Calvin’s language is uncompromising as he wrote: John Calvin was emphatic in his Commentary on Isaiah that the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, derived from this passage, are ill-conceived. There is no promise in this passage about such gifts being bestowed upon believers at their baptism, or their confirmation of faith. What do the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit Mean for the Believer?Ĭlearly, the passage is, in its most immediate reading, describing the Holy Spirit’s gifts upon the coming Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Theses are revealed in four New Testament passages: Romans 12:3-8 1 Corinthians 12-14 Ephesians 4:7-13 and 1 Peter 4:10-11. It is essential to recognize that the phrase is a description of a devotional interpretation of the passage, rather than a listing of specific gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” ( Isaiah 11:1-2). In that Messianic prophecy of Isaiah, the prophet describes seven manifestations of the Holy Spirit's presence and anointing on the Messiah: “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit’s divinely-bestowed virtues and graces were identified in Isaiah 11:1-2.
The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit have traditionally been used by believers in Roman Catholic devotion and practice. are: wisdom understanding counsel fortitude knowledge piety fear of the Lord,” says the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. What are those seven gifts, and how do they apply to the believer? What are the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit? ” But perhaps the most famous of these biblical references applied to discipleship resources are the “seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.” Beyond the exposition of passages, other scholars identified systematic truths collected from the Bible and placed in a grouping: e.g., “the seven deadly sins,” “the seven virtues. Thus, sermons and devotionals and pastoral letters were written to encourage and build up the body of Christ based upon virtues or spiritual gifts or ethical practices in references such as “the seven petitions of the Lord’s prayer,” “the eight Beatitudes,” and “the seven last words of Jesus Christ” from the cross. Certain Roman Catholic theologians, in particular, used parts of Scripture which were listed to help in the discipleship goal. There are some words in the Bible that are not used very often in today’s English.Through the ages, believers have identified sections of Scripture that are both memorable and enumerated, as prime candidates for resources to teach the Gospel. Such features make the King James Version the most helpful translation of the Bible in English. This feature often helps us interpret a passage. Thou or thee mean one person being addressed, and ye or you mean several. The King James Version lets us know whether the Scripture means a singular you or a plural you. In modern English, the second person pronoun is expressed with one word, whether in the singular or the plural. It was written in high English, a very precise form of our language. The King James Version was not written in the everyday language of people on the street in 1611. In my article 5 Reasons to Use the King James Version, I said that some of the features most criticized in the King James Bible are among the best reasons to keep it! For example, consider the thee’s and thou’s.