Gift
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χάρισμα is a word the NT borrows from the language of grace (charis) and gives a specific shape: a concrete, particular manifestation of God's grace given to a person for the benefit of the community. The word is related to charis (grace, G5485) — a charisma is a charism, a grace-gift, something that comes entirely from God's generosity and carries no basis in the receiver's merit.
Reader summary
Full entry for χάρισμα (G5486) · Open the biblical lexicon
χάρισμα is a word the NT borrows from the language of grace (charis) and gives a specific shape: a concrete, particular manifestation of God's grace given to a person for the benefit of the community. The word is related to charis (grace, G5485) — a charisma is a charism, a grace-gift, something that comes entirely from God's generosity and carries no basis.
The BSB source-word alignment has 17 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include gift (8), gifts (6), [those with] gifts (1), favor shown (1), spiritual gift (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 1:11. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (7), Romans (6), 1 Peter (1), 1 Timothy (1).
χάρισμα is a word the NT borrows from the language of grace (charis) and gives a specific shape: a concrete, particular manifestation of God's grace given to a person for the benefit of the community. The word is related to charis (grace, G5485) — a charisma is a charism, a grace-gift, something that comes entirely from God's generosity and carries no basis in the receiver's merit.
In Romans 5:15-16, Paul uses charisma for the gift of righteousness in Christ — the most fundamental grace-gift, the one that grounds all others. This establishes that charisma is not first a category for extraordinary abilities but for the whole gift of God's grace made concrete in the life of a person. The charismata that appear in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 are particular expressions of this broader gift-orientation.
First Corinthians 12 is the primary passage for charismata as spiritual gifts: 'There are various kinds of gifts (charismata), but the same Spirit. There are various kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are various kinds of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.' Paul immediately pluralizes the source as well: charismata come from the Spirit, service from the Lord, activities from the Father. The gifts are Trinitarian in their ground. The purpose is given in verse 7: 'to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.' The gift is not for the individual's benefit or status but for the building of the community.
For the preacher, χάρισμα corrects two common distortions: the individualism that treats gifts as personal spiritual properties to be enjoyed, and the institutionalism that reduces gifts to the functions that fit the church's organizational chart. Gifts are given to specific people by the Spirit, for the specific community in which they are placed, for the community's good.
χάρισμα is indexed at about 17 NT occurrences in the local Greek artifact. The selected witnesses include Romans 5 for the gift of grace in Christ, 1 Corinthians 12 for gifts of the Spirit, and further uses in Romans 12, 2 Corinthians 1, the Pastoral Epistles, and 1 Peter 4.
There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
The foundational claim: variety within unity. The charismata are various (diaireseis) — different in kind, shape, and expression — but they come from the same Spirit. This means no single charisma represents the fullness of the Spirit's work, and no single charisma can be required of everyone as the sign of the Spirit's presence. The variety is built into the design, not a problem to be resolved toward uniformity.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
The double emphasis of charisma distribution: 'to each one' (hekasto — every member of the body has a gift) and 'for the profit of all' (pros to sympheron — the gift is given for the community's benefit, not the individual's). These two together define the charisma: universally distributed within the body, communally directed in their purpose. A charisma hoarded or exercised without reference to the community has been misused.
We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith;
The imperative of charisma: having them, use them. The gift's existence implies its deployment. The proportion of faith qualifier for prophecy is a governance note: the exercise of the gift operates within the measure of genuine spiritual conviction, not beyond it. What Paul does not say is 'use them if you feel comfortable' or 'use them when officially authorized' — the gift itself calls for its use in the body.
As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.
Peter's stewardship frame: charismata are received gifts to be employed for one another. The word 'steward' (oikonomos) is important — the gift belongs to God and is managed on His behalf for the community's good. The person who has a charisma is not its owner; they are its manager. 'God's varied grace' (poikile charis tou theou) connects each specific charisma back to the infinite variety of God's grace — no one charisma exhausts what God gives, and the community needs the whole variety.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
The charisma can be neglected and needs to be 'stirred up' (anazopyrein — to fan into flame). Timothy's gift was not guaranteed to burn brightly without cultivation. This corrects the idea that charismata are self-maintaining: they are received from God, but they are exercised and developed by the recipient. The community's commissioning (laying on of hands) does not give the gift but publicly recognizes and deploys it.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A Spirit-empowered gift freely given, emphasizing supernatural grace rather than earned ability or natural talent.
A Spirit-empowered gift freely given, emphasizing supernatural grace rather than earned ability or natural talent.
(χαρίζομαι) [in LXX: Sir.7:33 א (AB, χάρις) Sir.38:30 Bl (א AB2R, χρῖσμα) * ;] a gift of grace, a free gift, esp. of extraordinary operations of the Spirit in the Apostolic Church, but including all spiritual graces and endowments (Lft., Notes, 148 f.): Rom.1:11 5:15-16 6:23 11:29 12:6, 1Co.1:7 7:7 12:4 12:9 12:28 12:30-31, 2Co.1:11, 1Ti.4:14, 2Ti.1:6, 1Pe.4:10.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 17 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an undeserved favor
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 7 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 17 lexical occurrence verses.
χάρισμα is built from this root:
Emphasizes that spiritual abilities are gifts of grace, not achievements. 1 Timothy 4:11-16
Contrasts earned wages with the gracious gift of eternal life. 2 Timothy 1:1-7
Ministry capacity is received, not self-produced. Timothy is called to steward and rekindle what God has already supplied. Romans 12:3-8
Spiritual gifting is a divine enablement that must not be neglected. Romans 6:15-23
χάρισμα is the word that makes every member of the body a participant in the Spirit's work, not a passive recipient of ministry produced by the few. 'To each one is given' (1 Cor 12:7) is among the most leveling statements in the NT: the Spirit does not concentrate all gifts in the leaders while everyone else receives what the leaders produce. Every person in the community has received something from the Spirit for the community's good, and every person is therefore a steward, not a consumer.
The pastoral challenge is twofold: helping people identify what they have been given, and shaping the community's culture so that gifts are actually exercised rather than only performed by the professional staff. A congregation in which only the paid leadership exercises gifts has not understood charisma. The body functions when each part does its work (Eph 4:16), and each part doing its work requires that each part knows what it has been given and deploys it.
1Cor.12.4
χάρισμα is a neuter noun ending in -ma, indicating the result of an action — in this case the result of being graced (charizomenos). The -ma suffix makes it concrete: not abstract grace but the specific, concrete thing that grace has given. It is related to charis (grace, G5485) and charizomai (to give freely, to forgive). The word is rare outside the NT; its distinctive concentration in Paul's letters suggests it may be a Pauline coinage or a term Paul gave theological precision.
The related English word 'charisma' has entered modern usage primarily in the sense of personal magnetism or leadership appeal — a significant departure from the NT usage, where charisma has nothing to do with personality and everything to do with what the Spirit distributes for communal benefit.
The OT background for spiritual gifts runs through the Spirit-endowment texts of Numbers, Judges, and the prophetic literature. Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God for skilled craftwork in the tabernacle's construction (Exodus 31:3) — a charisma of artistic and technical ability for the community's worship. Judges' judges receive the Spirit for specific deliverances.
The prophetic Spirit falls on Saul and on the seventy elders (Numbers 11:25-29), and Moses' wish — 'Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them' — is the OT's own anticipation of what Pentecost brings: the distribution of the Spirit to all of God's people, not only to prophets and kings. Joel 2:28-29 ('your sons and daughters will prophesy') is the prophetic promise that Acts 2 declares fulfilled.
The NT charisma is the concrete form in which that promise is experienced in the community of the new covenant.
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