The Gifts of the Spirit

Gifts the Spirit Gives

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The New Testament gives several lists of spiritual gifts. Together they show how many ways the Holy Spirit helps God's people.

The Giver. “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11). Every gift starts with Him.

Wisdom and knowledge. A word of wisdom helps someone know what God wants done. The gift of knowledge helps someone understand God's truth or see a real need (12:8).

Faith. Every Christian has saving faith. The gift of faith is a special trust that God will do something great, even when it looks impossible (12:9).

Healings and miracles. God still heals and does mighty things in answer to prayer (12:9-10). He does not heal every sickness in this life, but He always cares and always hears.

Prophecy. Prophecy is speaking a message from God that gives people strength, encouragement and comfort (14:3). It always agrees with the Bible.

Discerning of spirits. This gift helps the church tell the difference between what is from God and what is not (12:10).

Tongues and interpretation. Tongues is speaking by the Spirit in a language the speaker never learned. Interpretation explains what was said so everyone is helped (12:10).

Helps and leading. 1 Corinthians 12:28 also names helps and administrations. Helpers serve in practical ways, and administrators organize and lead.

Romans 12. “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,” Paul lists prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy (Romans 12:6-8).

Ephesians 4. Jesus gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12).

Peter's summary. “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). A steward takes care of something that belongs to someone else.

Quiet and amazing. Some gifts look quiet, like serving or showing mercy. Some look amazing, like healing. All are from the same Spirit, and all are important.

What to do. Ask God to show you how He has gifted you. Try serving in different ways, and see where God uses you to help others.

Paul's lists of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4, and Peter's in 1 Peter 4, overlap but are not the same. Together they show the wide range of the Spirit's work.

Three words (12:4-6). Gifts, ministries and activities are three ways of saying it: grace given, service done and God's power at work. The word for ministries, diakonia (say: dee-ah-koh-NEE-ah), means service. It belongs to the same family of words used of Jesus, who came “to serve” (Mark 10:45).

Word of wisdom and knowledge (12:8). These are insight from the Spirit for real situations: applying God's truth wisely, or understanding something a person could not have figured out alone.

Faith, healings and miracles (12:9-10). “Gifts of healings” is plural: God gives many healings on many occasions, as He wills. Paul himself left his coworker Trophimus sick at Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20). God's love is never measured by whether a healing comes.

Prophecy (12:10; 14:3). Prophecy in the church builds up, encourages and comforts. It is tested by the church (14:29), because Scripture is the final authority (2 Timothy 3:16).

Discerning of spirits (12:10). False teachers and false spirits were real dangers in the early church. This gift protects the church by recognizing what is from God.

Tongues and interpretation (12:10). At Pentecost the visitors heard the believers speak “in his own language” (Acts 2:6). In Corinth a tongue in church needed interpretation so that others could understand and say “Amen” (14:16).

Helping and leading (12:28). Helps and administrations are listed right beside miracles. God values the quiet servant as much as the miracle worker.

Romans 12:6-8. Paul adds serving, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading and showing mercy, each with the right heart: giving “with liberality,” leading “with diligence,” mercy “with cheerfulness.”

Ephesians 4:11-12. Some gifts are people given to the church as leaders, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.” Leaders help every believer serve.

Stewards (1 Peter 4:10). A steward manages what belongs to his master. Our gifts belong to God and are held in trust for the good of others.

Application. You find your gift by serving, not by staring inward. Ask God, try many ways of helping, listen to mature believers, and keep going where God bears fruit.

Gifts for Today

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The gifts of the Holy Spirit did not end with the first Christians. The same Spirit lives in believers today, and He still gives gifts to the church.

The Helper. Jesus promised, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). Forever means the Spirit never leaves.

Pentecost. On the Day of Pentecost the believers “were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4).

Understood by visitors. People from many nations said, “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11).

An old promise. Peter explained that God had promised, “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17). The Spirit was for young and old, men and women.

For you too. Peter said, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off” (Acts 2:39). That includes believers today.

Power to tell others. Jesus said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). The Spirit helps us tell others about Jesus.

A healing. Peter told a man who could not walk, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). The man was healed, and the people praised God.

Encouragement. A believer named Joses was called Barnabas, “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36). Encouraging others is a gift the church always needs.

Until Jesus comes. Paul told the Corinthians that they “come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7). The gifts help the church while we wait for Jesus.

No fear. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The Holy Spirit is kind and good, and His gifts are nothing to be afraid of.

Good gifts. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17). God loves to give good things to His children.

Gifts and fruit. Gifts are what the Spirit gives us to do. Fruit is what He grows in us: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22). God wants both in every believer.

Used in love. Without love, even amazing gifts mean nothing. Paul teaches that in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is how every gift should be used.

What to do. Thank God for His Spirit. Ask Him to fill you and use you, and serve someone this week with love.

Does the Holy Spirit still give gifts? The New Testament shows that the same Spirit who came at Pentecost stays with the church until Jesus returns.

Abiding forever (John 14:16-17). Jesus called the Spirit the Parakletos (say: pah-RAH-klay-tos), the Helper, one called alongside to help. He “dwells with you and will be in you.”

Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). The wind and the fire were signs, and the tongues were real languages (2:6-11). The Spirit came to give power for a mission to every nation.

Joel's promise (Acts 2:17-18). Peter quotes the prophet Joel: God would “pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.” Sons and daughters, young and old, servants and free would all share in His work.

To your children (Acts 2:39). The promise reaches “to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Every generation of believers is included.

Power for witness (Acts 1:8). The main purpose of the Spirit's power is witness: telling the world about Jesus, from Jerusalem “to the end of the earth.”

Gifts in Acts. A healing at the temple gate (Acts 3:6-8), prophets and teachers in Antioch (Acts 13:1), and tongues in Caesarea and Ephesus (Acts 10:46; 19:6) show the gifts spreading with the gospel.

Until the end (1 Corinthians 1:7). Paul expects the church to “come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gifts serve the church between Jesus' first coming and His return.

When the perfect comes. Partial things will pass away “when that which is perfect has come” (13:10). Many Christians see this as the day Jesus returns, when we will see Him “face to face” (13:12).

Tested and orderly. Gifts are tested by Scripture (14:29) and used with self-control (14:32). Excitement is never the measure. The measure is Christ honored and the church helped.

Gifts and fruit. Corinth had gifts but little fruit. The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is the character of Christ growing in a believer, and it is the best test of a healthy church. Gifts without fruit soon turn into pride.

Not fearful. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). A sound mind is clear, self-controlled thinking.

The greatest is love. Paul's next words compare gifts with love: “but the greatest of these is love” (13:13). One day gifts will no longer be needed; love will last forever.

Application. Ask the Father for the Holy Spirit's help, take part in your church, and let love decide how you use whatever gift God gives.

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