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| Witness Lee in Anaheim |
THREE KINDS OF GIFTS
In 1 Corinthians there are three kinds of gifts: the initial gifts in chapter one and the miraculous and the mature gifts in chapters twelve and fourteen. Again and again we have pointed out that the initial gifts, the gifts believers receive at the time they are saved, include the divine life and the Holy Spirit. Miraculous gifts include such things as healing and speaking in tongues. When Balaam’s donkey spoke a human language, that certainly was a miraculous occurrence, a true instance of speaking in tongues. A creature that did not even possess human life actually spoke a human language. The tongues-speaking in chapters twelve and fourteen refers to the speaking of an actual language which a person has not learned. Suddenly, under the divine power, a believer miraculously speaks another language. This is genuine tongues-speaking. This kind of miraculous gift does not require the growth in life as the mature gifts do.
