In Mark 16:17, 18 Jesus concludes the commission as follows:  “And these signs shall accompany them that believe:  in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  Here is clearly the promise of supernatural power which he calls “signs.”  Signs of what?  There is but one answer that can be given:  signs of the indwelling of God’s Spirit by which alone they could work these signs.  Are these signs in existence to-day?  No thoughtful reader will so affirm.  If the manifestations of the Spirit have ceased, is it not reasonable that the “gift” has also ceased?  If not, we have the remarkable fact of the Spirit dwelling in man and not being able to manifest any signs of his indwelling.

We are now enabled to reach two conclusions of importance:  First, the “gift of the Spirit” was a supernatural gift for the purpose of enabling the “believers” in apostolic days to work the “signs” which Christ said should accompany them that believe, and ceased when the signs ceased.  Second, many of the exhortations of the New Testament writers were to a church whose members were filled with the supernatural power of the Spirit, and should be interpreted in the light of that fact.  We give a few examples that fall under this head:  “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness” (Rom. 1:4).  “But ye are ... in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (Rom. 8:9).  “Ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23).  “My conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 9:1).  “Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit” (Rom. 15:30).  “Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 5:5).  “Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:13, 14).  “Through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18).  “Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).  “If there is therefore any ... fellowship of the Spirit” (Phil. 2:1).  “Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth ...  God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you” (1 Thess. 4:8).  “For God gave us not a spirit, of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7).  “He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit. 3:5).  “God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 2:4).  “Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?” (Jas. 4:5).  “Ye have an anointing from the Holy One” (1 John 2:  20).  “The anointing which ye received of him abideth in you” (1 John 2:27).  “He hath given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

All the above Scriptures become clear if we understand them to apply to a people through whom God was manifesting his presence by supernatural demonstrations, but many of them lack meaning when applied to people of God who no longer exhibit these supernatural powers.