You’ve Got Talent
How do I get more out my gifts/talents?
Peter has described the pagan’s choice: to satisfy their human desires. He now describes the lifestyle that pagans can make no sense of, but which reflects the will of God for His people.
Selflessness makes no sense to selfish people. But to those of us who have been taught to love by Christ, it is the only way to be.
A. Know what to do (use it) (1 Pet 4:10)
“towards yourselves”; implying that all form but one body, and in seeking the good of other members they are promoting the good of themselves.
This is the only use of the Greek word charisma in the NT outside of Paul’s writings (see
This grace is to be minister (ed) (Gr., diakoneō; cf. “deacon” ) to others, the best method also for its continued enjoyment by the original possessor. Here again is loving sharing of spiritual blessings.
Believers should be diligent in using their spiritual gifts. Each gift (charisma) is to be used to serve (diakonountes; cf. diakonos, “deacon”) or “minister to” others.
As each one has received a gift: Every believer is gifted to serve. one another: This is crucial for us to understand especially in a society that is fast becoming more and more addicted to privatism and individualism. It is God’s plan to bring growth through relation, not through isolation.
4:10 and 11 encourage believers to use the gift (charisma) given by God to serve others. These two verses are remarkably similar in theme to
Peter affirms first that each Christian has a gift from God and commands them to use it to minister to one another. The verb for minister comes from the same root word as diakonos, from which comes the word “deacon” and which means “to serve others.” Thus God gives the gifts for the benefit of others, not the gifted person.
4:10 The gift that each one has received refers to a spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are divine endowments that God entrusts to believers as stewards.
We are to serve others based on the spiritual gift we have received. Full-service gas stations are hard to find today. Most are self-service. Unfortunately, many attend church like a self-service station. They fill up on preaching and go home until they need more fuel. But God intends his church to be full service with each member providing for the well-being of others.
Peter does not refer to the miraculous gifts that the Holy Spirit dispenses, but rather to the natural endowments and sustaining blessings every child of God receives continually.
Minister the same. What God has so graciously bestowed on us we are to share with others, “especially” with “the household of faith” (see on
Gal 6:10
The church has an obligation to all men everywhere (see
Each implies that every person in the fellowship of believers—in every church to which Peter was writing—had received a ‘spiritual gift’ (charisma) for use in the life of the church (Paul teaches this explicitly:
A spiritual gift (charisma, the same word used in
Every believer in every church has received a spiritual gift from God for use in the life of the church. Within the body of Christ, love for each other finds expression in the use of spiritual gifts, not for self-advancement or as an attention-getter, but for the benefit of others. Every Christian, then, is capable of ministering to others within the body of Christ.
Ver. 10.—As every man hath received the gift; rather, according as each received a gift. The aorist ἔλαβεν, “received,” seems to point to a definite time, as baptism, or the laying on of hands
The gifts of grace, whatever they may be, are talents entrusted to individual Christians for the good of the whole Church; those who have them must use them to minister to the wants of others (comp. ch. 1:12, where the same word, διακονεῖν, to minister, is used of the gift of prophecy).
These gifts are undeserved, unmerited love gifts for ministry. Every believer has a spiritual gift, given by God at salvation, for the purpose of ministry to and for the Church (cf.
First, since it is clear that God is the source of the gift, the TEV has made this implicit information explicit (compare GECL “the gift that God gave him”).
It is more probable, however, that verse 10 should be related to what follows, in which “gift” here refers to any special endowment which is given by God to the believer. This gift must be used for the good of others. The same idea appears in
B. Know how to use it (“as good stewards of God’s grace…) (1 Peter 4:10)
The Spirit’s gifts (literally, “gift of grace,” that is, gratuitously bestowed) are the common property of the Christian community, each Christian being but a steward for the edifying of the whole, not receiving the gift merely for his own use.
Peter’s exhortation reflects the same concern here, though he may also have in mind God’s gift of salvation (see
The “gift” received is a charisma, a grace, which makes its possessors stewards of the manifold grace of God
If any man speak. The apostle extends the idea of stewardship introduced in verse 10. The speaker in the church must be careful to present God’s sayings (Gr., logia), not his own. The caretaker (AV, minister; Gr., deacon) must serve in the strength (better than AV ability) which God abundantly supplies.
The phrase faithfully administering (hōs kaloi oikonomoi) could also be translated “as good stewards.” A “steward” was one who served as a house manager; he had no wealth of his own, but distributed his master’s wealth according to his master’s will and direction
His grace is manifested to His church as believers exercise their spiritual gifts in service to each other. His grace is evident in its various forms, that is, it is “manifold” (NASB), variegated, rich in variety (poikilēs; cf. 1:6, where Peter said trials are poikilois, or varied).
Stewards are managers or trustees who will be held accountable for using their gift in the best interest of the One who gave it to them.
After rendering several admonitions, Peter informs the new converts that they have received a gift and are expected to be good stewards or managers of “the varied grace of God.” This gift is not gender inclusive in 4:10–11. In some African American denominations, women are denied this right of managing and using their gifts. Though women, like men, may experience calls from God to the gospel ministry, they are denied the privilege to preach and pastor, or they face glass-ceilings in the ministry, howsoever defined. Therefore, Peter says that whosoever speaks or serves, male or female, let them speak and serve God’s Word.
Believers should view their gifted service from the perspective of a steward. Stewards were servants who managed their master’s households. They served their master not only by taking care of his family, but also by feeding and caring for his other servants as well. Peter says a person manages the expression of God’s grace when he uses his gifts to benefit the body of Christ
And by describing God’s grace as manifold Peter indicates that the gifts God gives express various aspects of His grace directed toward His children. As His stewards, God has made them channels through which His grace flows into the lives of others.
We are stewards of God’s grace (4:10). We manage something precious that we received but don’t own. And since you are a receptor of grace, you ought to be a conduit for grace. So whatever your spiritual gift, it’s all about God—not you.
1 Corinthians 4:1
In stewardship, the matter of supreme importance is faithfulness. Man has absolute ownership of nothing at all in this world, not even his physical and mental strength, for “all the abilities which men possess belong to God” (5T 277).
The earth and everything in it belong to God; He is the supreme owner. He has entrusted the care of His property to man, who thus becomes His steward, the one charged with the responsibility of using his Master’s goods in such a manner that benefit will accrue to God. Recognition of this relationship between man and his Creator should produce a determination to exercise great care in the use of everything entrusted to him during the period of his sojourn on this earth
Good stewards of God’s gift will not hide it, but employ it for the benefit of others (cf. the parable of the talents,
The gifts (χαρίσματα) are the manifestations of the grace (χάρις) of God; that grace from which all gifts issue is called manifold (ποικίλη), because of the diversities of its gifts, the variety of its manifestations.
“as good stewards” This is literally “household managers.” The church is the household of God (cf. v. 17). Believers will give an account to God in Christ for their stewardship of spiritual gifts (cf.
This is so because the Christian is a manager of God’s different gifts. The word for manager is often translated “steward.” A steward, in Greek culture at that time, was a slave who managed the household affairs of his master (compare
To be a steward of God’s gifts therefore means that none of these endowments are for the believer’s own enjoyment and benefit; on the contrary, they are given to him to enable him to serve his fellow believers much better.
In reality, however, the meaning is that each person is to be a good manager or responsible person with respect to his own gift, and that together the Christian community acts responsibly with respect to all the gifts
C. Know your why (your reason) (1 Peter 4:11)
that God in all things may be glorified—the final end of all a Christian’s acts.
Peter mentions two areas of giftedness: speaking and serving. His list is not intended to be exhaustive, merely illustrative. The purpose of gifts is to serve the Church in a way that brings glory to God.
The reason for relying on God’s words (cf.
as the oracles of God: Those who teach God’s truth to others should teach it in a reverent manner so that their hearers will respect the Word of God. with the ability which God supplies: Not relying on their own strength, Christians should use the power God gives them to do His will on earth.
When someone ministers (same verb as v 10) they are to use the ability God gives them for the other person’s benefit. He does not say when they have enough ability, or when they are fully qualified. Rather, they are to do it to the level of ability God has given. Through Jesus Christ is a reminder that Jesus works through the Church, His body.
Christians should use every opportunity they can to bestow the grace of God into the lives of other believers.
4:11 Christians should manage and use their spiritual gifts to God’s glory, just as God intends.
In all things. That is, in whatever activities the Christian may engage.
Glorified. Literally, “continue to be glorified.” That God should be honored and exalted is the true end of life’s activities. A Christian is never free from the obligation rightly to represent God and to demonstrate the effectiveness of His saving power.
While service is directed to helping fellow believers (and others) and to building up the church, its ultimate purpose is that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (cf.
Believers are to take these gifts seriously and to exercise them with an attitude of dependence on God (speak the very words of God, do it with the strength of God). When the gifts of grace are applied in this way, the attention and praise shift from the individual believer to God, the one who has gifted the believer in the first place.
That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. The glory of God should be the one end of all Christian work. The Lord himself had said so in the sermon on the mount, in words doubtless well remembered by the apostle (
“so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” This is a purpose (hina) clause. Spiritual gifts should glorify God, not the human agent. Our giftedness points to Him (cf.
What relationship is indicated by ἵνα ‘so that’?
1. It indicates the purpose of the exercise of the spiritual gifts, which is that God be glorified (ἐν πᾶσιν being taken to refer to the gifts, not the believers themselves) [Alf, IVP, NIC, TG, TH, WBC]. It indicates that the motive and purpose of the believer should be to let God be glorified through what is done in ministry [BNTC, NIBC; REB, TNT].
