Biblical Discernment

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”

This post is just going to be some Bible passages to make you think about rightly understanding God’s Word and defending it. There are many, many passages I could have chosen, but these are some of my favorites. May they be thought-provoking for you. (All are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.)

They read the book of the law of God, translating and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read. Nehemiah 8:8

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. Isaiah 8:20

The people here [Berea] were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures  daily to see if these things were so. Acts 17:11

Instead, we have renounced shameful secret things, not walking in deceit or distorting God’s message,  but in God’s sight we commend ourselves to every person’s conscience by an open display of the truth.  2 Corinthians 4:2

For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. Ephesians 4:14

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. Colossians 2:8

Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away  from every form of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits  and the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
1 Timothy 4:1

Be conscientious about yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save  both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:16

Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent, empty speech and contradictions from the “knowledge” that falsely bears that name.  By professing it, some  people have deviated from the faith.
1 Timothy 6:20-21

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new.  They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4

...always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason  for the hope that is in you.
1 Peter 3:15

I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. Jude 3

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

Always remember that apologetics is the handmaiden to the Gospel, and that discernment is the immune system of the church.