The Gifts of the Spirit
In the Romans 12:6-8, Paul writes:
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he. who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting, contributing, giving aid, and doing acts of mercy all are listed as gifts of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12, verses 8 to 10, additional illustrations are shared by the same writer:
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
The word “illustrations” is used purposely, because I do not believe Paul anywhere intends to give an exhaustive list of the gifts. In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, in a paragraph that centers on gifts of the various roles of the ministry, Paul introduces still more examples. If an all-inclusive catalog of gifts had been intended, I believe these passages would contain identical listings, especially since they are written by the same author.
Just as I believe the various aspects of the fruit of the Spirit as identified in Galatians 5 (love, joy, peace, etc.) are representative—that is, the writer does not intend to include every possible virtuous quality—so the scriptural gifts of the Holy Spirit are to be understood in a similar way.
Therefore, it seems obvious to me that there are gifts not included in the New Testament listings, such as music, writing, painting, dramatics, etc.
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