A gift of the Spirit

The Gift of Hospitality

The gift in 1 Peter 4 · 1 Peter 4:9

The gift of hospitality is a Spirit given openness of home and heart that welcomes others, especially strangers and the needy, in the love of Christ. Peter commands the church to use hospitality one to another without grudging, as good stewards of God's grace, and it builds up the whole body by making the love of God tangible.

Use hospitality one to another without grudging.1 Peter 4:9 (KJV)

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.1 Peter 4:10 (KJV)

What the gift is

Peter writes, use hospitality one to another without grudging, and sets it right beside his call to steward God's grace in serving and speaking. The word for hospitality in the New Testament means, literally, love of strangers. It is far more than entertaining friends; it is opening one's home and life to welcome others, including those one does not yet know and those who can give nothing back, in the name of Christ.

The gift of hospitality is a Spirit given readiness and joy in doing this: making room, setting a table, offering shelter and warmth and belonging. Peter adds a searching word, without grudging, for hospitality can be done resentfully, and then it loses its heart. The gift gives gladly, treating each guest as sent by God, and every act of welcome as a stewardship of the manifold grace of God.

How it appears in the New Testament

Hospitality runs all through Scripture. Abraham welcomed three strangers and entertained the Lord unawares; the widow of Zarephath fed the prophet from her last handful of meal. Jesus was often a guest, in the home of Martha and Mary, at Zacchaeus's table, and He taught His people to invite the poor, the maimed, and the blind, who cannot repay, promising they would be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

The early church lived in one another's homes, breaking bread from house to house. Paul lists being given to hospitality among the marks of a true believer and a qualification for elders. Whole missions depended on open doors, and the letters urge the church to use hospitality and to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Gaius and Lydia and many others are remembered for the doors they opened to Christ's people.

How it builds up the body of Christ

Hospitality knits the body together. Around open tables strangers become family, the lonely find belonging, the traveler and the newcomer are received, and the love the church proclaims is made warm and real. In an age of isolation, a welcoming home preaches the gospel of a God who makes room for us, who Himself prepares a place and spreads a table.

This gift also carries the church's mission. Missionaries, the persecuted, and the poor have always been sustained by those who open their homes, and many have first tasted the love of Christ at a believer's table. Hospitality shown gladly, without grudging, makes the invisible love of God visible, and does it as a stewardship of His grace, for the good of all and the glory of God through Jesus Christ.

How to recognize and use it

Those with this gift love to open their homes, put others at ease, and find joy in welcoming people, especially those on the outside. If that is you, use your gift freely and without grudging, remembering that you welcome Christ in welcoming His people and even in welcoming the stranger. Widen the table beyond your friends to the lonely, the new, and the needy, who cannot repay you, for there the blessing is richest.

And whatever your particular gifts, hospitality is a grace commanded of the whole church. We were welcomed by God while we were strangers and enemies, received into His household by the blood of Christ; and every door we open in His name is an echo of the great welcome we ourselves received.

How this gift points to Christ

The open door of hospitality images the open heart of God, who welcomed us who were once strangers and enemies, and received us into His household through the blood of Christ. Jesus is even now preparing a place and will spread a table for His own, and every believer who opens a door in His name gives the world a taste of that welcome. In receiving the stranger, the lonely, and the poor, the host receives Christ Himself, who said that a welcome given to the least of His is given to Him. So this warm and homely gift preaches the gospel of a God who makes room for sinners, and it points every guest toward the greater feast to come in the house of the Lord.

The more excellent way

Whatever place the gift of Hospitality holds, Paul sets one thing above every gift. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, he says, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I have all knowledge, and all faith, and have not charity, I am nothing. The gifts will one day pass away, but now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; and the greatest of these is charity.

So this gift, like all the rest, is given by one Spirit for the common good, to build up the one body of Christ, and it is nothing at all apart from love. The gifts are not for our standing but for our serving, and they all belong to Him whose body the church is. Use whatever you have been given to love one another, and to point every eye to Jesus, from whom every good gift comes and to whom every gift returns its praise.

The Giver calls you

Every gift of the Spirit comes from the risen Christ and points back to Him. The same Lord who pours out gifts on His church calls you by name to know Him, to be filled with His Spirit, and to take your place in His body. Read the Word, pray, and gather with the family of God on The Living Bread. Free, with no ads, for all people.

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Questions people ask

What is the spiritual gift of hospitality?

It is a Spirit given openness of home and heart that welcomes others, especially strangers and the needy, in the love of Christ. Peter commands the church to use hospitality one to another without grudging (1 Peter 4:9), as good stewards of God's grace.

What does hospitality mean in the Bible?

The New Testament word means, literally, love of strangers. It is far more than entertaining friends; it is opening one's home and life to welcome others, including those who cannot repay, in the name of Christ, and doing it gladly rather than grudgingly.

Is hospitality only for people with the gift?

No. Peter commands hospitality of the whole church, and Paul lists it among the marks of a true believer. Some have a special grace and joy for it, but every Christian is called to welcome others, for we ourselves were welcomed by God while we were strangers.