The spiritual gift of discerning spirits – What is it?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

Spiritual gifts are unique abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each believer to glorify God and support the growth of the Church. Though the gifts differ—ranging from teaching and serving to giving, showing mercy, leading, and encouraging—they all come from the same Spirit. These gifts are meant to build up the body of Christ. The spiritual gift of discerning spirits is the ability to recognize whether a message or influence is from the Holy Spirit or a false source. While all Christians are called to grow in discernment, some are specially gifted by God to detect spiritual deception. Discernment is still crucial today as many false teachings—such as denying Jesus' incarnation or twisting grace—continue to threaten the church. The best way to grow in spiritual discernment is through consistent study and application of God’s Word.

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• The Old Testament does not explicitly mention the spiritual gift of discerning spirits as described in the New Testament, but it does show examples of godly people discerning spiritual truth through God's guidance such as prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. These prophets spoke God's truth and often identified false prophets or spiritual deception (e.g., Jeremiah 23:16-18). Their ability to discern truth from lies came from God's Spirit working through them.
• King Solomon asked for a discerning heart (1 Kings 3:9-12), and God granted him wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil—foundations of spiritual discernment.
• Deuteronomy 18:20-22 gives instructions for identifying false prophets, showing that spiritual discernment was expected of God's people, even if it wasn’t yet described as a spiritual gift.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• First Corinthians 12:10 provides a list of spiritual gifts, one of which is "the ability to distinguish between spirits." Spiritual discernment includes identifying whether a spiritual teacher's message is truly from God based on his or her teachings.
• The author of Hebrews, in 5:14, shares our need to grow and mature in God’s Word: "But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."
• Jude serves as one clear example of a believer who could identify false teachers and their teachings. Jude 1:3 notes, "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." He desired to write about salvation yet wrote to warn his readers against false teachings that were attacking the early church.
• Believers are encouraged to pray for wisdom (James 1:5).
• First John 4:1-3 offers this admonition: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God."

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

Today, many inaccurate and unhealthy teachings still confront the church. All believers are called to stand against false teaching, yet some believers are more gifted in this area than others. What are some examples of false teaching? From 1 John 4 mentioned above, the clearest examples are teachers who claim Jesus did not physically come to the earth in human form. Such people are but one example of changing a clear biblical teaching regarding the Savior. Other examples include those who deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus, deny salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9), seek to add to or take away from Scripture (Revelation 22:18-19), and claim to be Christians yet use His grace as an excuse for sinful living (Jude 1:4). Without discernment, believers can be led astray by such errors, weakening the church’s unity and faithfulness. That’s why cultivating this gift—primarily by deeply studying God’s Word—is essential, as Scripture alone provides the truth we need to rightly judge teachings and remain steadfast in our walk with Christ (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Spiritual discernment is certainly needed in today's churches, including those gifted in discernment.

UNDERSTAND

• The gift of discerning spirits enables believers to recognize whether teachings come from God or false sources.
• Some believers have the gift of discernment to protect the church from deception.
• Discernment is crucial today to guard against false doctrines and maintain the church’s faith and unity.

REFLECT

• How well do you study and apply God’s Word to grow in spiritual discernment?
• How have you encountered false teachings, and how did you respond?
• How do you understand the gift of discernment from the call for all of us to have discernment?

ENGAGE

• How can we as believers better support one another in growing the gift of discernment?
• What biblical examples of discernment inspire us to recognize and confront false teachings today?
• How do we balance loving others with the need to challenge teachings that do not align with Scripture?