1 Corinthians 2:14 > what does "discerned" mean?

[com7fy8]

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

What does Paul mean by saying things of the Holy Spirit are spiritually "discerned"?

Thanks 

[Not of the World]

Ah.  I think I know where I went wrong previously (other thread).  I was incorrectly attributing "for they are spiritually discerned" to the unbeliever rather than to "the things of the spirit of God".  

[Not of the World]

4 minutes ago, com7fy8 said:

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

What does Paul mean by saying things of the Holy Spirit are spiritually "discerned"?

Thanks 

Is that the ESV interpretation?  

Here is the NIV:

 

1 Corinthians 2:14

 

New International Version

 

 

¹⁴ The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

[com7fy8]

I quoted my New King James Bible.

The New American Standard  says "appraised".

To me, discernment means telling the difference between one thing and another.

The Holy Spirit makes us able to tell the difference between a thing of Satan's spirit, versus a blessing of the Holy Spirit.

So, a person who is "natural" is not functioning in the Holy Spirit; and so he or she cannot tell what is of God's Holy Spirit.

[Not of the World]

1 minute ago, com7fy8 said:

I quoted my New King James Bible.

The New American Standard  says "appraised".

To me, discernment means telling the difference between one thing and another.

The Holy Spirit makes us able to tell the difference between a thing of Satan's spirit, versus a blessing of the Holy Spirit.

So, a person who is "natural" is not functioning in the Holy Spirit; and so he or she cannot tell what is of God's Holy Spirit.

 

Thank you.  

[com7fy8]

I would like to note:

We are talking about discerning "things" > not only ideas. In the Holy Spirit there are things of God, which we can actually experience.

With God, we can tell the difference, for example, between feeling good about a pleasure, versus being with God in His peace.

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by com7fy8

[com7fy8]

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment." (Philippians 1:9)

So, to me this means there is "love" which has "knowledge and all discernment". And now I notice how this says "all" discernment!

So, we could be talking about the only "love" that has discernment. Which love would this be, then, if only one love in existence has true and trustworthy discernment?

[com7fy8]

20 hours ago, Not of the World said:

Ah.  I think I know where I went wrong previously (other thread).  I was incorrectly attributing "for they are spiritually discerned" to the unbeliever rather than to "the things of the spirit of God".  

Well, we do need to discern who to trust and who not to trust. And Jesus clearly tells us not to judge by people's outward show and say-so > 

"'Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.'" (John 7:24)

And with Jesus it is possible to judge reliably. But Jesus does want us to love any and all people; so He will not have us just judging about who to love and who to condemn, or who is good enough for us to love and who isn't.

But in His love we can have discernment so wrong people don't fool us with their acting; plus, in God's love we have our Creator's creativity for how to love each person.

So, then, in God's love we have discernment for who to trust, and how to trust each one, plus discernment for how to love each person.

But this discernment is in God's love which we have in the Holy Spirit through Jesus > Romans 5:5. This is God's all-loving love which has reliable discernment > we can not have this in worldly and selfish loving, then > "if you love those who love you, what reward have you?" Jesus says, in Matthew 5:46.

So, in God's all-loving love we can share His discernment with Him, making sure with Him so we are not fooled by people's acting and false reporting!

And our Apostle Paul has prayed for us to keep increasing in this love's ability to judge well >

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment." (Philippians 1:9)

So, this has already been prayed for us, even if we have not been thinking of this 

Only in God's love can we have His light for evaluating any person in a caring way, and His love's light has us seeing circumstances the way love has us seeing things.

Meanwhile, there are people who fall in selfish love which has them in the dark - - as they only or mainly care about what they want to get for themselves; then, as they try to use people for what they want . . . they make interesting discoveries about the ones they have tried to use and maybe married. Then they blame and argue.

But the love with "all discernment" is God's all-loving love. And we have this only through His Son Jesus. 

Edited October 15, 2022 by com7fy8