"The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment" Blog Tour (Day 4)

Can you give me an example or two of these gifts that are not listed in Scripture? And, if you will forgive me for a moment, if they are not listed Biblically, how can we have any assurance that they are actually gifts of the Spirit?

Good questions. I’d hesitate to actually list some of those gifts since I think that might distract from the topic a little bit. But I guess one could say that, depending on how we interpret “distinguishing between spirits” discernment itself may be one.

If you look to Scripture you’ll see there are several places where the writers list gifts of the Spirit. It quickly becomes clear that these lists vary—some are more complete than others. We could compare these passages and create a master list of gifts, but I think the fact that the passages vary shows us that the writers are interested in proving that there is variety in the gifts. They are listing the kinds of gifts that are given by the Spirit. This is my understanding of those passages and, having done the research, found this is the broad consensus of people who are far smarter than I am.

How can we determine if they are gifts of the Spirit? Because they will be used in the way gifts are to be used—for the glory of God and for the building up of the saints.

At the same time, I shy away from assigning spiritual gift status to activities that are not specifically listed in Scripture. Can I weave baskets to the glory of God and the edification of the church? Probably, but I don’t think that there is a “basket weaving gift”.

I understand your hesitancy. If basket weaving is something that can benefit the church then I’d say it would point towards some kind of gift of service. But I think you’re right that basket weaving may be a bit outside the bounds.

Just a little bit of my tendency towards “regulative principle” I guess.

And this opens the question of whether the regulative principle properly applies to matters such as gifts. But we can leave that for another day!

Dear Tim: Some thoughts to consider when claiming biblical discernment is a spiritual gift and synonymous with the gift of “the distinguishing of spirits” of 1 Cor. 12:10.

Wisdom is the truth of God’s Word applied to life situations; discernment is the fruit that such consistent application in the power of the Holy Spirit yields. We must remember that biblical discernment is not caused by or simply the by-product of man’s own diligent efforts or abilities over time. Biblical discernment comes as a work of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:21ff) in the life of every believer through God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16f; Heb. 5:14) in which He gives us divine wisdom (James 1:5), guides us into truth, teaches us, and equips us to live circumspectly in all matters of life and godliness (John 16:12-16; Eph. 5:16-18; 2 Peter 1:3-4). This is the backdrop of Heb. 5:14 where good and evil, contextually, is specifically referring to sound and unsound doctrine (i.e. truth and error). Se we can say, biblical discernment is having our “senses exercised” as a result of faithfully studying, craving, obeying, meditating and submitting to God’s Word and the Lordship of Christ - be-being filled with the Holy Spirit in our daily Christian walk, so that “the simple are made wise” and given the ability to recognize doctrinal departure (no matter how miniscule) from the standard of God’s Word to a lessor unbiblical standard. Discernment is greatly needed for usually those deviations from the truth of Scripture are subtle and cunning.

However, biblical discernment is not classically a spiritual gift as either defined by or listed in Romans 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:1-11; 1 Peter 4:7-11; yet unmistakably a ministry of the Lord in His people. However, “the distinguishing of spirits” is a spiritual gift (1 Cor. 12:10). The following quotes and Scriptural examples contained below help to define this gift for us:

John Gill: To another discerning of spirits; by which gift such that were possessed of it could, in some measure, discern the hearts of men, their thoughts, purposes, and designs, their secret dissimulation and hypocrisy; as Peter, by this gift, discerned the dissimulation and lying of Ananias and Sapphira; and by it they could also tell whether a man that made a profession of religion had the truth of grace in him, or not; so Peter knew hereby that Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, notwithstanding his specious pretences to faith and holiness, whereby he imposed upon Philip the evangelist, who might not have this gift of discerning spirits; by which also they could distinguish the Spirit of God from the lying spirits in men; of which there is an instance, Acts 15:17.

Calvin Commentary: The discerning of spirits, was a clearness of perception in forming a judgment as to those who professed to be something. (Acts 5:36.) I speak not of that natural wisdom, by which we are regulated in judging. It was a special illumination, with which some were endowed by the gift of God. The use of it was this: that they might not be imposed upon by masks, of mere pretences, (“By the show and fair appearance which persons sometimes have.”) but might by that spiritual judgment distinguish, as by a particular mark, the true ministers of Christ from the false.

Geneva Study Bible: By which false prophets are know from true, in which Peter surpassed Philip in exposing Simon Magus; (Acts 8:20).

Albert Barnes: To another discerning of spirits. Comp. 1John 4:1. This must refer to some power of searching into the secrets of the heart; of knowing what were a man’s purposes, views, and feelings. It may relate either to the power of determining by what spirit a man spoke who pretended to be inspired, whether he was truly inspired or whether he was an impostor, or it may refer to the power of seeing whether a man was sincere or not in his Christian profession. That the apostles had this power, is apparent from the case of Ananias and Sapphira, (Acts 5:1-10,) and from the case of Elymas, Acts 13:9-11. It is evident that where the gift of prophecy and inspiration was possessed, and where it would confer such advantages on those who possessed it, there would be many pretenders to it; and that it would be of vast importance to the infant church, in order to prevent imposition, that there should be a power in the church of detecting the imposture.

Matthew Henry: To another the discerning of Spirits, power to distinguish between true and false prophets, or to discern the real and internal qualifications of any person for an office, or to discover the inward workings of the mind by the Holy Ghost, as Peter did those of Ananias, Acts 5:3.

Both the spiritual gift of “the distinguishing of spirits” and the practice of biblical discernment, though different, are both of great benefit to the body of Christ in equipping the church to guard against false teachers - their motives and methods; AND to give us wisdom so that we may learn to faithfully “test all thing and cling to what is good” being trained by constant use to discern truth from error; good from evil; genuine from counterfeit.

I hope this adds to this important discussion. Thank you for what you are doing to bring this much needed issue of biblical discernment to the body of Christ.

In His sanctifying grace,Steve

Jerry,

Have you considered the craftsmen who made the tabernacle? Ex 31:4-6 says, “I have filled [Bezalel] with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you.” Maybe this was just for the special occasion of the tabernacle, but it says God “filled” them with the Spirit and gave ability to them. That sounds like a “spiritual gift” to me. I guess to me the measure of a spiritual gift is whether or not the Spirit has given it. For example, if at 10 years old, you picked up basket weaving and made 150 baskets a month for 20 years, you’d be a pretty good basket maker (one would think). If God saves you at age thirty, I don’t know if you could call weaving a spiritual gift. However, if you’ve never weaved a day in your life, you’re saved, and God prompts you to make baskets for some reason and you have an unusual ability, then maybe that could be called a gift. I’m not saying it’s one way or the other, I just wanted to bring this point up for further discussion. Peace.

Steve, Man, what a great post on this subject! The answer is so clear when you see it through the lense of scripture. In addition, the quotes from all these men of such diverse backgounds who are all saying the same thing really brings biblical substance, historical context and definition to this discussion. Thank you!!

Tim, I do appreciate the fact that you want the church to think biblically and be discerning. in following your blog tour, I notice you are making some good statements, but they are not flowing out of the context of scripture. I know that you believe we are to live biblically by thinking biblically, and I would encourage you to answer these questions by driving us to the truth of God’s Word. This is where the strength of any answer lies.