Spiritual gift: Encyclopedia - Spiritual gift

Spiritual gift

According to Christian theology, the spiritual gifts (or charismata) are gifts that were supernaturally bestowed on the early Christians, each having his or her own proper gift (or gifts) to strengthen the Church.

The gifts were given by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, as described in the Bible in Acts of the Apostles. According to 1 Corinthians 12, the manifestation gifts include speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues, prophecy, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, the ability to distinguish between spirits, faith, the working of miracles and gifts of healing. While the ability to cast out demons may also be considered a spiritual gift, some Pentecostals and Charismatics would prefer to classify that ability as one of the gifts of healing. In the New Testament, apparently these gifts were often transmitted by the laying on of hands.

According to some Protestant sects, the spiritual gifts, especially gifts such as speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues, were enjoyed only for a short time and were suited to the Church's infancy, not to modern (or even medieval) times. Pentecostalism takes an opposing view, believing that the spiritual gifts are still given by the Holy Spirit today, and Pentecostal meetings often involve ordinary parishioners displaying the use of these gifts (1 Cor 14). Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and many other Protestant sects also continue to believe in and allegedly make use of spiritual gifts.

This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

Categories: Easton's Bible Dictionary | Christian theology | Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity | Supernatural | Metaphysics

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Spiritual gift", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki