Bible Dictionary
Gifts, spiritual
Spiritual gifts are gracious abilities or empowerments given by the Holy Spirit for service and the strengthening of Christ’s church. The New Testament mentions gifts such as prophecy, healing, tongues, teaching, and administration.
Definition
Spiritual gifts are gracious abilities or supernatural endowments bestowed by the Holy Spirit on early Christians for the edification of Christ’s body. They included speaking with tongues, casting out demons, healing, and other manifestations of the Spirit’s extraordinary operation.
Biblical Usage
The gifts were associated with the early Christian community and were sometimes communicated through the laying on of the apostles’ hands. They served the church’s early needs and were not understood as continuing permanently in the same form.
Historical Background
The supplied material connects these gifts especially with the events of Pentecost and the infancy of the Church.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Gr. charismata), gifts supernaturally bestowed on the early Christians, each having his own proper gift or gifts for the edification of the body of Christ. These were the result of the extraordinary operation of the Spirit, as on the day of Pentecost. They were the gifts of speaking with tongues, casting out devils, healing, etc. (Mark 16:17, 18), usually communicated by the medium of the laying on of the hands of the apostles (Acts 8:17; 19:6; 1 Tim. 4:14). These charismata were enjoyed only for a time. They could not continue always in the Church. They were suited to its infancy and to the necessities of those times.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>See SPIRITUAL GIFTS.</p>