Concrete Gifts of Grace for Spiritual People in a Developing Church: An Exegetical Study of the Noun χάρισμα (chárisma) in First Corinthians

Abstract

This article on First Corinthians 12 examines the meaning of the noun chárisma, best translated as a “particular gift of grace”, in relation to the divine cháris “grace” at work in the lives of the Corinthian believers for the edification of their developing church. This significant topic, so central to the apostle Paul’s understanding of the Holy Spirit at work in the struggling community at Corinth, still has many insights to offer the globalized Church of our day. First, it presents a general overview of the importance of the charísmata by means of a brief lexical study of the noun and its various occurrences in the NT. Second, it then focuses specifically on the First Letter to the Corinthians. The author begins by examining the dynamically growing church of the Corinthians as a particular Christian community under construction, yet one also marked by many divisions and pastoral challenges. He then proposes a quick reading of the two most relevant biblical passages, 1Cor 12:1-11 and 12:28-31. Third, this article proposes various concluding reflections on the importance of the particular gifts of grace in First Corinthians, both then and now. The Second Vatican Council underscores the significant role of charísmata in the Church, specifically in paragraph 12 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). Pope Francis’s and Pope Leo XIV’s ongoing call for a more united, solidary and synodal Church clearly finds its foundation in the teaching of the Apostle to the Gentiles, especially as articulated in First Corinthians 12.