,
the Church,
and the resurrection life to come.
Those are very different categories from questions such as:
Should every Christian speak in tongues?
Are all miraculous gifts still operating exactly as they did in Acts?
What is the precise relationship between baptism and regeneration?
Which eschatological system is best?
How should worship be structured?
On essential matters, we need conviction.
On non-essential matters, we need liberty.
Where disagreements remain, we need the kind of robust, gracious conversation in which iron sharpens iron, while remembering Romans 14 and leaving room for sincere differences of conscience where Scripture itself allows them.
The question underneath this whole article is therefore not:
Which denomination wins?
Nor:
Which spiritual gift proves that I am the most Spirit-filled?
It is:
What actually is the gospel? What does it mean to be born again? What is the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work? Must every believer manifest supernatural gifts in the same way? What does the New Testament mean by “power”? How do we identify genuine false teaching without turning every secondary disagreement into heresy? And how can Christians passionately pursue everything God genuinely wants to give His Church without allowing one person’s gifting, experience or tradition to become the measuring stick for everybody else?
My conclusion is increasingly simple:
Jesus Christ must remain at the centre.
The gospel is God’s power for salvation.
We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, born anew by the Holy Spirit, called into baptism and discipleship, transformed as we abide in Christ, and joined into one body containing many different members.
The Spirit distributes different gifts according to His will while progressively producing Christlike fruit in all His people.
Some of His work is spectacular.
Some happens quietly over decades.
But apart from Christ we can produce nothing of lasting Kingdom value.
And without love, even extraordinary spiritual giftedness amounts to nothing.
PART A — THE MAIN CRUX
1. Truth Matters — But Truth Must Be Carried by Grace and Love
Before discussing spiritual gifts, I want to make something clear:
Christian unity does not mean theological indifference.
Jesus Himself rebuked churches in Revelation 2–3 for tolerating false teaching and moral compromise.
The church at Pergamum is rebuked for tolerating those who held to the teaching associated with Balaam and the Nicolaitans.
Thyatira is rebuked for tolerating false teaching symbolically associated with “Jezebel.”
Jesus clearly does not say:
“Doctrine does not matter as long as everyone gets along.”
Paul is equally strong when the gospel itself is at stake:
“If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
— Galatians 1:9
There are truths worth defending.
There are teachings that genuinely distort the gospel.
There are doctrines that cross the line into serious error.
But this makes discernment even more important.
We must distinguish:
essential gospel truth
from
secondary theological disagreement.
Calling every disagreement “heresy” eventually makes the word meaningless.
A Christian who denies the resurrection is in a fundamentally different category from a Christian who disagrees with me about whether tongues continue today.
A teacher denying the deity of Christ is in a fundamentally different category from someone holding a different view of the millennium.
A false gospel based on earning salvation is in a fundamentally different category from disagreement over the mode or timing of baptism.
Truth matters.
But so does proportion.
And the manner in which we speak truth matters too.
Paul tells us:
“Speaking the truth in love…”
— Ephesians 4:15
Peter says:
“with gentleness and respect.”
— 1 Peter 3:15
And Paul instructs Timothy:
“The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone… gently instructing opponents.”
— 2 Timothy 2:24–25
Biblical boldness is therefore not simply:
“I believe I am right, so if you are offended that is your problem.”
Sometimes biblical truth genuinely will offend.
But Christian maturity also asks:
Am I actually correct?
Have I interpreted Scripture properly?
Is this an essential truth or a disputable matter?
Am I speaking with grace?
Am I seeking the other person’s good?
Truth without love can become a weapon.
Love without truth can become sentimentality.
Jesus embodies grace and truth together.
2. My Starting Point: Love One Another as Jesus Loved Us
Before discussing tongues, demons, healing, cessationism or continuationism, I want to begin where Jesus placed enormous emphasis during His final hours with His disciples:
Love one another.
John 13–17—the Farewell Discourse—is extraordinary.
Jesus washes His disciples’ feet.
The Lord becomes the servant.
Then He tells them:
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
— John 13:15
And:
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
— John 13:34
This is not sentimental love.
It is sacrificial, humble, serving love.
Paul echoes it:
“Serve one another humbly in love.”
— Galatians 5:13
And immediately afterward Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.
So whenever Christians discuss spiritual power, spiritual warfare or spiritual gifts, we should also ask:
Are we actually walking according to the Spirit?
Are we becoming more loving?
Joyful?
Peaceful?
Patient?
Kind?
Good?
Faithful?
Gentle?
Self-controlled?
Because these are not optional extras for Christians who happen to possess a “fruit gift.”
They are the fruit of the Spirit.
3. Jesus Prayed That His Diverse People Would Become One
This is one of the foundations of my wider One Body in Christ series.
Jesus prayed not only for His original disciples, but:
“also for those who will believe in me through their message.”
— John 17:20
That includes Christians today.
And Jesus prayed:
“that all of them may be one.”
Not identical.
One.
And remarkably, Jesus connects our unity with mission:
“so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
— John 17:21
Christian unity is therefore not a peripheral issue.
Our unity in Christ is part of our witness to the world.
That does not mean pretending theological disagreements do not exist.
Truth matters.
Sometimes Christians need to sharpen one another.
Sometimes serious error needs to be confronted.
Sometimes church discipline and boundaries are necessary.
But we should be extremely cautious about creating unnecessary divisions within Christ’s body over things Scripture itself does not make essential to the gospel.
The world often looks at Christianity and sees:
Catholic versus Protestant.
Reformed versus Arminian.
Pentecostal versus cessationist.
Traditional versus charismatic.
Baptist versus Pentecostal.
One church insisting everybody must experience Christianity its way while another church suspects everyone outside its theological system.
Yet Jesus said:
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
— John 13:35
The world does not need Christian uniformity.
But it should be able to see supernatural unity within genuine diversity.
4. The Gift God Gives Me Is Not the Definition of Christianity
This deserves special attention because it is such an easy mistake to make.
Imagine someone becomes a Christian and almost immediately discovers a remarkable gift for teaching.
They become hungry for Scripture.
They study constantly.
They love theology.
They naturally gravitate toward churches that strongly value exposition and biblical doctrine.
Soon they may begin thinking:
“This is what serious Christianity looks like.”
Then they encounter a church with less formal teaching and perhaps conclude that those Christians are shallow.
I understand that temptation because something similar happened in my own journey.
But now imagine another new Christian receives a strong gift of healing.
People begin praying with them and some experience remarkable things.
They find a charismatic fellowship where healings, deliverance and tongues are strongly encouraged.
Perhaps nearly everyone around them appears to speak in tongues.
Soon the thought can emerge:
“This is what normal Christianity looks like. Why isn’t everyone else doing this?”
The gift itself may be completely genuine.
The mistake is universalising the gift.
The same thing can happen with evangelism, prophecy, intercession, generosity, worship, administration, mercy or shepherding.
A person’s strongest gift naturally shapes the way they experience Christianity.
But God never intended one member’s experience to become the definition of the whole body.
This is exactly why we need one another.
5. One Spirit Does Not Produce Identical Christians
This brings us directly to 1 Corinthians 12.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:4
Paul’s picture is deliberately diverse.
The eye is not the hand.
The ear is not the foot.
One member cannot say to another:
“I don’t need you.”
And:
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:27
Paul then asks:
“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?”
The grammar anticipates the answer:
No.
This does not diminish tongues.
It does not diminish healing.
It does not diminish prophecy.
It establishes diversity.
And Paul has already told us why:
“He distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:11
The Holy Spirit decides.
Not my denomination.
Not my pastor.
Not my personal experience.
Not the culture of my fellowship.
So if someone genuinely speaks in tongues, praise God.
If someone genuinely has gifts of healing, praise God.
If someone has particular effectiveness in deliverance ministry, praise God.
If someone has a remarkable gift of teaching, praise God.
But none of those experiences should become the template against which every other Christian is measured.
6. The Corinthian Church Was Extremely Gifted—and Deeply Immature
The historical context matters enormously.
Corinth was not suffering from a shortage of spiritual manifestations.
Paul actually tells them:
“You do not lack any spiritual gift.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:7
Yet this extraordinarily gifted church also struggled with:
division,
pride,
sexual immorality,
lawsuits,
confusion concerning marriage,
abuses surrounding the Lord’s Supper,
competition over gifts,
disorder in worship,
and theological confusion.
That should immediately destroy the simplistic equation:
spectacular giftedness = spiritual maturity.
The Corinthians were spiritually gifted.
But they desperately needed to grow.
Paul does not solve the problem by abolishing spiritual gifts.
He does something much wiser.
He orders giftedness around love, intelligibility, service and the building up of the body.
7. Why 1 Corinthians 13 Sits Between Chapters 12 and 14
We often hear 1 Corinthians 13 at weddings.
That is beautiful, but its original context is much more confronting.
Chapter 12 discusses spiritual gifts.
Chapter 14 discusses their orderly use in gathered worship.
And directly between them Paul writes:
“And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”
— 1 Corinthians 12:31
Then he begins chapter 13.
Tongues without love?
Noise.
Prophecy without love?
Nothing.
Knowledge without love?
Nothing.
Mountain-moving faith without love?
Nothing.
Extreme generosity without love?
Nothing gained.
Then Paul concludes:
“These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:13
Paul is not anti-charismatic.
He explicitly says:
“Do not forbid speaking in tongues.”
— 1 Corinthians 14:39
But neither is Paul impressed merely by outward manifestation.
His overriding concern throughout chapter 14 is:
Does this build up the church?
That is why intelligibility matters.
That is why interpretation matters.
That is why order matters.
That is why love matters.
The gifts were never given so that individuals could prove how spiritual they were.
They were given for the common good.
8. Gifts Are Diverse; Fruit Is Expected of Everyone
This distinction may be one of the most important in the entire discussion.
Not everyone speaks in tongues.
Not everyone heals.
Not everyone teaches.
Not everyone leads.
Not everyone has the same prophetic function.
But every Christian is being called toward:
“love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
— Galatians 5:22–23
Nobody can say:
“Gentleness isn’t my gift.”
Nobody can say:
“Love isn’t my calling.”
Different gifts belong to different members.
Christlike fruit belongs to Christian maturity itself.
So we should never confuse giftedness with godliness.
A gifted healer may desperately need a teacher.
A teacher may need someone prophetically challenging their blind spots.
An evangelist may need a shepherd.
A visionary leader may need an administrator.
The person speaking in tongues needs the person quietly serving.
The charismatic Christian may have something to learn from the Reformed Christian’s careful exegesis.
The cessationist may have something to learn from a continuationist’s expectancy that God still acts in surprising ways.
And every one of us needs Jesus.
9. Abide in Christ: Apart From Him We Can Do Nothing
Jesus says:
“I am the vine; you are the branches.”
— John 15:5
And then:
“Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Obviously Jesus does not mean human beings literally become incapable of action apart from consciously abiding in Him.
People perform actions contrary to God’s revealed will every day.
The point is that nothing of genuine spiritual fruitfulness and lasting Kingdom value can be produced independently of Christ.
The branch does not generate its own life.
It receives life from the vine.
That is enormously important because it means the Christian life cannot ultimately be reduced to:
What am I doing?
The deeper question is:
Am I abiding in Christ?
Is His Word remaining in me?
Am I drawing life from Him?
Is His character forming in me?
Is what I am doing flowing from relationship with Him?
10. Miraculous Activity Does Not Automatically Mean Someone Is Abiding in Christ
Jesus gives one of the most sobering warnings in Scripture:
“Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”
— Matthew 7:22
These are precisely the kinds of manifestations Christians sometimes use as evidence of spiritual power.
Yet Jesus responds to some:
“I never knew you.”
That should make every Christian humble.
Apparently, miraculous-looking ministry itself is not sufficient evidence of intimacy with Christ.
This helps illuminate John 15.
Human beings can apparently perform extraordinary works associated with Jesus’ name while still lacking the relationship with Him that ultimately matters.
So when Jesus says:
“Apart from me you can do nothing,”
the point is not that God’s sovereignty makes every action outside His will mechanically impossible.
Rather, apart from true communion with Christ, we cannot produce the lasting fruit of His Kingdom according to His will.
The deepest question therefore is not:
How spectacular is my ministry?
It is:
Do I know Jesus? Am I abiding in Him? Is His Word remaining in me? Am I bearing the fruit that comes from union with Him?
11. Jesus Himself Redirected Excitement About Demonic Power
When the seventy-two returned from ministry, they were thrilled:
“Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
— Luke 10:17
Jesus acknowledges the authority they have been given.
But then He says:
“Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
— Luke 10:20
That is extraordinary.
Jesus does not deny deliverance ministry.
He reorders their priorities.
Their deepest joy is not:
“Look at the power operating through us.”
It is:
“We belong to God.”
Identity precedes ministry.
Grace precedes giftedness.
Relationship with God matters more than spectacular manifestation.
12. What Actually Is the Gospel?
This brings us to the foundational question.
Before asking what manifestations should follow believers, we need to establish:
What is the gospel by which people are saved?
Paul says:
“The gospel… is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
— Romans 1:16
And in 1 Corinthians 15 he summarizes its historical centre:
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
He was buried.
He was raised on the third day.
Jesus proclaimed:
“The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
— Mark 1:15
The gospel is fundamentally good news about Jesus Christ:
who He is,
God’s Kingdom arriving through Him,
His saving death,
His victorious resurrection,
His Lordship,
and God’s invitation to repent, believe and receive new life in Him.
The gospel is not:
Jesus + tongues.
Nor:
Jesus + miraculous healing.
Nor:
Jesus + deliverance ministry.
Nor:
Jesus + my preferred denomination.
Nor:
Jesus + my theological tribe.
All these other questions can matter.
But Jesus Christ Himself remains the centre of the gospel.
13. The Historic Creeds Help Us Distinguish the Centre From the Periphery
This is one reason the historic Christian creeds can still be useful.
They are not Scripture.
They do not possess biblical authority in themselves.
They must always remain subordinate to Scripture.
But statements such as the Rule of Faith, Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed and Chalcedonian Definition emerged as Christians attempted to summarize the foundational truths of the biblical gospel.
They centre upon:
God the Father,
Jesus Christ the Son,
the Holy Spirit,
Christ’s incarnation,
His suffering and death,
His resurrection,
His ascension,
His coming Kingdom,
the Church,
the forgiveness of sins,
and resurrection life.
Notice what they do not make the dividing line of Christianity:
a particular eschatological system,
tongues,
cessationism,
continuationism,
a particular style of baptism,
a denomination,
a worship style,
or whether every believer experiences a particular manifestation of spiritual power.
That does not mean those questions are unimportant.
It means Christians need wisdom to distinguish:
essential truth from secondary conviction.
On essentials, unity.
On non-essentials, liberty.
In everything, love.
That sentence is not itself Scripture, but it captures something profoundly compatible with Romans 14 and the New Testament’s concern for the unity of Christ’s body.
14. God’s Definition of Power Is Much Bigger Than Signs and Wonders
This is where I believe both cessationists and hyper-charismatics can potentially sharpen one another.
Some Christians may define supernatural power too narrowly by virtually excluding miraculous gifts.
Others may define supernatural power too narrowly by focusing primarily upon those gifts.
But Scripture gives us something much bigger.
A miraculous healing is powerful.
Casting out an unclean spirit is powerful.
Prophecy can be powerful.
Tongues can be powerful.
But so is:
a spiritually dead person becoming alive in Christ,
a person enslaved to sin becoming free,
an addict overcoming bondage,
a bitter person forgiving,
an enemy being loved,
a fearful person learning trust,
a selfish person becoming sacrificial,
a person’s identity being rebuilt around Christ,
a mind being renewed,
and a human being progressively transformed into Jesus’ likeness.
That is not powerless Christianity.
That is supernatural Kingdom transformation.
15. The Cross Redefines Power
Paul calls Christ:
“the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:24
Yet the context is:
Christ crucified.
At Calvary, God’s greatest victory initially looks like weakness.
Jesus lays down His life.
He bears sin.
He forgives.
He reconciles.
He loves His enemies.
He defeats evil through sacrificial self-giving.
So the cross permanently prevents Christians from defining divine power merely by outward spectacle.
God’s power and God’s love meet at the cross.
And perhaps that is why Paul’s statement about love is so profound:
“The greatest of these is love.”
16. Power, Love and a Sound Mind
Paul tells Timothy:
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
— 2 Timothy 1:7
Power and love are not identical here.
But they belong together.
So does sound judgment and self-control.
Biblical spiritual power should therefore never become detached from:
love, wisdom, humility, self-control and Christlike character.
The Spirit who gives supernatural gifts is the same Spirit who produces supernatural fruit.
God’s love itself is also profoundly powerful.
Romans 5:5 says:
“God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”
God’s love transforms people.
His grace changes identity.
His truth renews minds.
His Spirit empowers obedience.
This is not less supernatural because it happens internally.
17. This Is Why My Concern Is Ultimately About Unity
I have previously encountered the claim that speaking in tongues is necessary evidence that someone is genuinely born again.
That experience forced me to examine Scripture much more carefully.
My concern was never:
“Tongues are false.”
My concern was:
“Does Scripture say every Christian must possess this gift?”
Paul’s answer in 1 Corinthians 12 seems clear.
No.
More recently, conversations concerning healing and deliverance have broadened the same question.
Can we unintentionally move from:
“God does this”
to:
“God must do this through everyone”
and eventually to:
“If this isn’t happening through you, perhaps something is wrong with your Christianity”?
That is where I become concerned.
Because what begins as zeal for the Holy Spirit can unintentionally start dividing the very body the Spirit created.
And Jesus prayed:
“That they may be one.”
PART B — GOING DEEPER
18. Abraham: Salvation Has Always Been Grounded in God’s Grace Received Through Faith
Paul reaches back long before Pentecost:
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
— Romans 4:3
Significantly, Abraham was declared righteous before circumcision.
The outward covenant sign followed.
Galatians 3 says Scripture:
“announced the gospel in advance to Abraham.”
Abraham did not know everything Christians now know after Christ’s resurrection.
But he trusted God’s revelation and promises.
And those promises were moving toward Christ.
Isaiah anticipated God’s Servant being given as a covenant for the people and a light for the nations (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6–8).
Then:
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
— John 1:14
The entire biblical story converges upon Jesus.
19. Baptism Matters, but Christ Saves
Baptism is not optional trivia.
Jesus commanded it.
The apostles practised it.
New believers were ordinarily baptized.
But Scripture does not locate salvation in the spiritual status of the person administering the water.
Acts 10 gives us an important example.
Peter says:
“Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
While Peter is still preaching, the Holy Spirit comes upon Cornelius and his household.
Only afterward are they baptized.
Whatever one’s sacramental theology, that sequence deserves serious attention.
God had already acted.
20. The Thief on the Cross
The criminal beside Jesus could not be baptized after his confession.
He could not speak in tongues.
He could not heal anybody.
He could not demonstrate decades of sanctification.
He simply turned toward Jesus:
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered:
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”
There are covenantal nuances because this occurs immediately before Christ’s death and the inauguration of the new covenant.
Nevertheless, the central truth remains:
Christ is sufficient to save the repentant sinner who entrusts himself to Him.
21. Mark 16 Needs Careful Exegesis
Mark 16:17 says:
“These signs will accompany those who believe…”
There are two reasons for caution.
First, Mark 16:9–20 has a significant textual history and is absent from some of our earliest important Greek manuscripts.
That does not mean everything within the passage is false.
Much of it is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture.
But we should hesitate before constructing a universal doctrine primarily upon a text with a significant manuscript question.
Second, even taken as authentic, it says:
“These signs will accompany those who believe.”
It does not say:
“Every individual believer will personally perform every sign.”
Otherwise consistency would also require every Christian to handle poisonous snakes and drink deadly poison without harm.
And again, 1 Corinthians 12 explicitly tells us that not everyone possesses the same gifts.
22. Deliverance Is Real, but It May Not Always Look the Same
Jesus cast out demons.
The apostles cast out demons.
Early Christians continued practising exorcism.
We should not simply explain that away.
But God’s deliverance is bigger than one ministry technique.
Deliverance can also look like:
sexual immorality losing its grip,
addiction breaking,
bitterness becoming forgiveness,
lies being replaced by truth,
idolatry being abandoned,
fear losing its control,
and destructive patterns gradually disappearing through sanctification.
Paul writes:
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
— Romans 12:2
Sometimes deliverance is dramatic.
Sometimes transformation unfolds over years.
Both can display God’s power.
23. Healing Is Real, but God’s Power Can Also Be Displayed in Weakness
We should pray for healing.
Jesus healed.
The apostles healed.
James tells Christians to pray for the sick.
But Scripture does not promise that every faithful Christian will experience immediate physical healing in this present age.
Paul pleaded repeatedly for his thorn to be removed.
God answered:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9
That is extraordinarily important.
Sometimes God’s power removes the suffering.
Sometimes God’s power sustains us within it.
Therefore continuing illness cannot automatically be interpreted as inadequate faith, inadequate deliverance or powerless Christianity.
24. Spiritual Warfare Is Real—but Christ Is Our Starting Point
Paul writes:
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood…”
— Ephesians 6:12
Christians resist the devil.
We put on God’s armour.
We remain alert.
So Christianity certainly does not deny spiritual warfare.
But our starting point should not be fear of demons.
Paul also says:
“He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
— Colossians 1:13
Whatever conclusions Christians reach concerning demonic oppression and deliverance ministry, the believer’s fundamental identity remains:
I belong to Jesus Christ.
25. The Early Church Was Supernatural, but Christ Remained the Centre
Early Christian writers such as Irenaeus testify to healings, prophecy, exorcisms and other supernatural works continuing beyond the apostolic generation.
That should challenge simplistic claims that everything supernatural disappeared immediately after Acts.
But when early Christians summarized their Rule of Faith, their centre was not tongues, healing or deliverance.
Their centre was:
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Christ’s incarnation, suffering, resurrection, ascension and coming Kingdom.
The supernatural accompanied their Christianity.
Christ defined their Christianity.
26. Cessationists and Continuationists Both Need Humility
This is where I want to avoid caricaturing either side.
I do not personally find full cessationism the most persuasive reading of Scripture.
But I know cessationist Christians whose lives display deep faithfulness to Jesus, careful biblical scholarship, shepherding, generosity, evangelism, wisdom and the fruit of the Spirit.
I do not want to look at them and say:
“Because you don’t speak in tongues or expect miraculous healing, you’re a powerless Christian.”
Neither do I want cessationists looking at sincere Christians exercising genuine charismatic gifts and immediately saying:
“That cannot possibly be the Holy Spirit.”
Both approaches can become reductionistic.
Perhaps the body actually needs people from different traditions to sharpen one another without unchurching one another.
The continuationist can remind the cessationist:
God is still free to surprise us.
The cautious Christian can remind the enthusiastic charismatic:
Test everything.
And together we can:
“hold on to what is good.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21
27. A Denomination Is Not Automatically a Faction—but It Can Become One
There is nothing inherently sinful about Christians organising into denominations.
Different traditions have emerged through history because Christians have reached different conclusions on:
church government,
baptism,
the Lord’s Supper,
spiritual gifts,
eschatology,
worship,
and many other secondary questions.
The problem begins when the denomination becomes an identity above the Body of Christ.
Paul confronted exactly this spirit:
“I follow Paul.”
“I follow Apollos.”
“I follow Cephas.”
His answer:
“Is Christ divided?”
We could modernise the same problem:
“I’m Reformed.”
“I’m Pentecostal.”
“I’m Baptist.”
“I’m Catholic.”
“I’m charismatic.”
“I’m non-denominational.”
Those descriptions can be useful.
But if they begin meaning:
“My part of the Church possesses the real Christianity and the rest are second-rate,”
we have moved toward factionalism.
And that damages the witness Jesus prayed for in John 17.
28. Church History Should Make Every Movement Humble
No Christian movement gets everything right.
Roman Catholicism accumulated teachings and practices that the Reformers rightly challenged.
The Protestant traditions themselves subsequently divided repeatedly.
Pentecostal and charismatic movements recovered important emphases concerning the Holy Spirit, yet have also experienced counterfeit manifestations, manipulation, theological excess and serious moral failures.
History also warns against movements becoming convinced:
“Everyone before us became corrupted, and we have finally restored true Christianity.”
Some nineteenth-century restorationist trajectories eventually produced movements such as the Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses, which departed significantly from historic Christian teaching concerning God and Christ.
The Seventh-day Adventist movement also arose from that nineteenth-century restorationist environment, particularly the Millerite movement. It contains sincere Christians and some valuable emphases, but also developed distinctive doctrines that require careful biblical examination.
The point is not to lump all these movements together.
It is to recognise a recurring danger:
reaction against one error can produce another error.
The answer is not blind institutionalism.
Nor is it blind restorationism.
It is:
“Test everything; hold fast what is good.”
Test Catholic tradition.
Test Protestant tradition.
Test Pentecostal tradition.
Test charismatic experiences.
Test cessationist assumptions.
Test restorationist claims.
Test theological systems.
And continually allow Scripture to test us.
29. Exegesis Requires Humility and Nuance
This is another reason Christians need to be slow about saying:
“The Bible clearly says…”
Sometimes the Bible does clearly say something.
But sometimes an apparently simple statement becomes more nuanced once we examine:
the immediate context,
the historical setting,
the covenant involved,
the biblical storyline,
genre,
how other biblical authors address the same issue,
and sometimes the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek behind an English translation.
Nuance is not compromise.
Sometimes nuance is simply better exegesis.
Dogmatism becomes dangerous when we are highly certain about something Scripture itself treats with more complexity.
30. Romans 14: Not Every Conviction Is a Universal Command
Some doctrines are foundational.
Jesus is Lord.
Christ died and rose.
Salvation is found in Him.
Some moral teachings are clear.
But Scripture also leaves room for differences of conscience on secondary matters.
Romans 14 is enormously important here.
Christians can sincerely reach different conclusions before God without automatically condemning one another.
Therefore:
My conviction is not automatically God’s universal command.
Likewise:
My experience is not automatically everyone’s experience.
My gift is not everyone’s gift.
My pathway of healing is not everyone’s pathway.
My experience of deliverance is not everyone’s experience.
My lack of a particular manifestation does not prove that manifestation is false.
And my possession of a particular manifestation does not prove everyone else must possess it.
One Spirit does not mean one manifestation.
31. The Tattoo Question Shows Why Covenant Matters
A simple example is tattoos.
Leviticus 19:28 contains a prohibition regarding tattoo markings.
Someone can therefore say:
“The Bible says tattoos are sinful. I’m simply speaking the truth.”
But careful interpretation asks:
To whom was this command given? Under which covenant? How does the New Testament relate Christians to the Mosaic covenant?
Christians are not simply ancient Israelites living under Sinai.
Jesus inaugurates the new covenant.
Acts 15 explicitly rejects requiring Gentile Christians to take the entire Mosaic law upon themselves.
Hebrews explains the transition from the old covenant into the new covenant established through Christ.
That does not automatically mean every tattoo is wise or God-honouring.
Christians still ask about:
motivation,
conscience,
wisdom,
what something communicates,
and whether it honours Christ.
But it demonstrates why quoting an isolated biblical command is not always the same thing as interpreting Scripture correctly for new-covenant believers.
Romans 14 also leaves room for conscience in genuine disputable matters.
Again:
truth matters—but so does exegesis.
32. Unity Does Not Mean Tolerating Serious False Teaching
There is an important balance here.
Romans 14 does not mean:
“Everything is disputable.”
Some things are not.
Paul did not treat another gospel as a Romans 14 disagreement.
John did not treat denial of Christ’s incarnation as a harmless difference of conscience.
Jesus did not treat serious false teaching and immorality in Revelation 2–3 as mere diversity.
So Christian unity requires discernment.
We need enough theological maturity to distinguish:
heresy from disagreement,
apostasy from immaturity,
false gospel from secondary conviction,
and
sinful division from necessary correction.
If everything becomes a first-order doctrine, the Church fractures endlessly.
If nothing is treated as a first-order doctrine, the Church loses the gospel.
The Christian task is to hold truth and unity together under Christ.
33. The Church Needs Both Conviction and Charity
The answer to theological disagreement is not relativism.
Christians cannot simply say:
“Everyone has their own truth.”
There is truth.
There is falsehood.
There are essential doctrines.
There are serious heresies.
Paul opposed false gospels.
John warned against denying Christ.
The early Church fought fiercely to preserve the biblical identity of Jesus.
But Christians also need wisdom to distinguish first-order doctrines from secondary and tertiary disagreements.
The deity and humanity of Christ matter in a fundamentally different way from whether someone is premillennial or amillennial.
The resurrection matters in a fundamentally different way from whether every believer should speak in tongues.
Salvation by God through Christ matters in a fundamentally different way from worship style.
This is where the historic creedal centre helps.
And this is where Romans 14 helps.
We can have robust theological discussions.
We can sharpen one another.
We can strongly disagree.
We can sometimes even establish boundaries where teaching becomes persistently divisive or damaging.
But we do not need to unchurch one another over every disagreement.
Conclusion — That They May Be One
Ultimately, these conversations have made me want more of the Holy Spirit, not less.
I want to see people born again.
I want to see people healed.
I want to see people delivered.
I want to see people freed from sin.
I want to see prophecy used faithfully.
I want genuine tongues where God gives them.
I want evangelists evangelising.
Teachers teaching.
Shepherds shepherding.
Encouragers encouraging.
Administrators organising.
Servants serving.
People giving generously.
People showing mercy.
And every other genuine gift God chooses to distribute throughout His body.
But above all, I want Jesus Christ at the centre.
I want truth protected.
I want false gospels challenged.
I want serious error confronted.
But I also want Christians to stop treating every secondary disagreement as grounds for suspicion, division or accusations of heresy.
I want the healer to value the teacher.
The teacher to value the evangelist.
The evangelist to value the shepherd.
The prophetic person to value the administrator.
The person speaking in tongues to value the quiet believer faithfully serving someone nobody else notices.
The cessationist to recognise genuine fruit and perhaps genuine gifts in the continuationist.
The continuationist to recognise profound biblical faithfulness and genuine spiritual power in a cessationist brother or sister.
And I want Christians from different traditions who genuinely belong to Jesus to be able to look at one another and say:
“We may disagree about this, but you are still my brother or sister in Christ.”
Because we are not saved by getting every secondary theological question correct.
We are saved by Jesus Christ.
We do not belong to Paul.
We do not belong to Apollos.
We do not ultimately belong to Calvin, Luther, Wesley, a Pentecostal movement, a Baptist tradition, a charismatic network or any other human stream.
We belong to Christ.
And Christ said:
“Apart from me you can do nothing.”
So let us abide in Him.
Stay connected to the True Vine.
Allow His Word to remain in us.
Walk by His Spirit.
Use whatever gifts He gives us to serve one another.
Test everything.
Hold firmly to what is good.
Reject genuine false teaching.
Give liberty where Scripture gives liberty.
Speak truth in love.
Serve one another humbly in love.
And remember that spiritual power is not merely what looks spectacular from the outside.
The gospel itself is the power of God for salvation.
The Spirit’s power can cast out demons.
The Spirit’s power can heal a body.
The Spirit’s power can produce tongues.
The Spirit’s power can give someone remarkable insight into Scripture.
The Spirit’s power can enable someone to evangelise courageously.
The Spirit’s power can equip someone to shepherd hurting people faithfully.
The Spirit’s power can give someone wisdom, administration, generosity or mercy.
And the Spirit’s power can take a person enslaved to sin and gradually transform them into someone who looks increasingly like Jesus.
Some of God’s work happens suddenly.
Some unfolds over a lifetime.
Some is visible to thousands.
Some is known only to God.
But it is one Spirit working through one diverse body under one Lord.
And perhaps this is one of the most important things I have learned from moving through different parts of the Church:
God never intended my gift to become my definition of Christianity.
The teacher needs the healer.
The healer needs the teacher.
The prophet needs the shepherd.
The shepherd needs the evangelist.
The charismatic needs Christians who will help test things carefully.
The highly analytical Christian needs brothers and sisters who remind them that God is more than a theological system.
The whole body needs the whole body.
And over all our gifts, experiences, ministries and theological differences stands the greater way:
“These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:13
Jesus told us:
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
— John 13:35
And then He prayed:
“That all of them may be one… so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
— John 17:21
That is ultimately my heart behind this entire discussion.
Not uniformity.
Not powerless Christianity.
Not chasing manifestations.
Not quenching the Spirit.
Not denominational superiority.
Not doctrinal relativism.
Not labelling every disagreement heresy.
Not pretending serious false teaching does not matter.
But Jesus Christ at the centre, the whole counsel of Scripture guiding us, the Holy Spirit freely distributing His gifts, every member valued, essential truth held firmly, genuine error tested and corrected, secondary differences handled graciously, truth carried in love, and the beautifully diverse Body of Christ becoming one in Him.
Because perhaps one of the greatest supernatural signs the Church can offer a fractured world is this:
people with different personalities, gifts, histories, traditions and convictions genuinely loving one another, serving one another, sharpening one another, and remaining one in Jesus Christ without surrendering the truth.
And that is something Jesus Himself prayed the world would see.