The Body of Christ is the Local Church: Gifts belong there.
In the process of discovering, understanding and unwrapping your spiritual gifts you need to keep in focus these two major questions:
- What is the biblical definition of a Spiritual Gift?
- What is the design function that Spiritual Gifts play in the Body of Christ Jesus, called the local church?
These two points give direction and clarity to anyone trying to learn how gifts operate and what gifts mean in the life of the Christian. When a believer in Christ sees the answer to these two questions building on the Biblical definition and development, he or she will exercise to discover them, and in turn lead to more feasible, more objective, and more possible results, fruit, lives changed.
In pages 42-46 of my book Spiritual Gifts, Identify and Use them Through the P.R.I.Z.M. of God’s Grace, you will find how I develop more fully these two ideas. What follows is a simple summary in answer to the two questions above.
“The first significant consideration is the meaning of the terms used to describe spiritual gifts.The New Testament employs two root words for the English word gift. They are charisma and domata. Charisma comes from the root word charis which refers to God’s unmerited grace given to the believer when trusting in Christ to save from the just punishment that sin deserves. The root of charis refers to
…that which delights one. It may be a state which causes or a condition that accompanies joy. It is joyous being or charm as the element of delight in the beautiful, the favor shown by fortune, i.e., what is pleasing in it” (Kittel, 1985, p. 1306).
Summarizing these thoughts, a simple definition of a spiritual gift is that unique, God-given capacity for serving the Body of Christ which becomes a special means of glorifying God.”
In other words, the saving grace, as understood in his undeserved divulging of all His love, grace and forgiveness through the person of Jesus Christ, is the same grace that equips the Christian to love Him, to love in response to His love. That is why the Beloved Apostle John, centered his first letter on how the truth that “we loved [Him] because He first loved us” (1st John 4:19)
Secondly, “The [other] term (charis) highlights the truth that God lovingly grants His children gifts that put them on display as pleasing and favored in His sight. In the Word of God, it is His charis (grace) that frees the believer from ever having to think again that he or she must earn His favor. Why? Because “the whole gift of salvation is charisma(2 Cor. 1:11; cf. Rom. 5:15–16 emphasis added)” (D.A. Carson, Showing the Spirit, 1987, p. 22). In other words, salvation through faith in Jesus Christ fills the believer with His grace, which is the theological cause which imparts the spiritual gifts.
As God freely pours out His grace, saving the repentant sinner, He also grants the resources for service which, as time progresses, ought to grow and flourish through the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life.
The second word in Greek is the “Domata.”
“The Greek word domata can be translated “present, gift.” This word is used in the Pauline writings to mean the grace of God manifested in the various avenues through which God demonstrates His work and will. The gift comes through His gracious act of putting His grace on display through the vessel wherein He has placed that grace, namely those who believe and are regenerated by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Peter calls this the manifold grace of God that a Christian receives through Christ, grace that reflects an array of dimensions and facets (see 1 Pet. 4:10).”
But, if a Christian fails to understand the Gift itself, it might not be because they do not know the above definitions or biblical ideas. It may be for a must more “down to earth” reason. What could that reason be? Because they have become disconnected, or unrelated to a local body of Christians. It is by means of God’s grace manifested in and through other believes that we learn how beautiful God’s gifts to the Body really are!
A gift means little or nothing outside of a body of believers where it can be identified and exercised in the local Church. In the local church a person’s spiritual walk is built up, evaluated, enriched and nurtured. Gifts make the most impact in a Church! “Both terms (charismata and domata) clearly point to the truth that gifts are given by the Lord’s Spirit to the believer based on His choice alone. Likewise, each gift brings inherent with it a design and a purpose. Gifts are part of the overall work of salvation God is carrying out through the church. Therefore, spiritual gifts are to bring glory to God Himself, not the recipient. It is not what God intended that we should ask for a certain or specific gifts.” (p. 46, Spiritual Gifts, Identify and use them Through the P.R.I.Z.M. of God’s Grace, 2023, David L. Rogers).
This truth about spiritual gifts may startle or even leave some unquiet. But through the interaction and guidance of mature Christians, the young Christian learns how gifts form an integral part their function in the local Church. Christians NEED the local Church to exercise and evaluate their gifts, in the same way that our hands, feet, ears and neck need the body to fulfill its design.
As a result, let’s be clear about this point: spiritual gifts function in the context of a local body of Christians, in which the Christian is a stable member of, and a faithful contributor to the work of the Church. Gifts are given to Christians by the Lord Jesus through His Spirit, to the Body of Christ, the most beautiful, tangible, and VISIBLE way for Christ to make Himself know to the world today!
Want to learn more about spiritual gifts? Please visit this link where you can obtain my book on the topic.
David L. Rogers, M.A.Min
Laurel Springs, NJ, USA
Walk a Missionary Mile with David Rogers 