SCRIPTURAL DISCERNMENT
1. The Consistency Test (See 2 Peter 1:19-21 and 2 Timothy 3:14-16)
Prophecy should never contradict a proper Christ-centered interpretation of scripture. The scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit, true prophecies are inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not self-contradictory.
Of course, a proper interpretation of scripture involves reading passages in their original literary and historical context and in relation to the covenant for which they were first intended, and then considering how they relate to Christ and his church. Their consistency and their usefulness as test of prophecy will emerge through this process.
In what follows Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14 and John in 1 John 3-5 each offer two similar tests of whether a message is or is not from God. Each offers a faith test and a love-upbuilding test. Read the listed scriptures carefully.
2. Faith Test (See 1 Corinthians 1 12:1-3 and 1 John 4:1-3; 5:1-12)
Paul says that an inspired person believes that, “Jesus is Lord.” John says that an inspired person believes that, “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.”
Paul says, “No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, Jesus is accursed.” John says, “Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”
I believe that there was in the first century Mediterranean world a cultural tendency to want a spiritual or philosophical escape from the limitations of physical existence, to find the secret of getting above it all: to get above suffering, above poverty, above morality, above marriage and family life, above death and dying. In this view, people who were sick or poor were to be scorned, and people who were sexually faithful were not enlightened.
Those with such tendencies were quick to believe that Christ was an eternal spirit, who used the body of the human Jesus to reveal his transcendent truths about how to get above it all, but departed from the body of Jesus before the crucifixion. They may have viewed the immortal Christ as praiseworthy, but the human Jesus as cursed.
In contrast to these folks, Paul and John were saying that it is precisely the fully human, fully incarnate, fully crucified Jesus who is also the risen Lord and eternal Christ. Jesus and the Christ are one and the same person. The crucified Savior and the risen Lord are one and the same person. Jesus came in a body. He suffered and died in a body. He was raised in a new kind of body that showed some continuity with the body that died on the cross. He did not sin, but he was not above suffering or temptation.
If Jesus, who was Lord, Christ, and perfect Son of God, was not above it all, then there is no philosophy or spiritual experience that can make us immune to physical realities either. Any prophecy that is confused on this point is not to be trusted. No one who separates Jesus and the Christ can prophesy truly. No one who denies the ethical significance of bodily life, whether the ethics involves deeds of compassion or disciplines of sexual faithfulness or any other way of showing true caring for others, can accurately convey God’s truth.
Our modern philosophies are not exactly like those that tempted Christians in places like Ephesus and Corinth in the 1st century, but there is a widespread view among some in our culture that poverty is not a significant issue that must be addressed by Christian people. There is a widespread view among others that sexual activity is spiritually inconsequential. For still others, there is a widespread view that we can rise above bodily limitations through positive-thinking or “word of faith” attitudes or charismatic experiences. And, yes, there are those who wish to worship a “cosmic Christ” who is not too closely connected to the human Jesus of Nazareth. When spirituality is divorced from the body, there can be no truth.
3. Love/Upbuilding Test (See 1 Corinthians 12:7; 13:1-13; 14:1-5, 12, 26 and 1 John 3:11-24; 4:7-16)
The abiding presence of God through the Holy Spirit may be recognized in believers by the quality of love they show to one another, love that is grounded in Jesus’ self-giving on the cross. This love expresses itself in tangible caring for fellow-believers in their physical, social, and spiritual needs. Therefore, the person who loves must also seek to build up the fellowship of faith which reaches people with the saving and transforming gospel and which aids people in their Christian development.
When we apply the test of love and upbuilding, we must caution ourselves that this love is not merely sentimental, but is aimed toward the total well-being of fellow believers both now and eternally. We live in a time when love is often identified with total acceptance, tolerance, and permissiveness. This is not the biblical view. Christian love and upbuilding take seriously the transforming work of God in Christ and the moral life that results: Love “…does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” 1 Corinthians 13:6 (ESV).
Jesus Christ gave his life to redeem us from sin, not just from sin’s consequences. He seeks to enable us to live holy lives. If prophecy is not consistent with the redemptive, transforming work of Christ, it is not loving and it is not true. Real love seeks the best for others. The ethical principle is the same as in the slogan, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” But Christian love’s arena of concern is far broader than merely surviving a trip home from a party. Christian love seeks for others an embodied life that is blessed with the presence of God and therefore abundant in meaning and satisfaction. This blessedness will take place partially now through our earthly bodies and perfectly in eternity through our resurrection bodies.