The gifts of the Spirit

A gift to each one

The word for gift, charisma (χάρισμα), shares its root with the word for grace: a gift is something freely given, not an attainment of our own. Paul wrote to a Corinthian church that was quarrelling over its gifts:

There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:4

The Spirit "apportions them to each one as He determines" (1 Corinthians 12:11), so there is no Christian without a gift. The New Testament's lists include prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and mercy (Romans 12:6 and following); the message of wisdom and of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, tongues and their interpretation (1 Corinthians 12:8-10); and apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as Christ's gifts to the church (Ephesians 4:11). The lists differ, and none claims to be complete. Peter sorts gifts into speaking and serving, and says that "each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another" (1 Peter 4:10).

Love that builds up the body

Gifts are not for display: "to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good" (1 Corinthians 12:7), to "build up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). Matthew Henry puts it simply: "No man has them merely for himself" Matthew Henry. That is why Paul sets the chapter on love in the middle of his teaching on gifts: "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" (1 Corinthians 13:1). Gifts are powers the Spirit gives; the fruit of the Spirit is the character he forms. Henry warns that "there may be great gifts where there is no grace" Matthew Henry. Gifts are to be tested and used in order: "everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner" (1 Corinthians 14:40).

Do the gifts continue today?

The question concerns chiefly gifts tied to revelation or signs, such as apostleship, prophecy, tongues and healing, and evangelicals answer it in different ways. Cessationism is held by many Reformed Christians. The church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 2:20), and signs, wonders and "gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will" confirmed the gospel when it was first preached (Hebrews 2:4); once the foundation was laid, they hold, these gifts ceased. They do not deny that God may heal in answer to prayer.

Continuationism is held by Pentecostal churches and the charismatic movement. God's promise, "I will pour out My Spirit on all people" (Acts 2:17), stands, they say, until the Lord returns. Classical Pentecostals teach in addition a baptism in the Spirit for power after conversion, with tongues as its initial evidence Assemblies of God, Statement of Fundamental Truths. Many evangelicals, and the Catholic and Orthodox churches, take an ‘open but cautious’ position. The Second Vatican Council taught that gifts are to be received with thanksgiving, that extraordinary gifts are not to be rashly sought, and that judgement of their genuineness belongs to the church's pastors Lumen Gentium 12.

All three views agree that every believer has a gift, that gifts are for others, that love is greater than any gift, and that the Holy Spirit is the Lord of them all. The reasons for each view are set out in the lesson Gifts of the Spirit.