The Gifts of the Holy Spirit – III
Vol. 57 No. 40 The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity August 30, 2026
For the Edifying of the Body
The Prayer Book of 1552 explains that Confirmation should be administered “to the more edifying” of those who receive it, appealing explicitly to St Paul’s doctrine that everything in the Church should be done for its edification (1 Corinthians 10:26). That word provides a bridge from the sevenfold gifts of Isaiah to another kind of spiritual gift described by St Paul. In Isaiah 11 the gifts are qualities of the Messiah himself: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, godliness, and holy fear. Given to those who belong to Christ, they become dispositions by which the Holy Spirit conforms Christians to the likeness of Christ.
St Paul’s lists have a different emphasis. In
1 Corinthians 12 he writes: “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith…to another the gifts of healing…to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy…to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.” Romans 12 adds ministry or service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, and mercy. Ephesians 4 moves from activities to functions or offices: Christ “gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers,” all “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
These gifts are not principally qualities of character. They are capacities for service. Nor does every Christian receive the same ones. That is precisely St Paul’s point. “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?” Every member receives gifts; no member possesses every gift; and every gift is given for the good of the whole Body. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Corinthians 12:7) – that is, for the good of all.
The early Church gradually learned to distinguish these gifts from those of Isaiah. St Augustine supplied an essential principle. Spectacular spiritual powers are no proof of holiness. As St. Paul had noted, a person may prophesy, speak in tongues, or perform wonders, and yet lack charity. Gifts may astonish; charity alone perfects. The medieval theologians gave the distinction conceptual clarity. Thomas Aquinas distinguished the gifts which perfect the Christian himself from the graces bestowed principally for the benefit of others. Prophecy, teaching, miracles, tongues, and similar gifts belong to this second category. Their purpose is not the sanctification of the person who possesses them, but the service of the Church. The Reformers substantially retained the distinction. Calvin reads Isaiah 11 first of Christ, whose fullness is communicated to his people. But commenting on St Paul, he emphasizes the common good: Christ does not enrich individuals with gifts for their private enjoyment, but so that they may employ them for the edification of the Church. He also distinguishes extraordinary gifts associated especially with the apostolic age from ordinary gifts and ministries which continue in the Church.
All these strands are held together in the classical Prayer Book. At Confirmation it teaches us to pray for the Isaianic gifts. Every Christian needs wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, knowledge and godliness, and holy fear. In its Eucharistic lectionary it repeatedly makes us hear the Pauline teaching about diverse gifts and ministries: 1 Corinthians 12 on Trinity 10; Romans 12 during the Sundays after Epiphany; Ephesians 4 on St Mark’s Day, and on the feast of St. Barnabas (shortly after Pentecost) the collect teaches us to pray for the grace to use these gifts of the Spirit to God’s glory.
The Prayer Book therefore teaches us both what kind of people the Spirit is making us and what kind of work the Spirit gives us to do. And the two cannot safely be separated. Teaching without wisdom becomes mere opinion. Leadership without godliness becomes domination. Knowledge without humility becomes pride. Zeal without discernment becomes fanaticism. Even spectacular spiritual gifts are nothing without charity. Yet holiness cannot mean withdrawal into private spiritual perfection. The Spirit does not make isolated saints. He makes members of a Body. Wisdom, courage, knowledge, and godliness must issue in teaching, serving, giving, governing, encouraging, and showing mercy. The Spirit sanctifies us as members of Christ who have work to do for one another.
The classical Prayer Book thus gives us a richer doctrine of spiritual gifts than either enthusiasm or skepticism allows. We need not seek extraordinary experiences as proof that we possess the Spirit; neither may we suppose that the gifts of the Spirit belong to some other kind of Christianity. The Spirit who rests upon Christ is at work within us and also through us. He rests in fullness upon Christ; he is given to us to conform us to Christ; and through us he builds up the Body of Christ. His sanctifying gifts make us fit for his service; his ministerial gifts give each of us some part in that service.
The questions for us are therefore not merely, “Have I received the Spirit?” but: How is the Spirit making me like Christ? What strength is he giving me for the Christian fight? And what has he given me to contribute to the edification of Christ’s Church? – GGD
(Last of Three Parts)