Ephesians 4:4-6 “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; (5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism; (6) one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul clearly teaches us that there is one Holy Spirit. And we know that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, i.e. Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Nevertheless scripture also teaches us that there are in fact seven Spirits of God.
Revelation 4:5 “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”
In the Old Testament the Lord hinted at the truth that there are indeed seven Spirits of God, when He mentioned the seven rejoicing to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel, being the eyes of the Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth (Zechariah 4:10). The Old Testament is also full of types and shadows of that which is in heaven, which is why the lamp stand in the temple has seven branches (Exodus 25:31-32). Thankfully we have far more revelation under the new covenant than the saints had under the old covenant. And so in the above quoted passage of scripture it is revealed to us for the first time that there are in fact seven Spirits of God. This passage clearly reveals to us the seven lamps of fire that burn before God’s throne in heaven, which is represented by the seven branched lamp stand in the temple under the old covenant. Someone said but I thought that there was only one Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … (7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”
So how do we reconcile the fact that scripture teaches us that there is one Holy Spirit, but scripture also teaches us that there are seven Spirits of God? The above quoted passage of scripture gives us some insight in explaining this apparent contradiction in scripture. If you read the context of this passage you will know that the apostle Paul is teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they operate. I want you to notice that Paul teaches us in this passage that the gifts of the Spirit are in fact the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself through His gifts. And so as we will see in this teaching, although there are different spiritual gifts, it is nevertheless the same Holy Spirit who manifests Himself through each one of these gifts. In other words each gift is a different facet of the Holy Spirit. And so we see that it is the same Holy Spirit, but each gift is the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself in a different way. As we study the gifts of the Holy Spirit we will see that there are in fact seven gifts of the Spirit as well. And so the seven Spirits of God are in fact the same Holy Spirit manifesting Himself in seven different ways. It is therefore in this manner that we are able to reconcile the scriptural concept of one Holy Spirit and seven Spirits of God.
1 Corinthians 12:7-10 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: (8) for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.”
We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture which lists the gifts of the Spirit as; the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healings, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. All of these spiritual gifts listed were manifested under the old covenant except two; i.e. different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. And so we see that there were seven gifts of the Spirit under the old covenant, and that number agrees with the number of gifts under the new covenant, for we said in the previous section that there are in fact seven spiritual gifts. Nevertheless if we look at the list quoted above we count nine separate gifts mentioned. So why do we say that there are in fact seven gifts? The reason we say that, is because three of the gifts mentioned are in effect all the same gift manifested in three different ways. The gifts that I am referring to are what we call the speaking gifts, which are the gift of prophecy, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. All three of these gifts do the same thing; they speak forth the word of the Lord by divine utterance given by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy speaks forth the word of the Lord in a known language. Different kinds of tongues, speaks forth the word of the Lord in an unknown language. And the interpretation of tongues, speaks forth the word of the Lord by interpreting the unknown tongue that was spoken. And so we see that all three gifts speak forth the word of the Lord, and thus all three gifts are ultimately one and the same, which means that there are a total of seven different gifts of the Spirit. As an aside, the gift of faith mentioned in this list is the gift of “special faith”, not to be confused with the gift of faith that all saints receive from God (Ephesians 2:8).
Michael E.B. Maher
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