Gifts of the Spirit
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.”
Definition
The gifts of the Spirit, called charismata in the Greek New Testament, are abilities the Holy Spirit distributes to believers for building up the church rather than for their own advantage. They include teaching, service, giving, leadership, and mercy among others, differing from believer to believer while all originate from the same Spirit.1
Biblical Basis
Paul grounds the gifts’ diversity in the Spirit’s own unity: “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit… to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:4, 7), distributing them “to each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11) rather than by human choice or merit. He compares the church to a body with many members, each necessary and none able to claim independence from the rest: “the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor. 12:21). Romans lists gifts including prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and mercy, each to be exercised “according to the grace given to us” (Rom. 12:6-8), and Ephesians ties the gifts directly to the church’s growth toward maturity: Christ gave some “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12).
Related Doctrines
References
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Charles Hodge, “Chapter XIV. Vocation,” in Systematic Theology, Volume II (New York: Charles Scribner and Company, 1872), 665. ↩