What is the Difference Between Ministry Gifts and Spiritual Gifts?

We already know that God has given us everything we need for "life and godliness”--2 Peter 1:3. And believers and church leaders often wonder what it takes to grow their church – by the numbers, that is. God took care of giving us what we need for our individual spiritual growth, but is there anything he has done for the group? Don’t sell God short–of course He has. God has given the church everything it needs for its health and growth. The Holy Spirit is the giver of both ministry and spiritual gifts indeed. This article will define, compare, and contrast them, starting with scripture.

First, let's look at the pertinent passages from the Bible.

Ministry Gifts

Ephesians 4:11-16:

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead of speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.16 From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.”

Spiritual Gifts

 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11, 26-26 (emphasis added)”

“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers, and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed... There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

Purpose: Ministry Gifts vs Spiritual Gifts

The answer is plainly seen in the text above:

• the ministry gifts are given to "build up the church" –Ephesians 4:12 

• the spiritual gifts are given "for the common good.” –1 Corinthians 12:7 

The Ministry Gifts Are Given:

1. until we all reach unity in the faith 
2. and in the knowledge of the Son of God 
3. and become mature, 
4. attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ
   (Ephesians 4:13)

The Spiritual Gifts Are Given:

1. so that there should be no division in the body, 
2. but that its parts should have equal concern for each other
   (1 Corinthians 12:26)

So both ministry gifts and spiritual gifts are given by God's grace to the body of Christ to build up the church and for the common good. These God-given abilities are given to ensure the health and well-being of the church and to serve other believers in the body of Christ to build unity and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and maturity. Just like the individual life of the believer, God has given the church everything it needs for growth, unity, and maturity.

Comparing Origins: Ministry Gifts vs Spiritual Gifts

Ministry Gifts

Where do both of these gifts come from? The apostle Paul says that Ministry Gifts are given by "Christ Himself." And he says that Spiritual Gifts are "distributed" by the "Holy Spirit." In one sense because the second half of the word "trinity" means "unity." We are talking about the same divine being: God. Elsewhere in God's word, it says that Christ lives within us. So this must be a spiritual indwelling of Jesus Christ in the believer.

There is another way that Christ is in the body. Christ is the incarnation of God. This means that God decided to become a flesh and blood person to live, die, rise from the dead, and ascend back to heaven to save humanity from sin. So when the Church–who is made up of real flesh and blood people–obey God and serve God by living into their gifts Christ's purpose is incarnated (made real in the real world to real people) in the Church. The body of Christ is the hands and feet of Christ, with Christ (currently seated at the right hand of the Father) as the head.

In Ephesians 4, the Ministry Gifts coming from Christ shouldn't be seen or viewed as weird. Christ lives within us and as we live out the Ministry Gifts that he has given us the Church will grow both in numbers and in maturity. Just like a real body grows up and goes from being a tiny baby to a fully grown and mature human being, so the body of Christ is growing from its infancy to maturity.

Spiritual Gifts

So what about Spiritual Gifts? We state above that these gifts come from the Holy Spirit. To try to grasp the difference between ministry gifts and spiritual gifts we are going to need to go back a ways, back to the Old Testament.

The Old Testament time (before the incarnation of Christ that we talked about above) was different, to put it bluntly. The Holy Spirit "came upon" or was "poured out upon" certain individuals for a moment to bring Glory to God in a particular moment in a particular way. Many of these manifestation gifts were momentary and individual and generally had something to do with speaking (e.g,. Numbers 11:23-29). These people were generally kings, judges, or prophets.

Before the beginning of the New Testament time, the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied that every future person who was  a part of God were to be called saints and would receive kinds of spiritual gifts. The specific prophecy of Joel 2 is an utterly remarkable vision of what it would look like if God's Spirit was "poured out" on every believer:

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”
–Joel 2:28-32 (emphasis added)

Notice that the prophecy immediately moves from components such as prophecy, dreams, and visions to calling on the name of the Lord and being saved. Simply put: the Holy Spirit gifts lead to salvation and deliverance. The other critical thing about this verse is that the Holy Spirit is poured out on all people. Just like in 1 Corinthians (and Ephesians chapter 3), the Holy Spirit unifies rather than fragments his people.

On to the New Testament. Acts 2 is the clear fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel 2. Peter even quotes Joel's prophecy in his sermon on Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians a clear continuation of God's Word delivered through the prophets when he pristinely stated that the manifestation gifts of the Spirit for the saints was specifically to bring unity (same as the prophets) and many (but not all) of the gifts that he mentions are related to speaking (either explicitly or implicitly).

Function: Ministry Gifts vs Spiritual Gifts

Let us look at the difference between ministry gifts and spiritual gifts by seeing if we can pick up anything about how the two function. Let's start by pulling out a couple of definitions.

Spiritual gifts are special abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world. 

Ministry gifts are gifts given for the proper functioning of the church. One way of saying this is to say that the ministry gifts could be considered offices or official positions in the church.

Both of these definitions are partial and provisional, of course, but they give us something to chew on. You should know that these definitions are a bit controversial. For example, the five-fold ministry gifts in Ephesians 4 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) seem to have support in the early church while two of these are offices (prophet and teacher), while the other three are not. 

But if Paul put them all in one list then did the early church misunderstand him, or have we moderns misunderstand him? This is just one tiny example of the difficult interpretative issues around Ephesians 4. In any case, Christians in churches all over the world have settled on both sides. You can see this in churches with a "five-fold" ministry doctrinal statement (generally, Charismatics are of this group). A church with this in its doctrinal statement sees these gifts as an office and will organize themselves around that idea.

When (not if) God fulfills His word, we must be faithful with the gifts he has given us. We glorify God when we desire spiritual gifts, have faith that we will receive them, and are faithful to steward them. So, believe the Bible when it says that God will accomplish the mission of God through his believers by giving them gifts that glorify God by spreading the gospel and build up His church.

Some Christians see these manifestation gifts simply as different gifts (spiritual gifts) that are not different or separate gifts from the spiritual gifts. This means that these Christians organize themselves around different principles. 

In summary, the function of both spiritual gifts and ministry gifts seems to be to edify the church and advance the church. One has been interpreted as an office (ministry gifts) and the other has been interpreted as an ad hoc tool of the Holy Spirit (spiritual gifts).

Are Ministry Gifts and Spiritual Gifts the Same Thing?

To wrap up this matter: The purpose of ministry and spiritual gifts are similar (shaded differences) with both serving the purpose of building up the church by spreading the gospel and building up the faith of believers.
The origin of ministry gifts is Christ.
The origin of spiritual gifts is the Holy Spirit.
The Bible and first-century believers are not clear about the intended function of the Ephesians 4 ministry gifts (office or simply ad hoc). Believers seem to have achieved consensus on the idea that the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians are more ad hoc. 

How Do I Know Which Type of Gift I Have?

On the one hand, this question is seemingly moot. If the Holy Spirit gives grace to believers "as He will," and if the grace that he gives to believers for the spiritual gifts is ad hoc then the gift that you have will be based on the giver of the gifts rather than the conduit of the gifts. Believers should be grateful for the grace that God gives (spiritual gifts) to accomplish His work. 

Earnestly Desire Ministry Gifts and Spiritual Gifts

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12 to "earnestly desire" these gifts. So it is right and holy for believers to desire and seek after the supernatural ability to see God's work done in the world and his church. 

However, the focus of the gifts should be on maintaining a good relationship with God and being available to be good stewards of the gifts that God gives. Don’t allow your focus to be on being the center of attention while you use your gift. When you are available to work for God he will be certain to give you the gifts needed to speak the words that need to be spoken and do the deeds that need to be done. If you love others as you love yourself then you can be certain that God also does and will give you the gifts you need to build up the life of fellow believers! The Bible also says that a Christian should earnestly seek to serve in a ministry gift.

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Have Great Faith That God Will Give the Gifts

Ending with a desire for gifts to serve God is one thing. Having faith that God will bring glory to Himself is another. Sometimes a Christian will shy away from the word faith. But wanting something isn't the same thing as faith. Let's experiment with logic:

• If God wants the gospel to spread,
• And the Bible says that gifts are for spreading knowledge of the word,
• And the Bible says that gifts are for building each other up,
• And if God has chosen to use an individual Christian to speak for God's glory,
• Then God will give gifts by grace to accomplish his work,
• Then He will give gifts

This is faith. It is the substance of things hoped for. Desire is good. We should desire the gifts but we have faith that God will help us serve Him. Said differently we can trust in the soundness of the thing hoped for. Or again, we have knowledge based on sound understanding that God will fulfill what we find in His word. 

Be Good Stewards of God's Manifold Grace

When (not if) God fulfills His word we must be faithful with the gifts he has given us. We glorify God when we desire spiritual gifts, have faith that we will receive spiritual gifts, and are faithful to steward spiritual gifts. So, believe the Bible when it says that God will accomplish the mission of God through his believers by giving them gifts that glorify God by spreading the gospel and building up the church.

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