17 Bible Verses about Distinguishing

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please, come near and let me feel you, my son. {Are you really} my son Esau or not?"

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have trained their faculties for the distinguishing of both good and evil.

Then they sent the robe with long sleeves and they brought [it] to their father and said, "We found this; please examine [it]. [Is] it the robe of your son or not?"

You must watch; if it goes up by the way of its territory to Beth Shemesh, he has caused this great disaster to [come on] us. But if not, then we will know his hand has not struck us; it [was by] chance [that] this happened to us.

Then Gilead captured the fords of the Jordan from Ephraim, and whenever a fugitive of Ephraim said, "Let me cross [over]," the men of Gilead said to him, "[Are] you an Ephraimite?" [When] he said, "No," they said to him, "Please say Shibboleth," and [if] he said, "Sibboleth"--because he could not {pronounce it} correctly--they grabbed him and executed him at the fords of Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

You will recognize them by their fruits: they do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, [do they]?

As a result, you will recognize them by their fruits.

"Either make the tree good and its fruit [is] good, or make the tree bad and its fruit [is] bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

And Moses said, "In this you will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; [it is] not from my heart. {If they die a natural death} or {if a natural fate is visited upon them}, Yahweh has not sent me. But if Yahweh creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up and {all that belongs to them}, and they go down alive [to] Sheol, and you will know that these men have despised Yahweh."

By this the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, namely, the one who does not love his brother.

which when it was filled they pulled to shore and sat down [and] collected the good [fish] into containers, but the bad they threw out.

for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn plants, nor are grapes harvested from thorn bushes.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples--if you have love for one another."

But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and keep his commandments.