Understanding Motivational Gifts Basics

Throughout Romans chapters 1-11, Paul emphasizes a number of points about the gospel including, but not limited to: the universality of sin in Jew and Gentile alike, God’s righteous response to sin (wrath), the means by which God’s righteousness is received (faith), the means by which God’s righteousness is made available (Christ’s sacrifice), the means by which God’s righteousness is lived out (the Spirit), and the mysterious dynamics of Israel’s general and current resistance to the gospel, the Gentiles’ general reception of it, and how those dynamics fit within the greater scope of God’s faithfulness to His promises to Abraham. In chapter 12, Paul makes a clear shift in focus from what God has done/is doing to what we do in response. We might say that chapters 1-11 are the root of the gospel (God’s work) and that most of chapters 12-15 are the fruit of the gospel (our Spirit-empowered response). Paul’s first point in Romans 12:1-2 is that our response should be a whole-hearted, fully-integrated life of worship. Every attitude, thought, word, and deed in our lives ought to be an offering of excellent devotion and pleasing worship to God. His second point in Romans 12:3-8 is that our response should be using the gifts God has given us to bless others and worship Him. Walking in our gifts isn’t only about the people we mightily impact, but also our proper worship of our Heavenly Father in response to His gift of salvation.

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Using the human body as an analogy, Paul explains that every Christian has unique functions in Christ’s Body, the church. God designed and strategically placed each part of our human bodies. Accordingly, God the Father has designed each of us with specific gifts we get to use to worship Him and bless the church and the world around us.

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Paul is a dutiful and masterful Trinitarian in his writings. He’s careful and intentional about what terms he uses when describing the three Persons of the Godhead. Often, Paul will refer to God the Father when using the Greek term theos (God) or pater (Father). In reference to Jesus, Paul will often use kurios (Lord) as well as christos (Christ). Referring to the Holy Spirit, Paul regularly uses the terms hagios pneuma (Holy Spirit) or simply pneuma (Spirit). Though Paul deviates at times from this formula of terms, it’s often his habit to use this language structure to distinguish the functions of the Persons of the Godhead. Why is this important for Romans 12:3-8? The entire section focuses on our response to God the Father’s work. The gifts described in vv. 6-8 are given by the Father. However, the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 are given by Jesus Christ. The gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 are given by the Holy Spirit. There are important distinctions to be made concerning these various gifts from the Persons of the Godhead. Christ’s gifts in Ephesians 4:11 are given to some. Certain scholars call them office gifts or ministry gifts or equipping gifts (etc). They’re given by Christ to a percentage of the church to equip the rest of the church for the work of ministry. The gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 appear to reside in every Spirit-filled believer, but are clearly distributed to each individual only as the Spirit desires. For example, a Spirit-filled Christian can deliver a prophetic word or a word of wisdom only when the Spirit empowers him to do so. What makes the gifts in Romans 12:3-8 unique is twofold. First, these gifts seem to be given by God the Father at conception. A reason for this view is that the gifts are connected to a person’s measure of faith, which is one’s capacity to exercise trust in something or someone. The capacity for faith is observably inherent in all people—a faculty endowed by their Creator in their very makeup as a human. Paul is careful to show that the Ephesians 4:11 gifts are limited to a few persons and that the 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 gifts are limited to the will of the Spirit to meet specific needs with specific gifts in specific situations (i.e., a gift of healing given for an ill person’s rapid recovery). On the other hand, the gifts of Romans 12:3-8 don’t appear to be limited to a few people nor do they appear to operate on the basis of specific circumstances. In 1 Corinthians 12:4, they’re described as energizing activities that have an effect on the holder of the gift as well as the recipient(s) of the gift. That leads to the second facet that makes these gifts unique: they appear to not only be endowed at conception (like one’s faculty of faith), they appear to be a constant energizing factor in our lives. Simply put, they don’t appear to surface at certain times but not at other times any more than would be the case with our faculty of faith/trust. These gifts appear to be characteristics of our God-given psychology, personality, and disposition. They color the way we see the world, they way we respond to situations, and the ways we attempt to help others. We go to bed with these gifts and wake up with them. We don’t consciously try to “be” what these gifts empower us to be any more than a heart tries to pump blood or lungs try to take in air. These gifts simply are a part of our inherent composition and function. Some call these gifts motivational gifts because they influence the motives behind what we do and how we do it when attempting to make a contribution to a given situation. As if it weren’t enough that we’re made in the image of God, we’re also each uniquely endowed with particular characteristics of our Heavenly Father that we are to use to bless others and glorify God!

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In Romans 12:3-8, there are three important words that frame the section: faith, grace, and gifts. As mentioned, faith is one’s faculty for trust. Like a muscle, faith is strengthened through exercise. The more we trust in something or someone trustworthy, the stronger our trust in that something or someone becomes over time. The term grace is most simply understood as a gift of some kind. God’s grace is His gift for every need. For example, salvation is a gift God’s grace. In addition, God gives each of us giftings of grace with which we bless and serve others. This “giftedness” in people is the idea behind Paul’s use of grace in the context of Romans 12:3-8. The Father gives us gifts which we are to exercise in conjunction with our faculty of faith. For instance, if a person has the gift of exhortation (Romans 12:8), he should exercise faith in the power of that gift by regularly using his words to encourage others and stir them to godly action. Finally, the term gifts is derived from the Greek word for grace. The term gifts is the plural Greek noun charisma. A charisma is a gift we freely receive from God to freely give away to others.

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No individual Christian possesses all of the motivational gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8. This is obvious for two reasons. First, one of Paul’s major points in this section is to explain that we are each gifted in a unique and limited way. We need each other. No individual should think of himself more highly than he ought to. This is why the analogy of the human body is so fitting. No one part of the human body can do what the other parts do. No hand can pump blood. No heart can grab a piece of food to put into one’s mouth to eat. The kidneys can’t do what the brain does and vice versa. No one of us is a gifted as all of us. Second, observing human behavior makes it empirically plain to see that we are each uniquely endowed and significantly limited. Every person has obvious strengths and glaring weaknesses. No person in history, other than Jesus, fits the description of possessing and displaying all seven of the gifts in Romans 12:6-8. Empirically, it appears that each individual is strong in two, maybe three, of these gifts. This limited giftedness is for at least a couple of reasons. It makes each individual indispensably valuable. No one can be who you are and do what you do. And, it makes Christians as desperately dependent on one another as the heart is on the brain. The Father has designed us to need one another. If an individual had all the gifts, why would he need any other Christian? By gifting us differently, God makes us interdependent. We not only release the gifts He’s endowed us with as a blessing to others, we receive others’ gifts to us. We learn from each other. God gives you gifts, makes you a gift to others, and makes others gifts to you. Discovering your motivational gifts will help you be who God made you to be, make a massive impact on others through your God-given gifts, and partner with others’ gifts to minister God’s plan and power to the church and the world.