1 Thessalonians 5:21
a*Prove all things; bhold fast that which is good.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
πάντα δοκιμάζετε· τὸ καλὸν κατέχετε·
Textual key: no entry
a:
1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1 Corinthians 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1 Corinthians 14:29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
*:
Prove-try, test.
b:
Revelation 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Philippians 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
this duty relates to the former; as they were to attend upon prophesyings, so to exercise a discerning judgment about what was prophesied; for all things is not to be taken here universally, but for doctrines and opinions in religion which were delivered by the prophets. The same which the apostle John requires:
& c.; δοκιμαζετε and it is the same word there which in this text we read prove; alluding to gold or other metals, which are tried in the fire, or by a touchstone, as some think.
And though there was a peculiar gift of discerning of spirits, 1Co 12:10, yet it is the duty of every Christian to try men’s spirits and doctrines whether from God or no. The apostle speaks here to the saints in general, and so doth the apostle John, 1Jn 4:1. And men’s doctrines are to be judged by the Scriptures as the standard of truth, as the Bereans were commended for searching the Scrictures about the apostle’s doctrine, Act 17:11; and the apostle prays for the Philippians, that they might discern things that differ, Php 1:10; and if they had not yet attained it as they ought, yet he prays that they might and not be always babes, but such as the apostle speaks of, who have their senses exercised in the discerning of good and evil, Heb 5:13,14: the people are to look upon them as their guides and leaders, as they they are called, Heb 13:7,17, and such as are to go before them in the searching and dispensing of truth; yet, because the best are but infallible, they ought to try their doctrine by the rule of truth.
Which is that judgment of discretion which protestants allow to the people in their disputes with the papists against their doctrine of infallibility and implicit faith, which grounds the people’s faith upon the authority of men, which ought to rest upon the authority of God. As we ought not easily to reject the authority and faith of the church, so not to believe with a blind faith, or obey with a blind obedience.
the good here meant is truth, which is an intellectual good; the contrary to which is error, which is a mental evil. When we have proved men’s doctrines and opinions, what we find agreeable to the Scriptures of truth we ought to hold fast. And though all truth hath a goodness in it, yet especially Divine truth, and the doctrine of the gospel, which the apostle calls, that good thing committed to Timothy, 2Ti 1:14. It is good with respect to the soul, and so better than any bodily good; and good that refers to eternity, and so better than any temporal good. Now this good we are to hold fast; to hold it fast against adversaries and all opposition, as some understand the word; to hold it as with both hands, against seducing doctrine, Satan’s temptations, and the world’s persecution.
The same word is used concerning the good ground that held fast the seed of the word, Luk 8:15. So 1Co 11:2, we are to retain the truth, but not detain it, as the heathen are said to do, Rom 1:18, where we find also the same word as in the text. It is a duty much pressed by the apostles in their Epistles to the saints and churches that had received the gospel, that they would hold it fast, 2Ti 1:13 Tit 1:9 Heb 4:14 Rev 2:13,25 3:3. And there is holding fast the truth as well in practice as opinion, and which may be the ground of the name given to such as opposed the errors of antichrist before the word protestant was known, called fast-men.