Deeper ReflectionCHARISMA – GIFT FROM GOD – CAN BE “ETERNAL LIFE”
(Rom 6:23) or spiritual gift (1 Cor 12:4, 7). Celibacy and marriage are also
a
charisma – “gift from God” (1 Cor 7:7). And “if the term can extend to
celibacy and marriage, every person, Christian or not, is a charismatic;
that is, every person has received a gracious gift from God”
19. So, God has
given
charisma to both believers and unbelievers under both the creation
and redemption order. This means “there is
a large diversity of
charismas such as intercession, helping the aged, promoting justice and
equity, breaking the power of evil spirits, practicing a profession, rearing
children, doing theology or physics, witnessing to the great deeds of God,
and propagating ecological balance and global peace”
20.What we can do and like to do as our vocation, and where we work,
should be considered as God’s gift, and thus also God’s calling, for us for
the benefit of others under both the creation and redemption order. This
includes changing of jobs as God leads and guides us. Christian slaves in
New Testament times did not have the liberty to do what they liked. But
they were to work as answering God’s call for them: “the calling in which
he was called” (vv.20-22). If they could “become free”, Paul says, “rather
do that” (v.21) – “Change job!” Whether the Christian slave remained as
a slave, or was freed from being a slave, both are God’s call for him either
way – as “the Lord’s freeman” and “Christ’s slave” (v.22). Central in our
work as God’s call is following Jesus.
19 D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14 (Baker, 1987), 21
20 Henry I. Lederle, Treasures Old And New: Interpretations of “Spirit-baptism” in the Charismatic Renewal Movement
(Hendrickson, 1988), 228 (emphasis is mine)
