The gifts of the Holy Spirit are abilities or ministries the Spirit gives to believers for the good of the church and the service of Christ. Scripture teaches that these gifts are diverse, Spirit-given, and meant to build up others rather than exalt self.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are abilities or ministries the Spirit gives to believers for the good of the church and the service of Christ. Scripture teaches that these gifts are diverse, Spirit-given, and meant to build up others rather than exalt self.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the varied abilities, ministries, and empowerments the Spirit distributes among believers for the common good, the building up of the church, and the advance of the gospel. New Testament passages such as Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12–14, and Ephesians 4 describe a diversity of gifts and stress that no one believer possesses them all, that they are given by God’s grace rather than earned, and that they must be exercised in love and orderly service. These gifts include ordinary forms of ministry such as serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing mercy, and they also include gifts that many understand as more openly miraculous. Faithful evangelicals differ over whether certain sign gifts continue in the same manner throughout the present age, so a careful definition should state clearly what Scripture plainly teaches: the Holy Spirit equips God’s people in diverse ways, and those gifts are to be used humbly, obediently, and for the edification of the body of Christ rather than personal display.