Gift Lists
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to … empower the believer for …service.
The Holy Spirit, THE gift given to every believer, works through each believer to serve and bless others, and the particular outworking of the Spirit through each believer we call that person’s “spiritual gift”.
Since every believer possesses the Spirit of God, every believer also has a “gift” of some sort to serve and bless others. Each believer has been gifted differently and the variety of gifts are distributed to bring blessing to all (Romans 12.3-5; 1 Corinthians 12.7,11; Ephesians 4.7,12-14; 1 Peter 4.10-11).
The apostles provide lists of spiritual gifts. Peter lists two gifts (or are they categories of gifts?): speaking and serving (1 Peter 4.11). Paul lists prophecy, service, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading and showing mercy (Romans 12.6-8) as well as utterances of wisdom, utterances of knowledge, faith, gifts (plural) of healing, working of miracles (literally ‘powers’), prophecy, the ability to distinguish good and evil spirits, different kinds of tongues (i.e. languages), and the interpretation of languages (1 Corinthians 12.8-10) and later in the same chapter mentions two additional gifts: helping and administrating (v. 28).
In Ephesians 4 Paul lists, not particular abilities, but four different leadership roles as “gifts” given to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers (Ephesians 4.10 cf. 1 Corinthians 12.28).
Evangelicals, it seems to me, have obsessed over these lists and drawn from them some conclusions that are, I believe, unwarranted.
First, I was taught that these lists provide the only gifts of the Spirit that truly exist. It is therefore incumbent upon every believer to figure out which listed gift he has so he can function in the church. Some Christians have even created “Spiritual Gift Inventory Tests” to help you “find” your spiritual gift. People sometimes stress themselves out trying to identify their spiritual gift or worry that they don’t have one because they don’t have anything in their life resembling the listed gifts.
Second, I was taught that there is a difference between a spiritual gift and a mere skill. Many of my evangelical mentors saw all spiritual gifts as miraculous, arising suddenly and unexpectedly within a believer after conversion. If you had always had a personality bent toward tenderness, sympathy, and mercy, I was told, your acts of kindness, not originating from a miraculously bestowed gift, were mere “works of the flesh”.
What are we to make of this? I’m out of space, so I’ll have to save it for the next blog.
The Holy Spirit, THE gift given to every believer, works through each believer to serve and bless others, and the particular outworking of the Spirit through each believer we call that person’s “spiritual gift”.
Since every believer possesses the Spirit of God, every believer also has a “gift” of some sort to serve and bless others. Each believer has been gifted differently and the variety of gifts are distributed to bring blessing to all (Romans 12.3-5; 1 Corinthians 12.7,11; Ephesians 4.7,12-14; 1 Peter 4.10-11).
The apostles provide lists of spiritual gifts. Peter lists two gifts (or are they categories of gifts?): speaking and serving (1 Peter 4.11). Paul lists prophecy, service, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading and showing mercy (Romans 12.6-8) as well as utterances of wisdom, utterances of knowledge, faith, gifts (plural) of healing, working of miracles (literally ‘powers’), prophecy, the ability to distinguish good and evil spirits, different kinds of tongues (i.e. languages), and the interpretation of languages (1 Corinthians 12.8-10) and later in the same chapter mentions two additional gifts: helping and administrating (v. 28).
In Ephesians 4 Paul lists, not particular abilities, but four different leadership roles as “gifts” given to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers (Ephesians 4.10 cf. 1 Corinthians 12.28).
Evangelicals, it seems to me, have obsessed over these lists and drawn from them some conclusions that are, I believe, unwarranted.
First, I was taught that these lists provide the only gifts of the Spirit that truly exist. It is therefore incumbent upon every believer to figure out which listed gift he has so he can function in the church. Some Christians have even created “Spiritual Gift Inventory Tests” to help you “find” your spiritual gift. People sometimes stress themselves out trying to identify their spiritual gift or worry that they don’t have one because they don’t have anything in their life resembling the listed gifts.
Second, I was taught that there is a difference between a spiritual gift and a mere skill. Many of my evangelical mentors saw all spiritual gifts as miraculous, arising suddenly and unexpectedly within a believer after conversion. If you had always had a personality bent toward tenderness, sympathy, and mercy, I was told, your acts of kindness, not originating from a miraculously bestowed gift, were mere “works of the flesh”.
What are we to make of this? I’m out of space, so I’ll have to save it for the next blog.