Don’t Outsource Your Discernment—Even If They Call You Divisive

A serious problem today is spiritual elites who want us to trust them rather than the Spirit-illumined Word of God. We’re told to submit to authority and trust the pastors. And there is a real biblical call to honor leaders who have embraced the yoke of shepherding: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account” (Hebrews 13:17). The elders who lead well are “worthy of double honor” (1 Timothy 5:17).

But that submission has a ceiling. When the apostles were ordered to stop preaching Messiah, Peter answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). We honor our leaders, and we refuse to follow them into error. Both are biblical. It should flow like this:

• Word of God

• Spirit’s leading

• Conscience

• Leadership

This is exactly why Peter wrote 2 Peter — to warn believers about false teachers and to ground them in the Word of God as the standard for testing what they hear. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1). 

Teachers sometimes go off the rails. They may have compelling supernatural stories to draw you in — “They mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18) — but their teaching is off. Jesus himself warned, “For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).

The discernment Peter calls for isn’t private intuition or “my truth.” It’s the believer, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, weighing every teaching against the Scriptures. The Bereans were called “more noble” because they “received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). Some leaders today would have rebuked the Bereans for not blindly following leadership. And what is so crazy about that is that the Protestant Reformation was started as a reaction to the Catholic Church's monopoly over doctrine, interpretation, and so much more. Protestants “protested” against such tight control…and now some are repeating it.

John says it directly: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). And Paul: “Test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The trouble is, many believers feel guilty for voicing concern. 

If they leave, they’re labeled as followers of Satan. If they warn others, they’re called divisive. Now, Scripture does warn against true divisiveness — splitting fellowship over secondary matters or personal preference (Titus 3:10). But raising the alarm over false teaching isn’t divisiveness; it’s faithfulness. Paul didn’t soften his words: “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9). And Jude pleads with us to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Peter closes his letter with the exhortation that holds this whole message together: “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position” (2 Peter 3:17).

So let me encourage you to read 2 Peter — it’s only three chapters. Every believer has the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). Every believer is part of “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). As John reminds us, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth... the anointing that you received from him abides in you” (1 John 2:20, 27). Every believer can open the Word of God. Every believer, by the Spirit, can discern and think critically. You have been forewarned. Be on your guard.