Discerning Trustworthy Truth: How God’s Word and Spirit Form Christian Judgment

Introduction: Deciding Whom to Trust

For God’s truth to set us free, we must appraise, acknowledge, and act on it. Christians judge the Bible to be trustworthy truth: something upon which they can rely and stake their lives. Disciples demonstrate their understanding of God’s word, and their trust, by living in its light. This essay sets out biblical criteria for discerning trustworthy truth.

A. The Challenge of Christian Discernment

1. The issue: sound Christian judgment

Every person, Christian or not, makes daily decisions about whose words are trustworthy. We are all disciples of someone. Life requires us to judge whether a particular claim is true or false, right or wrong, biblical or unbiblical. Making such judgments is the way we seek to turn mere opinion into knowledge, mere knowledge into wisdom.

Disciples must therefore exercise discernment: the capacity for making right judgments, particularly about who speaks for God. Jesus cautions against judging in the sense of condemning (Matt. 7:1; Luke 6:37), but elsewhere exhorts his disciples: ‘Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment’ (John 7:24; ESV). Bible readers must make judgments about what the Bible means.

2. The problem: noise; counterfeits; lies

As to opinions about God and God’s word, their name is Legion. Like the ancient Israelites, twenty-first century Christians live in an age of subjectivity, with everyone doing what was right “in their own eyes” (Judg. 21:25; NRSV). A further challenge of our present moment is the global marketplace of ideas: so many formulas for success, so many prescriptions for well-being, so many false gospels!¹

In our pluralistic age, we must realize that many voices do not deserve to be trusted. There have always been false prophets, starting with the serpent in the garden of Eden.

Adam’s fall had everything to do with trusting the wrong person, for devilish words led to death, not life.

B. How Not to Discern Truth: Two Deadly Intellectual Sins

There are two common physiological reactions to perceived threats: fight or flight.² The fear of making bad judgments gives rise to two similar spiritual reactions.

1. Partisan pride

Bonnie Kristian’s Untrustworthy examines what happens when people no longer trust institutions like the news media, government, or church to communicate truth.³ Often, people trust only members of their own tribe. Such partisan pride feels no need to listen to others; it already knows. Such an attitude inclines diverse groups to think that only their community’s interpretation of the Bible is trustworthy.

Others, thinking themselves rational, may succumb to a distinctly modern form of pride, claiming that one can read the Bible rightly only if they use approved methods. The temptation in both cases is an inordinate trust, in either a particular standpoint or interpretive procedures. 

2. Skeptical sloth

People today often respond to the cacophony of voices by going to the opposite extreme, preferring simply what feels right or abandoning the search for truth. Either strategy, whether expressive individualism or radical skepticism, is a counsel of despair – ultimately a form of spiritual sloth, unwilling to do the hard work of discerning trustworthy truth. 

C. What the Bible is and is for

1. The nature of the Bible: human testimony ‘breathed out by God’ (2 Tim. 3:16a)

The Bible is not a book of philosophy, morality, science, or even religion. It is rather a collection of diverse books, written by diverse authors, centuries apart, concerning God’s activity in the histories of Israel and Jesus Christ. Together, these human testimonies comprise a single unified story about how the Creator of all things made and fulfilled a promise to redeem a people for himself.

The Bible presents itself as a divinely appointed means by which God does things with words via human discourse: ‘I the LORD have spoken; I will accomplish it’ (Ezek. 17:24; NRSV). Indeed, in speaking God declares his name (‘I am who I am’ – Exod. 3:14), issues commands (‘You shall have no other gods before me’ – Exod. 20:3), and makes promises (‘I will be your God’ – Exod. 6:7). In many and various ways, God relates to the Bible’s authors and readers as Creator to creature, covenant Lord to covenant servant, Father to children.

The Bible is the principal means by which God makes himself and his purposes known: “If God does not speak, then it is not clear how we can know in any substantial way His intentions and purposes.” If God never communicated to us in words, “the alternative is not just a tentative, carefully qualified guessing at what God is doing, but a radical agnosticism.”⁵

Testimony is a source of knowledge, a way of enabling others to learn something they have not experienced for themselves. Testimony is as reliable a source of true belief as memory or perception: “An irreducible feature of testimony as a form of human utterance is that it asks to be trusted.”⁶ Given human finitude, it is wise to “Believe what you are told by others unless or until you have reason for doubting it.”⁷ Trusting the eyewitness testimony of the four Gospels, for example, is an indispensable means of learning about Jesus.

The Bible itself stresses the importance of giving true testimony (Exod. 20:16), and of having at least two witnesses corroborate it (Deut. 17:6; John 8:17). John’s Gospel is structured as a courtroom drama, with various parties – the Samaritan woman (John 4:39); Jesus’ miraculous works (John 5:36); those whom Jesus healed – giving testimony as to Jesus’ true identity. John takes on the authorial responsibility of giving true testimony too: “He who saw it has borne witness – his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth – that you also may believe” (John 19:35; ESV).

The Bible provides a criterion for distinguishing true from false prophecy: “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken” (Deut. 18:22; ESV). The story of the Bible shows how God meets this criterion, proving himself true (i.e., faithful) by keeping his word. Jesus is God’s prophecy come true, God’s promise fulfilled. The word of God is trustworthy because God is trustworthy.⁸

To discern truth based on God’s word means believing that what the Bible claims is wholly reliable. Following these words will not mislead. More importantly, it means trusting that the person whose self-testimony it ultimately is, is utterly reliable: “If we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim. 2:13, ESV). 

2. The purpose of the Bible: ‘for training in righteousness’ (2 Tim. 3:16b)

The purpose of God’s word is to gather and govern God’s people. The purpose of collecting the writings of the prophets and the apostles is to teach everything disciples need to know about their new covenant privileges and responsibilities so that they can live as worthy citizens of the gospel (Phil. 1:27).⁹ Hearing that God has proved faithful by raising Christ from the dead, occasions and informs faith. The gospel tells disciples what they need to know in order to embody the mind of Christ; the church represents his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The Bible is a crucial part of God’s covenant curriculum. As the law was our tutor (Greek paidagōgos) until Christ came (Gal. 3:24), so the gospel teaches us freedom in Christ: “We are who we are because Jesus is who he is.”¹⁰ The Bible is divine pedagogy: through its stories, histories, proverbs, laws, parables, and songs, God’s word trains God’s people in righteousness, love, and the wisdom of the cross – everything necessary for attaining maturity in Christ.¹¹

D.  Discerning Biblical Truth the Biblical Way

1. Discernment: attending rightly to God’s word

It is one thing to have a high view of the Bible and quite another to discern its truth. Satan, an expert in disinformation, used Scripture to tempt Jesus to disobey God (Luke 4:1-12). Paul warned Timothy that some would depart from the faith “by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1, NRSV). This is how humans have always gone wrong, by paying attention to untrustworthy voices which, when followed, lead to destruction and despair.

The way forward involves attending only to voices appointed, accredited, and authorized by God. Epistemology is the study of “how to go about knowing something so that we can trust the results.”¹² The Bible’s epistemology can be stated in a formula: “Knowing well entails listening to trusted authorities and doing what they prescribe in order to see what they are showing you.”¹³ 

Christians discern trustworthy truth by attentively listening to, and following, the directions given in God’s word by his commissioned prophets and apostles. Attending to these voices is the best way to develop good Christian judgment. We also need criteria for discerning trustworthy claims by interpreters about what the prophets and apostles mean. Two are especially important: the content of the message (is it consistent with what Paul declares in 1 Cor. 15:3 to be ‘of first importance’?); and the character of the interpreter (is it self-denying, cruciform, and Christ-like?).¹⁴

Paul stresses discernment – phronesis or practical wisdom, “a pattern of thinking, acting, and feeling” that reflects Christian maturity – in his epistle to the Philippians.¹⁵ It is a matter of having not just the right thoughts, but the right perspective and the big picture. Christian phronesis, a way of thinking in light of Christ’s death and resurrection, is required if disciples are to make God-glorifying judgments.¹⁶

Disciples need theological judgment in order to participate rightly in God’s kingdom project. Words and actions are fitting only if they correspond to what the Father is doing in the Son through the Spirit. The Bible is fundamentally testimony to the ongoing drama of redemption in which believers are summoned to take part. Disciples demonstrate their understanding of this gospel drama, and thus of God’s word, by discerning how to live as faithful witnesses to what God is doing in Christ. 

2. Making disciples: a long apprenticeship to word and Spirit

Scripture is trustworthy, profitable for training in discipleship, a path to our feet (Ps. 119:105) – if we know how to walk by its light. Work must be done to discern the way of truth and life: “the ability to make judgments pertinent to application is a part of understanding.”¹⁷ The word of God gives us truth, but only sanctified human subjectivity is able to discern and respond to it rightly.¹⁸

The Christian Scriptures are ‘canonical’ because they provide the authoritative standard [Gk. kanon = ‘rule’] for theological judgment. Outside the church, the world judges truth and goodness according to the prevailing social imaginary. In the West, for example, many subscribe to a secular story that struggles to discern the truth of matter in motion.¹⁹ By way of contrast, Christians make sense of the world, and of life, according to their scriptural imaginary. The canon is the true story that identifies the God of Israel as the Father of Jesus Christ, through whom and for whom all things exist (Col. 1:15-16).

Conclusion

Discerning trustworthy truth is a spiritual process. The inner witness of the Spirit convicts Christians of Scripture’s truth, opening hearts and renewing minds to understand and love God’s word: “The knowledge of the truth, the witness to the truth, and the persuasion of the truth are all the work of the Holy Spirit.”²⁰ The Spirit of truth “will not speak on his own authority” (John 16:13; ESV) but will speak in Jesus’ name and testify on Jesus’ behalf (John 16:14-15). The Jerusalem Council came to a common mind when the Spirit made clear the implications of the gospel: “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19; NIV). Those whose minds the Spirit is renewing “become able to evaluate what is truly good, so discerning God’s will (Rom. 12:2).”²¹

Discerning the trustworthy truth of God’s word thus requires a biblical framework (the scriptural imaginary) and the ability rightly to inhabit it (a sanctified heart). Disciples who let the Bible light their path and keep in step with the Spirit become actors in the story of redemption, and witnesses trained to say and do in every circumstance what befits the gospel, pleases God, and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.

Endnotes

1. See R. W. L. Moberly, Prophecy and Discernment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
2. See Walter B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear, and Rage (New York: D. Appleton, 1924), 187.
3. Bonnie Kristian, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2022).
4. William J. Abraham, Divine Revelation and the Limits of Historical Criticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 25.
5. Abraham, Divine Revelation, 21.
6. Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 5.
7. H. H. Price, Belief (London: Allen & Unwin, 1969), 124
8. See further Paul Helm, ‘The Perfect Trustworthiness of God,’ in The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture, eds. Paul Helm and Carl R. Trueman (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 237-52.
9. See further Thomas R. Schreiner, Covenant and God’s Purpose for the World (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017).
10. Adam Neder, Theology as a Way of Life: On Teaching and Learning the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019), 6.
11. See further Steven Edward Harris, God and the Teaching of Theology: Divine Pedagogy in 1 Corinthians 1-4 (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019).
12. Craig Bartholomew, ‘Postscript,’ in The Bible Throughout the Ages: Its Nature, Interpretation, and Relevance for Today, eds. Lydia Jaeger and Craig G. Bartholomew (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2024), 317-18 (emphasis original).
13. Dru Johnson, Scripture’s Knowing: A Companion to Biblical Epistemology (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2015), 16 (emphasis original).
14. See Moberly, Prophecy and Discernment, 151.
15. Stephen Fowl, Philippians, Two Horizons New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 72. See also Nigel Rooms, ‘Paul as Practical Theologian: Phronesis in Philippians,’ Practical Theology 5.1 (2012): 81-94.
16.  See further Charles Wood, ‘Becoming Theological,’ in Charles M. Wood and Ellen Blue, Attentive to God: Thinking Theologically in Ministry (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008), 1-24.
17. Charles M. Wood, The Formation of Christian Understanding: Theological Hermeneutics (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2000), 58.
18. ‘Augustine argues that the discernment of spiritual truth is the vocation of those created in the image of God, that the capacity for this discernment is lost in sin, and that renewal of the mind through the image leads to renewal of the vocation associated with the image’ (Martin Westerholm, ‘On Christian Discernment and the Problem of the Theological,’ International Journal of Systematic Theology 16.4 [2014], 466-67).
19. See Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2007).
20. Henk van den Belt, ‘Holy Resonance: God’s Spirit in the Scriptures and in Human Hearts,’ in The Bible Throughout the Ages, 63.
21. Craig S. Keener, The Mind of the Spirit: Paul’s Approach to Transformed Thinking (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019), 144.
22. See further Ian W. Scott, Paul’s Way of Knowing: Story, Experience, and the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008) and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2014).