Discernment

[Big Moose]

This scripture is also interesting when discussing discernment:
1 Corinthians 14:29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

This speaks of discernment as a group. The early church may have seemed strange to us with anyone who is inspired getting up to preach. Then the group discusses what can be learned from those who prophesied.

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Again I will say that Discernment goes far beyond understanding scripture.

Discernment must be used in relation to 2Corinthians 10:5
We must discern where every thought came from and must be able to discern every bit of trickery and camouflaged deception created just for us.

Discernment must be a part of every thing we allow our selves to take in. Notice 1John 4:1
We are instructed to test the Spirit and not the doctrine.

I don't care how religious a message sounds, if the spirit is not right then the message is avoided.

Discernment is a vital and most necessary tool in spiritual warfare.

Blessings in Christ

 

[kdavis150]

Yesterday we discussed Wisdom. Today can we discuss discernment?
Why is discernment a gift? Shouldn't we all want discernment?

Discernment provides an adequate way of interpreting God's word. The devil often disguises himself as holy using vain words to lead us astray. Discernment is God's gift to us because we can quickly refer to what the good book says and ignore the vain and perverse words the devil is tricking us with. In ephesians we can discern the spirit when we throw out all the fiery darts of the wicked.

 

[kdavis150]

Again I will say that Discernment goes far beyond understanding scripture.

Discernment must be used in relation to 2Corinthians 10:5
We must discern where every thought came from and must be able to discern every bit of trickery and camouflaged deception created just for us.

Discernment must be a part of every thing we allow our selves to take in. Notice 1John 4:1
We are instructed to test the Spirit and not the doctrine.

I don't care how religious a message sounds, if the spirit is not right then the message is avoided.

Discernment is a vital and most necessary tool in spiritual warfare.

Blessings in Christ

Spiritual warfare is what helps us prevail against unholy and unrighteous actions.

 

[Fish Catcher Jim]

Spiritual warfare is what helps us prevail against unholy and unrighteous actions.

Spiritual warfare is an everyday part of a believers life.

 

[kdavis150]

Agreed.

A gift has a bow on it and a fruit has a pealing on it. (lol).

The lord only picks the most ripe fruit and the fruit that is the most ripe is his delight.

 

[Saul Mine]

Yesterday we discussed Wisdom. Today can we discuss discernment?
Why is discernment a gift? Shouldn't we all want discernment?

"Discernment" is not a biblical topic. Somebody made up the word to draw your attention away from the word of God.

The bible mentions "discerning of spirits" but it is not a gift. It is a manifestation of the holy spirit. As a general rule, stop talking about "gifts".

1 Corinthians 12
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

"Given to every man", get it? The holy spirit is a gift, and the manifestations, nine of them, are part of the deal.

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

To one what? Now learn some English. "One" is a pronoun. It refers to the last, preceding, qualified, noun. That is "profit", not "man". Verse 7 said "given to every man", remember?

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

Now it says "gifts" again. This is Greek doron, a gift to one person to benefit another person.

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Repeating the notion that all nine manifestations are given to every man. The word "severally" is Greek "his own", and "he will" refers to the man, not the spirit. It should be "he wills". Pronoun, you know. That agrees with:

1 Corinthians 14
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

BTW I said to stop talking about "gifts". There are five kinds of ministers that are called gifts. They are listed in Ephesians 4:11. Some people think the office is a gift to the minister, but not so. The minister is a gift to the church.

 

[Major]

"Discernment" is not a biblical topic. Somebody made up the word to draw your attention away from the word of God.

The bible mentions "discerning of spirits" but it is not a gift. It is a manifestation of the holy spirit. As a general rule, stop talking about "gifts".

1 Corinthians 12
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

"Given to every man", get it? The holy spirit is a gift, and the manifestations, nine of them, are part of the deal.

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

To one what? Now learn some English. "One" is a pronoun. It refers to the last, preceding, qualified, noun. That is "profit", not "man". Verse 7 said "given to every man", remember?

9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

Now it says "gifts" again. This is Greek doron, a gift to one person to benefit another person.

10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Repeating the notion that all nine manifestations are given to every man. The word "severally" is Greek "his own", and "he will" refers to the man, not the spirit. It should be "he wills". Pronoun, you know. That agrees with:

1 Corinthians 14
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

BTW I said to stop talking about "gifts". There are five kinds of ministers that are called gifts. They are listed in Ephesians 4:11. Some people think the office is a gift to the minister, but not so. The minister is a gift to the church.

Hummmm.

Psalms 119:66......
"Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments."

Proverbs 2:3.........….
"For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding".

Deut. 1:13.............
'Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads."

 

[kdavis150]

Again I will say that Discernment goes far beyond understanding scripture.

Discernment must be used in relation to 2Corinthians 10:5
We must discern where every thought came from and must be able to discern every bit of trickery and camouflaged deception created just for us.

Discernment must be a part of every thing we allow our selves to take in. Notice 1John 4:1
We are instructed to test the Spirit and not the doctrine.

I don't care how religious a message sounds, if the spirit is not right then the message is avoided.

Discernment is a vital and most necessary tool in spiritual warfare.

Blessings in Christ

Spiritual weaponry is key to discernment through Christ because the spirit must be present to obtain the knowledge from Christ.

 

[bobinfaith]

Spiritual weaponry is key to discernment through Christ because the spirit must be present to obtain the knowledge from Christ.

Hello kdavis150;

Well said! Thank you for sharing.

God bless you and your family!

 

[Saul Mine]

Hummmm.

Psalms 119:66......
"Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments."

Proverbs 2:3.........….
"For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding".

Deut. 1:13.............
'Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads."

The word "discernment" does not appear in the KJV and you have not specified what version you used. But the bigger problem is that the verses you have found do not define any specific meaning of the word. The online dictionary says "ability to judge well" and that is a natural ability. So what is this "gift" that we are trying to discuss?

The biggest problem with Christians is always that they don't know the first thing about what they claim to believe. I don't mean to say bad things about people, but I do want to encourage people to stop being part of the problem.

 

[Major]

The word "discernment" does not appear in the KJV and you have not specified what version you used. But the bigger problem is that the verses you have found do not define any specific meaning of the word. The online dictionary says "ability to judge well" and that is a natural ability. So what is this "gift" that we are trying to discuss?

The biggest problem with Christians is always that they don't know the first thing about what they claim to believe. I don't mean to say bad things about people, but I do want to encourage people to stop being part of the problem.

Proverbs 2:3...……...NAS
"For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding".

Proverbs 2:3...…….ASV
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;


Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) ……………….
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

In your opinion what is the difference between the word "Discernment" and "Discerning.

The word discern and its derivatives are translations of the Greek word anakrino in the New Testament. It means “to distinguish, to separate out by diligent search, to examine.” Discernment is the ability to properly discriminate or make determinations. It is related to wisdom.

I understand your point completely my brother. But let me ask you this.......the actualy word TRINITY is not found in the Bible. Do you then reject the doctrine because the actual word is not found?

 

[Saul Mine]

Proverbs 2:3...……...NAS
"For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding".

Proverbs 2:3...…….ASV
Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;


Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) ……………….
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

In your opinion what is the difference between the word "Discernment" and "Discerning.

The word discern and its derivatives are translations of the Greek word anakrino in the New Testament. It means “to distinguish, to separate out by diligent search, to examine.” Discernment is the ability to properly discriminate or make determinations. It is related to wisdom.

I understand your point completely my brother. But let me ask you this.......the actualy word TRINITY is not found in the Bible. Do you then reject the doctrine because the actual word is not found?

I have no objection to the word 'discernment'. I object to the word 'gift'. If you want to talk about gifts you need to find some other verses.

And your change of subject is nowhere because it is against the rules to discuss that in this forum.

 

[Major]

I have no objection to the word 'discernment'. I object to the word 'gift'. If you want to talk about gifts you need to find some other verses.

And your change of subject is nowhere because it is against the rules to discuss that in this forum.

Hebrews 5:14...…......
“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Would you say that someone with discernment must be able “distinguish good from evil” but “their powers of discernment” come through diligent training and that training in the Word of God.

Then also, the more someone knows the Bible, the more they will be able to "Discern Biblical Truth" from error and good from evil.

This is what Paul essentially wrote about in Philippians 1:9-10 ……......
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”

Forgive me if you think I was trying to change the subject on you. I was only trying to show you that if you place all your eggs in one basket of a particular WORD being in the Scriptures, you open the door to all kinds of problems and the Trinity would be one of them. I did not mean to infer that we can now discuss that doctrine so please forgive me.

 

[Major]

Spiritual weaponry is key to discernment through Christ because the spirit must be present to obtain the knowledge from Christ.

Yes sir, I agree.

 

[Major]

I have no objection to the word 'discernment'. I object to the word 'gift'. If you want to talk about gifts you need to find some other verses.

And your change of subject is nowhere because it is against the rules to discuss that in this forum.

Blessings to you Saul. I hope that you do not think that I am being argumentative with you. It is that I for one "DO" believe that Discernment is a gift.

If we will all remember, The Bereans were considered noble for hearing the teaching of Paul and Silas, receiving them with eagerness and “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” as seen in Acts 17:11.

Those believers tested the words of the apostles, examining the Scriptures to see if what they were being taught was consistent with what they knew of God’s revelation of Himself. In doing this they modeled the task of all believers.

I believe that most will agree that Christians are ultimately responsible for what they choose to believe, no matter whether or not they have been gifted with the spiritual gift of discernment.


1 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)
"...…... to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues."

 

[bobinfaith]

Yesterday we discussed Wisdom. Today can we discuss discernment?
Why is discernment a gift? Shouldn't we all want discernment?

Hello CoffeeDrinker;

God bless you, sister. We miss you and your fellowship. There have been many members who have joined the family this year.

One of the areas that I teach is the gift of discernment and is indeed in the Scriptures. If we all re-read the previous posts in this topic we will see there are varied teachings of this spiritual gift.

In order to grow from Christian babes to Spiritual maturity we must learn discernment where the Holy Spirit intercedes for each one of us in our consciousness, our minds, thoughts, senses and actions to stay the course of right from wrong.

Yes, we will still make mistakes but our discernment leads us to humble ourselves with humility and acceptance, instead of exposing our bruised pride and egos.

I'll borrow one Scripture I teach from in Hebrews 5:14, that refers to spiritual discernment. The book of Hebrews 5 stresses Christ's divine appointment and His humanity which requires spiritual maturity in His believers, including growth in discernment.

We cannot limit God's anointing of spiritual gifts just from the Bible alone, otherwise, there would not be enough books to contain His Unlimited Ways.

Another thought. I've always dealt with this challenge all my life. Discernment doesn't mean I cannot express my opinion. Because many times when my knowledge or opinion was wrong, this is how God built me up to react in those moments. Our discernment will never get mastered, but will continue to be a work in progress.

God bless you, CoffeeDrinker, and your family.

 

[Saul Mine]

Blessings to you Saul. I hope that you do not think that I am being argumentative with you. It is that I for one "DO" believe that Discernment is a gift.

If we will all remember, The Bereans were considered noble for hearing the teaching of Paul and Silas, receiving them with eagerness and “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” as seen in Acts 17:11.

Those believers tested the words of the apostles, examining the Scriptures to see if what they were being taught was consistent with what they knew of God’s revelation of Himself. In doing this they modeled the task of all believers.

I believe that most will agree that Christians are ultimately responsible for what they choose to believe, no matter whether or not they have been gifted with the spiritual gift of discernment.


1 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)
"...…... to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues."

"
1 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)
"...…... to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues."

There, now we have something we can discuss.

1 Corinthians 12:7 King James Version (KJV)
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

Discerning of spirits is not a gift, it is a manifestation of the holy spirit. The spirit is a gift, the nine manifestations are part of the deal.

Now a bit of English. Verse 8 says "to one is given." One what? A pronoun refers to the last, preceding, qualified noun, and that is "profit", not "man".

Matthew 5:48 King James Version (KJV)
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

 

[Major]

"
1 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)
"...…... to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues."

There, now we have something we can discuss.

1 Corinthians 12:7 King James Version (KJV)
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

Discerning of spirits is not a gift, it is a manifestation of the holy spirit. The spirit is a gift, the nine manifestations are part of the deal.

Now a bit of English. Verse 8 says "to one is given." One what? A pronoun refers to the last, preceding, qualified noun, and that is "profit", not "man".

Matthew 5:48 King James Version (KJV)
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Indeed!

Saul......since we know that the Holy Spirit endwells in the heart of the born again believer, it then seems to me that He can certainly bestow a gift of discernment to that "One" to whom He is living in and through?

This 'Scripture principle' where one insists on a specific word in the Scriptures something we need to be very carful with as it can and has led to many problems and concerns. We should understand that it is not there to hold the Spirit in chains. It's to be used in the light of freedom in Christ, knowing that Scripture does not directly address many matters that we live in daily.
Instead of demanding direct 'Scriptural warrant' for a practice or course of action, it's better to seek these signals :

1.) that Scripture does not speak against it;
2.) that the practice or teaching conveys the Gospel, and is fully in keeping with the root and heart of Christian belief found in Scripture;
3.) that it turns the focus onto Christ, not persons, ideas, ideologies, organizations, wondrous signs, or activities;
4.) that it is truthful, not rooted in a lie or distortion.

If these are all true, then no direct warrant is needed from Scripture, tradition, or for that matter, sometimes even from common sense. The Spirit has every right to lead us into new things that look like folly. The Holy Spirit is sovereign. Discernment is about finding out if it's the Holy Spirit and not someone else's folly.

Is that a possiblity ?

 

[Saul Mine]

Indeed!

Saul......since we know that the Holy Spirit endwells in the heart of the born again believer, it then seems to me that He can certainly bestow a gift of discernment to that "One" to whom He is living in and through?

This 'Scripture principle' where one insists on a specific word in the Scriptures something we need to be very carful with as it can and has led to many problems and concerns. We should understand that it is not there to hold the Spirit in chains. It's to be used in the light of freedom in Christ, knowing that Scripture does not directly address many matters that we live in daily.
Instead of demanding direct 'Scriptural warrant' for a practice or course of action, it's better to seek these signals :

1.) that Scripture does not speak against it;
2.) that the practice or teaching conveys the Gospel, and is fully in keeping with the root and heart of Christian belief found in Scripture;
3.) that it turns the focus onto Christ, not persons, ideas, ideologies, organizations, wondrous signs, or activities;
4.) that it is truthful, not rooted in a lie or distortion.

If these are all true, then no direct warrant is needed from Scripture, tradition, or for that matter, sometimes even from common sense. The Spirit has every right to lead us into new things that look like folly. The Holy Spirit is sovereign. Discernment is about finding out if it's the Holy Spirit and not someone else's folly.

Is that a possiblity ?

You are talking about writing your own bible. Is that what you mean to do?