Aligning Unique Skills and Interests with Biblical Needs
The Bible indicates that individuals are endowed with diverse skills and interests, which can be consecrated for divine purposes. The construction of the Tabernacle, for instance, required specific craftsmanship, and the Lord filled certain individuals, like Bezaleel and Aholiab, "with the spirit of wisdom" to execute the intricate work of making priestly garments and other sacred objects [9, 4]. This suggests a divine gifting for particular tasks, enabling individuals to contribute their unique abilities to God's service.
The concept of aligning one's skills and interests with biblical needs extends beyond mere technical aptitude. It encompasses a broader understanding of how God equips individuals for various forms of service within the community of faith. John Gill, commenting on Exodus, notes that the "wise hearted" were those with knowledge and understanding in mechanic arts, particularly in garment making, implying that these skills were essential for the Tabernacle's construction [9]. Furthermore, the willingness of the people to contribute their offerings for "all manner of work" demonstrates a cheerful and voluntary spirit in serving the Lord [8].
Theological traditions have explored the nature of these gifts and their application. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, observes that while human nature is "despoiled of the true good," the Lord still leaves many gifts in its possession. He points to the example of Bezaleel and Aholiab, whose skill and knowledge for constructing the Tabernacle were imparted by the Spirit of God, indicating that even secular skills can be divinely bestowed for the common benefit of mankind [4]. This perspective suggests that all human capacities, whether intellectual, artistic, or practical, can be seen as potential instruments for God's work.
Charles Hodge, in his Systematic Theology, discusses the progressive nature of theological knowledge and spiritual growth, noting that believers grow in their understanding of the Bible and in the "clearness, order, and harmony of their knowledge" [2]. This intellectual development can be seen as a way in which individuals refine their abilities to serve the church, whether through teaching, study, or other forms of ministry. Hodge also emphasizes that the Holy Spirit illuminates the mind, enabling believers to apprehend the "truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed" in God's Word [1]. This illumination is not a revelation of new truths but an enhancement of understanding, allowing individuals to apply their intellect more effectively to biblical matters [1].
The patristic tradition also recognized the importance of discerning and utilizing one's abilities. Augustine, in City of God, Christian Doctrine, advises "studious and able young men" who fear God to carefully discriminate among various branches of learning. He encourages them not to heedlessly pursue secular studies as if these alone could secure happiness, but to soberly consider how such knowledge might be integrated with Christian truth [3]. This suggests a need for intentionality in aligning intellectual pursuits with spiritual goals. Tertullian, in a similar vein, contrasts the "wise men among the Greeks" who focus on "mere elegances of style" with the prophets and disciples of Jesus who prioritize the substance of truth over rhetorical flourish [7]. This highlights a distinction between skills used for worldly acclaim and those dedicated to conveying divine revelation.
The concept of individual volition and agency is also relevant. John of Damascus, in An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, discusses the two natural wills and energies of Christ, emphasizing that it is "one and the same person who wills and energises naturally in both natures" [5]. While this refers to Christ's divine and human natures, it underscores the idea of a unified person acting through their inherent capacities. Similarly, Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, discusses the knowledge imprinted on Christ's soul, noting that it is "connatural to a human soul to receive species of a lesser universality than the angels receive," implying a human mode of understanding that involves different habits of knowledge for different specific natures [6]. This scholastic perspective acknowledges the distinct ways human intellect operates and acquires knowledge, which can be directed towards understanding and serving biblical needs.
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 9: by God in His Word ( 1 Cor. ii. 10-16 ). It is not, therefore, a revelation of new truths, but an illumination of the mind, so that it apprehends the truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed. And second, 16 This experience is depicted in the Word of God. The Bible gives us not only the facts concerning God, and Christ, ourselves, and our relations to our Maker and Redeemer, but also records the legitimate effects of those truths on the minds of believers. So that we cannot appeal to our own feelings or inward experience, as ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 37: effected by a continual and gradual progress. The same progress has taken place in theological knowledge. Every believer is conscious of such progress in his own experience. When he was a child, he thought as a child. As he grew in years, he grew in knowledge of the Bible. He increased not only in the compass, but in the clearness, order, and harmony of his knowledge. This is just as true of the Church collectively as of the individual Christian. It is, in the first place, natural, if not inevitable, that it should be so. The Bible, altho”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 39.--TO WHICH OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED STUDIES ATTENTION SHOULD BE GIVEN, AND IN WHAT SPIRIT. (part 1): 58. Accordingly, I think that it is well to warn studious and able young men, who fear God and are seeking for happiness of life, not to venture heedlessly upon the pursuit of the branches of learning that are in vogue beyond the pale of the Church of Christ, as if these could secure for them the happiness they seek; but soberly and carefully to discriminate among them. And if they find any of those which have been instituted by ”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 38: are so acute and clear-sighted in the investigation of inferior things, their example should teach us how many gifts the Lord has left in possession of human nature, notwithstanding of its having been despoiled of the true good. 16. Moreover, let us not forget that there are most excellent blessings which the Divine Spirit dispenses to whom he will for the common benefit of mankind. For if the skill and knowledge required for the construction of the Tabernacle behaved to be imparted to Bezaleel and Aholiab, by the Spirit of God ( E”
- CCEL (Eastern Orthodox) “John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, section 60: Chapter XIV .— Concerning the volitions and free-will of our Lord Jesus Christ. Since, then, Christ has two natures, we hold that He has also two natural wills and two natural energies. But since His two natures have one subsistence, we hold that it is one and the same person who wills and energises naturally in both natures, of which, and in which, and also which is Christ our Lord: and moreover that He wills and energises without separation but as a united whole. For He wills and energises in either form in close commun”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Third Part (Tertia Pars), Of the Knowledge Imprinted or Infused on the Soul of Christ, Art. 6: Article: Whether this knowledge was distinguished by divers habits? I answer that, As stated above (Articles [4],5), the knowledge imprinted on Christ's soul has a mode connatural to a human soul. Now it is connatural to a human soul to receive species of a lesser universality than the angels receive; so that it knows different specific natures by different intelligible species. But it so happens that we have different habits of knowledge, because there are different classe”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. LX. (part 1): Now, after understanding this illustration, we have to apply it to the qualities of spiritual food with which the rational part of man is nourished. See, then, if Plato and the wise men among the Greeks, in the beautiful things they say, are not like those physicians who confine their attentions to what are called the better classes of society, and despise the multitude; whereas the prophets among the Jews, and the disciples of Jesus, who despise mere elegances of style, and what is called in Scripture "the wisdo”
- Exodus (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Exodus 35:28: The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord,.... What they did, whether more or less, they did it cheerfully and willingly, as to the Lord, for his service and glory: every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses: See Gill on Exo 35:21 and as there were work and service of God's appointment to be done in the legal tabernacle, so there are in the Gospel church; such as prayer, praise, preaching, and hearing the word, and the administration of ordina”
- Exodus (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Exodus 28:3: And thou shall speak unto all that are wise hearted,.... That have knowledge and understanding in mechanic arts, particularly in making garments; and it required men of more than ordinary skill to be employed in making these, because they were uncommon ones, and required a good deal of thought and judgment, and care and application, to make them exactly as they should be: whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom; for besides a common understanding of things, these required a peculiar gift from God, which some men, as Bezaleel and Aholiab had: that they may mak”