Charisms (spiritual gifts)

 
The New Testament writings contain four lists of specific gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to individual believers for the service of God’s people. (Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 12: 7-10; Eph 4:7-13; 1 Peter 4:10-11). These gifts are called either : “charisms” or “spiritual gifts”. The concept remains the same: they are distinctive, divinely originated endowments to give glory to the Triune God and are meant for the common benefit of God’s people, the church.
 
“To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another he gives the gift of special knowledge. The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else he gives the power to heal the sick. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and to another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, and another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.” (1 Corinthians, 12: 8-10)
 
In the same letter (1 Corinthians 12), St Paul enumerates ten key principles regarding charisms:
 

(1)	A basic criterion for distinguishing Spirit-gifted people from impostors is whether they confess Jesus as Lord (vv. 1-3).
(2)	All the gifts originate from the Triune God (vv. 4-6).
(3)	All Christians have at least one gift (v. 7a). This implies that no one needs wait for some post conversion experience to be empowered for service, although it does not preclude God bestowing additional gifts on an individual subsequent to conversion.
(4)	Gifts are for the common up-building of the church (v. 7b), not for the benefit of the one who exercises it.
(5)	There is diversity within unity (vv. 8-10). Christians ought not to expect others to have the identical gifts they do.
(6)	The gifts are given as the Spirit determines (v. 11). One may seek and pray for certain gifts (12:31a; 14:1, 12), but God makes no guarantees that he will give any one particular gift as requested.
(7)	All the gifts are necessary for the maturity of the church; none may be jettisoned as nonessential (vv. 14-26). Indeed, those God honors most may be the least visible (vv. 22-25).
(8)	There is a ranking of gifts (vv. 27-28) but the sequence is more one of chronology than of priority. Apostles and prophets are foundational in the life of any church (cf. Eph 2:20); teachers then nurture young believers and newly planted congregations; finally, all of the rest of the gifts can come into play.
(9)	No specific gift may be made a criterion of salvation, sanctification, or spiritual status (vv. 29-30; 14:31).
(10)	Love is the greatest gift (v.31), in so far as Love gives the greatest glory to God and is the most efficient energy to build the Community.

The four lists of spiritual gifts show significant overlap as well as important variations. This suggests that none of the lists, taken either individually or together, is intended to be comprehensive. Rather each is suggestive of the diversity of ways God endows Christians for spiritual service.
 
Furthermore, no text enables us to determine the relation between these spiritual gifts and the “natural” talents or abilities that each individual has. Scriptural examples suggest that some gifts are given by the Spirit suddenly (e.g., the prophets and tongues-speakers in Acts 19:6), while others buil superintended preparation (as with Paul's apostleship, prepared for by his unique blend of Jewish, Greek, and Roman backgrounds). The Spirit must be given freedom to give his gifts any way he desires.
 
In this sense though, “natural” talents too can be called “charisms” because they too are gifts from God and, under the inspiration of the Spirit, can be put at the service of God’s people and build up the Community, which is the main purpose of all charisms.