Statute 50

1Concerning gifts and offices. If anyone has received a gift and an office, that person must not boast over anyone else.

2Our God and Savior Jesus Christ is the one who gave us this great mystery of the religion of God, calling Jews and Gentiles so that they might know in truth the one God and Father. As he himself said in the Gospel when giving thanks for the salvation of those who believe in him, “I have manifested your name to the people; I have finished the work that you gave me.” Concerning himself he said to the Father, “Holy Father, the world indeed does not know you, but I know you, and these also know you.”

3Since we have all thus been made perfect, he spoke concerning the Spirit of grace that would be given by him: “These signs will be performed in my name by those who believe: they will cast out demons, speak in tongues, and take up serpents with their hands. If they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them. They will lay their hands upon the sick, and the sick will recover.”

4This grace was first given to us, the apostles, so that in his name we might preach the Gospel to all creation. Next it was given to those who believed through us, as was fitting. It was given not for the benefit of those who perform the signs, but for the sake of unbelievers, to make them believe, so that those who did not believe in him through the Son might be put to shame by the power of the signs. For signs are not for the faithful but for unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles. Casting out demons is no gain for us, but is accomplished by the working of our Lord Christ.

5This grace will be given to those who believe, as the Lord himself teaches and shows us when he says, “Do not rejoice because the demons submit to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Since the power is his, while the faith and diligence are ours, it is clear that we work through him.

6It is therefore not necessary for a believer to cast out demons, raise the dead, or speak in tongues. The one who gave the grace gave it for what is fitting: the salvation of unbelievers. Although most people are put to shame not by the demonstration of the word but by the working of signs connected with salvation, not all the wicked are put to shame by a plague.

7God himself testified to this when he said in the Law, “With other tongues I will speak to this people, and with other lips, yet they will not believe.” The Egyptians did not believe God when the prophet Moses performed so many signs and wonders. Nor did the Jews, because of their malice, believe him, although our Lord Christ, like Moses, healed every infirmity and every sickness among the Jews.

8They were not put to shame and did not believe when the rod was transformed into a serpent, when the hand became white, or when the river became blood. Nor were they satisfied when the blind saw, the lame ran, and the dead rose. Moreover, Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, and Annas and Caiaphas insulted Christ. Even this was not enough for them, and they were not put to shame when he performed signs and wonders. Only those of good character, with whom God is well pleased, were persuaded. As a wise ordainer, God exercises power for them, not according to the power of a man but according to his own will.

9We therefore say this so that those who have received such a grace may not boast over those who have not received it. I am speaking of a grace accompanied by a sign, for no one who believes in Christ, the Son of God, fails to receive a grace of the Holy Spirit.

10Indeed, the person who has turned away from the religion of many evil gods and has believed in God the Father and in Christ his Son has received a grace from God in that very act. If that person has believed in God, cast away the unbelief of the Jews, and confessed that, according to the will of God, the only Son, who existed before the world, was in the last days born of a virgin without intercourse with a man; that he lived among people without sin, fulfilling all the righteousness of the Law; that by the will of God he was crucified, buried, and rose on the third day; and that, after rising from the dead, he remained with the apostles for forty days, completed all his ordinance for them, and ascended in their presence to the one who sent him, God the Father—then to know this truly, not vaguely but with certainty, is to have received a grace from God. The same is true of one who has turned away from every heresy.

11Therefore, no one who performs a sign or miracle should despise any believer to whom such a working has not been imparted. The graces belong to God and are given through Christ. You have received one gift, and one of your neighbors another: the word of wisdom, knowledge, discernment of spirits, the word of prescient instruction, endurance, or lawful continence.

12When Moses, the man of God, performed signs in Egypt, he did not exalt himself above the people of Israel. Although he was called a god, he did not exalt himself or boast over his prophet Aaron.

13Neither did Joshua son of Nun exalt himself when he led the people after Moses. While he fought against the Jebusites and made the sun stand still toward Gibeon and the moon toward the Valley of Aijalon, because the day was not long enough for victory, he did not exalt himself above Phinehas or Caleb.

14Nor did Samuel despise David, the beloved of God, although Samuel performed so many signs. Both were prophets, the one being chief priest and the other king.

15Among the seven thousand holy ones in Israel who would not worship Baal by bending the knee, only Elijah and his assistant Elisha were workers of miracles. Yet Elijah did not despise Obadiah, who kept the Law and feared God although he performed no signs. Nor did Elisha neglect his assistant when the assistant was afraid of the enemy, but he attended to him.

16Again, Daniel the wise, who was twice saved from the mouths of lions, and the three young men who came out of the fiery furnace did not despise the others, who were another people. They knew that they had not overcome the trial by their own power, but by the strength of God they both performed a sign and were saved from trouble.

17Therefore, none of you should exalt yourself above your brother because you are a prophet or a worker of miracles. If it were granted that no unbelievers should remain, every working of signs would then be superfluous. Fear of God is a matter of faith, while the performance of a sign belongs to the one whose power accomplished it. In the first matter we look to ourselves, but in the second God works, concerning which we have already spoken.