Theological Term of the Week: Spiritual Gift

spiritual gift
An ability given to a believer by God to equip them to serve in the church. 

• From Scripture:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… (Ephesians 4:11-12 ESV)

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. [4] For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, [5] so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. [6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8] the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8 ESV) 

• From  Keeping in Step with the Spirit by J. I. Packer:

Nowhere does Paul or any other New Testament writer define a spiritual gift for us, but Paul’s assertion that the use of gifts edifies (“builds up,” 1 Corinthians 143-5, 12, 26, see also 17; Ephesians 4:12, 16) shows what his idea of a gift was. For Paul, it is only through Christ, in Christ, by learning Christ and responding to Christ that anyone is ever edified. Our latter-day secular use of this word is far wider and looser than Paul’s; for him, edification is precisely a matter of growing in the depth and fullness of one’s understanding of Christ and all else in relation to him and in the quality of one’s personal relationship with him, and it is not anything else. So spiritual gifts must be defined in terms of Christ, as actualized powers of expressing, celebrating, displaying and so communicating Christ in one way or another, either by word or by deed. They would not be edifying otherwise. 

Learn more:

1. Blue Letter Bible: What Are Spiritual Gifts?
2. Simply Put Podcast: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
3. GotQuestions.org: What are the different spiritual gifts the Bible mentions?
4. Vern Poythress: What Are Spiritual Gifts? (pdf)
5. Fred Zaspel: Spiritual Gifts
6. Bob Deffinbaugh: Spiritual Gifts (audio series)

Related terms:  

• cessationism
• continuationism

Filed under Ecclesiology

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Sunday's Hymn: None Other Lamb, None Other Name

None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other Hope in heav’n or earth or sea,
None other Hiding place from guilt and shame,
None beside thee!

My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart’s desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to thee.

Lord, thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love’s fire thou art, however cold I be:
Nor heav’n have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but thee.

—Christina Rosetti

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand at The Happy Wonderer

Sunday's Hymn: I Sing The Mighty Power of God

I sing mighty pow’r of God,
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.

I sing the goodness of the Lord
That filled the earth with food;
He formed the creatures with his word,
And then pronounced them good.

Lord! how thy wonders are displayed
Where’er I turn mine eye!
If I survey the ground I tread,
Or gaze upon the sky.

There’s not a plant or flower below
But makes thy glories known;
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from thy throne.

Creatures as numerous as they be
Are subject to thy care;
There’s not a place where we can flee,
But God is present there.

—Isaac Watts

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• Let the Gospel Light Shine Out at The Happy Wonderer