Discernment Required

Another passage where believers are told to judge is in I Corinthians 10:15 where Paul tells his readers to judge what he says. This goes along with Acts 17:11 where we are told that the Bereans were noble because they searched the scriptures daily to determine whether or not what they were being taught was true.

But you may be wondering if some sort of judging of people or circumstances isn’t required of us. If we aren’t supposed to judge, aren’t we supposed to be discerning? Matthew 18 discusses the importance of confronting a brother who has sinned. If a brother sins against us we are to go to the person and confront him. It’s my observation that most of the time when we are “judging” we have no intention of going to the person to help them. We usually just intend to be critical of them and perhaps talk about them. In this situation described here, someone has sinned against us. It is not a matter of judgment, it is a matter of being on the receiving end of some sinful behavior.

Galatians 6:1 tells us that if a brother is overtaken in a fault, the one who is spiritual should restore that one with a spirit of meekness being careful lest he be tempted in a similar way. Here again the goal is restoration and will require our humble assistance not our critical judging.

Another passage that needs some discussion is I Corinthians 2:15 which says, “But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.” Doesn’t this say that the spiritual person judges? The word for judge here is “anakrino” which means scrutinizes and investigates and discerns. The preceding verse uses the same word when it says that the things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned. So, yes, the Christian is to judge in the sense of being discerning. I Thess 5:21 says something similar when it says that we should test all things and hold fast to that which is good. The Christian is to discern behavior and weigh consequences and compare behavior to Scripture. And yet there is a subtle difference between this and the kind of judging which normally takes place.

In previous posts I tried to visualize improper judging as a person putting himself up on the bench to watch and listen to evidence with the intention of rendering a verdict. It is not only giving the verdict that is improper it is the attitude of being above another person as their inspector and judge. Being discerning is different. It’s difficult to explain, but I think you can see the difference.

Yet another passage brought up to show that we should judge is Philippians 1:9-10. It says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,” The word for discernment is insight. The word for approve is to test or prove. So as our love increases, it should be a love that is insightful and discerning. It is not a love that just embraces everything and everybody. There is the need to test and prove things to make sure they are real. We as Christians are not to be undiscerning and careless, just accepting everything that comes along without any thought or insight.

Another passage which teaches the same thing is Heb 5:14 which says, “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Discernment is a good thing and our senses have to be exercised in order to become better at it.

The question becomes, then, how to do this without the judging that is forbidden. I would encourage you to ask yourself this question when you find yourself making judgments on another person’s behavior. Ask yourself this question, “If the kind of judging I’m doing now is biblical judgment or discernment, what would the forbidden judging me like in this case?” Sometimes our pride gets in the way and makes excuses for our improper judging because we somehow believe that we are more righteous or have it more together than the other person. However, if we can examine ourselves on this and see that we are merely making discerning observations and not being critical or “holier-than-thou”, then perhaps we’ve got it right.

In the final installment, I’ll give you my summary of all of this for whatever that’s worth.