Looking at Spiritual Gifts

There exist three categories of gifts or abilities in every Christian’s life.

1. Natural abilities. God-given at birth, they include things like IQ, a measure of health and strength, musical talents, linguistic abilities, mechanical aptitudes, etc.

2. Acquired abilities. These include things like cooking, sewing, driving a car, learning a language, learning to play an instrument, etc. Although we may tend to take such skills for granted, many people in the world have few opportunities to acquire skills in these areas.

3. Spiritual gifts. A believer should inform himself of the total package of these various abilities that God has placed in his life. In other words, he should take inventory to know what stock he has available for the Lord’s use. Just going through the process of taking inventory periodically may help the believer ascertain what areas of service he ought to explore.

Three types of gifts:

Ministry Gifts (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Ephesians 4:11–16 (NLT)

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Apostle - ἀπόστολος - one who fulfills the role of being a special messenger‌

Prophet - προφήτης - one who proclaims inspired utterances on behalf of God—‘prophet, inspired preacher.’

Evangelist - εὐαγγελιστής - one who announces the gospel—‘evangelist.

Pastor - ποιμήν - a figurative extension of meaning of ποιμήνa ‘shepherd, one who is responsible for the care and guidance of a Christian congregation—‘pastor, minister.

Teacher - διδάσκαλος - (derivative of διδάσκω ‘to teach,’ 33.224) one who provides instruction—‘teacher, instructor.’

Personal Gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)

1 Corinthians 12:1–11 (NLT)

1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this.

2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols.

3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.

5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.

9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing.

10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.

11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

Wise advice - λόγος σοφίας - word of wisdom, the ability to speak godly wisdom

Special knowledge - λόγος γνώσεως - word of knowledge, the ability to understand deeper knowledge of God and his word.

great faith - πίστις - to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.

healing - ἰαμάτων - the capacity to cause someone to become healed or cured—‘the power to heal, the capacity to heal

miracles - ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων - deeds manifesting great power, with the implication of some supernatural force—‘mighty deed, miracle.’

prophecy - προφητεία - the capacity or ability to utter inspired messages—‘to prophesy, ability to prophesy, to be able to speak inspired messages.

discernment - διακρίσεις πνευμάτων - the ability to evaluate and judge—‘to be able to judge, ability to make judgments, ability to decide between spirits - ie. if an utterance is from God or satan.

speak in languages - γένη γλωσσῶν - kinds of languages, dialects

Interpret languages - ἑρμηνεία γλωσσῶν - The ability to interpret languages

Motivational Gifts (Romans 12:1-13)

Romans 12:1–13 (NLT)

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,

5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.

7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.

8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.

10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.

13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

(1 Peter 4:10-11)

1 Peter 4:10–11 (NLT)

10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

Prophecy - προφητείαν - the capacity or ability to utter inspired messages—‘to prophesy, ability to prophesy, to be able to speak inspired messages.

Serving others - διακονίαν - to render assistance or help by performing certain duties, often of a humble or menial nature—‘to serve, to render service, to help, service, help.

Teaching - διδάσκων - to provide instruction in a formal or informal setting—‘to teach, teaching.’

encouraging others - παρακαλῶν - to cause someone to be encouraged or consoled, either by verbal or non-verbal means—‘to encourage, to console, encouragement.

giving - μεταδιδοὺς - an act of generosity—‘generosity, liberality, to act in a generous manner.’

leadership - προϊστάμενος - to so influence others as to cause them to follow a recommended course of action—‘to guide, to direct, to lead.

kindness - ἐλεῶν - to show kindness or concern for someone in serious need—‘to show mercy, to be merciful toward, to have mercy on, mercy.

speaking - λαλεῖ - ‘sayings, oracles, message, the utterances of God through Christian teachers

helping - διακονεῖ - to render assistance or help by performing certain duties, often of a humble or menial nature—‘to serve, to render service, to help, service, help.

Facts about using gifts

All gifts are given for the common good.

All gifts are to be used to serve others .

All gifts are to be utilized passionately for the Lord.