There is a kind of Christian who cannot hear a sermon without grading it. Every teacher is on trial. Every new book is guilty until proven innocent. He calls this discernment, and he is proud of it, and his wife has quietly stopped inviting people over.
The first counterfeit this series has to deal with is a counterfeit of discernment itself. Because if we get this one wrong, every post after it becomes a weapon.
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.
Philippians 1:9-10, NKJV
Where discernment comes from
Look at the order in Paul’s prayer. He does not pray that the Philippians would have discernment. He prays that their love would abound in knowledge and discernment. Love is the root. Discernment is what grows on it.
That is not how most of us picture it. We picture discernment as a cool head, a critical eye, a certain distance from the thing being judged. Paul pictures it as love that has learned to see. A mother knows her child is lying not because she is suspicious of children but because she loves this one and has watched him for years. Her discernment is a form of attention, and the attention comes from love.
| Term | Original | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| aisthesis | αἴσθησις | G144 | perception, discernment, moral insight through the senses |
| diakrino | διακρίνω | G1252 | to separate, to distinguish, to judge between |
| hupopsia | ὑποψία | G5283 | suspicion, an under-thought, a surmising about evil |
The word Paul uses in Philippians is aisthesis, which is where we get the word aesthetic. It is perception. Taste. The trained sense that knows good from bad the way a musician knows a flat note. And Paul says the purpose of it is to approve what is excellent. Discernment in Scripture is aimed at finding the good and holding it, not at finding the bad and exposing it.
The counterfeit
Suspicion looks like discernment from a distance. Both of them examine. Both of them ask questions. Both of them refuse to be taken in. But they come from different places and they go different places.
Discernment comes from love and is looking for what is excellent. Suspicion comes from fear and is looking for what is wrong. Discernment is glad when the test comes back clean. Suspicion is disappointed. Discernment protects the sheep. Suspicion protects the one being suspicious, who gets to feel safe and superior at the same time.
Paul names the counterfeit in 1 Timothy 6:4. He describes a man who is “obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions.” The word is hupopsia, an under-thought, the quiet assumption that there is something rotten under everything. It is listed with envy and strife. It is not a spiritual gift. It is a work of the flesh wearing a spiritual gift’s clothes.
Discernment is glad when the test comes back clean. Suspicion is disappointed.
How to tell them apart in the hand
Ask yourself three things about your own judging.
First, what am I hoping to find? If you open a book hoping it is wrong, you will find something. Everybody is wrong somewhere. Discernment opens the book hoping it is right and stays alert in case it is not.
Second, what do I do when I find an error? Suspicion announces it. Discernment weighs it. Is this a flat note in an otherwise true song, or is the whole thing in the wrong key? Jesus did not throw out the scribes and Pharisees because they were wrong about the Sabbath. He said do what they say, not what they do. He could tell the difference between a bad teacher and a bad point.
Third, what has it done to my love? This is the one that gives it away. Paul says discernment grows out of love abounding. If your discernment has made you love the church less, trust fewer people, and enjoy the Word mostly as ammunition, it is not discernment. It has stopped bearing the fruit that Paul says it comes from.
The heart of it
You do not have to choose between loving people and testing teaching. The Father does both. He loves His children enough to tell them the truth, and He tells them the truth because He loves them. When your discernment starts to look like that, gentle with people, firm with error, glad to find gold, you will know it is the genuine article.
And when it starts to feel like a fortress you are defending, and everyone outside the wall is a threat, you will know the counterfeit has found you. Put it down. Go back to the love that Paul prayed for. Discernment will grow back on its own.
Going deeper
Read Philippians 1:3-11 and notice the affection that surrounds the prayer for discernment. Then read 1 Timothy 6:3-5 and mark every word that sits beside evil suspicions in the list. Finally read Matthew 23:1-3 and ask how Jesus could tell the Pharisees’ teaching from their practice.
An exercise. Think of a teacher you have written off. Before the next post, find one true thing he has taught and thank God for it. This is not an endorsement. It is a test of whether your discernment can still approve what is excellent.
Discussion questions
- When you examine a teaching, what are you hoping to find?
- How can you tell the difference between a bad teacher and a bad point?
- What has your discernment done to your love for the church?
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