2. Discerning the Spirit in Christian History: A Biblical Framework
Updated: Sep 6
How can we discern what is of the Holy Spirit and what comes from human sin, the flesh, or even spiritual evil—particularly when considering the complexity of Christian history?
God’s Word is very helpful in answering this important question.
Christian history contains extraordinary beauty. Christians have cared for the poor, served the sick, forgiven enemies, fought injustice, sacrificed their lives for others, and demonstrated remarkable courage and love.
Christian history also contains terrible brokenness. Christians have persecuted one another, coerced religious belief, participated in violence, mistreated Jewish people, defended slavery, demeaned women, divided into bitter factions, and sometimes killed other Christians over theology.
Scripture gives us categories for discerning the true work of the Spirit.
The Spirit and the Flesh
Galatians 5:13–23 says:
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh....The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like....But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Galatians draws an extraordinary contrast between the Spirit and the flesh.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The works of the flesh include hatred, discord, jealousy, rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy.
Paul even warns Christians:
“If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
That verse becomes particularly striking when we study periods of Christian history in which Christians were bitterly attacking, condemning, persecuting, or even killing one another.
Scripture is clear: actions like these are contrary to the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Wisdom From Above
James 3:13–18 gives us another powerful test:
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”
James is remarkably strong.
Not everything that appears to be wisdom actually comes from God.
Wisdom from above is characterized by humility, purity, peace, consideration, mercy, good fruit, impartiality, sincerity, and peacemaking.
By contrast, bitter envy and selfish ambition produce disorder. James goes so far as to describe this kind of “wisdom” as:
“earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”
This means theological sophistication by itself does not prove that something comes from God.
A person can be brilliant.
A theological argument can be complex.
A movement can become powerful.
A Church institution can possess enormous authority.
And yet Scripture still tells us to examine its fruit.
“By Their Fruit You Will Recognize Them”
Jesus gives Christians another important principle in Matthew 7:15–16:
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.”
Jesus is specifically warning his followers about false prophets.
This does not mean that one sinful action automatically proves that every teaching a person holds is false. Christians sin. Christians fail. Christians can act out of the flesh in one area of life while genuinely following the Spirit in another.
But Jesus clearly teaches that spiritual fruit is relevant evidence when Christians evaluate religious teachers and claims.
False prophets may look convincing.
Their teaching may sound religious.
They may even appear outwardly righteous.
Yet Jesus tells us to look at their fruit.
That means sounding biblical is not, by itself, sufficient evidence that someone is speaking for God.
Some teaching may sound convincing and religious while producing terrible fruit. Conversely, something may initially challenge what we have always believed and yet, upon careful investigation, with a willingness to question our own assumptions, reveal more of God’s love, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth. We therefore need discernment. And according to Jesus, fruit matters.
A Biblical Framework for Discernment
When these passages are placed beside one another, the contrast becomes striking:
Evidence Consistent With the Work of the Holy Spirit / Wisdom From Above | Evidence of the Flesh / Wisdom Not From Above |
Serving one another humbly in love | Biting and devouring one another |
Love | Hatred |
Joy | Envy and bitterness |
Peace | Discord |
Forbearance / patience | Fits of rage |
Kindness | Cruelty and destructive behavior |
Goodness | Evil practices |
Faithfulness | Unfaithfulness |
Gentleness | Aggression and rage |
Self-control | Lack of self-control / debauchery |
Humility | Selfish ambition |
Wisdom from above | Earthly, unspiritual wisdom |
Purity | Impurity |
Peace-loving | Dissensions and factions |
Considerate | Inconsiderate |
Willing to yield / submissive | Self-seeking ambition |
Full of mercy | Mercilessness |
Good fruit | Bad fruit |
Impartial | Jealousy and partial self-interest |
Sincere | Insincere |
Peacemaking | Division and destruction |
Serving others | Using others for selfish ends |
The overall contrast is clear:
Where we see love, humility, mercy, goodness, peace, patience, gentleness, sincerity, self-control, and peacemaking, this is fruit consistent with the work of the Holy Spirit.
Where we see hatred, rage, selfish ambition, bitter factionalism, cruelty, envy, destructive division, and other works Scripture explicitly associates with the flesh, we should not attribute those actions to the Holy Spirit.
And James goes even further by warning that some apparently religious “wisdom” characterized by selfish ambition and disorder can be “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”
A Necessary Caution
An important caution is necessary.
This framework is meant to help us evaluate actions, teachings, movements, institutions, and their fruit.
It is not permission for us to pronounce final judgment on whether a particular historical Christian belonged to God.
The same person can display beautiful fruit in one part of life and serious works of the flesh in another.
Peter loved Jesus deeply, preached courageously, and was used powerfully by God.
Peter also failed badly.
David loved God and wrote extraordinary Psalms.
David also committed terrible sins.
Christians can genuinely be used by the Spirit while still acting from fear, pride, anger, selfish ambition, cultural prejudice, or other aspects of the flesh.
That distinction becomes extremely important in Church history.
We can honor the beautiful fruit God produced through someone without pretending that everything that person believed or did came from the Holy Spirit.
Likewise, identifying something as sinful does not require us to conclude that every aspect of that person’s life or ministry was evil.
God Remains Sovereign Even When Christians Fail
Recognizing the darker parts of Christian history does not mean God is not sovereign over history.
God is.
Psalm 115:3 says:
“Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”
And Romans 8:28 gives me enormous hope:
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.”
God can work through deeply imperfect people.
God can bring good out of terrible human failure.
God can correct His people.
God can lead Christians to repentance.
God can recover truth that has been obscured.
God can use the courage and faithfulness of one generation to correct the failures of another.
Human sin does not remove history from God’s sovereignty.
But God sovereignly bringing good out of human failure is not the same thing as saying the failure itself came from the Holy Spirit.
That distinction matters enormously.
How I Will Approach Christian History
Christian history contains extraordinary beauty and terrible brokenness.
Christians have sometimes displayed remarkable love, mercy, courage, humility, sacrifice, faithfulness, and peacemaking—the kind of fruit we would expect when people are being led by the Spirit.
At other times, Christians have displayed hatred, selfish ambition, factionalism, coercion, cruelty, prejudice, and violence—the very kinds of fruit Scripture associates with the flesh rather than the Spirit.
God remains sovereign.
He can work through human beings without endorsing everything they do, and He can bring good even out of terrible human failure.
That is the framework I will use as we turn to Christian history.
I want to recognize and celebrate the places where the fruit of the Spirit is beautifully visible.
And I want to be equally willing to name, carefully and honestly, the places where Christians acted contrary to that Spirit.
Both are part of the story.
And learning to distinguish between them matters—especially when we are evaluating theological beliefs and traditions that Christians have inherited from the past. Christian history itself, given much of its brokenness, gives us reason not simply to assume that everything we have inherited is correct—including beliefs I myself have inherited or conclusions I may reach—but to examine everything carefully in light of Scripture.
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