The Corinthian church was a mess: divided leadership, sexual immorality, and a chaos of “spiritual gifts” running through their worship services. Paul writes a long letter to clean it up. Spiritual gifts can feel strange to anyone new to the Bible, and even longtime Christians tend to misunderstand or overlook them.
Paul tells the Corinthians, of all things, to eagerly desire these gifts. Why? Because they are for the common good; they bless others. Spiritual gifts are any ability empowered by the Holy Spirit and used to build up others in the church.
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:7–11)
One of the more overlooked gifts in that list is worth a closer look: distinguishing between spirits.
That word is spooky for some people. We’re comfortable with what our five senses can measure, and the lasting influence of the Enlightenment is a quiet skepticism toward anything unseen.
But most people intuitively know that just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Gravity, wind, and magnetic fields were no less real before we figured out how to measure them. The unseen things, love, justice, trust, and time, have the largest impact on our lives, and we can’t see any of them.
So the word spirits shouldn’t put us off. Spiritual reality is foundational.
But here’s where it gets tricky. In our culture, “spiritual” is treated as automatically positive. Someone says, “I’m spiritual,” and we nod approvingly. The instinct is that spirit equals good. That isn’t true. Not all spirits are good.
Three kinds of spirits are at work:
- Holy Spirit
- Unholy spirits
- The Human spirit
The gift of distinguishing between spirits is the ability to recognize which of these is at work in a given moment, conversation, or event.
First and foremost, the Holy Spirit is God. Christian theology holds that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. A summary: God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God. It’s the most beautiful and mysterious truth about His nature.
The Holy Spirit, being God, has always existed. But in a special and unique way, He is poured out into our hearts when we repent of our sins and put our faith in Jesus: “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, guides us, teaches us, produces Christlike character, helps us pray, and gives spiritual gifts. But His distinguishing mark is this: the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus.
So, when discerning between spirits, the first question is: Does this glorify Jesus? If yes, you’re seeing the Holy Spirit at work. If no, the next question is whether it’s an unholy spirit or the human spirit.
The Bible calls these false or demonic spirits. Scripture speaks of Satan, the chief demon, and of lesser evil spirits.
The distinguishing mark of a demonic spirit is destructive influence over God’s creation, especially over human beings made in His image. Its primary tactic is deception. Jesus says of Satan, “There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
I took French all through school, but the only French I retain is how to order a hamburger. French is unnatural for me; English is automatic. Lying is Satan’s automatic language.
The purpose of his deception is to turn people away from God. Jesus describes it bluntly: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). God’s desire is that we have an abundant life: real joy, peace, hope, freedom, and a relationship with Him through Christ. Unholy spirits want to destroy that, and they do it through doubt, fear, guilt, confusion, pride, and even sickness.
This works at the individual level. Satan deceived Eve. An evil spirit tormented King Saul, fueling his rage toward David. Mark 5 records a man whose self-mutilation was driven by demonic activity, and Luke 13 describes a woman crippled for eighteen years by demonic influence.
But unholy spirits also operate at much larger scales. Revelation describes an unholy trinity that mirrors and counterfeits the true God. There’s a dragon that represents Satan: “The great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9). Then there are two beasts. The beast from the sea represents nations and governments opposed to God, initially Rome, but more broadly any political power that sets itself against God’s purposes. The beast from the earth looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon; it represents the ideas, philosophies, worldviews, and even laws that draw people into worship of anything other than God.
Take inclusivism: the idea that all roads lead to God and every religion is an equal path. If all roads lead to the same place, Jesus becomes unnecessary. But Scripture says no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. The Holy Spirit lifts Jesus up; unholy spirits do the opposite.
Most often, what we’re dealing with isn’t the Holy Spirit or an unholy spirit. We’re dealing with the human spirit, the part of us capable of relating to God. John 4 says we worship God in spirit and in truth. Romans 8 says when God speaks to us, He speaks to our spirit.
The human spirit isn’t neutral; it’s influenced by the Holy Spirit, by unholy spirits, and most often by our own desires.
Not all evil is caused by an unholy spirit. The New Testament’s emphasis isn’t on hunting down demons or blaming them for bad behaviour, but on choosing to live in righteousness, empowered by God’s Spirit.
The Corinthian church is a case study. They suffered from disunity; Paul didn’t rebuke a “spirit of dissension” but told them to come into agreement. They were rife with sexual immorality; Paul didn’t rebuke a “spirit of lust” but told them to flee from it. The human spirit, in both cases.
The New Testament’s posture is to take responsibility, obey Jesus, and not shift the blame to some external spirit. And thank God, He has given us a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to empower righteous living.
Often, you don’t need a special gift to tell the difference between these three. Just scroll the comments section of any social-media post, and you’ll see the human spirit in spades. But sometimes it isn’t obvious, and a supernatural ability to discern is needed. Acts 16 records a moment like that:
“Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her.” (Acts 16:16–18)
(Just because someone is annoying doesn’t mean they have an evil spirit; otherwise every Costco shopper would need an exorcism.) The girl was actually saying the right thing, but Paul could detect that an evil spirit was animating the words.
The gift of distinguishing between spirits is the capacity to know what’s actually happening in the spiritual realm. That’s a profound blessing for the church. It’s no help to prescribe an Advil when something more devious is at work, and no help to blame Satan when someone is just being foolish.
Not everyone has the specific gift of distinguishing between spirits, but every Christian is called to test the spirits. “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). Three tests are useful, especially as we receive teaching about God (a real concern in an age when a lot of theology is delivered through 60-second videos), but also as we examine our own thoughts, our interactions, the laws being passed around us, and the ideas we encounter.
The Jesus test. “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2–3). Does this teaching confess Jesus as fully God and fully human, who died, rose, ascended, and will return to judge? Many religions deny His divinity; others deny His humanity. A spirit from God exalts Jesus. A false spirit distorts Him.
The Bible test. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). All Scripture: every book, paragraph, sentence. Paul tells us in Galatians 1:8 that even if an angel preaches a different gospel, it shouldn’t be believed. So the question is, does this align with the Bible? A spirit from God aligns with His Word. A false spirit twists it.
The fruit test. “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” (Matthew 7:15–16). A spirit from God produces the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. A false spirit produces confusion, division, and sin.
The closing question is worth sitting with. What spirits are shaping your life? What unseen forces are influencing your words, your emotions, your outlook, your decisions? What voices are loudest? What has the greatest influence over your daily choices: Jesus, or something else? What sin are you turning a blind eye toward? What lies from the enemy have you started to believe about yourself? Is there a situation you’re responding to with fear instead of faith? How often are you in God’s Word? How often are you on your knees in prayer?
Whatever the answers, hold on to this: “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The Holy Spirit in you is greater than any force that wants to derail or destroy your life. Yes, there’s an enemy. Yes, the human spirit can be swayed. But the One who lives in you is greater than all of it.
Let the Holy Spirit shape your mind, emotions, decisions, relationships, sexuality, money, and family.