Top 5 Traits Of Those Who Lack Biblical Discernment
Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment,
But a man of understanding walks uprightly. -Proverbs 15:21
If you want to avoid deception, grow in discernment, and better love God and others, it is very helpful to know the traits of those who are weak in discernment—and to learn from this “folly.”
Tragically, not only are such individuals guaranteed to be deceived, but they will also mislead, deceive, and harm others.
1 | DON’T TRULY WALK WITH GOD
They have fallen for a false gospel (e.g., works-based gospel; social gospel; “all roads lead to God”)—or they have openly rejected Jesus and the true gospel. As a result, they do not know the one true God. Or perhaps they do truly believe, but their walk with God is weak in one or more key areas, mainly due to significant laziness, compromise, sin, deception, or a lack of truth-based love. [Note: While we do not know the heart of others, we do know all of these things happen.]
(Jer 8:8-9; Matt 7:13-27; 2 Cor 11:3-4; Jn 1:14-17; 15:5; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 4:1-6)
2 | HAVE A LOW VIEW OF GOD’S WORD
They lack esteem or reverence for the Word of God—and may even be adversarial toward God’s Word. While many here give lip-service to a high view of Scripture, and may believe in the Bible, functionally they rely on extra-biblical and anti-biblical sources (e.g., the world’s wisdom; humanistic psychology; Marxist ideology; tradition).
(Ps 1:1; Jer 2:13; Matt 15:1-9; 1 Cor 1:17ff; 2:13-14; 3:18-20; Col 2:8; cp. 2 Kgs 17:32-41)
Their low view of the Word is often revealed in their clashes with and hostility toward those with a high view of Scripture—and by how they compromise with and conform to the world and its wisdom. This is often evidenced by self-defeating world-approved Christianity.
*For more on world-conforming Christianity, see our book: A Tale Of Two Churches
(Rom 12:1-2; Gal 6:14; Jas 4:4; 1 Jn 4:5-6)
3 | DEPENDENT ON SUBJECTIVITY
They trust in and depend far too much on what is subjective (e.g., feelings; experiences; biased sources; emotions)—which includes areas that are strongly anti-biblical (e.g., man’s wisdom; mysticism and teachings from mysticism; pseudo-science; social media; influencers).
(2 Tim 4:3-4; Is 30:9-11; cp. Acts 17:11; Is 8:19-20)
Subjective-dependence often leads to a person being unobjective, which is defined as: “not possessing or representing objective reality”—which frequently results in an inverted reality (Is 5:20).
*For much more on the deadly problems with mysticism, see our book: Meditation Or Mysticism?
4 | PRACTICE COUNTERFEIT LOVE
They believe they are loving because of their good intentions—or because of their compassion, or their passion for justice—yet they are very weak in being objective, and ardently discerning truth from error. The resulting error-based “love” not only leads to deceiving themselves, but in causing profound harm in the lives of others. Even worse, they often do so in the name of love, compassion, justice, and Jesus.
[Counterfeit Love = Compassion – Discernment = Compassion + Error = Deception + Destruction]
(Rom 10:2; Gal 1:13; 2 Tim 3:13)
5 | MARKED BY LOW EFFORT
They are weak, at best, when it comes to the hard work of rigorously testing everything according to Scripture. Many here will often outsource their thinking and discernment. How so? They rely too much on others to tell them who and what is right and good, and who and what is wrong and bad.
Some might work hard in one or more areas, but not when it comes to knowing and relying of God’s Word, and vetting everything according to His Word. Also, there are some who expend more effort in diminishing, deriding, or arguing with those who discern than actually discerning themselves.
(Heb 5:12-14; 1 Thess 5:21-22; Acts 17:11; 1 Jn 4:1-6)
Practical Application
The more these five traits are true of you, the more likely you will be deceived, and the more unloving you will be, and the more harm you will cause.
- With that in mind, how would you objectively assess yourself on a scale of 0 to 10 (10 being most/worst) in each of the five areas above?
- What would you say to the people who claim Christ—and are convinced they are right and loving—yet hold to values and beliefs that are opposed to those who have a high view of God’s Word, as well as being in agreement with those who oppose Jesus and His Word (e.g., the world; cults or false religions; marxists/socialists; adversarial to God’s Word)?
More On Discernment
There are many people who are very caring and intelligent, who may have great knowledge of the Bible—and are likely truly saved—yet are significantly deceived.
Why? Because, even though they may have great qualities, they lack active and accurate discernment. Worse, to the degree they are subjective-dependent (see #3), they are guaranteed to become more and more deceived, and then go on to deceive and harm others. Worst of all, some here will stray from or “shipwreck” their faith—and many will become adversarial toward those rightly walking in the one true faith. (1 Tim 1:18-20; 4:1ff; 6:20-21; 1 Jn 2:18-19)
Biblically discerning individuals are never really popular, especially with the world (Jas 4:4; 1 Jn 4:1-6). In fact, they are frequently abhorred by those who hate God. They are also despised by many who claim Christ, yet have a low view of His Word—and those who have been deceived by a false gospel. (Matt 7:13-14; Jn 15:18-19; 17:14)
On the other hand, there are many who are self-described discerners, yet, for a variety of reasons, they cause a great deal of harm, often in the name of discernment. *For more, see Destructive Discerners
To accurately detect an error or falsehood is not nearly enough. Christians are called to do all things in love (1 Cor 16:14)—how much more is this true when discernment is involved? Therefore, to correctly discern a problem or error, yet not handle it in the right and loving way, is a failure (1 Cor 13:1ff; Eph 4:30; 5:11; Prov 24:11-12). While some Christians are certainly mean-spirited and unloving in this area, there are times when believers can and should rebuke others, which often leads to being falsely judged as being unloving. (Prov 28:23; Matt 23; Lk 3:7-9; 2 Tim 2:24-26; 3:16-4:4; Ti 1:9-13)
Biblical discerners are not just passionate about the truth—and detecting what is wrong and false—they are equally concerned about avoiding error and false accusations. Out of principle? Yes, and, more importantly, out of love. Why? Because they know that sin, falsehoods, and false accusations grieve God, are the opposite of love, and cause great harm to others. (Prov 6:16-19; Rom 13:10; Eph 4:22-5:2)
False teachers and wolves in sheep’s clothing—even though they are relatively few in number—cause untold amounts of deception, darkness, destruction, and death. However, those who likely cause the most damage today are the people who—because of a lack of discernment—have fallen for and live according to counterfeit love [Compassion – Discernment].
As a result, they become enablers of sin, error, and harm. In other words, these enablers are not only deceived into thinking they are loving, they are actively empowering/enabling deception, division, and destruction in individuals, the Church, and the world. Making this worse, they often attack, hinder, falsely accuse, and undercut those who are loving according to the truth, especially those who are biblically discerning—and they think this is loving on their part. The most destructive force in the world today (after Satan and his demons) could be counterfeit love—as few things, if anything, cause more damage than this deadly imitation.
If so many of our problems today—such as the increase in hatred, division, etc.—can be explained by the increasing amount of deception, and the decreasing belief in the truth, what does this tell us about the value of biblical discernment?
And what, specifically, should the Church be doing about all of this?
Pursue Growth In Discernment
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. -Hebrews 5:14
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. -Hebrews 5:14, NIV
Good biblical discernment does not just happen. Nor is it just a gift that some people have. Discernment is like any skill or muscle. It must be exercised and trained. If not, it becomes weak, and likely worthless, and even harmful.
Therefore, each person must work hard at “train(ing) themselves” to discern between truth and error, good and evil, love and counterfeit love. How so? How often? As the verse above states, we grow and mature in these things “by constant use.”
However, if we do not do this, then we will be stunted in our growth, weak in discernment, and will even cause harm to others and ourselves. Yet the opposite is also true: the more we are trained to accurately and biblical discern, the more we will grow and thrive—and the more we will be able to truly love and bless God and others, as well as increase in our knowledge of God and His love.
Part 1: Top Five Traits Of Strong Biblical Discernment
More Equipping Resources
*For more on being biblically equipped—especially in discernment—we have an abundance of resources on our website. We have many free articles, along with print and ebooks. Please contact us if you cannot afford a particular resource, and we’ll make sure you can access what you need.
Learning To Discern: How To Spot False Teachings and Doctrines of Demons
Meditation Or Mysticism: Discerning Between Helpful and Harmful Forms of Meditation
The War From Hell: Leftism’s Diabolical War Against God, Truth, and All of Humanity
Re-Minded: How To Renew Your Mind, Quiet Your Soul, and Transform Your Life
About The Ministry
Hope For Life Biblical Counseling & Equipping is a non-profit ministry based in the Central Valley of California. We have always been fully committed to providing biblical counseling at no cost to anyone in need, along with classes, books, and other equipping resources for the local community and the worldwide body of Christ as a whole.
Because we truly believe that “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope,” we are passionate about sharing that Word every chance we get.
+ Equipping Resources: Hope For Life Shop
+ Support the Ongoing Ministry of Hope For Life: Donate
+ Stay in Touch With Us: Subscribe
Leave A Comment