Spiritual Gifts

Q: What exactly are spiritual gifts? And how do I know if I have them?

A: Spiritual gifts are special abilities that are supernaturally bestowed on each of them. Everyone of us has them and the mix of them tends to vary from one person to another. Opinions tend to vary about what the gifts are, depending on where they're referenced in the Bible. A few commonly accepted gifts are also not referenced specifically in the Bible, but are rather implied.

The most commonly accepted reference to the spiritual gifts is 1 Corinthians 12, which most people think lists just nine (9) spiritual gifts. They are wisdom & knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8), faith (1 Cor. 12:9), healing (1 Cor. 12:9 & 12:28), miracles (1 Cor. 12:10 & 12:28), prophesy (1 Cor. 12:10 & 12:28), discernment of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), speaking in tongues (1 Cor. 12:10), and interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 12:10). These are also known as the charismatic gifts because they tend to be more supernatural in nature.

There are other references in Romans 12 to things that Christianity tends to accept as being spiritual gifts. Those include things like exhortation, serving, giving, leadership, mercy, and teaching. Ephesians 4 also list some things that Christians believe are spiritual gifts of apostleship, pastoring, and evangelism. But the list is actually a little longer still. There are various passages of Scripture in both the Old and New Testament that suggest a few other spiritual gifts. Celibacy (1 Cor. 7:7), martyrdom, voluntary poverty, hospitality and missionary are all on that last.

The best way to determine which of the gifts you have is through a professionally developed spiritual gifts test. The one I favor is called the Wagner-Houts Gift Analysis. You can find it on-line. There are other tests available on-line as well. You might want to take more than one of them and compare the results for consistency. Then I recommend you take the results and talk them over with someone who knows you well to see if the results line up with what is known about you.

The bottom line is that we all have spiritual gifts to one degree or another. Some of us are aware of them, and some of us put them to better use than others. So once you identify them, the challenge is to become a good steward of those spiritual gifts!