Practicing Discernment, How to Grow In This Skill

The age in which we live compounds the need for discernment. You cannot assume that every influence that seems normal, feels right, or claims to be Christian is true. A gullible believer is a Christian who is in imminent danger. We are not the first church that needed discernment, the church in Thessalonica was also in desperate need of discernment. They had no experience living out the Christian life since the church was full of new believers with largely unproven character and theology. They also had no shepherd to keep watch over them since persecution had taken the apostle Paul, who was its founding pastor, away from the congregation. On top of all this, they did not yet have a completed New Testament since the New Covenant was still very new. Thus, the congregation had very little protections from the false teachers and worldly influence that almost immediately assaulted this infant church. When he wrote 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul knew that if this young church was going to survive they would need discernment. This is why he gave them some practical help in 1Thessalonians 5:21-22.

 The Practice of Discernment (vv. 21-22)

“but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22, ESV)

The misuses, imbalances, and dangers that often come with discernment are not an excuse to be undiscerning. In other words, the solution to the danger of pride in discernment is not to avoid discernment all together—that would be a disaster! This is why Paul moves from negative warnings to positive instructions on how to practice discernment. The Church has a responsibility to make sure it is influenced by God’s truth, and Paul’s instructions show us what is required by the practice of discernment.

The practice of discernment requires testing

The practice of discernment requires testing, which is why Paul uses the Greek word δοκιμάζω. This word means “to test, prove, determine what is genuine, examine to find if it is good and if it is approved by God.” This is the essence of discernment, it requires examining the legitimacy of every influence to see if it is truly from God. In short, we need to test everything influencing us to make sure it meets the excellent standard of Christ (Phil 1:9-11). This kind of testing is the only way to sharpen your discernment. It forces you 1) to diligently study God’s Word for clarity, 2) intentionally consider the implications of truth for life, and 3) personally examine your understanding and obedience. Such testing does not imply self-sufficient skepticism, it is a worshipful desire to submit to the truth (Rom 12:1-2). It is important to recognize that this kind of testing is required because we can’t instinctually or automatically know what comes from God, it requires the practice of testing.

How do we test something to discern whether it is from God?

The practice of discernment requires truth

The practice of discernment requires truth, which Paul refers to as that which is “good.” God’s word is the good standard by which all prophecy, teaching, counsel, and advice will be judged. Thus, discernment requires that we test all truth claims with the good standard of God’s word (Ps 119:66-68). This means that we can’t automatically accept or reject something based on how we feel about it, it must be examined in the light of God’s inerrant truth. Paul had to command us to hold fast to “the good” because it is dangerous to hold onto influences that are not good.

• We can’t test something with our culture, the fact that everyone is doing it is not a good reason for you to do it.

• We can’t test something with our wisdom, just because something doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t make it false

• We can’t test something with our sense of peace since there are many times when we feel better about sinning than we do about pursuing righteousness.

If holding fast to what is good requires that we test everything with Scripture, then we need to know how to test something with the truth. There are four questions you can ask in order to determine if something is good enough to hold onto:

• Does it match what Scripture teaches(2 Tim 3:16)?

• Does it get Christ right (1 Jn 4:1)?

• Does it get the Gospel right (Gal 1:8)?

• Does it edify the church and produce holy fruit (Mt 7:15-20)?

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then you are dealing with something that is good enough to hold fast to. Discernment requires testing something with the truth, but it does not end there . . .

The practice of discernment requires total obedience

The practice of discernment also requires total obedience. Once you have determined what is consistent with God’s word you have a responsibility to submit to it. It is spiritually dangerous to know the difference between truth and error without obeying the truth. Discerning the truth without obeying the truth is hypocrisy and a dangerous form of spiritual compromise. Total conviction means that you must cling to what you discern is true (Heb 10:23). Conversely, total conviction also means that whatever does not align with God’s truth must be rejected. For the discerning church, error should trigger a spiritual “gag reflex” within the congregation.

Sometimes Paul’s words in verse 22 are translated “avoid all appearance of evil.” This is not a good translation and can easily lead to a subjective approach to discernment that is informed more by the fear of man than the fear of the Lord. Paul’s point is not that if something appears evil to someone else we should avoid it. The better translation is that we are to avoid “every form of evil.” Or, to put it another way, every time evil appears we are to reject it—no matter how subtle it might be. The point is that there are all kinds of evil influences and theological errors that must be rejected by a discerning church.

Conclusion

The Thessalonians lived in a confusing time that required a great deal of discernment, and the same is true for us. There are many influences we must discern from private opinions (“God told me”) to public teaching (i.e., internet teachers). We must watch out for the danger of allowing our pride to harden us to the truth of God and its proclamation. We must be diligent to test everything with the good standard of God’s truth so that we can obey what God says. And we must remember that not everything that claims to be from God is actually from God. If we want to be useful to God, then we have to be able to distinguish between truth and error.