Discerning the Spirits

One of the complaints I have leveled at me for my Spirit-led progressive faith is that I do not “discern the spirits” as John wrote about in I John 4:1. The method for doing this is generally described as comparing everything you “hear” from the Spirit to the Bible, and if it’s not in there, it’s not of God. I wanted to share a few words about how I believe the Spirit works in our lives and what I believe the idea of “discern the spirits” truly means.

The Spirit’s Ministries

The Spirit is Jesus’ promise to the world. The one He said would “guide us into all truth”. But most churches teach that (with few exceptions) the SCRIPTURES are the source of all our truth. Now, I recognize that the Spirit USES the scriptures, but I don’t think we allow Him the impetus He desires. We don’t WAIT for the Spirit to bring us to scripture, we GO to scripture and expect the Spirit to “show up” and teach us. But I don’t believe that’s the way it was meant to be. God told us that He would write His word “on our HEARTS”. That’s the work of the Spirit. He speaks DIRECTLY into us, reminding us of and guiding us to scripture as HE sees fit. I believe that’s the way it should be, and, except in the case of angelic or physical manifestations of God, that’s the way it was in biblical times as well. When scriptures tell us the Spirit “came upon” them, or that they were “inspired by God”, it’s talking about the exact same INDWELLING that we experience. It was not some special “super anointing” that only happened to biblical authors. I don’t see anything in scripture to support that.

Spirit Of God Or “Satan”

But in the OT His Spirit was only indwelling for a short while and was not the only thing influencing men. When His Spirit was NOT there, they were vulnerable to “other spirits”, whether ACTUAL spirits (fallen angels) or the spirit of “the world” (human empire) doesn’t matter. This “other spirit” could sound just as genuine as THE Spirit, and give them false information about God. Thankfully, WE do not suffer this deception to the same degree because His Spirit never LEAVES us, therefore keeping us safe from “other spirits” UNLESS we actively INVITE the influence of things OTHER than Him.

Who’s Spirit Are You Of?

However, the idea of “testing the spirits” goes beyond discerning who is speaking INTO your life, but also under who’s (what’s) influence you are acting OUT of. When the disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up the Samaritans who wouldn’t receive Jesus, He told them, “You do not know who’s spirit you are of.” Obviously He wasn’t talking about spirits (demons), but what “worldview” they were operating under. He told them that He came to SAVE men, not destroy them. It is SATAN’S “spirit”/worldview/’modus operandi’ to threaten, hurt and destroy men. We need to be careful that we are not “thinking like the enemy”. We should periodically step back and discern which “spirit”(worldview) we are operating under. Are we truly thinking/believing/acting as Christ would (in love), or are we operating under the spirit of “empire” (Satan/worldly systems), which seeks to control men out of guilt and fear?

Discerning the Spirits

So, how about that verse? I John 4:1-2 says,

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,”

First of all, I don’t believe he’s talking about actual “spirits” (as in the Holy Spirit vs ‘other’ spirits) at all, but the same idea of worldview or ways of thinking that Jesus was referencing. He says those that do not acknowledge Jesus as being from God are of “antichrist”. He’s specifically talking about false teachers of His time who were teaching false ideas about Jesus, but you could apply this to ANY false idea from ANY source that differs from Jesus’ living revelation of who God is and therefore should be suspect. Notice the standard is JESUS and what He revealed (represented in the flesh), ie. God’s LOVE for us. I would like to point out that there is no mention of scriptures as any form of standard here.

In the previous chapter (which we know is not REALLY a division) John is teaching that when you operate out of LOVE, you can know you are a Christian. This idea then is still fresh in his mind as he writes THIS part of the text. So, I believe operating out of the “correct” spirit is to operate out of LOVE, rather than out of fear or shame which these false teachers were using against the people. John calls this spirit “the world”. I like to call it “empire” — it’s how the world does things. It controls people through government AND religious institutions, using fear, coercion, guilt and loyalty to state/dogma/creed/text rather than loyalty to the Spirit and the person and Kingdom of Christ. I believe THIS is what John and Jesus meant by “discerning the spirits”.

Spirit Of Fear Or Love

But the interpretation of this passage has been subtly twisted to cause people to mistrust the Spirit’s internal voice for fear that it might be “another spirit”, when that is so, SO rarely the case. We need to remember that God’s Spirit is greater than “he that is in the world”. We have been told for years by “the church” (religion) to FEAR the world and to MISTRUST (stifle) our inner voice, preferring the certitude of our “one true interpretation” of scriptures. But God is a God of relationship who speaks DIRECTLY into our hearts and PROTECTS us from the world.

As Paul says in II Timothy, we should not operate out of a “spirit of fear”, but rather out of “power and love”. We need to have CONFIDENCE that, while we MAY stumble and make mistakes, His Spirit will ultimately not let us down or lead us into gross error. He will protect us from the corruption of “the world”.

~Ken