For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. - 1Cor 12:8-10
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, - Eph 4:11
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. - Rom 12:6-8
No other subject in theology has been the cause of debate and arguments as has the subject of spiritual gifts. From the number of gifts, to their purpose, who has them, who doesn’t, and whether or not some of them still exist. These and other points have caused problems in the church in the days of Paul and still continue to separate the church today. Churches have split; denominations have formed; all over the topic of spiritual gifts. Where does all this dissention come from? One word, Satan! Satan will do whatever it takes to destroy the church, to keep it from becoming that which God has ordained for it.
Now I’ll be honest and upfront with you; some of you will probably disagree with a few of the things that I have to say about these gifts. I just hope that you will bear with me, keep an open mind and more important an open bible for it is there that we will be looking at where these gifts come from, to whom they are given, for what purpose they are given and whether or not they are still in use today.
Paul says in 1Cor 12:1 “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware.” The word unaware in the NASB is also translated as ignorant in the KJV which means to be uninformed or uneducated. Obviously the church knew about spiritual gifts, they were using them, albeit incorrectly. Paul wanted to teach them the proper function of the gifts and the motive behind using them. It is my hope that from this discussion you will come out with a better understanding of spiritual gifts, not so you can boast to your friends, or win a debate with someone, but so you will be able to recognize which gift(s) you have and determine how you may best use that gift(s) to fulfill your role in the church. And when I say church I mean the real church, the body of Christ, not some brick and mortar building where you go to meet and worship.
Understanding Scripture
I do not offer a spiritual gift test as I don’t believe that they are accurate or necessary. God gave you a gift to be used so I fully believe that He will make it evident what that gift is. Spiritual tests are faulty in my opinion. If you desire to have a specific gift then when you take the test you may subconsciously (or consciously) be biased in your answers, causing you to struggle in an area of service you weren’t wired to be in. This could eventually taint you towards any service in the future.
In order to be able to understand what each gift is we need to search the scriptures. We need to interpret scripture with scripture. What does this mean? It means that we must take a verse we are trying to understand and compare it with other, similar verses to discern the meaning. We also must take each verse in context to understand its meaning, look at the surrounding verses to understand what is being said. Then you need to understand to whom the author was writing to and the reason they were writing. For example; here Paul is writing to the Corinthian church because there were several problems going on in this church and Paul needed to set them straight on several issues. .
