Gifts of the Spirit

A gift for every believer

The church in Corinth was rich in spiritual gifts and quarrelling over them. Paul begins his answer not with rules but with where the gifts come from and what they are for.

There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

The word for ‘gift’ is charisma (χάρισμα), from the same root as the word for grace. A charism is not an achievement but a present, freely given. And it is given to each one: the Spirit "apportions them to each one as He determines" (1 Corinthians 12:11), so there is no such thing as an ungifted Christian.

Paul then pictures the church as a body. "The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts" (1 Corinthians 12:12). The eye cannot tell the hand it is not needed; in fact "the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable" (1 Corinthians 12:22). The church as Christ's body is explored in What the church is. The New Testament gives several lists of gifts.

No two lists are the same, and none claims to be complete. Quiet gifts like teaching and giving stand beside striking ones like healing and tongues, all from the same Spirit. Peter sorts them more simply, into speaking and serving.

As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another. If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides

1 Peter 4:10-11

The more excellent way

The purpose of every gift is to build up the church. "Strive to excel in gifts that build up the church," Paul says (1 Corinthians 14:12), and of everything that happens when believers gather, "All of these must be done to build up the church" (1 Corinthians 14:26). Christ gave leaders "to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). As Matthew Henry puts it, "No man has them merely for himself" Matthew Henry.

That is why Paul sets a chapter on love in the middle of his teaching on gifts. "And now I will show you the most excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31), he says, and then:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-2

Gifts are what the Spirit gives us to do; fruit is what the Spirit makes us to be (Galatians 5:22-23), and the fruit matters more. Jesus warned that some who prophesied and worked miracles in his name would hear, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:23). Chrysostom drew the lesson: "neither faith nor miracles avail ought where there is not a good life" Chrysostom. Matthew Henry draws the line sharply: "Gifts and graces greatly differ", and "there may be great gifts where there is no grace" Matthew Henry. Gregory the Great, commenting on the same warning, wrote that "the proof of holiness is not to work miracles, but to love our neighbour as ourselves, to think truly of God, and of our neighbour better than of ourselves" Gregory.

Gifts also call for order and discernment. When prophets speak, "the others should weigh carefully what is said" (1 Corinthians 14:29); "everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner" (1 Corinthians 14:40); and John tells us to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1).

Do all the gifts continue today?

Here Christians answer differently. The question is mainly about the gifts tied to revelation and signs: apostleship, prophecy, tongues and healing.

Cessationism is held by many Reformed Christians and some others. The apostles and prophets, they say, were the church's foundation, laid once (Ephesians 2:20), and the signs and wonders served to confirm the gospel when it was first preached: it "was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Hebrews 2:4). Once the foundation was laid and the New Testament complete, those gifts ceased. Cessationists do not deny that God heals in answer to prayer; their concern is to guard the sufficiency of Scripture. Some read Paul's "when the perfect comes" (1 Corinthians 13:10) as the completed New Testament, but many agree it means Christ's return and rest their case on other grounds.

Continuationism is the conviction of Pentecostal and charismatic churches. God's promise, "I will pour out My Spirit on all people" (Acts 2:17), covers the whole age of the church, and prophecy and tongues will cease only when "we shall see face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12), at Christ's return. They take Paul's instruction at face value: "do not forbid speaking in tongues" (1 Corinthians 14:39). Classical Pentecostals add a baptism in the Spirit, distinct from and after conversion, with speaking in tongues as its initial evidence; it is not a second salvation but an empowering for witness and service Assemblies of God, Statement of Fundamental Truths. Many charismatics in other churches do not treat tongues as a necessary sign.

An open but cautious view is held by many evangelicals and by the Catholic and Orthodox churches. God may give such gifts today, they believe, but the emphasis falls on testing them by Scripture and by the church's discernment rather than on seeking them. The Second Vatican Council taught that gifts, whether extraordinary or simple and widespread, are to be received with thanksgiving, that extraordinary gifts are not to be rashly sought, and that judging whether they are genuine belongs to the church's pastors, who must not quench the Spirit but test everything Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 12. A charismatic renewal movement has also been active within the Catholic Church since the late 1960s. The Orthodox honour wonder-working saints, yet warn against chasing extraordinary experiences without humility.

The Fathers wrestled with this too. Gregory the Great, commenting on the signs promised to believers, wrote that "these things were necessary in the beginning of the Church, for the faith of believers was to be nourished by miracles, that it might increase", like young trees watered until their roots take hold Gregory. Yet he added that the church still does every day in spirit what the apostles did in body. For all their differences, the three views share a great deal: every Christian is gifted, gifts are given for others, love is greater than any gift, and the Spirit is the giver.

Using what we have been given

The point of learning about gifts is not to measure other people's or to admire our own, but to ask whom we can serve with what we have received. Teaching, encouraging, hospitality and practical help are gifts of the same Spirit as any miracle. If you have prayed for healing and wonder whether your faith was too weak, see Why doesn't God heal everyone?; for churches divided over these questions, Why are there so many churches and denominations?; and for more on the Spirit himself, Who is the Holy Spirit?.

Practice