The Spiritual Gift of Discernment
If you’ve been reading any of my posts lately you know I’ve been having some fun figuring out what I actually believe about the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. If you haven’t been reading, the long and short of it is the church of my youth was charismatic, I’ve since begun to educate myself on all things pertaining to my faith and that has inevitably led me to a predominantly reformed theology. I’ve been posting my beliefs in hopes that they will help other Christians seeking truth to bridge the gap between a non-theological experience and what the Bible actually says.
Today, I write to share my findings on the spiritual gift of discernment. Though, it’s not typically viewed as one of the miraculous gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 my learning on the subject has revealed that it’s absolutely miraculous, but not in the way I had once thought it was.
A Purely Experiential Account of Discernment
The way the Assemblies of God (Pentecostal) church I grew up in taught me discernment was to say that because I had received the Holy Spirit through my salvation I inherited a buzzer (so-to-say) for the spiritual realm. In other words, I had been given a direct line to the spirit-world and that it would alarm me concerning all things spiritual. With this gift one could simply walk past another person and determine the condition of their heart, one could sense evil spirits in a room, one could sense a person’s specific sin or one could sense that danger was ahead in some way. It came off almost like a hybrid between discernment and foretelling prophecy. I was taught that this gift was not for everyone; that it was similar to the miraculous gift of tongues (glossolalia), healing and foretelling prophecy.
I never learned any of this officially through doctrine or a class, but only my involvement over the eight or so years I spent in that church, the two I spent in youth-leadership and many Bible study discussions with various leaders there.
When I reflect on all the things I picked-up about this alleged gift I remember it almost always being used to sniff out some type of evil and rarely to encourage anything good or holy.
Discernment Redefined
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:12-15, emphasis added)
The promise of a new covenant by God in Jeremiah 31:31-34 was fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20). Christ crucified is the New Covenant superior to the Old Covenant, or what was known as the Mosaic Covenant. The author of Hebrews was warning the people against apostasy. He knew that if the people continued to practice their former beliefs that it would hinder them from maturing in the word of Jesus Christ.
The author also knew that the only way these people were ever going to be able to grow up and discern anything was if they were skilled in the word of righteousness, the Word of God.
Ryan Habbera, in his article Discerning Discernment, describes the “word of righteousness” like this:
It is the message that comes from the righteous One and produces righteousness in those who respond in faith. This message entails the teachings of Christ, His Apostles and Prophets, and the proper view of the Old Testament in light of the coming of the Messiah. In our contemporary context, it is the Scriptures, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments upon which the Holy Spirit has placed His seal. We are called to become “accustomed” to this word spoken through Christ – to become well acquainted with the Scriptures. The way we become accustomed is through the “practice” of engaging the word. This produces the ability to “discern good and evil.”
The Bible is telling us that discernment comes from constant practice in training ourselves by studying the revelation of God that is the Bible. It also tells us that all Christians are called to discernment (1 John 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).
Regeneration
There is a second part to discernment in regeneration. One cannot simply crack a Bible and comprehend spiritual things. This comes only from the miraculous and supernatural regeneration of our hearts and renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:12-16)
In this we now know that the reason we are able to know the Lord, study the Bible and comprehend the spiritual things of God is by the Holy Spirit alone. Regeneration!
John Calvin best sums up this point in But Spiritual Discernment Is Wholly Lost Until We Are Regenerated out of book 2, chapter 2 parts 18-21 of The Institutes of The Christian Religion by saying this:
Let no prating Pelagian here allege that God obviates this rudeness or stupidity, when, by the doctrine of his word, he directs us to a path which we could not have found without a guide. David had the law, comprehending in it all the wisdom that could be desired, and yet not contented with this, he prays, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law,” (Ps. 119: 18.) By this expression, he certainly intimates, that it is like sunrise to the earth when the word of God shines forth; but that men do not derive much benefit from it until he himself, who is for this reason called the Father of lights (James 1: 17,) either gives eyes or opens them; because, whatever is not illuminated by his Spirit is wholly darkness. The Apostles had been duly and amply instructed by the best of teachers. Still, as they wanted the Spirit of truth to complete their education in the very doctrine which they had previously heard, they were ordered to wait for him, (John 14: 26.) If we confess that what we ask of God is lacking to us, and He by the very thing promised intimates our want, no man can hesitate to acknowledge that he is able to understand the mysteries of God, only in so far as illuminated by his grace. He who ascribes to himself more understanding than this, is the blinder for not acknowledging his blindness.
We’re to rely on the Holy Spirit to enable us to supernaturally gain an understanding of what the Scriptures are saying, the revelation that is Scripture; however, we are not to ignorantly rely solely on the Holy Spirit to feed us extra-biblical revelation and knowledge apart from Scripture. The buzzer doesn’t come from a mere feeling, it comes from having studied the holy, sacred Word of God.
As with many of the other gifts I’ve been studying I have not been able to find a biblical explanation for what I was taught growing up. Unfortunately, there’s a reason for that – it doesn’t exist.
While studying discernment I listened to Joshua Harris speak a sermon series called Discernment. I think he did a great job of summing up the grumbling of the twentieth-century church when it comes to the foundational problem of discernment in preaching this:
You may have been influenced by an idea that it’s very popular and it’s very appealing in many ways. It says you know what let’s not get hung up on things like doctrine and theology let’s just live and love Jesus. Now, that sounds good because at times doctrine can seem complicated and theology can seem like you know I don’t want to mess with that I just wanna go live my life for Jesus I just want to experience Jesus I just want to love Jesus. But you see that’s really not true and really not possible because if we’re to be people who are transformed, if we’re to be people who truly know God then we have to know who he truly is. We have to know the doctrine of who Christ is and what Christ has done so that that truth can touch our lives and change our lives. … that starts with our minds being renewed with Truth.
In addition to the below resources there’s a book called The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies. I read the introduction on Google Books, but am looking forward to reading it in its entirety.
Resources
- Discerning Discernment by Ryan Habbena (article)
- Discernment: What It Is (Part 1) by Joshua Harris (sermon series)
- Discernment: What It Requires (Part 2) by Joshua Harris (sermon series)
- But Spiritual Discernment Is Wholly Lost Until We Are Regenerated by John Calvin (book 2, chapter 2 parts 18-21 of The Institutes of The Christian Religion, book)
So, your post suggests that you believe discernment is a wisdom or insight, that comes from being regenerated? And that it is indeed a spiritual gift, but that it also needs to come, through investigating the words of God???
You know, in light of the quote you shared about needing to not just “want to live for Jesus” but needing to understand the doctrine, etc, i heard a great quote today from a podcast i was listening to. I forget the gentleman’s name, but he basically said that the idea that we “don’t really care about doctrine, we just want to love Jesus and live for Jesus” is like saying to your spouse…
“I love you, i don’t want to listen to what your saying, i don’t want to know you deeper, i just love you, and i think being married to you is enough”
An amazing example, of why it is important!!!
I often times hear, “You know, i am a Christian, but i just don’t know if i believe in (?!?!?) or (!?!?!?), and its not a big deal, because i am still a Christian. I have said this before, but i will say it again…That is such a cheap excuse. Why would we want to “settle” for that??? As if God is not so incredibly amazing, that we cannot find comfort in his truth??
off the subject a little, perhaps, but…thought i would share that.
I believe the Bible says that discernment is the ability to distinguish good from evil through studying Scripture. But that in studying Scripture the Holy Spirit is supernaturally enabling us, a spiritual people, to comprehend spiritual things. This process done over and over is constant training and sharpens our discernment.
All Christians are regenerated, but sometimes our hearts get in the way like the people in Hebrews. They had become “dull of hearing”. They didn’t feel like they needed to learn anything new, they had the ways of the old covenant down and thought that was enough.
The author of Hebrews suggests that these people were in fact Christians, but they were babes in Christ (who was the new covenant), but they knew very little (needing milk) because they had not studied the words of Jesus (solid food) enough to sharpen their discernment. He was basically saying, “Yo, you don’t know anything and that’s very dangerous. Study what Jesus is saying and grow up.”
No, I think what you’re saying is definitely on subject. The author of Hebrews would have said the same thing to those people you hear say those things. Those types of people are easily confused and swayed by bad theology. That’s why they’re always on some emotional roller-coaster with God.
That marriage metaphor is amazing and dead-on! Great stuff!
I agree w/ you here Justin. In one sense, discernment is supernatural because it takes regeneration, a work of the Holy Spirit, to have discernment. An unregenerated person can not use or obtain Christian discernment. However, it is also a spiritual discipline because discernment comes from studying and knowing God’s will as revealed in His Word.
I think that those who view discernment as a fully supernatural thing might suffer a bit from laziness. Not that its intentional, but to believe its a gift that comes from the Holy Spirit negates the idea of studying the Word as our basis for discernment. If the Holy Spirit gives it to us, then there’s no need to study! Christians are always looking for short cuts…but there’s no short cut to picking up your cross and following Christ.
Interesting though…
I have been one of the laziest Christians, for at least most of my life, yet i always could FEEL things, and know when things were wrong or right. I could feel peace in certain people, or the opposite of peace, and know that those people were trouble for me. I always had a sorta wisdom, like when i was growing up, i would see people around me doing things, and saying things, and making choices, that were always pathetic, and i would know that. Before i could put a finger on what that was i felt, i just always thought i was onto something, that nobody else was onto. Or felt like i was special or something. I don’t feel this way now, of course, but growing up, it was always confusing that i could make good choices, even through the roughest patches of my life, and always proclaim that Jesus was Lord of my life. On my most tempted day, i would never truly break, or give up. I always felt like I had some gift of knowing and feeling a deeper sense of right. That feeling of, what i guess is some sort of wisdom that I have been blessed with, is still very much in me now. I have a BULLS*** meter, that is so dead on, and can sense mediocrity in almost any case, and sometimes when i do not know, specifically, what is “wrong with the picture” i always know that something IS wrong.
Kinda like the time i was going to a non-denominational church, that was being run by someone who was…..a bit off.
He was doing all of these things that are biblically, unfounded. I didn’t know this, on a biblical sense. I just felt like that voice in my head that would always explain right from wrong, was saying to me “This isn’t right. This shouldn’t be THIS way, it should be THAT way”
Then, later down the road, it would be confronted, biblically, by someone else, who does their homework, and i sit and think to myself “You knew that, without learning it”
Its stuff like that, that i always call discernment…but…i don’t know what to say…
sure, as a child, i thought i was special. I don’t think that way anymore…but i know its something from the Lord, that is in me, that kept me from being like my peers. I know that a vast majority of people around me DIDN’T have this signal, like i did. And i surrounded myself with people, who seemed to have this signal. I had a few friends in my time that knew this internal voice.
Do you think that my experiences can, or are explained through this article???
Because, i seriously do not feel comfortable in thinking or saying that I was just a really bright miracle of a person, who, without God’s direction, knew his direction, without even reading or studying his word.
That seems pretty freaking crazy to me!!! And i do not believe that, i have always thought of this stuff as “discernment” and, whatever it is, i still have it today!!!
and i hope i didn’t sound like a bragger or cocky or something. I am just trying to explain how i felt growing up, which btw, was very confusing (growing up, in a pretty regular all American non-denom church)
I am in no way implying that im great or anything, im just trying to know what it is that guides me, i believe it is God, but how could he have guided me, if i was not TRYING, and all my attempts to be guided were typical, underage, “scared of that place called HELL, that sunday school taught me about” Its like, God directly put his hand on me and said “You will know” Weird, if it is not discernment, what is it???
One more thing…
I also struggled with, as a child, all the way to present day as i type this, with feeling like i was NOT normal, also because I said i believed the bible, but i never read it, and when i would, i would never understand it, and everyone was talking about the bible, around me, but nobody knew it, and i went to church, but never understood what was being said, and people would read great books, by great people, and i wouldn’t, and i would secretly buy books that people would talk about, and i would start to read them, so i could feel like i could fit in, and i never could wrap my brain around any of it. Then i would hear people say “If you do not know how to read the bible, just open it and read the first thing you read, it will apply to whatever your looking for” I would do this, and it would feel like reading a fortune cookie. If you try really hard to adapt a fortune, than you can convince yourself that you were meant to read this great wise thing!!! People would often say “Just read your bible, you’ll be fine” but i had a major problem reading, and i still do. When i read, i spend too much time processing the info, and not actually hearing what is being said, and so i can read, fast, like normal, or slow if i feel i should, and i am either distracted, or i read it, and then literally draw a blank like “What did i just read, i cannot even remember and i JUST read it”
its really bad, but maybe God knew i struggled with some of this mental stuff, and just put an understanding in me, anyway???
“it was always confusing that i could make good choices, even through the roughest patches of my life, and always proclaim that Jesus was Lord of my life.”
Dude that’s the result of Christ in you. Its not a “spiritual gift of discernment”, its the sanctification that comes from being justified in Christ. Again, its the result of being regenerated.
Stephen, this is tough, man. I think we can all relate to how you felt special, this is ourselves we’re talking about here – who else’s feelings of “what are we going to do with our lives” did we actually care about apart from our own? Also, it’s not uncommon for every adult on earth to say something like “you’re such a special person” or “you’re smarter than you think” or “you’re so talented” or some other random encouragement to try and drum up a confidence in us.
I’m not saying this to discount these things in you, I would say we all share in these great things differently. After all, we are image bearers of God!
Whatever wisdom that was imparted to you is definitely a result of God whether it’s pure common sense or a little more wisdom than the next person. We all have varying levels of attributes that make us unique.
But if I were to say “I’m wiser than other people”, I would be a fool because there’s no way for me to know that for sure and also I’ve expressed how vastly arrogant I am in comparison to my vast, alleged wisdom.
If we take a book like Calvin’s Institutes or Grudem’s Systematic Theology, and one could have somehow gained that wisdom apart from reading, but cannot account for this knowledge through Scripture as the author’s are able to, then I would be forced to argue that they really don’t know anything at all.
Spiritual knowledge apart from Scripture does not exist. One cannot go around simply calling themselves a Christian, but not knowing what that means, and having their discernment be sharp as a knife. According to the author of Hebrews that’s not possible.
One could hear the basic principles of Covenant Theology and think they make more sense than Dispensational Theology, but I don’t think that’s due to discernment (because discernment implies study) – I think that’s due to one’s own personal bias wherever that would be coming from. It’s certainly not discernment unless they know God’s Word concerning the two issues.
There was a Christian woman who thought her Christian husband was cheating on her. He swore he wasn’t. They went to marriage counseling and it was discovered that in fact he was not cheating on her. She was wrong.
If the woman had said it was her discernment that led her to believe her husband was cheating on her would that be acceptable to you? Even if this woman was right, it would have not been discernment.
The next time our bullshit meters go off, we should be forced to say aloud the Scripture that led us to our conclusion. That’s discernment! Otherwise, we just think we know. And there’s a 50% chance we’re right about anything.
You say i should know, when my bullshit meter goes off, the verses that explain why i know my bullshit meter goes off…but it worked, without scripture. God had guided me. I wasn’t very clear, apparently, because your response is explaining the very things i had feared you were going to say, and that is why i was trying to be careful not to sound like i was boasting, which i wasn’t, that was far from my point, i was just pointing out that something was guiding me, while i was completely lost and cloudy, and only knew Jesus by name. No bible, no nothing.
I should also point out that, when i said, i seemed to make better choices, that was a really bad example, because what i am really trying to say goes much deeper. What i am trying to say is, i was surrounded by Christians, who seemed to know very little of what they were believing, doing, knowing, saying, feeling…
I understood the whole “Dont be angry with God, be angry at those who pervert his authority” before i EVER heard about it through sermons, or smart reformed men of God, or before it was cool and punk rock to be the “church for the churchless”.
Its funny, because Andy says a lot to me like “Your not as dumb as you say you are, you seem to understand a lot”
If that is true, than my point stands, because almost NONE of what i say, comes from a studied perspective, but this gut feeling that i am trying and failing so badly to explain…..ehhh, i just think some piece to the puzzle, is missing here…or are we having a communication problem???
I think you’re missing something from your past Stephen that had a bigger influence on you than you realize. The thing you have to remember Stephen is that, despite how effed up the Christian school was that you went to, or how effed up your family may be, or how effed up the churches you went to as a child were, you still heard the Scriptures. True, they may not have been preached or taught correctly, but that doesn’t strip the living Word of God of its power.
If you could say you were a Christian even back then, then surely you had SOME kind of exposure to the Bible. You knew Noah, Jonah, and certainly Jesus even if you didn’t fully comprehend what was going on or weren’t being taught the rich doctrines behind those stories. You still heard the Word of God and there is power in that. What you say may come from a gut feeling, but don’t brush off what influences your “gut reaction”. You were still regenerated, you were still exposed to the Word of God, and that’s where you have to realize your understanding really came from. It came from the regenerating work of the Spirit, having Christ dwell in and with you, hearing His LIVING WORD. You may not have been “studying”, but you were even from a young age hiding His Word in your heart.
Andy, i want to get behind what you say 100% because outside of my interpretation of some sort of “internal intuition” or as we called it before, discernment…then i still have a problem with the other confessing Christians who not only “seemed” to be missing what i had, but just flat out didn’t have it!!!! They had a vague Christian upbringing, they went to church, like i did. They did the same things. Why was I so divinely cared for, while so many around me were not?
How could my family raise me to be a Christian, their version, and i turn out understanding things way beyond their comprehension, meanwhile my family has SO MUCH insanity and disfunction, etc?!?!?!
How did i get by???? Did discernment have no part???
Maybe, I don’t know. I would count it more for grace though. Just don’t ask me why God showed you grace in this area and not others, ’cause you know I got no answer for that!
No, I definitely don’t think biblical discernment had a part in what you’re describing. But I suppose God could have blessed you with wisdom far superior to anyone around you, but even the wisest man in the Bible, Solomon, had to go before God and ask for what he was given.
I don’t think it’s discernment, wisdom or intuition. I think you made a decision to leave yourself open to comprehension where others had made themselves dull of hearing. And for that the Holy Spirit has been able to work in you in a way that others have stopped him from working in them. It doesn’t mean other people aren’t Christians, it means they have some hang-up that’s disabling them from accessing all that God has to offer them (just like the people in Hebrews).
But there is a catch though. There are areas of all of our lives where we would appear to be extremely ignorant compared to those people we think just don’t get it. No one escapes that truth. It’s very easy for us to be caught up in our own selfishness thinking that we have understood certain things all along where others have not. We’ve all had trouble concerning certain subjects pertaining to Christianity (e.g. infant election, discernment, etc.). Could someone who completely understood them not have said the same thing about us that we are saying about other people now?
I don’t see how you were different than anyone else personally; no offense. The same goes for myself. I was never raised by Christian parents. It was only by God drawing me to himself through Jesus that I was able to find any sort of path. From a very young age I never cut myself off to what the Bible was saying. I’ve always tried to study and leave myself open to allow the Holy Spirit to do his regenerating work in me. I think the same is true for all of us.