We’re looking at a hypothesis set forth by people who understand New Testament Greek much better than I do. (“I know a little Greek… he runs a deli downtown!”) The hypothesis is that most of the discussion about spiritual gifts in the New Testament is not about special abilities but about specific ministries that Christians are called to.

In the last post, we looked at passages in Romans, Ephesians, and 1 Peter, noticing that this hypothesis fits those passages very well. Today we’ll look at 1 Corinthians 12, which introduces a section about miraculous gifts. This is a good text to really put this hypothesis to the test.

1 Corinthians 12 begins by saying:

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.” (1 Corinthians 12:1)

Well, it kind of begins that way. The problem in this verse is that the word “gifts” isn’t in the original text. Apparently in Greek, as in Spanish and numerous other languages, it’s quite common to use an adjective as a noun. We do that at times in English, talking about “the land of the free and the brave,” where we never specify what free and brave are referring to.

So Paul is talking about “the spirituals.” It’s very possible that he means spiritual gifts, though he could mean something else. For the sake of our discussion, the important thing to note is that this is not the word charisma. It’s pneumatikon, which comes from the word Spirit (pneuma).

We find charisma in verse 4.

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;” (1 Corinthians 12:4)

When we read this verse in conjunction with verses 5 and 6, we find an interesting parallelism:

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” (1 Corinthians 12:4–6)

This structure should seem familiar to those who know a bit about poetry in the Bible, particularly the use of parallels. In this case, God the Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father are seen as giving three things: gifts, services, activities. If we see gifts (charisma) as special abilities, then we play the old Sesame Street game: “One of these things is not like the others.” But if we interpret charisma as ministries that God graciously gives to his children, then we see that Paul is saying the same thing in three ways. Spirit-given ministries, Lord-given services, and God-given activities all describe the same thing!

I’m largely convinced at this point, though I’m open to hearing different positions. Barring any mind-changing discussion, I want to look at the implications of this shift in interpretation of the word charisma, including having to relook at some things I wrote in Church Inside Out!

So come, persuade me with your powerful reasoning and show me why I shouldn’t accept what is a new concept to me.

As we look at the texts I’ve mentioned that deal with Christian ministry and spiritual gifts (Romans 12:3-7; Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Peter 4:10-11; and 1 Corinthians 12), I think we need to see how our preconceived notions about the meaning of “gift” affect our reading of the passage. Taking the hypothesis that the gift being discussed is the gift of a ministry (not the ability to do that ministry), note how the passages actually make more sense. Let’s replace “gift” with “ministry” in these texts to see what I’m talking about.

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different ministries, according to the grace given us. If a man’s ministry is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Ephesians 4 doesn’t actually use the word “gift”! Paul does use the word “grace,” a term he used in Romans 15:15-16 to describe his ministry to the Gentiles.

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever ministry he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? In my next post, we’ll look at 1 Corinthians 12.

Any thoughts?

In a discussion last year, Matt Carter pointed me to something I hadn’t considered, a different way of looking at gifts in the church. The idea is that the charisma discussed in the New Testament don’t refer to special abilities but to tasks that the Lord has entrusted to different members of the body.

In my college years, as some of us sought to find how best to serve in the Kingdom, some friends and I spent time studying spiritual gifts. We especially looked at Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. The Corinthian passage always stood apart from the others as it focused on miraculous gifts more than the other three passages did. If you read the other passages with the idea of the “gifts” actually being “ministries,” they make a lot of sense. And the Corinthian passage does as well, if you examine it closely.

So for now I’m asking for first-blush reactions to this thought. Look over these passages and see if reading “gifts” as ministries doesn’t make sense:

Romans 12:3-7
Ephesians 4:7-16
1 Peter 4:10-11

The Corinthian passage needs a little bit of explaining, so I’ll leave it separate for now.

You’ve got your homework. Let me know what you see.