Subjective and Objective Discernment

When someone calls themselves a Christian, how do I know if their claim is true? What marks them or makes them stand out?

Over the years, I’ve had some interesting experiences with this issue. I’ve had people tell me they were but were not, and others who didn’t say a word, but I knew that they belonged to the family of God. Have I ever been duped or mistaken? The only times I miss is when someone is a Christian but is not walking in obedience. Their sinful condition at that time seems to hide their true spiritual nature. However, discerning who is who is nothing to boast about for it is God who gives discernment.

Besides that intuitive knowing (not all Christians have it) is there a more tangible, objective measurement? Jesus says there is. In John 14:23, He says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

The first criterion in this statement is that a Christian will love Christ. I remember talking with a member of a cult who claimed to love Him, but does not acknowledge that He is God the Son. When I pointed to a particular statement Jesus made to His disciples, this person figured it had to mean something other than what it plainly said. I replied, “It doesn’t seem to me that Jesus would deliberately deceive His disciples.”

At that, this cult member said, “Oh, yes He would.” No love (or trust) in that statement, verifying to me what I already suspected; this person doesn’t know the Lord.

The second criterion is more dicey; a Christian will obey what God says. At times in my life, when I looked at my performance I’ve wondered if I was really a believer. Obeying God, from the heart, with all my strength and in love for Him is much more difficult than anyone can imagine. It isn’t that I don’t want to, but the problem is with my sin nature. Sometimes I can obey externally (looks good to others), or obey half-heartedly (and say at least that I did it), or obey to impress others, hardly out of love for Him and a desire for His glory. None of those things can be called obedience.

At the same time, people who do not know and love Jesus cannot obey Him at all, at least not in the sense that Jesus is talking about. If a person seems to be doing spiritual good deeds but does not have the Spirit of God motivating them, then it is being done merely in the power of their own humanness, to either impress people or earn brownie points with God.

True obedience is about the God who lives within using the Christian as an instrument to do His will, sort of like a hand in a glove. The glove is nothing apart from the hand.

The Bible reiterates this in several ways. In John 15, Jesus talks about Himself being the vine and His people being the branches. If the branch does not abide in the vine, it cannot bear fruit. Other places speak of our lives being surrendered to His life.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Obedience looks like me doing the deed, but it is Christ who lives in me that motivates it and makes it happen. Sometimes Christians obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit so easily that they don’t even realize that they did an amazing or powerful work of God. Only true Christians can do this because only true Christians have the Spirit of God living in them.

The other part of true obedience is that this obedience is continual. A true Christian hangs in there, works at it. We make mistakes, but we also confess them and eventually get back on track. Because God makes His home in us (the verb means eternal abiding), He gives that continual motivation and power to obey Him.

As for the subjective, intuitive discernment that just ‘knows’ when someone is a believer, this is actually the Spirit within me connecting to the Spirit within that other Christian. The unity is there, often without any or many words spoken or even deeds done. This isn’t an “I’d like it to be so” thing nor a human judgment based on human reasoning. For one thing, my human spirit is clueless and powerless apart from God. If He doesn’t give me insight, I don’t have it, and if He doesn’t give me any ability, I am powerless.

How is this practical? Jesus said in the last days that many would claim to represent Him, and many will be deceived. By giving His people discernment and some practical ways to evaluate those claims, God is protecting me from spiritual deception and disaster.