The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 220

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST

180

sentation of the Church as an organism.

Christ's Church is a body and are not added to it from without, so must the seed of the Church be looked for in the Church and not in the world. The Holy Spirit works that only which is already sanctified in Christ. Hence our form of Baptism reads: " Do you acknowledge that altho our children are conceived and born in sin, and therefore are subject to all miseries, yea to condemnation itself: yet that they are sanctified in Christ?" However, since regeneration belongs to His work in the individual, and we are considering now His work in the Church as a whole, as a community, we direct our attention, in the first place, to His work of imparting spiritual gifts, particularly those called " charismata." Some New Testament passages speak of gifts like those

body, and as the

\

offered to

God

members grow out

(Matt. v. 23)- " If thou bring thy gift to the altar";

or gifts

communicated

and the

gift of salvation

A

to others (2 Cor.

but those

;

we do

9 and Phil. not consider.

viii.

iv. 17);

God is called in the Greek " doron" ; imparted commonly called " charis" ; while the gift of grace called " dorea." Hence these gifts are distinct from those

gift offered to

to others, is

of the

it is

usually

now occupy our attention. And this distinction appears when we compare the gift of the Holy Spirit with. spiritua'L The Holy Spirit Himself is a gift of grace. But when He gifts. imparts spiritual gifts He adorns us with holy ornaments. The that

strongest

first

refers to our salvation

;

the last to our

talents.

Referring to our salvation, the Scripture calls cious gift, generally

"

it

a free and gra-

dorea "in the Greek, which, being derived from

a root meaning to give, denotes that we were not entitled to it, having neither merited nor bought it, but that it is a given good. St.

Paul exclaims: "Thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift,"/>.,

And

" Much more the grace of by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." " Much more they which receiA?-e abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Rom. v. 15. 17). Andlastly: " But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (Ephes.

of salvation (2 Cor. ix. 15).

God and

the gift of grace, which

again:

is

iv. 7).*

•It should be noticed that in

"charisma" \%ioun6. son

is

in the

Greek

Rom.

v. 15, 16; vi.

23; xi. 29, the

text, referring to salvation.

The

word rea-

that these passages refer not to the graciousness of the gift, but to

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