Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Isaiah 11 is a prophecy about a coming king from the family of Jesse, King David's father: “a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah 11:1, KJV). Christians read it as a portrait of Jesus, and the Catechism says the seven gifts “belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David” (Catechism 1831). Here is the passage in the King James Version, which follows the Hebrew:

Count the names and there are six: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the LORD, which comes twice, at the end of verse 2 and again in verse 3. The Greek Septuagint, an ancient translation of the Old Testament, renders the first “fear” as godliness, and the Latin Vulgate renders it pietas, piety. The Douay-Rheims, translated from the Latin, reads:

So the seventh gift is not invented; it comes from reading the same verses in Greek and Latin. The Douay-Rheims' “godliness” is the Catechism's piety, and the KJV's “might” is the Catechism's fortitude. A Bible that follows the Hebrew, like the KJV, shows six names; one that follows the Latin, like the Douay-Rheims, shows seven. Both are honest readings of Isaiah.

The Catholic Church teaches that the moral life of Christians is sustained by these gifts, which the Catechism calls “permanent dispositions” that make a person ready to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit (Catechism 1830). They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them (Catechism 1831). Alongside them the Catechism lists the twelve fruits of the Spirit (Catechism 1832), which our lesson on the fruits of the Spirit explains.

Confirmation deepens the grace of Baptism, and the Catechism says it “increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us” (Catechism 1303). When the bishop confirms, he extends his hands over those being confirmed and asks God to give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of right judgment and courage, of knowledge and reverence, and of wonder and awe in His presence (Catechism 1299): the seven gifts in everyday words.

Anglicans know the same graces from their Confirmation service. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer asks God to increase in those being confirmed “the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength; the spirit of knowledge and true godliness,” and to fill them with “the spirit of thy holy fear.”

Paul wrote this to a church in Corinth that was rich in gifts and immature in love (1 Corinthians 1:7; 3:1). His point is not to rank the gifts but to unite the people who have them. All nine come from “the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:4, KJV), and every one is given for others: “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Corinthians 12:7, KJV), that is, for the common good.

Then he compares the church to a body, where “the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee” (1 Corinthians 12:21, KJV), and he ends by pointing to “a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31, KJV): the love of chapter 13. In Faithero you can read 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 in the King James Version and tap any verse to have it explained in plain words.

Gifts and fruit both come from the Holy Spirit, but they are different things. The gifts Paul lists are abilities for serving others, and the Spirit gives different gifts to different people. The fruit is the character of Christ, and the Spirit means to grow all of it in every believer: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Our lesson on the 9 fruits of the Spirit takes them one by one.

The difference matters because gifts can be present where fruit is missing. The Corinthians lacked no gift and still quarreled like children. Paul's verdict: “though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2, KJV). Jesus gives the test: “by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20, KJV). Gifts are tools for this life; love is what remains: “Charity never faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:8, KJV).

Christians who love the Bible answer this in three main ways. Each is described here the way its own holders would put it.

The cessationist view. Some gifts, especially prophecy as new revelation, tongues, and healings and miracles as signs, served to confirm the apostles' message while the New Testament was being written, and ceased once that foundation was laid. Holders point to the church being “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Ephesians 2:20, KJV), to the signs God gave while the gospel “was confirmed unto us” (Hebrews 2:3, KJV), and to Paul's words “tongues, they shall cease” (1 Corinthians 13:8, KJV). The ordinary gifts, such as teaching, serving, giving, leading and mercy, continue. This view has deep roots in Reformed and Presbyterian churches, whose Westminster Confession says that God's “former ways” of revealing His will to His people are “now ceased” (chapter 1).

The continuationist view. All the gifts named in the New Testament may still be given today. Paul tells the church to “desire spiritual gifts” (1 Corinthians 14:1, KJV) and to “forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39, KJV), and continuationists read “that which is perfect” (1 Corinthians 13:10, KJV) as the return of Christ, not the finished Bible. Gifts are tested by Scripture, which is complete, and used “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40, KJV). Many Christians outside Pentecostal churches hold this view, and the Catholic Church teaches that charisms, “whether extraordinary or simple and humble,” are graces of the Holy Spirit for building up the Church, always to be discerned and submitted to the Church's shepherds (Catechism 799-801).

The Pentecostal and charismatic view. This view shares the continuationist reading and adds an emphasis on a baptism in the Holy Spirit that can come after conversion, as at Pentecost (Acts 2:4). Classic Pentecostal churches teach that speaking in tongues is its first sign: the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), for example, confesses the baptism with the Holy Ghost “subsequent to a clean heart” and speaking in tongues as “the initial evidence” of it. The charismatic movement carries a similar emphasis into other churches; in the Catholic Church it is served by CHARIS, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service.

For all their differences, these Christians agree on a great deal: the Spirit still works, Scripture is the test of every claim, love is the greater way, and gifts exist to build up others. Paul's short rule fits every church: “Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21, KJV).