Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 1730 Punahou St., Honolulu, HI 96822; ELCA; 808-941-2566

This page introduces four scripture passages and the key lesson we learn from them about spiritual gifts.

Most of the material on this and linked pages comes from the spiritual gifts page on the ELCA website.

Spiritual Gifts—Scripture Review

The Apostle Paul addresses the presence of spiritual gifts in three main sections of scripture:

Romans 12 full text
I Corinthians 12 full text
Ephesians 4 full text

Peter also verifies their existence in I Peter 4:10: “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.”

Through these sections of scripture, we learn that all Christians have been given at least one spiritual gift. The purpose of spiritual gifts is twofold:

to unify Christians in their faith and
to produce growth within the church, both numerical and spiritual.

These gifts are to be used out of love for one another, and in service to one another.

We do not choose which gifts we will receive. God bestows them upon us through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Not all of the gifts identified in scripture are used in the inventory. The spectacular gifts (speaking in tongues, healing and miracles, prophecy, bold proclamation of God) and some of the non-spectacular gifts (martyrdom, celibacy) have not been included. Although these gifts exist, they are not commonly utilized in the mainstream of parish life. Since the objectives of spiritual gift deployment are to unify and produce growth through service, in today’s church climate, only the service related gifts have been included.

Return to Spiritual Gifts—Overview | Go on to the Spiritual Gifts Inventory

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