The Gifts of the Spirit

• When I look at the story of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed in Luke 17:11–19, I wonder how nine of those lepers could have been so ungrateful and thoughtless since they had been delivered from so much. How could they not even think to come back?

• Someone asked the question in our Bible study group about the kind of body the believer would have in heaven if she died right now. She expected to take her current physical body to heaven with her as Jesus did at His ascension. The teacher agreed. Is this correct?

• Many have debated the reality of hell. Will God release those who do not believe in our Lord Jesus Christ? And what about those who practice humanitarianism? They aren’t mean people; they just don’t practice Christianity.

The New Testament word for gift (charisma) has often been translated as grace. All God’s gifts reflect His grace, and the fact that they are gifts means that they are free and cannot be earned. The New Testament’s theology of grace is rooted in the Old Testament idea of God’s favor, which is shown to those who do not deserve it and cannot help themselves.

John 3:16 is perhaps the most memorized verse in the entire Bible. I’ve seen “3:16” posted at football games, on the back of trucks, even on T-shirts and hats. I first learned it as a child in Sunday school: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

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