The test

Today’s first reading gives a critically important reminder for all of us, especially for those of us who surf the web in search of spiritual insight.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit
but test the spirits
to see whether they belong to God,
because many false prophets
have gone out into the world.

St. John might have then launched into an elaborate discussion on the discernment of spirits, perhaps as a charism of the Holy Spirit or something along the lines St. Ignatius of Loyola would later sketch out.

Instead, he simply gives the most fundamental criterion: orthodoxy.

This is how you can know the Spirit of God:
every spirit
that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh
belongs to God,
and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
does not belong to God.

St. Paul echoes this text with forceful color:

But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again,
If any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received,
let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:8-9

The Greek word translated here as “accursed” is the word “anathema” and has been retained by the Church for many of its most solemn declarations of faith, e.g., Vatican I: Si quis unum verum Deum visibilium et invisibilium Creatorem et Dominum negaverit: anathema sit. “If anyone shall deny one true God, Creator and Lord of things visible and invisible: let him be anathema.”

For some, orthodoxy is a club they enjoy wielding against others and the words “anathema sit” make their hearts go pitter-patter.

For others, orthodoxy is poison or a sacred cow they lust to skewer.

For those who are simply interested in discernment, however, what value does orthodoxy provide?

First, there is no contradiction in God. While human understanding of divine revelation can develop and the mysteries of God are sometimes expressed in contrasting concepts held in tension, no revelation from God can truly and directly contradict that which God has already revealed in Christ.

God does not contradict himself. He does not say one thing, then another.

So, if what we are thinking or feeling or hearing in our prayer life runs counter to the faith that has been received by Christ’s people (i.e., to orthodoxy), that’s a very bad sign.

Second, while God speaks through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and many other ways, his perfect revelation of himself is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh who dwelt among us. Moreover, not only is Christ the perfect revelation of God, he is also the definitively redemptive revelation of God,

For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

Anything that connects us more fully to Christ in the time, place, and way he came among us builds up our relationship with God. Anything that pulls us away from Christ in the time, place, and way he came among us harms our relationship with God.

The doctrinal orthodoxy of the people of God is a fundamental connection we have with Christ, for it represents the reality that the teaching of Christ in the time, place, and way he came among us was passed by him to his apostles who passed it to the Church, the people of God, that with the help of the Holy Spirit has retained it through the ages.

So again, if what we are thinking or feeling or hearing in our prayer life runs counter to the faith that has been received by Christ’s people (i.e., to orthodoxy), that’s a very bad sign.

Not every spirit, thought, feeling, or blog is of God. We must test everything and always seek to grow in the truth and the love that comes to us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.