Peter now adds a word or two about the gifts of individual Christians and how they should be used. The idea of Christians receiving special endowments from God in order to serve the Christian community is found in many parts of the Pauline letters (for example, Rom 12.3-8; 1 Cor 12-14; especially 12.4-11, 27-31), although there these gifts are talked about as gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Christian community. Peter, however, makes no mention of the Holy Spirit, but refers to God as the direct source of these special endowments. As the Revised Standard Version shows, the verse starts with “As each has received a gift.” Two remarks should be made about this. First, since it is clear that God is the source of the gift, the Good News Translation has made this implicit information explicit (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the gift that God gave him”). Secondly, some commentators understand “gift” here to refer to money, thus connecting it with the subject of hospitality mentioned in verse 9. It is more probable, however, that verse 10 should be related to what follows, in which “gift” here refers to any special endowment which is given by God to the believer. This gift must be used for the good of others. The same idea appears in 1 Corinthians 12.7. This is so because the Christian is a manager of God’s different gifts. The word for manager is often translated “steward.” A steward, in Greek culture at that time, was a slave who managed the household affairs of his master (compare Luke 12.42; 16.1-8). To be a steward of God’s gifts therefore means that none of these endowments are for the believer’s own enjoyment and benefit; on the contrary, they are given to him to enable him to serve his fellow believers much better. God’s different gifts is literally “the diverse grace of God.” For “grace,” see 1.2. It is very likely that “grace” (Greek charis) is used here as a synonym for “gift” (Greek charismata). For different, see 1.6. “Stewards” is plural in the Greek, which accents the fact that all Christians are entrusted with this task; the Good News Translation uses the singular form to conform to the demands of English formal grammar, without sacrificing the intent of the original text.
Each one must often be rendered as “each of you.”
As a good manager of God’s different gifts must be rendered as a conditional clause in some languages, for example, “if you are to be a good manager of God’s different gifts.” The problem is that each person is required to use correctly the special gift which he has received from God, but the statement a good manager of God’s different gifts would seem to suggest either that each person is to have a number of gifts or that each person is to act as a manager of other people’s gifts. In reality, however, the meaning is that each person is to be a good manager or responsible person with respect to his own gift, and that together the Christian community acts responsibly with respect to all the gifts. The proper meaning may be indicated in some languages by translating “as a good manager of God’s gifts, which are different for each person.”
A good manager may be rendered as “one who manages well” or “one who uses well” or “… properly.” God’s … gifts may be expressed as “what God has given to each one.”
Must use for the good of others may be expressed as “must use in order to help others.”
The special gift must not be translated in such a way as to suggest that the gift in question is better or more important. It is only that it is “the particular gift which each has received from God” or “… which God has given to each person.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .