Spiritual Gifts In The New Testament

It is a “rare and late word,” not frequently used before the writing of the New Testament, and “occurrences that clearly antedate the New Testament are difficult to find.” This means that the Scriptures will need to be the source of understanding χάρισμα. This reality led Hans Conzelmann to write, “Since the material outside the New Testament tells us nothing, the context must decide in each case.” If this is the situation, then to understand it would mean that each use of χάρισμα in the New Testament would need to be examined in its context.
Implications of This Perspective With that being the case, when the average Christian sees the word “spiritual gifts,” the way in which they now perceive its meaning has been influenced by its long, historical connotations, and they naturally assume that it is some type of supernatural ability or endowment given to all of those who believe in Jesus Christ. This then raises questions. If every …show more content…
He has been dealing in this letter with many and various issues that had arisen since he had left the city. The church sent emissaries to him, seeking help to work through these issues. When the reader finally arrives at 1 Corinthians 12, this particular church had many, difficult issues with which to navigate. It is from these issues, however, that the developing church over time is allowed to learn about spiritual gifts. Paul must confront them on this topic, and it is from his exhortation to the Corinthians that one is able to get a glimpse into the nature, purpose, and limitation of gifts in this early church. The beauty of this passage, and one that is often missed as the focus is drawn to the gifts, is the picture of the Giver of the gifts. This passage is massively Theocentric, and to miss this is to overlook the point of the first eleven