StrongerBible

charisma

χάρισμα

GreekG5486gift, spiritual gift

Appears 17 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Rom 1:11Rom 5:15Rom 5:16Rom 6:23Rom 11:29Rom 12:61Co 1:71Co 7:71Co 12:41Co 12:91Co 12:281Co 12:301Co 12:312Co 1:111Ti 4:142Ti 1:61Pe 4:10
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradeKHAR-iss-mahnoun

What charisma means

a gift of grace: God's grace made concrete in a particular person, moment, or community

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This word is built directly on the Greek word for grace, with an ending that turns it into the noun for the result of an action. So if grace is God's free favor, this word is that favor made concrete: grace that has actually landed somewhere, taken a specific shape, and done something. It is almost entirely a word of the apostle Paul. He uses it sixteen times, with one more use in 1 Peter, and in doing so he effectively created its meaning, because the word was rare and barely used in the Greek of his day.

What looks at first like a scattered range of uses is held together by that one idea. Paul can call the whole of salvation a gift of grace, Israel's standing covenant promises a gift of grace, his own rescue from danger a gift of grace, a person's calling to singleness or marriage a gift of grace, and the abilities and roles God hands out in a church a gift of grace. The common thread is never the kind of thing given, but its source and its concreteness: each one is God's grace showing up in a definite form.

The senses below sort those uses by setting, from the largest (salvation itself) down to the everyday gifts at work in a gathered congregation. They are shades of one meaning, not separate words: a reader can use the plain word gift throughout and let the context fill in the rest.

One caution worth flagging up front: the modern word charisma, meaning a magnetic personality, comes from this Greek word but carries almost the opposite weight. That sense was coined much later and reads a star quality into a word that points away from impressive individuals and toward grace freely given to ordinary people.

Nuances

1asalvation itself: the saving gift God gives in Christ, supremely eternal life
Rom 5:15Rom 5:16Rom 6:23
1bIsrael's covenant blessings: the promises and privileges God gave Israel and will not take back
Rom 11:29
1ca particular rescue: a specific deliverance God grants, here an escape from deadly danger
2Co 1:11
1da way of life God enables: a calling such as singleness or marriage, given as a gift
1Co 7:7
1eequipping for ministry: a gift entrusted to a person for service in the church, recognized when others lay hands on them
1Ti 4:142Ti 1:6
1fgifts in the church: the varied abilities and roles God's Spirit hands out to believers to build up the gathered community
Rom 1:11Rom 12:61Co 1:71Co 12:41Co 12:91Co 12:281Co 12:301Co 12:311Pe 4:10

What scholars say about charisma

There is a strong scholarly consensus that χάρισμα is materially a Pauline concept (Conzelmann, TDNT IX). Morphologically it is the -μα result-noun of χάρις, denoting the concrete actualization of grace (Spicq; Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit; Nardoni, CBQ 55 [1993]: gift is a result of grace, not a synonym for it). The word is strikingly rare before Paul: absent from the critical LXX text (Rahlfs-Hanhart), appearing only as late variants (Sir 7:33 v.l. in Sinaiticus); the chief pre-Christian witnesses are Philo, Leg. All. 3.78 and Alciphron 3.17.4, with Josephus not using it at all (Harrison, Paul's Language of Grace, WUNT 2/172, who argues χάρις and χάρισμα are not interchangeable). BDAG distinguishes a broad sense of divine beneficence from the narrower Spirit-gift use; Louw-Nida (§57.84) declines to make spiritual gift a separate sense, supplying it from context. Käsemann, Dunn, Fee, and Thiselton hold that one core idea (grace concretized, often as event) unifies the range. The modern sociological sense derives from Weber's borrowing via Sohm and distorts the NT term (Dunn).

Where scholars disagree about charisma

Whether the χαρίσματα of the Pauline lists are best understood as God-given abilities or as ministries and assignments (roles).

  • contestedThey are abilities, special capacities given by the Spirit (the conventional view, prominent in Pentecostal and charismatic interpretation).; G. D. Fee, God's Empowering Presence (1994)
  • contestedThey are ministries and assignments; χάρισμα does not lexically mean a special ability, and Paul's lists are lists of ministry-roles.; K. Berding, What Are Spiritual Gifts? Rethinking the Conventional View (2006); E. Nardoni, The Concept of Charism in Paul, CBQ 55 (1993): 68-80

Whether the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6) tie the gift to ordained office, marking a routinization of Paul's earlier charismatic vision, or stand in continuity with it.

  • minorityThe Pastorals show an early routinization in which charisma becomes attached to office, a decline from Paul's charismatic conception.; E. Kasemann, Ministry and Community in the New Testament, in Essays on New Testament Themes (1964); J. D. G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit (1975)
  • majorityThe laying on of hands recognizes a gift God has already granted rather than transferring it; the Pastorals continue Paul's vision and call for active stewardship of the gift.; I. H. Marshall and P. H. Towner, The Pastoral Epistles, ICC; W. D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, WBC
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG, 3rd ed. (2000), s.v. χάρισμα, p. 1081lexicon
  • H. Conzelmann and W. Zimmerli, χάρις κτλ., TDNT IXdictionary
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the NT Based on Semantic Domains, §57.84lexicon
  • C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. χάρισμαlexicon
  • J. D. G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit (1975)monograph
  • G. D. Fee, God's Empowering Presence (1994)monograph
  • E. Nardoni, The Concept of Charism in Paul, CBQ 55 (1993): 68-80article
  • J. R. Harrison, Paul's Language of Grace in its Graeco-Roman Context, WUNT 2/172 (2003)monograph
  • C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans, ICCcommentary
  • A. C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTCcommentary

All attested forms of χάρισμα

accusative n p

χαρίσματα

Rom 12:6, 1Co 12:28, 1Co 12:30, 1Co 12:31

accusative n s

χάρισμα

Rom 1:11, 1Co 7:7, 2Ti 1:6, 1Pe 4:10

nominative n s

χάρισμα

Rom 5:15, Rom 5:16, Rom 6:23, 2Co 1:11

nominative n p

χαρίσματα

Rom 11:29, 1Co 12:9

dative n s

χαρίσματι

1Co 1:7

genitive n p

χαρισμάτων

1Co 12:4

genitive n s

χαρίσματος

1Ti 4:14