Bible Dictionary
DISCERNINGS OF SPIRITS
Discernings of spirits was a spiritual gift enabling believers to distinguish between speech prompted by God’s Spirit and teaching or activity arising from a false spirit.
Definition
Discernings of spirits was a spiritual gift enabling a person to distinguish or judge between spiritual influences. It involved discriminating between what was spoken by the Spirit of God and what arose from a false spirit.
Biblical Usage
The gift is listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10. Taken with related uses of discerning, the term indicates careful judgment between competing claims, especially the claims of teachers or speakers presenting spiritual instruction.
Historical Background
The gift was especially important because many false teachers were active. Its exercise concerned those who assumed the role of teachers and required distinction between true and false spiritual influence.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>di-zurn'-inz, (diakriseis pneumaton, "judicial estimation," "through judgment or separation"): Occurs in 1Co 12:10 as being one of the gifts of the Spirit. The Greek word occurs in Heb 5:14; and Ro 14:1: "But him that is weak in faith receive ye, yet not for decision of scruples." This translation scarcely expresses the meaning, which Thayer has freely rendered, "not for the purpose of passing judgment on opinions, as to which one is to be preferred as the more correct." Taking these three passages together it is evident that the Greek term which is rendered "discerning" means a distinguishing or discriminating between things that are under consideration; hence, the one who possessed the gift of "discernings of spirits" was able to make distinction between the one who spoke by the Spirit of God and the one who was moved by a false spirit. This gift seems to have been exercised chiefly upon those who assumed the role of teachers, and it was especially important in those days, because there were many false teachers abroad (see 2Joh 1:7; Ac 20:29,30). See also SPIRITUAL GIFTS.</p><p>A. W. Fortune</p>