SPIRITUAL GIFTS – DEFINED
Spiritual gifts are divine enablements for ministry, given by the Holy Spirit, in some measure, to all believers and are to be completely under His control and to be used for the building of the body of Christ, all to glory to God through Jesus Christ.
“A spiritual gift is a channel through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the Body. A gift is not an end in itself.” (John MacArthurThe Body Dynamic)
Spiritual gifts are “special gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon Christians for the purpose of building up the church.” (Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary )
A spiritual gift is a graciously given supernaturally designed ability granted to every believer by which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.
Key Scriptures:
ROMANS 12:1-8
1 1 urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
3 For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1-31
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.
2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led.
3 Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.
6 And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now there are many members, but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
23 and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness,
24 whereas our seemly members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,
25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?
30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.
EPHESIANS 4:7-16
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”
9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
1 PETER 4:10-11
10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Several online Spiritual Gift Surveys I would recommend.
Spiritual Gifts Inventory – Southeast Christian Church
Spiritual Gifts Inventory – FBC Nashville
Spiritual Gifts Inventory – Elmer Towns
Spiritual Gifts Inventory – Bellvue Baptist Church
List of gift areas with short descriptions.
Administration - The ability to organize resources and persons for effective ministry.
Community Builder (Apostleship) – The ability to help create koinonia, that unique type of inclusive fellowship which characterized the early Christian church.
Discernment - The ability to recognize and to affirm the skills, talents, and spiritual gifts of other people, especially other Christians.
Evangelism - The capacity to discern when and how the Gospel message should be communicated to persons outside the Christian community.
Exhortation - The capacity to inspire, to motivate, and to encourage others in their spiritual formation and personal ministry.
Faith - It is the special gift whereby the Spirit provides Christians with extraordinary confidence in God’s promises, power, and presence so that they can take heroic stands for their future of God’s work in the church.
Giving - The capacity to manage one’s own resources (income, time, energy, skills, and gifts) in such a way that there is more than enough to share with other people.
Hospitality - The ability to meet the basic social needs of and to extend care to persons (strangers) beyond one’s immediate circle of friends.
Knowledge - The capacity to cognitively comprehend the complexities of God’s Truth and to explain these complexities to others.
Leadership - The ability to understand one’s own principles and vision, to communicate those principles and vision to others, and to challenge others to move into the future, all in a non-reactive way.
Mercy- The ability to identify with and to feel the pains and hurts of another person and the capacity to help that person move beyond those pains and hurts.
Prophecy - The capacity to receive, to reveal, or to interpret God’s Truth, publicly, no matter what the consequences or risks.
Shepherding Mentoring; – The ability to affirm, to equip, and to support other Christians in spiritual formation and Christian ministry.
Helps/Service – The ability and overwhelming desire to aid persons in need. The ability to perform the most basic acts of kindness as a means to glorify God and to embody the Gospel.
Teaching – The capacity to create an environment in which obedience to God’s Truth can be practiced.
Wisdom – The capacity to convincingly illustrate the mystery of God’s Truth in very concrete, practical, and specific ways.
COMMENTS ON EPHESIANS 4:11-12
“The saints do not call a pastor and pay him to do the work. They call him and follow his leadership as he, through the Word, equips them to do the job (2Ti3:13-17). The members of the church grow by feeding on the Word and ministering to each other. The first evidence of spiritual growth is Christ-likeness.” Warren Wiersbe on Ephesians 4:11-12.
“Every Christian is commissioned, for every Christian is a missionary. It has been said that the Gospel is not merely something to come to church to hear but something to go from the church to tell—and we are all appointed to tell it. It has also been said, ‘Christianity began as a company of lay witnesses; it has become a professional pulpitism, financed by lay spectators!’ Nowadays we hire a church staff to do ‘full-time Christian work,’ and we sit in church on Sunday to watch them do it. Every Christian is meant to be in full-time Christian service … There is indeed a special ministry of pastors, teachers and evangelists—but for what? … For the perfecting of the saints for their ministry.” Vance Havner on Ephesians 4:11-12.
