Reference: Discerning Of Spirits
American
1Co 12:10, a miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost to certain of the early church, empowering them to judge of the real character of those who professed to love Christ, and to be inspired to teach in his name, 1Jo 4:1; 2Jo 1:7. Compare Ac 5:1-10; 13:6-12.
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Only be strong and very courageous {to observe diligently the whole law} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, [to] the right or left, so that you may succeed {wherever you go}.
Now a certain man {named} Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. read more. But Peter said, "Ananias, for what [reason] has Satan filled your heart, [that] you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself [some] of the proceeds of the piece of land? [When it] remained to you, did it not remain [yours]? And [when it] was sold, was it at your disposal? How [is it] that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God!" And [when] Ananias heard these words, he fell down [and] died. And great fear came on all those who heard about [it]. So the young men stood up, wrapped him up, and carried [him] out [and] buried [him]. And it happened that [there was] an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you [both] were paid this much [for] the piece of land." And she said, "Yes, this much." So Peter [said] to her, "How [is it] that it was agreed by you [two] to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband [are] at the door, and they will carry you out!" And immediately she fell down at his feet and died. So [when] the young men came in, they found her dead, and carried [her] out [and] buried [her] with her husband.
And [when they] had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name [was] Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul [and] wished to hear the word of God. read more. But Elymas the magician (for his name is translated in this way) opposed them, attempting to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul (also called Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him [and] said, "O [you who are] full of all deceit and of all unscrupulousness, [you] son of the devil, [you] enemy of all righteousness! Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord! And now behold, the hand of the Lord [is] against you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun {for a while}. And immediately mist and darkness fell over him, and he was going around looking for [people] to lead [him] by the hand. Then [when] the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, [because he] was astounded at the teaching about the Lord.
to another {miraculous powers}, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to determine] if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Fausets
1Co 12:10. Discerning between the operation of God's Spirit and that of the evil spirit, or unaided human spirit claiming to utter the dictates of God's Spirit. Ac 5:1-11; 8:28; 1Co 14:23,37: "if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." It is this which assures us of the inspiration of the New Testament The books were accepted as inspired, by churches having men possessing" the discerning of spirits" (1Jo 4:1; 1Ti 4:1).
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Now a certain man {named} Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. read more. But Peter said, "Ananias, for what [reason] has Satan filled your heart, [that] you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself [some] of the proceeds of the piece of land? [When it] remained to you, did it not remain [yours]? And [when it] was sold, was it at your disposal? How [is it] that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God!" And [when] Ananias heard these words, he fell down [and] died. And great fear came on all those who heard about [it]. So the young men stood up, wrapped him up, and carried [him] out [and] buried [him]. And it happened that [there was] an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you [both] were paid this much [for] the piece of land." And she said, "Yes, this much." So Peter [said] to her, "How [is it] that it was agreed by you [two] to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband [are] at the door, and they will carry you out!" And immediately she fell down at his feet and died. So [when] the young men came in, they found her dead, and carried [her] out [and] buried [her] with her husband. And great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard about these [things].
and was returning and sitting in his chariot, and reading aloud the prophet Isaiah.
to another {miraculous powers}, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to determine] if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Morish
This was one of the gifts in the early church, needful for 'testing the spirits,' because even then many false prophets had gone forth into the world. 1Co 12:10; 1Jo 4:1-3. This gift was especially necessary at the time when the word of God was not fully written.
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After all the nation finished crossing the Jordan, Yahweh said to Joshua, "Take twelve men from the people, {one man from each tribe}, read more. and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests' feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you, and set them up in {the place where you will camp tonight}.'"
to another {miraculous powers}, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues.