Christian Family Services Ministry

11-1-2023 – A Word to the Wise – Those of you who know me know the main focus of my research for the past thirty years has been the gifts. Three passages of Scripture deal directly with gifts. Romans 12:4-9, I Corinthians 12:27-30, and Ephesians 4: 11-14.

Problems begin to occur when we group all three passages under the heading Spiritual Gifts. They are not. There are two distinct groups. The rightly titled Spiritual Gifts are found in Corinthians and the Ephesians passages, but a distinctive different group is found in Romans.

The Corinthians and Ephesians passages are labeled Spiritual Gifts- as such, they are given to members of the church. These gifts did not exist before the death of Christ. They were only given to support the churches and only appear after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

In contrast, the gifts described in Romans existed from the moment God created man. These gifts are clearly present and identifiable in many Old Testament characters.

Another difference between the two groups is that the gifts described in Romans, which I call Motivational, or Enduring Life Gifts are singular in nature, one given to each person. In contrast, an individual may have more than one Spiritual Gift. The specific purpose and quality of the gifts are different.

Motivational gifts are not to be confused with traits or personality characteristics, which may be psychological, mental, physical, cognitive, or emotional in nature. All these names suggest a humanistic type of interpretation.

The Motivational Gifts each have specific qualities that may be attributed to them. They are given by God at conception and mark the person as owned and created by the Creator. The Lord does not use the gift to control the person but gives value to the creation.

The Motivational gift supersedes all other gifts, talents, or attributes given to an individual. In other words, the motivational gift is primary- it’s going to rule how the individual sees and experiences the world. Once we understand the differences between spiritual gifts and motivational gifts, then their individual purposes become clear.