Understanding Spiritual Gifts: The Role of Discernment
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
A reader had asked me a question, my response focuses on the significance of the spiritual gift of discernment within the church. This gift helps identify and warn against false teachers, which is crucial given the prevalence of false doctrine in the New Testament. A by-product of training one’s self in discernment is that the Christian values the word of God even more. All believers should cultivate discernment, recognizing the balance between vetting teachers and focusing on Jesus.
Question from reader: “What scripture or “spiritual gift” guides us to warn the sisters about false teachers?“
The fact of the Spiritual gift: Some in the faith have been given the spiritual gift of “discerning of spirits.” Some translations say “distinguishing of spirits.” This is embedded in the list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
Not all spiritual gifts are contained in the lists given in the Bible. The lists can be found in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Romans 12:3-8, Ephesians 4-11 (which is actually a list of offices, not gifts).
GotQuestions: Is there as Spiritual Gifts list?
“Judge not”
Matthew 7:1 is one of the most familiar passages of Scripture, but it is also one of the most misunderstood and misapplied verses in the Bible. The Bible does not prohibit judgment; it warns against hypocritical judgment. Throughout the Bible, righteous judgment—or discernment—is encouraged and even commanded. Many Christians argue that judgment is divisive among believers. But discernment doesn’t divide—false teaching does. Discernment, righteous judgment, and church discipline are ultimately acts of love, seeking repentance and restoration and protecting the unity of the body of Christ. ~Todd Friel & Justin Peters, source “Thou Shalt Judge” study guide, Fortis Institute. (a digital resource offered for free as of this writing).
The purpose of the spiritual gift: The reason some have been given this spiritual gift is to be a smoke alarm for the local body, an early warning system as it were. ALL spiritual gifts are to be employed for the good of the church and the glory of God. Discerners are to use their gift of discernment to warn others so that false doctrine does not creep in. False doctrine is deadly. It’s “leaven” that pollutes the whole loaf, and that means it pollutes the whole church and those individuals within it.
Did you know that every New Testament book except Philemon warns of false doctrine or false teachers? Many of these same passages outline the impact of falsity has on the church. It is a HUGE issue. It is something the New Testament does not ignore, and we should not either. So the Spirit installed discerners to help keep His church pure.
Discerners do not have extra sensory perception, nor direct revelations from God. They just know the Word so well, they can spot a counterfeit at 100 paces. It would insult the Spirit to have been given the gift of discernment by Him but to remain silent and not use it. Jesus rebuked the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2, for knowing the metaphorical Jezebel was teaching falsely but did nothing about it.
Discernment for the layman: Though some do not possess the specific spiritual gift of discernment, ALL people in the faith are to work at honing their discernment. Hebrews 5:13-14 expects the believer to train in discernment. Acts 17:11 tells us all to be like the noble Bereans who consulted the word to compare whether what they were hearing was true or false. 1 John 4:1 tells us to test the spirits to see if they are from God.
So even if a person does not have the gift, they are to be working at being discerning themselves, anyway.
Calling out the false: The folks that feel they possess the gift, or are pastors or teachers in charge of the sheep, have a DUTY to warn. Jude speaks to this, in just one of many examples. Jude 1:22 speaks of snatching some from the fire. Matthew 7:15 says to “beware” of false prophets that come in like hungry wolves. Beware is an action, we must be on guard. And many other verses…
Mainly it is the duty of the leaders of a church, the laymen with the gift who warn, or “call out”. But in a sense, we are all to be on guard and if we see a friend falling into false teaching, the fellow layman is not to stand idly by. If you see someone having a picnic on the railroad tracks and the train is coming, you’d warn them even though you’re not a train conductor or a railroad worker, right? If it’s an obvious false teaching your friend is falling into danger with, you go to them.
So if one person who is more mature than another (Heb 5:14) sees that their friend is about to be devoured by a wolf, or led astray, or headed to a shipwreck (all allusions in the NT for what happens to the undiscerning), is it loving to look away, go home, and pray? Yes, prayer is effective (James 5:16). But paired with a warning, it is even more effective.
A note: Public error can be corrected publicly, by anyone.
Discernment Police: The person who chides the discerner for calling out a false teacher or a false teaching is usually one who likes their idols. They should be concerned with their own walk and its purity and holiness. Though I rarely receive this kind of reply, the reply I’d love to see is this:
“Oh no, you say So and So is false? Please tell me more. I want to honor Jesus with all my might, and would be crushed to think I am polluting my faith by being unwary. Help me understand.”
THAT is the answer we all hope to get, SHOULD get, because Jesus is more important than anything.
People have too soft of an attitude toward false teachers and false doctrine. The serpent deceived Eve with one question. He tried to bamboozle JESUS of all people, tempting him with the word of God itself. The concern for all of us should be holiness and purity of our walk, training in discernment, and being so knowledgeable of the word that we are immersed in truth for our armor.
Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 10 in some form or fashion tell us to mark and avoid the false teachers. These are commands. We cannot mark nor avoid if we do not know who they are. We should thank discerners for helping us to do this.
WHY are there so many warnings about false doctrine in the New Testament? Because it’s important! And because we are all easily deceived: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12.
Balance: Now it is true that some people get so consumed with discernment that they wind up looking for the dirt rather than focusing on Jesus. They are imbalanced, spending too much time on discernment and not enough in the word and other spiritual activities. Discerners like that give the spiritual gift a bad name. Balance and moderation is key.
Proverbs 11:30, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
