Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good ] Some of the best ancient authorities read, But prove all things. In any case, this exhortation, while capable of the widest application, arises out of the subject of the last. “Instead of accepting or rejecting wholesale what is addressed to you as prophecy, use your judgement; learn to discriminate; sift the wheat from the chaff.” So needful was it to distinguish between true and false revelations, that a special endowment was bestowed on some persons for this end the “discernment of spirits” (1Co 12:10). And St Paul gives a criterion for the purpose in 1Co 12:3. Comp. 1Jn 4:1-3, “Beloved, believe not every spirit; but try the spirits, whether they are of God.”

“The good” represents a different word from that of 1Th 5:15 (see note); it signifies what is good or fine in quality, as in 2Th 3:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Prove all things – Subject everything submitted to you to be believed to the proper test. The word here used ( dokimazete), is one that is properly applicable to metals, referring to the art of the assayer, by which the true nature and value of the metal is tested; see notes, 1Co 3:13. This trial was usually made by fire. The meaning here is, that they were carefully to examine everything proposed for their belief. They were not to receive it on trust; to take it on assertion; to believe it because it was urged with vehemence, zeal, or plausibility. In the various opinions and doctrines which were submitted to them for adoption, they were to apply the appropriate tests from reason and the word of God, and what they found to be true they were to embrace; what was false they were to reject. Christianity does not require people to disregard their reason, or to be credulous. It does not expect them to believe anything because others say it is so. It does not make it a duty to receive as undoubted truth all that synods and councils have decreed; or all that is advanced by the ministers of religion. It is, more than any other form of religion, the friend of free inquiry, and would lead people everywhere to understand the reason of the opinions which they entertain; compare Act 17:11-12; 1Pe 3:15.

Hold fast that which is good – Which is in accordance with reason and the word of God; which is adapted to promote the salvation of the soul and the welfare of society. This is just as much a duty as it is to prove all things. A man who has applied the proper tests, and has found out what is truth, is bound to embrace it and to hold it fast. He is not at liberty to throw it away, as if it were valueless; or to treat truth and falsehood alike. It is a duty which he owes to himself and to God to adhere to it firmly, and to suffer the loss of all things rather than to abandon it. There are few more important rules in the New Testament than the one in this passage. It shows what is the true nature of Christianity, and it is a rule whose practical value cannot but be felt constantly in our lives. Other religions require their votaries to receive everything upon trust; Christianity asks us to examine everything.

Error, superstition, bigotry, and fanaticism attempt to repress free discussion, by saying that there are certain things which are too sacred in their nature, or which have been too long held, or which are sanctioned by too many great and holy names, to permit their being subjected to the scrutiny of common eyes, or to be handled by common hands. In opposition to all this, Christianity requires us to examine everything – no matter by whom held; by what councils ordained; by what venerableness of antiquity sustained; or by what sacredness it may be invested. We are to receive no opinion until we are convinced that it is true; we are to be subjected to no pains or penalties for not believing what we do not perceive to be true; we are to be prohibited from examining no opinion which our fellow-men regard as true, and which they seek to make others believe. No popular current in favor of any doctrine; no influence which name and rank and learning can give it, is to commend it to us as certainly worthy of our belief. By whomsoever held, we are to examine it freely before we embrace it; but when we are convinced that it is true, it is to be held, no matter what current of popular opinion or prejudice maybe against it; no matter what ridicule may be poured upon it; and no matter though the belief of it may require us to die a martyrs death.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Th 5:21

Prove all things: hold fast that which is good–The design of these precepts is to caution us against two pernicious extremes; one is taking opinions on trust without examination, the other is after a wise choice not being able to abide by it.

Credulity and unsteadiness are alike dangerous, and the only way to prevent them is to examine every doctrine propounded to us in order to regulate our choice, and then, having made a wise choice, to hold it unalterably so as to reap the full benefit. We must be as cautious in the selection of our principles as of our friends, but once well chosen we must not lightly part with them.

I. Care and discretion in choosing.

1. The persons. Not pastors only, but the Church was thus addressed (see also 1Jn 4:1; 2Co 13:5; 1Pe 3:15; Act 17:11). Vain, therefore, is the Romish contention that the laity are excluded from judging for themselves. It is also one of mans natural rights, resulting from his being a rational creature, to judge for himself, and to trust other mens eyes only when he cannot use his own; and even then only after he has tested their trustworthiness.

2. The rule of procedure–that of right reason. Whatever on the best inquiry appears most reasonable is to be received. It is assumed in all debates that reason is umpire.

(1) Two classes seem to form an exception–those who advise the surrender of reason to the dictates of an infallible chair, and those who obtrude their dreams for Divine oracles. But they have to give reasons, and so suppose what they deny. They plead that reason is weak and fallible; but they can only know this by weak and fallible reason; and even taking that for granted we must either trust it or something blinder, such as fancy, passion or prejudice

(2) To discard reason is to discard faith which is built upon it. We ought to have a reason for what we believe. We believe a doctrine because we find it in the Scriptures; we believe the Scriptures because they speak the mind and will of God; we believe that they do so because they have the marks of Divine authority.

(3) Reason and faith are not opposite but assistant to each other. The glory of religion is that the best reasons go with it, and that it loves to be examined by the nicest reasons.

3. The use and application of this rule to the doctrines of Christianity.

(1) In some points Scripture is plain and clear and the reason of the thing as well, as in its moral teaching.

(2) Sometimes it is clear and express, but the reason of the thing dark, as in the mysteries of our faith. Here reason proceeds upon extrinsic evidence, the authority of the Revealer; and brings proofs to show that it has been revealed without pretending to say how or why it is.

(3) In other points Scripture may be obscure and silent, but the reason of the thing clear as in infant baptism, and reason shows what by analogy or consequence though not directly Scripture allows or condemns.

(4) Another case is where neither Scripture nor the reason of the thing are clear; both together affording only dark hints of what is or is not. Here, then, is ground only for a probable assent; it is, however, the business of reason to lay the things together, make the best of its materials, and lean to the most charitable side without being too positive in either.

II. Firmness and steadiness in retaining. To be always seeking without finding, ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth neither becomes a Christian or a man. Of course it is not implied that when we have once settled our opinions on good grounds, that we are never to alter them on better. The best judgment will sometimes err, and mens judgments often ripen with their years. Yet as in civil matters wise men generally have some fixed leading principles, so the wise Christians will have some fundamental articles of faith which once intelligently accepted he will not have canvassed a second time. The proofs, e.g., of the superiority of Christianity over Paganism and Mohammedanism, of the being of a God over the atheistical contentions are so full and clear that they need never be reargued. So with revelation and morality. And with regard to minor matters that we permit to be reopened, we must hold fast to this that reason and not caprice, vanity, ambition, fear is to be umpire; and then if its decisions are clear against us it is the truest constancy to change what is proved to be an error, for we are commanded to hold fast only what is good. (D. Waterland, D. D.)

Prove all things

I. Religion addresses us as sensible beings.

1. Not every religion, nor even every section of Christianity. Some say, Do not inquire; submit implicitly to the teachings of your Church. Truth does not do this; it courts examination because it can afford it.

(1) There are difficulties in our faith, but they yield before a clear mind, patient study and prayer, and a correct life. There are many things above reason, but reason proves that it is reasonable to believe them.

(2) Surely this is what religion ought to be. Has God given us our mental faculties for nothing? You are responsible for your beliefs, and while before God we shut our mouths; yet before men we are bound to ask does God say it? I must have faith, but it must be an intelligent and manly faith, else my religion will be unworthy a creature so highly endowed.

2. Prove refers to the process of testing coin whether genuine or counterfeit. Lest by any means I should become a castaway, i.e., as a piece of money that could not bear the test, Reprobate silver. So are you to prove whatever is presented to you, as carrying the mark of the King of kings, therefore asserting a Divine claim upon you, whether it be true or a forgery.

II. What is the touchstone by which we are to gauge the real and the false? What is that spiritual alchemy which shall always make the base to precipitate to the bottom, and the right and holy to come up to the surface, separate and clear?

1. The first criterion of religious truth is personal experience, Come and see; have you come?

(1) God will give everything He has promised to simple, earnest, persevering prayer. Have you proved this?

(2) When a man turns to God in penitence and faith he is forgiven. Have you done this?

(3) God speaks of a peace which passeth understanding. Have you put yourself in the way to get an experimental proof whether there is such a peace or not.

(4) So with happiness, wisdom, doctrine. Is it not shere madness to refuse such gold and say I will not test it. If it do not turn out what it professes to be, then is the time to reject it.

2. The grace of common sense and moral perception which God has given us. These, of course, are vitiated by wilful sin, and they will lead us wrong. But if a man will only be careful to have a good conscience, lay open his heart to the influences of the Spirit, and honour and obey them when they come, he will not make any great mistake.

3. Gods Word is the measuring line of all moral truth. If we give up that ultimate appeal there is no resting place for the mind. This does not mean taking solitary verses which in the Bible as elsewhere may be made to prove anything you like. You must gather the general intention of the mind of God by study and prayer, dealing with the proportions of truth.

4. Above the Bible is Christ, the living Word. Everything is to be tested by Him.

(1) Doctrine–where does it place Him?

(2) Promise–does He seal it?

(3) Duty–does He command it?

(4) Pleasure–does He sanction it? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Prove all things

We see Pauls character here. He had been speaking with his wonted fervour; but he sees nothing inconsistent in this with the soundest, calmest reasoning.

I. The first duty he urges–Prove all things. Be enthusiastic; but test, try, examine well. Courses of sin need no testing. The apostle speaks of what seems good, wise, honourable.

1. At times indolence tempts to indifference. This is the greatest danger of our age; but it is palsy too the mind, and death to the soul.

2. Some are afraid to think. But remember the greatest have stood firm; and the doubts of our age are old and dry albeit they may seem new and fresh.

III. The second duty the apostle urges–Hold fast that which is good.

1. Hold fast what we have proved for ourselves to be true and good. Immature convictions are generally abandoned, and wisely so.

2. But before we have had time and power to test, there is something good to grip. Even heathen know the great foundations of the fitting, the beautiful, and the true. We are not heathen born; therefore we must not cast off all that we have learned at our mothers knee for the sneers of half-read women and the cavils of daring men, but the rather be valiant for the truth. (Bp. E. H. Bickersteth.)

Prove all things

I. What things?

1. Ourselves. The work of examination should begin at home–our state before God, our graces, our practice.

2. Others–friends (Pro 25:19), candidates for Christian communion, ministers.

3. Doctrines–are they simply sanctioned by councils or by God? Do they minister to pride of intellect, or humbleness of heart.

4. Actions. Do we walk after the Spirit or after the flesh? Do we keep the ordinances of God or of men (Pro 14:12)?

II. By what rules. Not by outward appearance: this was what Eve did, and what Samuel was in danger of doing. But–

1. By fruits. This applies to both persons and doctrines, and is a test ordained by Christ.

2. The examples of good and wise men in so far as they follow Christ the supreme example.

3. The Divine Word: Search the Scriptures.

4. Our own experience corroborated by the word of truth. He that believeth hath the witness in himself. (B. Beddome, M. A.)

Quinquagesima Sunday

The last clause of this verse is very commonly taken to mean, Abstain from everything which looks like evil, from everything which a bystander would suspect to be evil. That St. Paul can never have meant his exhortation to bear the sense which we have forced upon it, a moments thought will convince you. Judge not, says our Lord, according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. That passage cannot affect the construing of our text, for the word in St. John is , not . But it directly affects the question, whether we are to judge of evil by the mere look or semblance; for remember the occasion which called forth the precept of Christ. He had healed a sick man on the Sabbath day. This act had the appearance of evil. It appeared evil, not only to the accidental bystanders, but to the religious guides of the Jewish people. How carefully these parts of His conduct are recorded by the Evangelists! How evidently they think that, if they were blotted out of His life, He would not have perfectly revealed His Father, or been a complete pattern to His disciples! Do you suppose he would have taught his Thessalonian disciples that these conspicuous lines in the character of Christ were not to be copied, but to be treated as dangerous? But did not St. Paul follow most strictly the steps of his Master, did he not depart altogether from the maxim which has been ascribed to himself, when he appeared in the eyes of the Jews, converted and unconverted, perhaps of apostles, to be violating sacred customs, and trampling upon the covenant of his fathers? To which doctrine did he conform, when he ate openly with the Gentiles in the presence of Peter and Barnabas, who were striving to keep up what every Jew must have considered a graceful, if not necessary, recognition of the difference between the chosen people and all others? How did he avoid the mere look of evil, when he left the impression upon the minds of his countrymen that he was overthrowing the righteousness of the Law, by preaching the righteousness of Faith? The three clauses, Prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from all appearance of evil, are not associated by accident. Every person who has paid the least attention to St Pauls style will perceive how clearly the relation between them is indicated by the antithetical words . Hold on to the good, hold off from every form of evil. And it is clear that the thought which determines the force of both these clauses–the thought which is uppermost in the writers mind–is that which is expressed by the word prove,–. Now that word and its cognate substantive, whether it refers to things or to persons, to the soundness of money, or to the qualifications for citizenship, always denotes a process of testing. So, then, according to the popular interpretation of the text, St. Paul would say, in the first clause; Be not content with the mere semblance of anything you have to do with. Look into it; find out the good of it, hold to that. And he would say in a second and corresponding clause, Be always afraid of semblances. The moment anything looks like evil, fly from it. Throw away your tests and proofs; simply hold off from that which seems evil to you or to the people about you. This is not an antithesis, but a contradiction.

I. He tells us first, to prove or test all things. I do not know a more honourable watchword to inscribe upon our banners than this of prove all things, if only we know what it signifies, and how St. Paul used it. Assuredly he did not understand it, as some of us do, Bring all things to the standard of your private judgment; see whether they accord with that; only hold fast that which does. If there is not that which is true absolutely–true for all men–search and inquiry are very fruitless; we had better lay them aside. If my judgment is to be the measure of all things that I see and converse with, if I am at liberty to use it as such a measure, if there is no higher measure to which I can bring it, that it may be deepened and expanded, it is certain to become narrower and feebler every day. Whereas, if I continually acknowledge the presence of a Light which is greater than any organ of mine can take in, but yet with which I am intented to hold communion, I shall desire that that Light may enter more and more into me, to purify my vision and enlarge its capacities. I shall desire to see all things in this Light. And it will so distinguish between what is fantastic and what is real, between the shows of things and their substance, that it will not be possible for me to accept one for the other, either in obedience to my own natural taste and inclination, or at the bidding of any earthly guides and authorities whatsoever.

II. Next, St. Paul tells us to prove all things. He does not say, Prove or test certain doctrines which are submitted to you; though those are of course not excluded. He assumes that everything whatsoever with which we come into contact–the ordinary notions and maxims of society, the habits and traditions of the literary, or philosophical, or professional, or religious circle in which we are moving, the words we speak, the common everyday experiences of life–all need sifting and testing, that we may know what there is of good in them. Yes, believe that the good is in all things, in those that you have made little account of, in those that you have been taught by others to hate, in those which you have learnt to hate yourself. Do not shrink from confessing that there is and must be a goodness, a beauty at the bottom of them all, else they would not have continued to exist. Do not be afraid of inquiring for it lest you should fall in love with the evil and ugliness which are also in them.

III. St. Paul goes on, hold fast the good. When you have perceived it, detected it, anywhere, then cleave to it, hug it, swear that you will not let it go. Be sure that what you want is the substantial good; the beauty in which is no flaw. Having that, you are sure you have what God in His infinite love desires that you should have; you have what the Son of God took your nature and died upon the cross that you might have; you have what the Spirit of God is stirring you and all creatures to sigh and groan that you may have. Not that it is yours, in any sense which can enable you to say to a neighbour, It is not thine. It is yours by faith; it is yours because it is Gods, and He invites you to believe Him and trust Him, and so to inherit His own righteousness and truth and blessedness. It is yours because it is not in your own keeping, because you are lifted out of yourself that you may enjoy it.

IV. And so we come at last to the word with which I began, abstain, or keep yourselves from every form or appearance that is evil. You have seen the good; you have grasped it; now have nothing to do with whatever is not that, with whatever counterfeits it. There will be every variety of evil shapes, forms, appearances; but if you have learnt to look below, to try and test the heart of things, you will not be misled by this variety. You will detect the evil, the lie, under each new disguise, and you will be able to stand aloof from it; to shun the contact of it. Just so far as the truth has become precious and familiar to yon, this likeness, this double, this mockery, will be loathed and kept at a distance. But I conceive, brethren, that the peril of our being vanquished by some of its manifold forms will be infinitely increased, if we adopt that opinion which has gained such strength from the supposed authority of St. Paul. To believe that we must fly from that which people think evil, from everything which seems evil to ourselves at the first glance, is to become a prey of evil in its worst sense. All reformation, in every age, has been retarded by this doctrine, all corruptions have been sanctified by it. And yet it has not restrained a single rash reformer; it has not preserved a single truth from outrage. The conscience of men cannot he bound by a rule, which must be transgressed before a single brave act can be done, a single right principle asserted. These are instances–your own experience may supply a hundred similar–where this maxim proves utterly ineffectual to accomplish its own ends. For every vulgar worldly argument which puts on a religious dress, and affects an authority that does not belong to it, must prove feeble and worthless. The only consequence of resorting to it is, that you benumb the moral sense, that you degrade the hearts of those whom you bring under its influence. They will plead it for deserting a friend, for refusing to maintain an unpopular cause; they will forget it the moment it interferes with any passion or propensity of their own. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

Prove–then hold fast

I. Two things to be done.

1. Prove, i.e., inquire into and decide upon after examination. Prove as gold and silver are tried, and as the strength of building materials are tested. Haste in reception or rejection are forbidden. The standards of proof are–

(1) The Holy Scriptures. The Bereans were more noble, etc.

there is something contemptible in a man refusing to look at statements put before him as though it were impossible for him to make a mistake; teachableness is noble.

(2) Experience: What fruit had ye, etc. Unto you that believe He is precious.

(3) Observation: Ye shall know them by their fruits.

(4) The spiritual and religious faculty sanctified by the Holy Ghost: He that is spiritual judgeth all things. Ye have an unction, etc.

2. Hold fast against indolence, prejudice, pride, perplexity, evil inclinations, influence of irreligious men, winds of doctrine, false teaching and the fallible teaching of Christs best friends.

II. The sphere for this particular action.

1. Prove all things–opinions, doctrines, requirements, customs, professions, characters, modes of working.

(1) All ancient things. Things are not better for being old. Sin is old.

(2) New things. A thing is not wise or adapted to the times because new. It may be a new folly.

(3) Common things. Things are not right because generally acceptable.

(4) Singular things.

(5) Attractive things which have too often misled our fallen nature–specious doctrines which have pandered to our pride.

(6) Repulsive things–Christ, e.g., may put in our path a cross, which it is better for me to bear than to wear a crown.

2. Hold fast the good. Not, of course, what is evil. If what is doubtful comes into your hand let it lie there, but do not close your fingers over it until you have proved it; then hold it fast, whether it be opinion and doctrine, custom and practise, communion and friendship, that which your mind, faith, love, hope embraces–anything that is good.

3. The giving heed to this requirement is of great importance. Here it is in the statute Book, and in vain do we call Christ Master unless we do what He bids us.

(1) If we receive error we cumber our minds with what is profitless, deceive ourselves, impair bur spiritual life, and reject the truth.

(2) If we admit an evil custom, or have fellowship with evil-doers, we expose ourselves to corruption; and by rejecting Christian ordinances and fellowships, we deprive ourselves of means of grace.

4. These are times when the text is likely to be overlooked. In days of church slumber, nothing is proved; in days of morbid wakefulness, nothing is held fast. And what is true of the Church is true of the individual.

5. In cherishing obedience to the text, we must–

(1) In proving all things avoid–

(a) seeking for a kind of evidence God does not give.

(b) Encouraging a restless and captious spirit.

(c) Entertaining foolish questions which gender strifes.

(d) Misplacing the tests with which God has favoured us. The Bible is the supreme standard.

(2) In holding fast the good, we must avoid prejudice, obstinacy, and pertinacity upon doubtful matters. Conclusion: Take this yoke of Christ on you. No one can bear it for you, neither Church nor individual, and for this you will be held responsible at the Judgment seat of Christ. (S. Martin.)

Hold fast that which is good

I. The exhortation.

1. What are those good things which we have to hold fast.

(1) The Gospel and the way of salvation by Christ.

(2) That truth, in particular, which relates to the person and work of Christ (Rev 3:8).

(3) The good treasure lodged in our hearts or placed in our hands.

(4) Our spiritual comforts and whatever contributes to the peace and purity of our minds.

(5) A line of conduct consistent with the Word of God.

(6) An open profession of religion.

2. How are we to hold them fast. It supposes–

(1) That our judgment concerning them is fixed.

(2) That we retain them in our memory (1Co 15:2; 2Pe 1:15).

(3) A high esteem and warm affection.

(4) Resistance to all opposition.

II. The motives.

1. The honour of God requires that we should hold fast what He has revealed.

2. The things we are required to hold fast are good in themselves.

3. If we part with the good we shall retain the evil, and cannot easily recover what we have lost.

4. If we disobey, what account shall we give another day? Hence we learn–

(1) That nothing but true religion will stand its ground.

(2) That perseverance in the way of truth and holiness is necessary to eternal happiness (Heb 10:38). (B. Beddome, M. A.)

Holdfasts

There are many occasions when the soul feels that it has come to a crisis. It may be compared to the feeling of William Tell when he was taking aim at the apple. Everything depends on the action of the next moment. It is to decide for God or the devil, for heaven or hell. We all need a holdfast at such critical times. I will mention two.

I. There is a god. Unless we can hold on to that, life becomes hard and vexatious, and we are like people floundering on ice, but when our heavenly Father is a fact to us, life loses its bitterness and death cannot sting. God cannot be proved to any one. Every man must prove Him for himself. You cannot prove colour to a blind man, to know it he must see. If you seek God with the proper faculties, you will find and know Him.

1. One of the links in this holdfast is that God is perfect. You cannot trust men fully because of their imperfections, but you can fully trust God because He is all-wise, all-powerful. He does not learn by experience; what He does cannot be improved.

2. Another link is that God is loving. The sweetest and most self-sacrificing love this side of heaven is not in the least degree comparable to it. It was not exhausted on Calvary. It is treasured up for you.

3. It is possible for every man to find God. You are nearer to Him than you fancy. Open the door of your faith and He will enter in.

II. The true motive of right action is love to God and man. When men act on this they cannot go wrong. Do true children need rules and regulations to tell them how to behave towards parents and brothers? If this law ruled all other laws would he needless. Hold then fast to this in–

1. Business perplexities.

2. Conflicting duties.

3. Fierce temptations.

4. Death. (W. Birch.)

Holdfast

Steadfastness is a prime virtue. Be sure you are right, and then hold on though the heavens fall. Prove all things, and adhere to the good, and surrender it only with life. Hold fast–

I. To your faith. It is a lie of the devil that it matters not what a man believes. As he believes so is he. Throw away or tamper with your faith in the inspiration and Divine authority of the Scriptures, and you are sure to go astray and perish in your unbelief.

II. To your integrity. To let go one particle of it–to compromise in the least with wrong–endangers your soul, and is sure to forfeit your peace of mind and your Christian standing and influence.

III. To your profession. Cleave to the Church which Christ purchased with His blood. Honour and magnify its mission. Sustain and advance its interests by all the means and influence which God has given you.

IV. To Christian effort in behalf of souls. Be not weary in well-doing. Guard against an evil heart of unbelief. Do not doubt the promises–they are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. The night of fear and struggle and waiting may be long and dark, but the morning will come to gladden you, if, like Jacob, you hold on.

V. To prayer. Be sure you get hold of the everlasting arm, and then not let go. Persevere in the face of a thousand obstacles. Let not God go till He bless. Be not denied. Turn rebuke and seeming denial into fresh pleas, as did the Syro-Phoenicia woman. The answer, the blessing, is sure, when God gives the grace of perseverance. To hold fast is to overcome.

VI. Hold fast to heaven. Make it the pole star of life. Never lose sight of it, no, not for an hour. Live daily as seeing the invisible. (L. O. Thompson.)

Holding fast the good

I would apply the text to the religion of Jesus Christ and assert that it is good, and because good that you are to hold it fast. By this is not meant theology, which is very good as science and art, but is not life. Nor do we mean imposing rites, splendid churches which are very beautiful and helpful to the weak, but are not the religion of Jesus Christ. This is–

I. Faith as opposed to infidelity–faith in God our Father, in the Lord Jesus who died for us, in the spiritual nature of man, in the spirit world.

1. This faith harmonizes with our natural instincts which lead us to feel that all that exists is not present to the bodily senses, that somewhere inside the temple of the universe is a holy of holies filled with a glory that the eye of flesh cannot behold, and our desire is to enter that inner temple, and behold what it is. A little bird in a London cellar knows instinctively that there is an outer world, although he has never been there, and he is brave enough in his gloomy place to make some attempts at singing and flying.

2. Infidelity says there is nothing to know–no God, etc. Matter is all. Well, a mole might say there is no sun, no bright worlds; yet these do exist, and if the mole would only come out of his hole he could catch some rays of glory. Let men cease then from burrowing in the earth. They will never find heaven there. Let them follow their deepest instincts and highest aspirations and they will reach the throne of God, and their first act will be to worship Him.

3. In this faith we can rest and find comfort, but the bed of infidelity is too short for my soul to stretch itself upon.

II. Holiness as opposed to sin–all possible virtues and graces, all things true, good, beautiful.

1. The religion of Christ demands holiness, Be ye holy. Be ye perfect. In this demand we see the wonderful possibilities of the soul. It is said that we have descended from very humble ancestors. Then there must be in our nature some marvellous energy, for the development has been truly wonderful. I can turn my face upward, build steamers that can cross the ocean against the storm, etc., more, I can pass within the veil and lay my hand on that of the Father, and say, Thy will be done. The artist takes the rough block of marble and transforms it into a majestic statue, and everybody speaks of his genius. Yes, but something must be said for the marble that has the power of being transformed. Very wonderful is the work of the Divine Artist upon the soul, but something must be said for the soul that is capable of being changed into His image, and it is nothing less than this that our religion demands of it.

2. But it not only demands, it gives the sure promise of attaining holiness–the Church is to be without spot, etc. The process may be sketched. God loved us–sent His Son to die for our sins–gave His Holy Spirit to transform our nature–by and by He will take us to Himself. Is not this religion good? Ask not where it came from. Judge it on its own merits for once.

III. Goodness as opposed to selfishness.

1. Selfishness, as seen in the priest and Levite in the parable of the good Samaritan, passes by suffering, and avoids the inconvenience of sympathy: as seen in Lots choice, it takes the best, indifferent to the claims of others.

2. Christianity says, Bear ye one anothers burdens, etc.–the burdens of ignorance, disappointment, anxiety, fear. Now selfishness is hateful, and self-denial admirable by common consent. We have examples in the three hundred at Thermopylae and in the man who to save anothers life imperils his own. But try and rise from these to the self-denial of Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Imitate that, and you are a Christian.

IV. Hope and joy as opposed to despair.

1. The natural language of despair is, Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die, and that cry arises from materialism. There is no Father to care for us; the world formed itself; man is only organized matter; there is no heaven; we are dissolved when we die as prophets, apostles, reformers, martyrs, great statesmen, teachers, poets, and our own dear ones have been. But philosophers, poets, teachers of all the religions, believed that the dead lived. It is all a dream, says the materialist. Take what pleasure you can, dont sorrow for anything, laugh at distress.

2. The gospel brings joy to the distressed and sorrowful in the present. We look through our tears at the closed grave, but see standing there One saying, I am the Resurrection and the Life. Is not our religion good? Then trust it, and dont be afraid that it is going to be overthrown. It may be captured like the ark, but it will give the Philistines more trouble than they bargain for. (T. Jones, D. D.)

The Bible and free inquiry

Despise not prophesyings, i.e., preaching, the apostle has just said. Now comes the text. Dont deify the preacher. Put what they say to the test (1Jn 4:1; Act 17:11). Congregations should listen with a desire to profit, and then carry all the preacher says to the test of holy Scripture.

I. The end our inquiry should aim at–some real good.

1. There is such a thing as good. Philosophers have told us of a summum bonum, and common experience points in the same direction: There be many that say, Who will show us any good? We have not only intellects that want to be satisfied, but hearts and wills that want to be cheered and guided. We want to be peaceful while we live and when we come to die, and nothing is really good that does not help us to this end (Isa 55:1-3).

2. This is the end our inquiry should aim at. Mere assault on error or ridicule of folly is poor and heartless work. Sometimes it is necessary, but if this is all you attempt you may break every idol and not increase mans happiness by one atom. Paul did something more than this at Athens.

3. Here is a model for the free inquirer. Let your object be to do all the good you can. All your skill as an iconoclast will do nothing to meet the cry, Who will show us, etc.

II. The character the inquiry should assume. Put everything to the proof. The inquiry should be–

1. Careful. This is required in chemistry and astronomy, and the man who does not carefully examine the truths of religion will make the grossest blunders.

2. Comprehensive. You ought to examine the inquirer as well as the object, the instruments he uses, and the faculties he employs. A man once gazed through a telescope at the sun, and immediately turned away in alarm, exclaiming, There is a monster in the sun. It proved, however, only to be an insect in the telescope. So with many who glance now and then at religion. Their instruments of inquiry are not clear, and they ascribe to the shining orb what really belongs to the foul tube. What would you think of a man who had no ear for music criticizing Handels Messiah? Or a man colour blind describing a garden in May? Or a prodigal judging the rules of his fathers house? Do these illustrations apply? I am not saying that every free inquirer into religion is worse than other men, but that he is no better by nature. Ought he not, then, to take this into account? If I have unworthy passions I have a bias against a holy religion.

3. Free from pride, passion, sin, ambition. etc.

III. The welcome which the Bible gives to such inquiry. It welcomes inquiry.

1. Of such a nature. Here is this Book of Truth, not hiding in darkness, but exposing itself. I tell you of–

(1) A God, a great, intelligent Creator. Put it to the test. Is it not more reasonable than that there is no intelligent cause?

(2) A law ordaining perfect love to God and man. Put it to the test. What would the world have been had it kept it? What is it because it has broken it?

(3) A Saviour. Prove Him. Does He not commend Himself to reason and conscience?

(4) Mysteries. Prove this too. Is it not reasonable that the finite can never grasp the infinite?

2. To such an end. It is good we want. This the Bible brings. Its revelations were not given for our amusement, but for our advantage. It gives peace with God through Christ in obedience to the law, peace in our own souls and towards men, and leads to the world of perfect peace. And now it says, Hold it fast! There is something rich and substantial about it. Hold it fast against the power and subtlety of the tempter. (F. Tucker, B. A.)

The right of private judgment in matters of religion

I. Objections that are taken against the exercise of this right. It is said that if this be granted then every individual will have his own religion.

1. Our answer to this is, such would be a consequence not of the exercise of private judgment, but of human depravity. If imperfect men had all the privileges of angels consequences would follow very different from those characterizing the history of angels, but no one would say that they were the necessary effects of the enjoyment of angelic privileges. If, then, instead of assailing the depravity of man for abusing the right of private judgment we assail that right and forbid its exercise, we are mistaking the source of the evil and not taking the proper method to prevent it.

2. Then we may ask how interdicting the right can prevent the evil consequences? Shall we issue a decree and enforce it by penalties? But that will only stop the expression, and will not interfere with the right of private judgment. The slave clad in iron fetters has still his private judgment, and with his mind, which is free, you cannot meddle.

3. But it may be affirmed that to suppress this expression is a good thing, and prevents evil. How so? This supposes an infallible instructor. How do we know that the public judgment of any body of men may not be as pernicious as the private judgment of an individual? Look at the past. Almost every heresy has at one time been protected and taught by public authority, and almost every orthodox sentiment has been put down by the same.

II. Considerations in support of this right.

1. We find from Scripture that the right of private judgment in religious matters is the duty, not merely the privilege, of every individual to whom the Word of God should come.

(1) This Epistle was addressed to the Church, not to any public functionary. Paul, Timothy, and Silas, inspired teachers of the mind of God, say, Prove all things. If any say that the laity must defer to authority, the authority here says exercise your private judgment! Then what is the meaning of the general addresses to the Churches, as such, at the commencement of each Epistle, but that the minds of laymen as well as ministers should be exercised upon them?

(2) When we come to Epistles addressed to individuals such as Timothy and Titus we find nothing investing them with the authority of interpreting against the private judgment of those they taught. Nay, they are commanded in meekness to instruct those that oppose themselves, not to dictate to them on the ground of authority.

(3) Then we have the doctrine that every one of us must give an account of himself to God, which implies the exercise of private judgment. How can we reconcile this with being compelled to follow the dictates of another? Shall we give an account of ourselves to God at the last whilst we are permitted to take no account of ourselves? Shall we carry mental slavery with us all the time we are in our state of probation, and in eternity only stand on our own foundation? Nay; if God tells us that every one of us must give an account then He means that we must prove all things against the day of that account.

2. The arguments derived from the powers and faculties that God has given us is no less conclusive. Why did God give us the power of judging at all? Is it possible that God would give men the exercise of public judgment for the things of time and forbid it in the affairs of eternity?

III. Duties consequent upon this right.

1. Searching the Scriptures. We criminate ourselves deeply if we contend for the right of private judgment and neglect to search those oracles about which alone the faculty can be engaged. What should we think of a judge who insisted on his right to pronounce judgment while ignorant of the matter on which the judgment was to be pronounced.

2. Stimulating others by teaching them the great things of God. If it be our duty to search the Scriptures it is the duty of all. It is incumbent on us, then, not only to practice, but to encourage this exercise.

3. Duly appreciating the falsehood that revelation trammels the mind. On the contrary the text breaks every mental bond. (J. Burnet.)

Innovation and conservatism in matters of religion

This advice is always pertinent; yet there are periods in which it is specially relevant. While humanity on the whole is ever advancing, the stream at one time seems to stand still, and at another rushes on with noisy activity. When Paul wrote all was full of mental activity, religious conflict, political tumult, and the first century repeats itself in the nineteenth. Our age has three characteristics which bear on the interests of religion.

1. Intellect is all alive, more so perhaps than at any other period. This is the result–

(1) Of those general laws by which the social progress of our race is governed.

(2) Of our refined civilization, which by ever becoming more complicated is continually taxing the human mind.

(3) Of the stimulus of advancing education, which begets emulation, and raises continually higher the standard of necessary acquirement. Hence–

2. The age is one of mental freedom. The mind is goaded by internal cravings and external excitements. It goes forth to explore all regions, and will not be stopped by authority or opposition. The right of private judgment is conceded, and is exercised without scruple. Hence–

3. A clamorous war of opinion. The number of sects grows portentously. New opinions are started on almost every subject. All extremes of views on religion are zealously and ably advocated. If we be men and not children we cannot be unconcerned about these controversies, but dont be alarmed, Prove all things, etc. These words involve the doctrines of–

(1) Individual responsibility for religious faith and practice.

(2) Individual duty and right of private judgment.

I. The liberal element in the text.

1. Candid inquiry. The disposition to know what others think is, when moderately possessed, an admirable trait of character. Some ensconce themselves within the limits of their hereditary creed, and listen with anger to opposing opinions deaf to all argument. These intellectual pigmies have in all ages proved a stumbling block to educated men, and assumed a position unwarranted by Christianity as the text shows. The gospel as an innovation, courts the investigation that it has never scrupled to exercise, and aims at inspiring in its disciples the love of truth as truth.

2. Patient examination. Be not like the Athenians, who spent their whole time in hearkening to some new thing; but spend much of it in sifting the new things you hear. Neither novelty nor authority can supply the place of argument.

3. Wise and decisive selection. The text supposes that when all things are proved, some will be accepted, which are to be held fast. Some are ever learning, but never come to the knowledge of the truth, attempting an easy neutrality which speedily turns into treason against Christ. This discrimination between the good and the bad supposes the possession of a touchstone. Primarily mans reason is the touchstone. There are propositions which no man can accept. We can no more believe in the incredible than see the invisible. The Word of God is, of course, the final appeal, but not by superseding reason–only by assisting it. Reason has first to decide on the credentials of Revelation, and then to be consulted as to its contents. Reason, then, following the Word of God is to be the criterion by which we are to prove all things.

II. The conservative element: Hold fast, etc. Which assumes–

1. That truth is attainable. Some deny this. Let Christian men beware of this perilous frame of mind which leads inevitably to selfish misanthropy or unprincipled sensualism. A free thinker is frequently a man who does not think at all, but considers all things as not worth thinking about. Believe what all wise and good men have believed and proved, that there is such a thing as fixed truth, and having found it–

2. Hold it fast, without fickleness or fear. Having made up your mind, after due deliberation, adhere to your decision, and make use of it for further acquisition; not refuse to hear anything more about it, but be not unsettled without fresh and weighty argument. Dont keep going over the old ground. This is the only means of attaining and retaining personal peace, and manliness of Spirit. (T. G. Horton.)

Man in relation to the vast and the specific

I. A vast realm for inquiry: Prove all things. This implies–

1. Freedom of thought. Go into all churches and systems, there is good everywhere: find it out. Confine not your mind to your own narrow creed or church.

2. A test of truth. This test is threefold–

(1) Results: By their fruits shall ye know them.

(2) The Spirit of Christ. Whatever agrees not with His free, righteous and loving Spirit must be rejected.

(3) Conscience: Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?

II. A specific object to attain: Hold fast. It is the good you want. What is the good? The truth as it is in Jesus, a living, beautiful, soul transporting reality. Get this and then hold it fast. There is a danger of losing it; it is worth holding; it is more precious than worlds, it is the pearl of great price–the heaven of souls. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Testing the Bible

Let me caution you against putting off making up your mind about this Book. Ever since 1772 there has been great discussion as to who was the author of Juniuss Letters, those letters so full of sarcasm, and vituperation, and power. The whole English nation was stirred up with them. More than a hundred volumes have been written to discuss that question, who was Junius? who wrote Juniuss Letters? Well, it is an interesting question to discuss; but still, after all, it makes but little practical difference to you and to me who Junius was, whether Sir Philip Francis, or Lord Chatham, or Home Tooke, or Horace Walpole, or Henry Grattan, or any one of the forty-four men who were seriously charged with the authorship. But it is an absorbing question, it is a practical question, it is an overwhelming question to you and to me, the authorship of this Holy Bible, whether the Lord God of heaven and earth, or a pack of dupes, scoundrels, and impostors. We cannot afford to adjourn that question a week, or a day, or an hour, any more than a sea captain can afford to say, Well, this is a very dark night; I have really lost my bearings; theres a light out there, I dont know whether its a lighthouse or a false light on the shore. I dont know what it is; but Ill just go to sleep, and in the morning Ill find out. In the morning the vessel might be on the rocks and the beach strewn with the white faces of the dead crew. The time for that sea captain to find out about the lighthouse is before he goes to sleep. Oh, my friends! I want you to understand that in our deliberations about this Bible we are not at calm anchorage, but we are rapidly coming towards the coast, coming with all the furnaces ablaze, coming at the rate of seventy heart throbs a minute, and I must know whether it is going to be harbour or shipwreck. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

A life given to proving all things

I have really no history but a mental history I have seen no one, known none of the celebrities of my own time intimately or at all, and have only an inaccurate memory of what I hear. All my energy was directed upon one end–to improve myself to form my own mind, to sound things thoroughly, to free myself from the bondage of unreason and the traditional prejudices which when I began first to think constituted the whole of my intellectual fabric. (Mark Pattison, B. D.)

Proving the power of Gods grace

It is related that Bishop Kavanagh was one day walking when he met a prominent physician, who offered him a seat in his carriage. The physician was an infidel, and the conversation turned upon religion. I am surprised, said the doctor, that such an intelligent man as you should believe such an old fable as that. The bishop said, Doctor, suppose years ago some one had recommended to you a prescription for pulmonary consumption, and you had procured the prescription and taken it according to order, and had been cured of that terrible disease, what would you say of the man who would not try your prescription? I should say he was a fool. Twenty-five years ago, said Kavanagh, I tried the power of Gods grace. It made a different man of me. All these years I have preached salvation, and wherever accepted have never known it to fail.

Faith and reason

Faith and reason are, as it were, two keys which God has given us with which to unlock all spiritual mysteries. It is as if I had a drawer in which were stored away my valuable papers. The cabinet maker gives me two keys to my drawer, telling me that both keys will generally unlock the drawer, but always, if one will not, the other will–that therefore I must keep them securely, and keep them always tied together. But I untie and separate them, and, for safe keeping, place one key carefully away in the drawer itself and lock it up with the other key. With this other key I lock and unlock the drawer at pleasure. But the time comes at length when the key I have will not unlock the drawer, and now I need the other; but I have locked it up and cannot get it. Just so faith and reason are two keys that God, our Maker, has given us with which to unlock all spiritual mysteries. Generally, either will unlock and explain all difficulties in Revelation and Christian experience; but always, if the one fails, the other will unlock the mystery. But here is a man that goes and locks his faith up in his reason; and presently he encounters a spiritual truth which his reason will not explain or unlock–it transcends human reason. You tell him, for example, that he must believe in the Trinity, in regeneration, in the resurrection of the body. But, says he, I cannot–they are unreasonable. And why can he not believe these spiritual truths? Simply because he has gone and locked his faith up in his reason, and will not accept any truth which he cannot comprehend and which his reason will not fully explain of itself without the aid of faith. The rationalist is he who locks his faith up in his reason. Now it may be, and is, just as bad to lock your reason up in your faith. There, for instance, is the poor deluded Romanist, who believes implicitly anything that his Church teaches, whether reasonable or unreasonable. You remonstrate with him for believing in transubstantiation, in the virtue of relics, in the absurd traditions of his Church. You tell him these things are unreasonable. So they may be, he replies, but I believe them nevertheless, for the Church teaches them, and I believe whatever the Church teaches. And why does he believe such absurdities? Simply because he has locked his reason up in his faith and given the Pope the key–and whatever the Pope or the Church or his bishop teaches he believes implicitly, whether it be reasonable or unreasonable. It is impossible for one to be a true Roman Catholic without locking his reason up in his faith. But God demands that we shall use both our faith and our reason, and keep them both joined together. Doing this we shall be preserved from rationalism on the one hand, and from credulity and superstition on the other. Now God does not demand that we shall believe in anything that contradicts our reason; but He does demand that we shall believe in truths that transcend human reason. If the Bible should teach that black is white, that right is wrong, that a thing can be and not be at the same time, I would not and could not believe it, because it would plainly contradict my reason. But when it teaches that there is a God, a Trinity, a soul in this body, a heaven prepared for it, I may not and do not fully comprehend these spiritual truths; but I do not decline to believe them on that ground; for while they do transcend my reason, they do not contradict it. The Roman Catholic believes many truths that contradict human reason; the rationalist will believe no truth which transcends human reason; the true intelligent Christian believes nothing that will contradict, but many things that transcend, human reason. The first locks his reason up in his faith; the second locks his faith up in his reason; the third uses both his faith and his reason and keeps them ever joined together. (Prof. Tillett.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 21. Prove all things] Whatever ye hear in these prophesyings or preachings, examine by the words of Christ, and by the doctrines which, from time to time, we have delivered unto you in our preaching and writings. Try the spirits-the different teachers, by the word of God.

Hold fast that which is good.] Whatever in these prophesyings has a tendency to increase your faith, love, holiness, and usefulness, that receive and hold fast. There were prophets or teachers even at that time who professed to be of God, and yet were not.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Prove all things; 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:

Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, & c.; 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 mens spirits and doctrines whether from God or no. The apostle speaks here to the saints in general, and so doth the apostle John, 1Jo 4:1. And mens doctrines are to be judged by the Scriptures as the standard of truth, as the Bereans were commended for searching the Scrictures about the apostles doctrine, Act 17:11; and the apostle prays for the Philippians, that they might discern things that differ, Phi 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 peoples 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.

Holdfast to that which is good: 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 mens 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, Satans temptations, and the worlds 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.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21, 22. Some of the oldestmanuscripts insert “But.” You ought indeed not to “quench”the manifestations of “the Spirit,” nor “despiseprophesyings”; “but,” at the same time, do not take”all” as genuine which professes to be so; “prove(test) all” such manifestations. The means of testing themexisted in the Church, in those who had the “discerning ofspirits” (1Co 12:10; 1Co 14:29;1Jn 4:1). Another sure test,which we also have, is, to try the professed revelation whether itaccords with Scripture, as the noble Bereans did (Isa 8:20;Act 17:11; Gal 1:8;Gal 1:9). This precept negativesthe Romish priest’s assumption of infallibly laying down the law,without the laity having the right, in the exercise of privatejudgment, to test it by Scripture. LOCKEsays, Those who are for laying aside reason in matters of revelation,resemble one who would put out his eyes in order to use atelescope.

hold fast that which isgoodJoin this clause with the next clause (1Th5:22), not merely with the sentence preceding. As the result ofyour “proving all things,” and especially all prophesyings,“hold fast (Luk 8:15;1Co 11:2; Heb 2:1)the good, and hold yourselves aloof from every appearance ofevil” (“every evil species” [BENGELand WAHL]). Do not accepteven a professedly spirit-inspired communication, if it be atvariance with the truth taught you (2Th2:2).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Prove all things,…. That are said by the prophets, all the doctrines which they deliver; hear them, though they have not the gift of tongues, and all desirable advantages; do not reject them on that account, and refuse to hear them, for so, many useful men may be laid aside, and the Spirit of God in them be quenched; try their gifts, and attend to their doctrines, yet do not implicitly believe everything they say, but examine them according to the word of God the test and standard of truth; search the Scriptures, whether the things they say are true or not. Not openly erroneous persons, and known heretics, are to be heard and attended on, but the ministers of the word, or such who are said to have a gift of prophesying; these should make use of it, and the church should try and judge their gift, and accordingly encourage or discourage; and also their doctrines, and if false reject them, and if true receive them.

Hold fast that which is good; honest, pleasant, profitable, and agreeable to sound doctrine, to the analogy of faith, and the Scriptures of truth, and is useful and edifying, instructive both as to principle and practice; such should be held fast, that no man take it away; and be retained, though a majority may be against it, for the multitude is not always on the side of truth; and though it may be rejected by men of learning and wealth, as Christ and his doctrines were rejected by the Scribes and Pharisees, and rulers of the people; and though it may be reproached as a novel, upstart notion, or a licentious one, since these were charges against the doctrine of Christ, and his apostles; and though it may be attended with affliction and persecution, yet none of these things should move from it, or cause to let it go.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Prove all things ( [] ). Probably (but) is genuine. Even the gift of prophecy has to be tested (1Cor 12:10; 1Cor 14:29) to avoid error. Paul shows fine balance here.

Hold fast that which is good ( ). Keep on holding down the beautiful (noble, morally beautiful). Present imperative – (perfective use of – here).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Prove all things [ ] . A general exhortation, not confined to prophesyings; but Paul elsewhere insists that a test be applied to phenomena which claim to be supernatural. See on discerning of spirits, 1Co 12:10; 1Co 14:29, and comp. 2Th 2:2, and 1Jo 4:1 – 3. For dokimazete prove, see on 1Pe 1:7. In LXX, Pro 27:21; Psa 11:6, dokimion is a crucible or furnace.

Hold fast that which is good [ ] . These words are associated in early Christian writers with an apocryphal saying ascribed to Jesus, and very frequently quoted, ginesqe de dokimoi trapezitai show yourselves approved money – changers. By some ancient writers the two are cited together as Paul ‘s; by others they are distinguished, as by Origen, who cites the saying as an injunction [] of Jesus, and adds, “and also (observing) the teaching of Paul, who says, ‘prove all things, hold fast the good, abstain from every form of evil. ‘” The saying about the money – changers is probably a genuine logion of the Lord. Some have thought that the words added by Clement of Alexandria, “rejecting some things but holding fast the good,” formed part of the Lord ‘s saying, and that, accordingly, Paul ‘s words here depend on an original utterance of Jesus. If this could be proved, eidov form, ver. 22, might be explained as a figure of exchangers distinguishing between genuine and false coins. 32

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Prove all things” (panta de dokimazete) “and prove or test all kind of things”, things that confront you, with the Scriptures, 1Jn 4:1-3; 2Co 8:22; 2Co 13:5; By the “Law and testimony” of the Lord, Isa 8:20. Sift the wheat from the chaff.

2) “Hold fast that which is good” (to kalon katechete) “hold fast to the things (that are) good”, the things and standards that are ideal, that will stand the test of goodness before the Lord, Php_4:8. The good and bad are to be examined by the Word so that one may drop the bad and hold to the good.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

21 Prove all things. As rash men and deceiving spirits frequently pass off their trifles under the name of prophecy, prophecy might by this means be rendered suspicious or even odious, just as many in the present day feel almost disgusted with the very name of preaching, as there are so many foolish and ignorant persons that from the pulpit blab out their worthless contrivances, (616) while there are others, also, that are wicked and sacrilegious persons, who babble forth execrable blasphemies. (617) As, therefore, through the fault of such persons it might be, that prophecy was regarded with disdain, nay more, was scarcely allowed to hold a place, Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to prove all things, meaning, that although all do not speak precisely according to set rule, we must, nevertheless, form a judgment, before any doctrine is condemned or rejected.

As to this, there is a twofold error that is wont to be fallen into, for there are some who, from having either been deceived by a false pretext of the name of God, or from their knowing that many are commonly deceived in this way, reject every kind of doctrine indiscriminately, while there are others that by a foolish credulity embrace, without distinction, everything that is presented to them in the name of God. Both of these ways are faulty, for the former class, saturated with a presumptuous prejudice of that nature, close up the way against their making progress, while the other class rashly expose themselves to all winds of errors. (Eph 4:14.) Paul admonishes the Thessalonians to keep the middle path between these two extremes, while he prohibits them from condemning anything without first examining it; and, on the other hand, he admonishes them to exercise judgment, before receiving, what may be brought forward, as undoubted truth. And unquestionably, this respect, at least, ought to be shewn to the name of God — that we do not despise prophecy, which is declared to have proceeded from him. As, however, examination or discrimination ought to precede rejection, so it must, also, precede the reception of true and sound doctrine. For it does not become the pious to shew such lightness, as indiscriminately to lay hold of what is false equally with what is true. From this we infer, that they have the spirit of judgment conferred upon them by God, that they may discriminate, so as not to be imposed upon by the impostures of men. For if they were not endowed with discrimination, it were in vain that Paul said — Prove: hold fast that which is good. If, however, we feel that we are left destitute of the power of proving aright; it must be sought by us from the same Spirit, who speaks by his prophets. But the Lord declares in this place by the mouth of Paul, that the course of doctrine ought not, by any faults of mankind, or by any rashness, or ignorance, or, in fine, by any abuse, to be hindered from being always in a vigorous state in the Church. For as the abolition of prophecy is the ruin of the Church, let us allow heaven and earth to be commingled, rather than that prophecy should cease.

Paul, however, may seem here to give too great liberty in teaching, when he would have all things proved; for things must be heard by us, that they may be proved, and by this means a door would be opened to impostors for disseminating their falsehoods. I answer, that in this instance he does not by any means require that an audience should be given to false teachers, whose mouth he elsewhere teaches (Tit 1:11) must be stopped, and whom he so rigidly shuts out, and does not by any means set aside the arrangement, which he elsewhere recommends so highly (1Ti 3:2) in the election of teachers. As, however, so great diligence can never be exercised as that there should not sometimes be persons prophesying, who are not so well instructed as they ought to be, and that sometimes good and pious teachers fail to hit the mark, he requires such moderation on the part of believers, as, nevertheless, not to refuse to hear. For nothing is more dangerous, than that moroseness, by which every kind of doctrine is rendered disgusting to us, while we do not allow ourselves to prove what is right. (618)

(616) “ Leurs speculations ridicules;” — “Their ridiculous speculations.”

(617) “ Horribles et execrables;” — “Horrible and execrable.”

(618) “ Tellement que nostre impatience ou chagrin nous empesche d’esprouuer qui est la vraye ou la fausse;” — “So that our impatience or chagrin keeps us from proving what is true or false.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRIME AND THE KU KLUX KLAN

1Th 5:21-23

Preached in the State Theater, Minneapolis, in 1924 when the Ku Klux Klan was at its height.

WE have secured this theater for three consecutive mornings in order to present to the public three burning questions: first, Is the Theory of Evolution to be Longer Tolerated in our State Schools (See Inspiration or Evolution, page 113); second, Shall We join a Ku Klux Klan to Abate Crime? and third, Does the Rage of Crime Justify the Return to Capital Punishment? (See Authors Vol. on Rom 13:1-5.)

One might imagine that these were unrelated subjects. On the contrary, they are of closest kin. The theory of evolution, with its cognate ideas, the struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest, is not only bestial in all its claims and godlessly materialistic in its philosophy, but denying as it does all external authority human and Divine, it paves the way for crime, and has already produced the social tragedy of all centuries, the baptism of blood of 1914-1918.

The sudden rise and rapid development of the Ku Klux Klan indicates, to say the least, that there must be abuses of law and order that demand, in the judgment of multitudes, more speedy and adequate attention. The rage of crime characterizing every country in the world and particularly jeopardizing our own commonwealth of Minnesota, compels thought on the question, Must we return to capital punishment?

The Bible is the universal Book. There is no subject of human concern to which it does not address itself, and its language is usually both apt and adequate. As applied to the Ku Klux Klan, witness this text: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and 1 pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Th 5:21-23).

Let us give ourselves to its suggestions.

THE PROOF OF GOOD

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

This sentence, like every other one of Scripture, is capable of multiplied applications, but it certainly involves some great principles of thought and conduct. For instance, it opposes easy credulity; it demands careful study; it looks to eventual stability.

It opposes easy credulity. Prove all things. Dont be mentally or morally imposed upon. Dont believe everything you hear. Dont accept as settled everything said to you. Dont conclude that the daily newspaper is infallible or even that public opinion is the voice of God. Practice the text, Prove all things.

This principle has a special application to the subject of the Ku Klux Klan. I am not a secret order man. I belong to two institutions and two onlyI belong to my family and am a member of the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, and in those two relations of life I live and move and have my being. I expect it to so remain. I have no intention whatever of joining the Ku Klux Klan, and hereby serve notice that my solicitation for membership would be in vain. But I do believe in fair play.

A few months ago I read a series of articles on the Ku Klux Klan, and was led, from that series, to believe that the Klan was practically a criminal organization, brought into being with an attempt, as others put it, to disrupt national unity; undermine the morals of American youth; destroy patriotism, overthrow the principles of government; encourage disrespect for courts; engage in mob violence, sabotage and every form of lawlessness. My further study of the subject has profoundly impressed me that that was an utterly partisan and prejudiced judgment, animated doubtless by foreign residents in these United Statesmen whose selfish interests were endangered, whose political aspirations were imperiled, or whose religious prejudices were excited.

I am not yet able to accept the perfectly roseate description of the Klan presented and defended by its Imperial Klokard. As is usual, the truth probably lies somewhere between, and whether one has any intention whatever of uniting with this movement or of joining his fellows for the purpose of putting it out of commission, he is duty bound to know the truth about it, to seek the proof of its virtues and vices, and judge righteously.

Dr. Fowler, a Baptist minister who was in this city a few weeks since, is a member of the Klan, and a man of reputable standing in the Southland. He declares, The Klansman believes that a dual government is impossible, that no individual or body of men within the bounds of our government can justly or in any other way take the law into their own hands. A Klansman will not take the life of a traitor or of traitors by mob law. A Klansman cannot violate the law. He is oath bound to support constitutional laws. He will help prosecute and will cause to be prosecuted any man who violates the law, and will cause to be punished any man who is a traitor to his country. The government can depend upon Klansmen. I see the same claim officially put forth by a number of the men who head this movement, and in proof of the fact that such must be the law of the organization, a Texas Klan was recently disfellowshipped and expelled because there seemed to be evidence of its participation in mob violence.

Before I finish this address I shall speak of secrecy charged to the organization and of objections that may be waged against it, but for the present will only repeat, Know at firsthand.

Such knowledge demands study. Study is more than reading. It involves careful observation and judicious reading, impartial and unprejudiced reading. The great difficulty with modern theology seems to be the fact that its advocates have come to read but one side of a subject. Prof. Leander S. Keyser, of Springfield, Ohio, in his great volume, Contending for the Faith, shows there is absolutely no evidence in the writings of these men that they ever gave a moment to what is thought and spoken by conservatives. Having deliberately determined to be liberals, they will not impede their progress in rationalism by considering the Other side of the question. In this they are at one with so-called Christian Scientists. Years since I pled with a young woman, a member of my church, to come into a Bible class for six months study, saying to her, If at the end of such a study you can go on with Mrs. Eddy, we will offer no objection. To this she answered, I could not consent to such a thing. That sort of study would confuse my thinking. Doubtless!

There are many men who do not propose to be confused in their thinking. Having accepted their party lines, they do not want to be perturbed, but prefer to believe what they want to believe rather than what is true.

Take the lines along which the Ku Klux Klan works. They are lines of almost universal prejudice. The question of foreign and native born! Men are either for immigration or against it. Few are willing to carefully consider it and clearly discern between desirable and undesirable immigration. Take the question of race and color. For fifty years it has followed partisan lines. The majority of those north of the Mason-Dixon Line have censured the South and stood, if not for black supremacy, for at least equality. Those south of the Mason-Dixon Line for the most part have stood for the supremacy of the white, and have utterly repudiated every suggestion of social equality. But the Mason-Dixon Line is crumbling. Increasingly, men north of the line are giving intelligent consideration to this subject, and are beginning to realize the great problem with which the South has been burdened from the days of the Civil War, and men south of the Line are more and more considering the subject, and have begun to realize increasingly that to accord black men the rights and privileges that are in the constitution of our government is the wisest course, even for their own sakes.

Thirty years ago I was a young pastor in Indiana. I had in my official Board a deacon who was at once the bane and blessing of my life. His knowledge of the Scriptures was a marvel. When first I heard him pray, alarm took possession of me. For ten minutes he stood before the congregation and prayed, and every single word was a direct quotation from the Book. My own knowledge of the Word suffered by comparison and I wondered how I could ever minister to him. I learned shortly, however, that he was a sweet and humble soul, perfectly willing to sit at my feet. There was one point on which we were not in accordthe race problem. He seldom spoke without bitterness. His criticism of my own people in the South, was difficult to bear, and I was not always silent. Finally age and ill health sent him to Florida for his winter seasons. After two or three of these vacations, our controversy was at an end. He came to be a stalwart defender of the southern white man and entered into a keen appreciation of Dixies great problem.

Personally, I have never been able to entertain the prejudice against the colored man that certain people both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line indulge. As a lad I entered into sharp controversy with my seniors over the circumstance that the negroes attending our church were not organized into a Sunday School class and taught, but left instead to sit in the gallery and pick up the crumbs from the white mans Bible table.

But the philosophy of social equality is not desired by the negro, himself, and is a vain philosophy when preached by the white man. Thomas Dixon, Jr. in The Leopards Spots showed the absurdity of that position by his illustration of the Boston millionaire who preached the doctrine but was outraged and enraged when the colored man he was housing, fell in love with his daughter and approached him to request her hand at the altar.

At any rate, why should we insist today that this is purely a color question. The very law of the Jew forbids him to marry a Gentile. That is not at all an injustice to the Gentile. Any people and race have a right to determine who shall be their social friends and what shall be their family life and character.

The Japanese and the Chinese are not black, and yet intermarriage with the Caucasian only occasionally occurs and always with social protest. If one would study Old Testament prophecy, he will find that from the very beginning there were laws of God which opposed the coalition of the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth, and prophecies and promises as to their separate and somewhat exclusive existence. True, the Bible itself teaches that God * * hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, but the same Bible is just as explicit in opposing intermarriage of the races.

Science has spoken with Scripture in this matter and you will not find the descendants of utterly diverse races healthy, happy and prosperous. Disease smites them, moral and social disorders make easy headway among them; and the mongrel man, like the mongrel beast, finds it difficult to make his way in the world.

Personally I believe the Christian position is to have no prejudice against a man because of birth, color or condition; to see in every human soul one for whom Christ died, and by that fact he becomes a brother, potentially or actually. But even that does not decide questions of marriage, nor settle social and political standing.

The Jap has had a hard time on the Pacific Coast, not because he is dishonest, not because he lacks in frugality, not because he is black, but solely because he belongs to another race. White people who discuss the race question, thinking it involves no one except the Caucasian and African, are needlessly agitating and creating false impressions upon the minds of our black brothers, an impression liable to breed danger and difficulty. In Texas the race question is not black and white, it is Mexican and American. In California, it is not black and white, but Oriental and American. In Alaska it is not black and white, but Indian and American. In New York it is not a question of black and white, but a question of Gentile and Jew, or of Protestant and Catholic, race and religion.

The man, therefore, who talks on the race problem and means only the social problem of black and white, needlessly narrows his discussion and ignorantly agitates a question which requires placation. The one thing that holds in check today the strained relations between the black and white man is the fact that the former has in his midst some great Christian leaders who see this subject in its true light, and the noblest among the whites approach it after the same manner, and in such leaders only we have our safety.

Turning to our text again, It looks to stability of conviction. The sorest need of the Twentieth Century is that of men who can come to conclusions and stay by them. I am not at all ready to accept all for which the Ku Klux Klan stands. If I were, I might join them. Concerning the things which I cannot accept I shall speak later, but for the present let me go with you through their declaration of faith.

We magnify the Bibleas the basis of our Constitution, the foundation of our government, the source of our laws, the sheet-anchor of our liberties, the most practical guide of right living, and the source of all true wisdom.

We teach the worship of God, having in mind the Divine command, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

We honor the Christ, as the Klansmans only criterion of character, and seek at His hands that cleansing from sin and impurity, which only He can give.

We believe that the highest expression of life is in service and in sacrifice for that which is right; that selfishness can have no place in a true Klansmans life and character; but that he must be moved by unselfish motives, such as characterized our Lord the Christ and moved Him to the highest service and the supreme sacrifice for that which was right.

If I had to choose between joining the Ku Klux Klan and the liberal wing of the Baptist denomination, I would unite with the Klan. Count me with the people who magnify the Bible as the basis of our Constitution, the foundation of our government, the source of our laws, the sheet-anchor of our liberties, the most practical guide of right living, and the source of all true wisdom. Higher critics deny the Deity of Jesus Christ; if I interpret the Klansmans faith correctly, he affirms it. Here again I can give him fraternal handclasp. We honor the Christas the Klansmans only Criterion of character, and seek at His hands that cleansing from sin and impurity which only He can give.

In my judgment men who would take Christ away from the world are the enemies of God, good government, and the peace of the whole people.

There are certain secret orders which believe in God, but never hint whether they believe in Jesus Christ or not. It would be impossible for me to unite with any such. Secret-order Unitarianism makes no more appeal to me than does the Unitarian Society. The circle that rules Christ out or that even treats Him with silent neglect, is not the circle for a Christian man.

If I have read the history of my country intelligently, its every single superiority is the direct product of Christian influence. Any movement that dishonors the Head of the Church and discredits loyalty to the ritual of revealed religion as found in the Word of God, is inimical, dangerous, deadly!

But I must not dwell too long upon our first point.

THE APPEARANCE OF EVIL

Here again the text is clear and, its application to the subject in hand, patent. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Let me urge now some objections to the Ku Klux Klan. In my judgment the most serious one is that its members go abroad with covered faces, hooded, disguised. I know in this they are not alone, as all men know. The Lutheran Witness, after having paid proper compliment to the Philadelphia Ledger for an expose of the Klan, says, Still we cannot help but ask, Why single out the Klan for an expose while the country is infested with other gangs, or klans, just as dangerous and pernicious? Why Fail about the blood-curdling oaths while other societies are bound and tied, fettered and shackled by oaths every bit as blood-curdling? Why complain of the Klans blasphemous ritual, which parodies Christian Baptism, while the rituals of all the other secret organizations either expunge Christ Himself, or, if using His Name, blasphemously deny His Divinity and redemptive work, putting Him on the same level with pagan teachers of morality? Why accuse only the Klan of fostering religious and racial hatred? Are not the Knights of Columbus Klan and the Klan of the Junior Order of American Mechanics doing the self-same thing, the former excluding and combatting all Protestants, and the latter all Catholics and foreigners? Why poke fun at the silly titles of the Klans officers, while the officers of all other sworn secret societies strut about with titles such as Worshipful Master, Illustrious Potentate, and so forth, titles so foolish and silly and ridiculous that even a brass monkey would be convulsed with laughter if he were able to exercise his brain, or his sense of humor, a bit more than the average lodge-member who takes himself seriously? Why hint at the danger of the Klans secrecy while millions of lodge-members in this country are just as secretive, allowing admittance to their meetings only by password, assembling behind locked doors, and shunning the light of publicity, and so forth. In fact, this discussion of the Lutheran Witness condemns the Klan where it should be condemned, but shows itself a discerner of spirits by including with it many other secret orders open to the exact same criticisms.

Secrecy itself is open to criticism, criticism of the severest sort. Christianity certainly has little in common with it. Of Christs whole ministry it was said, This thing was not done in a corner. He and His disciples moved in broad day light; and when their night meetings occurred, they were not for planning or plotting, but for praying. In the street, in the synagogue, everywhere, He went with unveiled face. His entire life was as open as the pages of a book; and when finally His enemies went into the GardenHis secret trysting place with Godto take Him captive, and accord Him criminal treatment, He shamed them by His question, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take Me? I sat daily with you teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on Me. His was an open life.

My candid judgment is that the world would be better off with the abolition of every secret order. But if there exist secret orders in the Papacy; if there exist secret orders among the colored people and the Jews, there is no possible opinion or power that will keep Protestants from meeting order with order, or Whites and Gentiles from doing the same. I have no doubt there will be many go out from this place grieved, and perhaps disgruntled, because I have declared against secrecy. But the same men will admit that the very secret orders against which they are now organizing their own, imperil the Nation. It is currently reported that a great Papist order in this city have their commands from their highest authority as to whom they should vote for at the poles the coming week. If that be true, we know their oath-bound allegiance and we may expect to see in the headlines, the political success of this secret society candidate for the Judges bench.

Secrecy has more than the appearance of evil, it expresses evil itself.

It makes an open way also for hypocrites and pretenders. If every Klansman of the Ku Klux Klan could keep absolutely their just and righteous law, to abstain from all violence and refrain from all mobs, other men can easily don the same disguise and do evil deeds to the discredit of the organization, to over-throw of law, and the injury of society. The Literary Digest for August 27, 1922, had an extensive article on The Reign of the Tar Bucket in which it stated, quoting from the Houston Dispatch, that there were forty-three tar and feather parties in the first six months of the year, and in one instance a white woman was the victim. In another case the initials K K K were branded on a negros face. In Missouri a sixty-year-old farmer was whipped by a mob, and in Florida an arch-deacon of the English Episcopal Church was both whipped and tarred and feathered. The majority of these crimes are credited to the recognized Ku Klux Klan. Anarchy is terrifying the State with a bucket of tar and a sack of feathers. According to; the Springfield Republican no discrimination is made as to race, color, sex, or nationality.

That some of these mob outrages were committed by the Ku Klux Klan seems fairly likely, since the charter of the Bonham, Texas Klan was revoked by His Majesty of the Imperial Wizard, Emperor of the Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan. But what assurance can people have that the expulsion will end this conduct since as one man said, No man up in Atlanta can keep us from putting sheets over our heads and taking the law into our own hands if we desire to. Certainly not! That is what disorganized the old Ku Klux Klan. When they saw that they were being imitated, and their organization was being abused, they did the wise thing of going out of existence, thus throwing the blame of such conduct upon men that were guilty of it. The very form of disguise is one that takes deep hold upon the superstitious fears, native to many people. On that very account it is easily copied and readily abused. Let the text speak: Abstain from all appearance of evil.

But there is a deeper point yet in the textSuch abstinence tends to safe-guard the soul. The appearance of evil is a near approach to evil itself. I heard some years since a story that I was quite ready to believe. In the great Passion Play of Oberammergau, a man had been chosen two or three successive times to play the part of Judas.

He was a Christian and all his soul revolted at the very thought, but having taken a pledge with his brethren to accept whatever was assigned him, he went through the rehearsals, revealing matchless talent, and impersonated Judas to perfection. For the fourth time, if I remember correctly, they were selecting the actors and once more the lot of playing the Judas part fell upon him. Bowing his face in his arms he burst into tears, the whole building resounded to his sobs, as he said, How can I, again, seem to be the enemy of my Lord? Human experience, as a rule, runs in the opposite direction; the man who appears to be what he is not, finally becomes what he appears. In my judgment, the most remarkable book published in recent years was that of Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydea book that illustrated perfectly a great fact of human experience, namely, that character and conduct will finally come together; appearances and experiences are eventually united, and if in a hooded company a man, riding the -country over, appearing dangerous and terrible, be long continued, both danger and terror become the result. To the text then, Abstain from all appearance of evil.

But finally, to our third point

THE BLAMELESS PRESERVATION

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These warnings reveal the Apostles interest. Had he not been writing to men he loved he would have said less to them. His warnings would have been of a less ardent character. There may be those who will go out from this room to-day seriously resenting my indictment of secrecy, and hidden faces, and terrifying appearance and mob acts; but if so, they will be shallow and thoughtless.

I believe in the race to which I belong. I believe in it profoundly and love it with an ardent affection. In spite of my name there is not a drop of Papal blood in my veins, nor can I trace my ancestors far enough back to find one drop in the veins of any of them. Five generations ago Henry Riley came from Protestant North of Ireland to Culpepper Co., Va., and in that State and its adjacent one, Kentucky, my fore-fathers lived and wrought, Protestant to the core. They were Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians and Christian Church men, and on my mothers side, they were Quakers. But only in one or two single instances, resulting from putting orphan children into Papist schools, have I ever known them to be Catholic.

I believe in Americanism, and yet I would not join the Klan wholly at this point. There are a great many men, born on other shores, that I prefer to fraternize with rather than with some of them born in this land. I heard a Scandinavian say a few days since, When an American twits me, I answer, You came to this country because you could not help yourself. I came to it from choice, having admired it beyond my own fatherland. And when I am charged with having come to it a mere immigrant and in rags, I answer, That was far better than the condition in which you came; for when you came you did not have a rag upon your back. I am inclined to think that Ward Beecher, when he would throw wide open the gates made mistake. I believe every alien opposed to American government ought to be deported; but I would go further yet, and take the native-born rebel and assign him to some island of the northern seas. I cannot say with the Klan, America for American born, but I do stand for Americans in spirit; and I hold that this is the proof of the love of my land.

But our text makes a most Christian appeal. The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. This is a Biblical phrase but involves a sound philosophy. Man, like God, is threefold in nature, body, soul, spirit. In the sight of God, and in the sight of his fellows, the entire man should be preserved. The body was made to be a temple of God and should for ever be held sacred on that account. That means it should have the proper physical attention; that means it should have the proper moral environment; that means that it should be indwelt by the Spirit Himself. The soul of manthat is, his intellectis not worthy of worship (as we so well heard from Mr. Bryan two weeks ago this morning), but worthy of culture, capable of development, matchless in its outreach, deserving of the deepest concern. Spirit that is the immortal partthat is the God-breathed feature of human life, that is the life of God Himself in the soul, that is man at his best; the body, the soul in excelsis, let it all be preserved blameless.

But to conclude, the Apostle touches upon another theme:

He plainly declares the re-appearing of Christ.

Unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, then, was a premillennialist! Certainly! How any company of men who believe God and His Book could be otherwise is past my comprehension. Gods plan looked not to the first appearance of Christ only, the substitute for sin, but to a Second Appearance of Christ as well, the worlds Saviour, the Prince of Glory, the Coming King.

The Klansmen have said, We honor Christ as the Klansmans only criterion of character, and seek at His hands that cleansing from sin which He alone can give. And the Book teaches that once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He Appear the second time without sin unto salvation. To honor the Christ truly is to entertain that hope.

Dr. I. M. Haldeman, New Yorks matchless minister, recently said, No man can faithfully preach the Second Coming and neglect any doctrine of the Word. No man who believes in the imminent Coming of the Lord, and knows how to preach it, will ever be guilty of denying the inspiration of that Word, the resurrection of the body, of the glory and necessity of the atonement. If any of the fundamental doctrines are neglected, as it is charged in modern preaching, the neglect will not be found crouching at the door of him who preaches the Coming of the Lord.

We conclude, therefore, with the words with which we began, inspired words, worthy of your serious thoughtProve all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

Text (1Th. 5:21-22)

21 prove all things; hold fast that which is good; 22 abstain from every form of evil.

Translation and Paraphrase

21.

Test all things (whatever you may hear or see. Then) hold fast (only that which is) the good (in the mixture of good and evil that constantly confronts us).

22.

Depart from every (thing that has the) appearance of evil.

Notes (1Th. 5:21-22)

1.

Many people accept any teaching, simply because Our preacher said so, or because they have always thought it was that way. The command to Prove all things forbids such a gullible attitude, We should not accept anything we hear or see until we know it is in harmony with Gods word.

2.

In our life we are always confronted with a mixture of evil and good in everything. Therefore we must prove (or test) all things, and hold fast only to that which is good.

Paul urged the Philippians to approve the things that are excellent. Php. 1:10. (The same Gr. verb, dokimadzo, is used both in Php. 1:10 and 1Th. 5:21.)

Error is never so dangerous as when it is mixed with some truth.

3.

The command to Prove all things, may have had reference to the prophesyings mentioned in 1Th. 5:20. While they were not to despise prophesyings, yet they were to test all things. The apostles commanded us to Try the spirits whether they are of God. 1Jn. 4:1. (The word try in 1Jn. 4:1 is the same Gr. word that is translated prove in 1Th. 5:21.)

Some of the early Christians had the gift of discerning of spirits which would enable them to spot false teaching without the aid of written Scriptures. We who have the Scriptures have a perfect yardstick to measure all things against.

4.

Not only were the Thessalonians to hold fast to that which was good, but to avoid all appearance of evil. This would be very difficult for them to do in their pagan surroundings. They would have to be careful about where they went, whom they were seen with, under what conditions, etc. This would be difficult, but with Gods help not impossible. 2Th. 3:3.

5.

Most English versions of the Bible seem to prefer to translate 1Th. 5:22 in some way similar to that in the American Standard version: Abstain from every form of evil.

The translation hinges on the meaning given to the word eidos (translated appearance in the King James version). Basically the word means external appearance, form, figure, shape. (Thayer.) It can mean kind or form, as in the American Standard version. But it seems to us that the King James translation, Abstain from all appearance of evil, is to be preferred.

6.

There is a play on words in 1Th. 5:21-22 which is not apparent in the English versions. We will try to bring it out by the following contrast:

(1)

In 1Th. 5:21, we are told to hold fast (Gr., katecho) that which is good.

(2)

In 1Th. 5:22, we are told to hold off (Gr., apecho) from all appearance of evil.

7.

Keeping away from evil is essential for the child of God. God is holy and we too must be holy. Note Exo. 23:7; Job. 1:8; Job. 2:3. We must not use the members of our body as Servants of unrighteousness. Rom. 6:13; Rom. 6:19.

8.

Avoiding all appearance of evil means that Christians should avoid going to places where people might think they were doing evil. To go into a night club, pool hall, tavern, etc., even for a legitimate reason, might cause some one to think we were indulging in evil. We should not only avoid the evil itself, but we must avoid even the appearance of evil.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(21) Prove all things.The right reading inserts a but:I bid you pay all reverence to the cheering utterances of your prophets (comp. Act. 15:32); but take care! put everything to the test. That the warning was needed, or would be needed soon, is shown by 2Th. 2:2. It is couched in general terms (all things), but, of course, has special reference to all things purporting to be manifestations of the Spirit. And how were these revelations to be tested? If they were not in accordance (1) with the original tradition (2Th. 2:2), (2) with the supernatural inspirations of the other prophets who sat as judges (1Co. 14:29), (3) with enlightened common sense (1Jn. 4:1), they could not be good. The word good here is not vague and general good in the moral sensenot the same Greek word as in 1Th. 5:15but good in the sense of genuine, answering to the proper conception of what it purports to be. The same word is used in the same sense in Joh. 10:11.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. Prove That is, probe, try, test, put to the test. The word is specially used of testing counterfeit coin by ringing, weighing, fire, or touchstone. And so a precept was traditionally ascribed to our Lord, “Be ye skilful testers of coin.”

All Not things, but charisms, or professed supernatural gifts of the Spirit, as well as the doctrines they propound. And this is equivalent to 1Jn 4:1: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” This duty is enjoined upon private Christians, and so, is an assertion of the right of private judgment. It admits of no pope, to impose a spirit or a doctrine upon us without any of our own trying or testing. The tests for a doctrine are pre-eminently Scripture, the consent and harmony of holy men, our own conscience, our own sense of decency and propriety, and our sober common sense. It is possible that even these Thessalonians had one or two written gospels. They had the counsel of those apostles whose spirit they had tried and found not wanting. They were, doubtless, much endowed with the gift of discerning spirits. As, then, they had the tests in their hands, they must not despise or quench indiscriminately, but test, criticise calmly, select wisely, and form a permanent conclusion.

Hold fast good When the good (spirit or doctrine) was critically and fairly found, they should grasp and hold it fast as a divine acquisition. It is more precious than rubies. It is a coin of the sanctuary that will open the gates of heaven.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Th 5:21-22. Prove all things, &c. Though they were not to despise prophesyings, yet they were not to receive every thing which might be so called; but to prove and examine all things that went under that name. Nor were they to stop here; but when they had separated them, or could distinguish between them, they were to reject the evil and hold fast the good. These two verses and the preceding verse ought to have been joined together, and then the connection would have been more evident. This direction was given,not only to such as presided among them, but to all the Christians at Thessalonica in general. Comp. 1Jn 4:1.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Th 5:21 . The apostle therefore adds to the prescription, “Prove all things,” whether they have their origin from God or not, and to retain the good.

] but all things , namely, what is brought forward in inspired discourse.

] Paul expresses the same requirement of testing in 1Co 14:29 , and according to 1Co 12:10 there was a peculiar gift of testing spirits, the . That, moreover, this testing can only proceed from those who are themselves illuminated by the Holy Spirit was evident to the apostle. The fundamental principle of rationalism, that the reason as such is the judge of revelation, is not contained in these words.

] the good , namely, that is found in the . Hofmann arbitrarily thinks that “the good generally” is meant, which the Thessalonians “as Christians already have, and do not now merely seek or expect.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2207
INVESTIGATION OF TRUTH RECOMMENDED

1Th 5:21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

THERE are many who, either from an indifference about truth, or from a conceit that they are already sufficiently acquainted with it, neglect the public ministration of the Gospel, and even hold it in contempt. This is extremely culpable; because the ordinances of religion are Gods appointed means for carrying on his work in the souls of men. Hence we are bidden not to despise prophesying; and not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. At the same time, we are not necessarily to give our assent to every thing we hear; for error may be proposed to us as well as truth: and therefore the Apostle gives us this advice: Prove all things: hold fast that which is good.
In considering the two parts of this advice, we shall take each in its order:

I.

Prove all things

Remarkable is that address of Elihu to his friends: Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge: for the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat. Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good [Note: Job 34:2-4.]. There is much error abroad in the world; and that not only harboured, but propagated also. It will be well, therefore, for us to prove, by some authorized standard,

1.

Our own sentiments

[Every man has some sentiments about religion, though in many cases they are very crude and indistinct. On any other subject, those who have never investigated the science will hold their sentiments with some measure of diffidence and distrust: but, in reference to religion, the most ignorant are often the most confident. The fall of man, the corruption of human nature, the necessity of an atonement, the influences of the Spirit, are not only questioned by many, but are rejected by them as utter foolishness [Note: 1Co 1:23.]; and mans sufficiency to save himself is maintained, as though it admitted not of any doubt whatever. But, whatever be our sentiments on these heads, and on others connected with them, we should bring them to the unerring standard of Gods word. Our inquiry in relation to every thing should be, What saith the Scripture? By this must every sentiment be tried: and according to its agreement with this test must every opinion stand or fall.]

2.

The sentiments of others

[We are particularly cautioned not to believe every spirit; but to try the spirits, whether they be of God [Note: 1Jn 4:1.]. The one standard, to which every thing must be referred, is the word of God: as it is said, To the law and to the testimony: if men speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them [Note: Isa 8:20.]. To this our blessed Lord appealed, in confirmation of his word; Search the Scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me [Note: Joh 5:39.]. And St. Paul commends the Berans, because, when they heard him, they searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether his doctrines agreed with that unerring rule. If, then, our blessed Lord and his Apostles desired to be tried by that standard, I have no hesitation in saying, Prove all things, whether delivered by the many, or the great, or the learned, or the pious, or the authorized and commissioned: if even an angel from heaven were to come to teach you, I would still give the same advice, and say, As God has given you a perfect standard, it becomes you to refer every thing to it, and to try every thing by it. The Church of Ephesus scrupled not to adopt this plan, in its fullest extent; Thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles, and are not; and hast found them liars [Note: Rev 2:2.]. And whether this, or the contrary, be the result of your examination, I say with boldness, Try even an Apostle by the standard of Gods blessed word.]

Having thus distinguished truth from falsehood, we must,

II.

Hold fast that which is good

There are many that would wrest it from us: and we must hold it fast against all assaults,

1.

Of proud reason

[Reason will presume to sit in judgment upon the truth of God. But this is not its province. Its proper office is, to judge whether the Scriptures are a revelation from God: but, when that is ascertained, faith is then to apprehend whatever God has spoken: and the highest dictate of reason is, to submit ourselves to God with the simplicity and teachableness of a little child. When, therefore, reason presumes to oppose the declarations of God and to say, This is an hard saying: who can hear it? regard not its proud dictates, but receive with meekness the written word [Note: Jam 1:21.]; remembering, that what is foolishness with man may be indeed the wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes it.]

2.

Of corrupt passion

[This also fights against the truth of God. And no wonder: for the word of God condemns every unhallowed desire, and requires us to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. How should it be supposed that our corrupt nature should approve of a book, which enjoins us to cut off a right hand, and to pluck out a right eye, lest by sparing either the one or the other we plunge both body and soul into the fire of hell? It cannot be but that our self-indulgent appetites should rise against such severe dictates, and condemn them all as unreasonable and absurd. But you must not listen to such objectors, who hate the light, and will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. Our one question must be, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? and his will once known, must be the sole director of our ways.]

3.

Of a menacing world

[The world which lieth in wickedness ever did, and ever will, set itself against the self-denying doctrines of the Gospel. But we are not to make a sacrifice of divine truth, to please man: for if we vet pleased men, we could not be the servants of Christ [Note: Gal 1:10.]. Nor are we to indulge any anxiety upon this head: for the very desire to retain the friendship of the world is a certain mark of enmity against God [Note: Jam 4:4. the Greek.]. Whatever men may say, or whatever they may do, we must be faithful to our God, and cleave unto him with full purpose of heart. Having bought the truth, you must never sell it. Hold fast that thou hast; and let no man take thy crown [Note: Rev 3:11.].]

But, before I conclude this subject, let me shew you, in few words,
1.

How to distinguish what is good

[You will naturally say, in reply to what has been spoken, How shall I know what is good? for those who oppose the Gospel will appeal to the word of God as confidently as those who receive it: and how am I to determine between them? I answer, the despisers of the Gospel manifestly wrest the word of God, and, by ingenious criticisms, pervert it, for the purpose of maintaining their own erroneous sentiments; whilst the humble believer receives it with all humility of mind: so that from their very mode of interpreting the Scriptures, you can tell, almost to a certainty, who is right. But, as a general rule, take the entire systems of both, and compare them, and see what is the proper tendency of each: and then remember, that the doctrine which humbles the sinner, exalts the Saviour, and promotes holiness, is and must be good: whilst every thing which has an opposite tendency carries its own evidence along with it, as erroneous and had. This rule, in conjunction with the other, will leave you in no danger of erring, if you cry to God for the teaching of his Spirit, and rely with confidence on his heavenly guidance.]

2.

How to make a just improvement of it

[Rest not in a speculative view of truth, however good it may appear. The use of divine truth is, to enlarge the mind, and renovate the soul. Your views of the Gospel ought to raise your affections to God, and to fill you with adoring thoughts of your Lord and Saviour; and at the same time to transform you into his image. Your soul should be delivered into it, as into a mould; so that every one of its divine lineaments may be formed upon you. To hold it fast for any other end than this, will be to little purpose. But let it be thus improved, and it will be found good indeed: for it will free you from every thing that is corrupt and sinful, and bring you in safety to the realms of bliss.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Ver. 21. Prove all things ] Take nothing that you hear upon trust ( , Epicharm.), but bring all to the test, Isa 8:20 . To the law, i.e. the Old Testament, and to the testimony, i.e. the New, which is by St John often called the testimony. Mercer observes that of the Hebrew word ozen for an ear, cometh Moznaiim for a pair of balances; to note that we must weigh what we hear; our two ears must be as balances for that purpose.

Hold fast that which is good ] Orthodox, current, agreeable to, and approvable by, the Scriptures, especially that which God hath made good and sweet to your own souls. Hold fast that thou hast, &c. Hast thou found honey? eat it, Pro 25:16 . Go on to heaven eating of it, as Samson did of his honeycomb.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

21 .] refers back to the foregoing: but try all (such ): see 1Co 12:10 ; 1Co 14:29 ; 1Jn 4:1 .

is best regarded as beginning a new sentence, and opposed to . . . . . which follows: not however as disconnected from the preceding, but suggested by it. In this, and in all things, hold fast the good .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Prove. Greek. dokimazo. See Rom 12:2. Eph 6:10. 1Jn 4:1.

holdfast. Greek. katecho. See Mat 21:38.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

21.] refers back to the foregoing: but try all (such ): see 1Co 12:10; 1Co 14:29; 1Jn 4:1.

is best regarded as beginning a new sentence, and opposed to . . … which follows: not however as disconnected from the preceding, but suggested by it. In this, and in all things, hold fast the good.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Th 5:21. [31]) all things, viz. spiritual things, which, without any carelessness and undue curiosity, you may be liable to consider as in any way belonging to you, and as not exceeding your ability.

[31] The Germ. Vers., following the decision of the 2d Ed., subjoins the word .-E. B.

Lachm. adds , with BD()Gfg Vulg, and later Syr. But Tisch. omits it, with A, Orig. 4, 289c (3, 825c).-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Th 5:21

prove all things;-Instead of rejecting these teachings claiming to be spiritual, they were to prove or test all. The test was: If any man thinketh himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you. that they are the commandment of the Lord. (1Co 14:37.) Conformity in his teachings and prophesyings to the teachings and writings of the apostles was the test by which all claims of prophetic power or spiritual gifts of any description must be decided. If the person did not teach according to the standard, he was to be rejected. If we relax a constant watchfulness and a free discussion of all practical principles taught, before we are aware of it the faith of the church will be perverted by false teachings, and its life corrupted by sinful practices. Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1Pe 5:8.)

hold fast that which is good;-Lay hold to that which is good and beneficial in its effects. Those who do so are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luk 8:15.)

[The connection is the same as: I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. (Php 1:9-11.)]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Proving and Holding Fast

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.1Th 5:21.

1. These are very astonishing words to address to a community of new converts. We might have expected that the Apostle would be careful to give them precise and detailed instructions, plain and solemn warnings, encouraging assurances of Divine approval, but hardly that he should bid them take account of their own experiences, and train themselves in the difficult and risky art of self-direction. We might have expected that this earliest Epistle of St. Paul would point out clearly the manner in which controversies might be quickly and finally closed by reference to some authoritative tribunal; that it would have stated the constitution of the Christian Church in plain language, which should leave no loophole for schismatical casuistry; that it would set out in unambiguous language the powers of the Christian clergy, and the manner in which those powers were to be exercised. Of all this, however, we find nothing. The Epistle is addressed to the community or Church of the Thessalonians, and contains no clear reference at all to an official ministry; for the mention of some prominent members of the community, as supervising its business and admonishing it, hardly suggests an official ministry, but rather a volunteer executive sustained in office by the general confidence and goodwill. The Thessalonians are to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their works sake. The Apostles appeal is directly to the whole body of members: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

2. The words of the text stand in close relation to the words which they immediately follow: Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings; prove all things; hold fast that which is good. It is manifest from the record of those Apostolic times that the operations of the Holy Spirit were of an exceptional and temporary character. This is specially apparent in those spiritual utterances, those mysterious tongues, to which St. Paul refers in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. But, further, there appears to have been on the part of those early Christians a very natural desire to prophesyto speak out, in the presence of others, their own impressions or experiences of the spiritual life. A new prospect, transcendent in its beauty and glory, had been opened up to them by the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the freshness of their new hopes and new joys, they were eager to make known to one another, with unregulated fervour even in their religious assemblies, their individual experience of the love of God in Christ Jesus their Lord. There would, however, be some among the Christian converts, some of the less enthusiastic and more sober-minded, who would both dislike and distrust such utterances. It is probably such critics as these that the Apostle has in his mind when he addresses to them the words of caution, Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings. He could see the possible danger of such utterances; but he recognized in them the workings of the Holy Ghost, and would have them not suppressed, but tested and controlled. There were in them, no doubt, elements of exaggeration, dangers of self-seeking and of unreality, of presumption and pride; and these were not of God, but of the evil one. Yet behind all these there was a spiritual reality, obscured but not obliterated, and therefore they were to prove all things and to hold fast the good.

Many of the fathers of the Church connect these verses with what they consider a saying of Jesus, one of the few which are reasonably attested, though it has failed to find a place in the written gospels. The saying is, Show yourselves approved money-changers. The fathers believed that the Apostle uses a metaphor from coinage. To prove is really to assay, to put to the test as a banker tests a piece of money; the word rendered good is often the equivalent of our sterling; evil, of our base or forged; and the word which in our old Bibles is rendered appearanceAbstain from all appearance of eviland in the Revised Version formAbstain from every form of evilhas, at least in some connexions, the signification of mint or die. If we bring out this faded metaphor in its original freshness, it will run something like this: Show yourselves skilful money-changers; do not accept in blind trust all the spiritual currency which you find in circulation; put it all to the test; rub it on the touchstone; keep hold of what is genuine and of sterling value, but every spurious coin decline.1 [Note: J. Denney, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, 244.]

I

Prove

1. Why must we prove? Because faculties have been given us for that very purpose. The possession of faculties for thinking and reasoning tells us that we have the duty as well as the right of exerting them, just as truly as to have been born with eyes confers upon the individual the right to see. The eye has to be trained and so to become adjusted to objects about it. In many cases it is defective. We do not, therefore, bandage every mans eyes or put spectacles upon him, because these are required by certain persons. The maxim, Usum non tollit abusus, obtains here. Persons have grievously abused their right of private judgment; it does not follow that they should be deprived of it. It would be safer to infer that the faculty for forming such judgments imposes upon them the duty of using it.

The question you put is by no means an easy one to answer: whether, namely, it be right and wise for you to read on both sides of the questionor rather, I should say, questions? for on this subject they are endless, and grow up like Hydras heads. I could not reply, No: for that is the very advice given by the Romish Church, which we so much blame; and it is very inconsistent in us to condemn their prohibitions of heretical or Protestant books to the laity, if we, tractarian or evangelical clergy, forbid, as is constantly done, the perusal of books which we judge heretical. Now, first of all, the questions of religious truth are interminable, and a lifetime would scarcely suffice to pass even the outworks of them all. Next, very few minds are in possession of the means or of the severe mental training which qualifies a man to set out as an original discoverer of truth; so that if we cannot begin with a large number of truths, which must be considered as first principles and settled, life must be one perpetual state of Pyrrhonism and uncertainty. On the other hand, to refuse to examine when doubts arise is spiritual suicide; and I do not see how, on this principle, any progress in truth could ever have been made. Why should the Pharisees have been blamed for the views so long stereotyped or the Jews for remaining in Judaism?1 [Note: Life and Letters of the Rev. F. W. Robertson, 317.]

2. This duty is not dropped when a man accepts the obedience of Christ. The Christian life is necessarily a struggle with intellectual as well as with moral difficulties, with ignorance as well as with sin. Let no one enter upon it with the thought that his days of perplexity are over, that henceforth he is to be within the calm shelter of the haven, where no breath of wind or stormy wave can reach him from the open sea. There may be those who are thus blessed, but most are called to the battle. But the battle is itself a blessing when it graces, strengthens, confirms. The great German thinker may have been guilty of an exaggeration, but it was the exaggeration of a truth, when he said, Did the Almighty, holding in His right hand Truth, and in His left Search after Truth, deign to tender me the one I might prefer, in all humility, and without hesitation, I should request Search after Truth. There are, indeed, some who, wearied of searching after truth, have bowed their reason to some external authority, some infallible Church, admitting all its assertions as equally true; while others have found refuge in a universal scepticism denouncing all as equally false. The one goes against the precept, Prove all things, the other against its natural and necessary counterpart, Hold fast that which is good; and both evade one of the most potent means of moral training for this ceaseless conflict, this patient endurance, this quiet hope, this earnest longing, this immovable confidence in what is right and good, when they do not use it as one of the ways in which God has chosen to educate us for Himself.

Faith, whatever else it may be or imply, involves definite and strong conviction. Conviction requires evidence. Evidence is the objective truth which compels assent. Subjectively and spiritually, faith in a Fiji islander may be the same as it is in a cultivated and reflecting man, but intellectually it cannot be the same. Whatever the truth may be, or in whatever form it may meet the mind,whether by an argument, or a person, or a dream, or a fantasy,it must convince the intellect that something is true.1 [Note: N. Porter, Yale College Sermons, 337.]

In the Cathedral Church of Copenhagen, amid Thorwaldsens famous group of the Twelve Apostles, stands the figure of a grave and meditative man, with earnestly questioning face, rule and measure in hand, as though prepared to bring all things under strict verification, whose name no one needs to ask, so plainly does the statue stand for the doubting Thomas. Thomas was, according to the traditions of the Early Church, a born sceptic, a constitutional questioner, whose faith followed his understanding, who could not rest on external authority, who brought even Christs words to the bar of reason, and, failing to elicit an intelligible answer, withheld his assentin short, a genuine Rationalist. Yet this Thomas was one of the twelve disciples, a full member of the Apostolic College.2 [Note: R. H. Newton.]

II

Prove all Things

1. Prove all things is a favourite text with Protestants, and especially with Protestants of an extreme type. It has been called a piece of most rationalistic advice; it has been said to imply that every man has a verifying faculty, whereby to judge of facts and doctrines, and to decide between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. But this is a most unconsidered extension to give to the Apostles words. He does not say a word about every man; he is speaking expressly to the Thessalonians, who were Christian men. He would not have admitted that any man who came from the street, and constituted himself a judge, was competent to pronounce upon the contents of the prophesyings, and to say which of the burning words were spiritually sound, and which were not. On the contrary, he tells us very plainly that some men have no capacity for this taskThe natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit; and that even in the Christian Church, where all are to some extent spiritual, some have this faculty of discernment in a much higher degree than others.

Again and again it comes home to me that true wisdom lies in the abiding recognition that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. If we labour for the meat which perisheth not, and if we witness to the Kingdom of God in word and deed, our labour and our witness must be in the Spirit, i.e. by and to the Spirit.1 [Note: R. W. Corbet, Letters from a Mystic of the Present Day, 112.]

Johann was one day on his travels, and came to a wood. In an old tree he found a birds nest with seven eggs, which resembled the eggs of the common swift. But the latter bird only lays three eggs, so the nest could not belong to it. Since Johann was a great connoisseur in eggs, he soon perceived that they were the eggs of the hoopoo. Accordingly, he said to himself, There must be a hoopoo somewhere in the neighbourhood, although the natural history books assert that it does not appear here. After a time he heard quite distinctly the well-known cry of the hoopoo. Then he knew that the bird was there. He hid himself behind a rock, and he soon saw the speckled bird with its yellow comb. When Johann returned home after three days, he told his teacher that he had seen the hoopoo on the island. His teacher did not believe it, but demanded proof. Proof! said Johann. Do you mean two witnesses? Yes! Good! I have twice two witnesses, and they all agree: my two ears heard it, and my two eyes saw it. Maybe. But I have not seen it, answered the teacher. Johann was called a liar because he could not prove that he had seen the hoopoo in such and such a spot. However, it was a fact that the hoopoo appeared there, although it was an unusual occurrence in this neighbourhood.2 [Note: A. Strindberg, Zones of the Spirit, 13.]

2. The truth is, St. Paul is not concerned so much with the things which we are to prove as with the spirit in which the duty should be performed. What he would say to us is in substance this: Whatever subjects may engage your attention, or require the formation of your opinion, let this be the course you pursue: be not prejudiced, be not hasty either in approving or in condemning; prove all things; weigh them in the balance of a sober judgment, and deal with them by the use of that reasoning power with which God has endowed you. Estimate the value of every statement and every argument with what power and ability you may possess, deal with them in a philosophic rather than a polemic spirit. Pray that your intellectual gifts may be guided in their services by the Holy Spirit of Truth, and then, whatever truth, whatever good you may find, lay hold on that and hold it fast.

A man has as much right to use his own understanding, in judging of truth, as he has a right to use his own eyes, to see his way: therefore it is no offence to another, that any man uses his own right. It is not to be expected that another man should think as I would, to please me, since I cannot think as I would to please myself; it is neither in his nor my power to think as we will, but as we see reason, and find cause. It is better for us that there should be difference of judgment, if we keep charity: but it is most unmanly to quarrel because we differ. Mens apprehensions are often nearer than their expressions; they may mean the same thing, when they seem not to say the same thing.1 [Note: Benjamin Whichcote, Moral and Religious Aphorisms.]

3. This shows us the place and the duty of criticism in relation to the Bible. To criticize is, first, to distinguishto distinguish in a complex reality what is primary, essential, eternal, from what is secondary, accidental, temporary. So we find out what is the essence of the thing itself, making it what it is, as distinct from accessories not necessarily peculiar to it, which have gathered round it, and which can be, and perhaps at times should be, stripped off. To criticize is, next, to test. When this first duty of distinction has been discharged, and the root of the matter made known to us, it has then to go on to the work described in the textto test or prove it. It must try to discern, first, whether it is a realitywhether (that is) what it declares as truth is a real truth, accordant with the great laws of being; whether the power which it claims to wield is a real power, able to guide, to rule, and to exalt humanity. Historical science has studied and analysed the actual Christianity, the Church of Christ, in all ages. It has bidden us look through the visible developments of law, system, ritual, to the inner spiritual force, which gives them life; it has distinguished in it the obviously human element, with all the imperfection and evil clinging to it, which it shares with other great world-wide powers, from that element which is its peculiar characteristic, clearly unique and claiming to be miraculous and Divine. It makes us see plainly that this inner reality is, in spite of all imperfections, accretions, superstitions, the reproduction in the individual and the community of the life of Christ Himself. So, again, literary and critical science examines the Holy Scripture. It distinguishes in it also the human element of imperfection and progressiveness from that which claims to be Divinethe essential truth itself from the forms in which it has been conveyed. And the result is to make us see clearly that the one key to its right interpretation is the knowledge of the central manifestation of Christ HimselfHis Life, His Word, His Personthat in relation to this all other parts stand simply as preparatory or explanatory, and only in that dependence can be rightly understood and reasonably reverenced.

Professor Huxley once said that men of science no longer believed in justification by faith, but in justification by verification. Now, St. Paul taught justification by faith, but he also, as we see, taught justification by verification. In his view, the one did not exclude the other. St. Paul calls, not for the surrender, but for the exercise, of the reason. We have his approval if we feel that, in religious as in other matters, we wish to have our intelligence satisfied, before we yield the submission of our hearts.1 [Note: J. G. Henderson.]

In order to the discovery of that which is better of two things, it is necessary that both should be equally submitted to the attention, and therefore that we should have so much faith in authority as shall make us repeatedly observe and attend to that which is said to be right, even though at present we may not feel it so. And in the right mingling of this faith with the openness of heart which proves all things, lies the great difficulty of the cultivation of the taste, as far as the spirit of the scholar is concerned; though, even when he has this spirit, he may be long retarded by having evil examples submitted to him by ignorant masters. The temper, therefore, by which right taste is formed is characteristically patient. It dwells upon what is submitted to it. It does not trample upon it, lest it should be pearls, even though it looks like husks. It is a good ground, soft, penetrable, retentive; it does not send up thorns of unkind thoughts, to choke the weak seed; it is hungry and thirsty too, and drinks all the dew that falls on it. It is an honest and good heart, that shows no too ready springing before the sun be up, but fails not afterwards; it is distrustful of itself, so as to be ready to believe and to try all things, and yet so trustful of itself, that it will neither quit what it has tried nor take anything without trying. And the pleasure which it has in things that it finds true and good is so great, that it cannot possibly be led aside by any tricks of fashion, or diseases of vanity: it cannot be cramped in its conclusions by partialities and hypocrisies; its visions and its delights are too penetrating, too living, for any whitewashed object or shallow fountain long to endure or supply. It clasps all that it loves so hard that it crushes it if it be hollow.1 [Note: Ruskin, Modern Painters, pt. iii. sec. 1, chap. iii. (Works, iv. 58).]

III

Hold Fast that which is Good

1. The command addressed by St. Paul to the Thessalonians describes with incisive brevity the only kind of criticism that is right in principle and likely to be fruitful in results. It is the criticism, first, which claims, not to discover, but to test all thingstaking the thing criticized as it actually presents itself, and not reconstructing it out of our own discovery or imagination. It is the criticism, next, which, until it is forced to an opposite conclusion, holds (with Richard Hooker) that whatever has spiritual life and power in it cannot be wholly compacted of untruths, but must have in it something which is good, and which it is therefore worth while to hold fast. It is, moreover and above all, the criticism which performs its two functions simultaneously, not waiting in suspense till the whole conceivable work of testing is over, before it proceeds to grasp anything firmly, but at every point laying strong and enthusiastic hold of whatever, so far, it has found by trial to be good, living in it by strong sympathy, and making this experience of its inner meaning a means of advancing towards larger knowledge.

It is interesting to observe the various shades of meaning in which the Apostle uses the word , which he here employs. There are passages, like the present, where the sense is general. But there are others where it clearly implies, not the exercise of the critical faculty, but the appreciative acceptance of what is manifestly good and true, as when he exhorts the Philippians to approve the things that are excellent, and the Romans to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.2 [Note: Archbishop Maclagan.]

2. So we are not only to prove all things; we are bidden to hold fast that which is good; to be faithful to whatever has proved itself to us as worthy of love and reverence. The value of every discovery or invention consists largely in its power to satisfy some human want. The great test is experience of its results. May we not apply the same test to religious truth? If we have felt a craving to be delivered from sin, and to be made partakers of light and holiness; to be drawn nearer to God and to be lifted above ourselves; to know something of human destiny, and to obtain more worthy views of the world, and a deeper insight into moral truth, then let us ask, Does Christianity meet any or all of these requirements? If, in our assurance that God is love, and that we, though weak and ignorant and sinful, are His children, we feel convinced that God has spoken to us, and that His Word is in His own Gospel; if we have believed in His promises, and tasted the blessings of forgiven sin, and the peace which the toil and the changes of the world cannot reach; if we have attained higher views of holiness and truthare not these things good, and shall we not hold them fast? These are sufficient for our life; and as for others, we must maintain towards them an attitude, not indeed of indifference, but of bold and ceaseless endeavour, proving all things, and holding fast that which is good.

When the anchors faith has cast are dragging in the gale,

I am quietly holding fast to the things that cannot fail.

I know that right is right, that it is not good to lie;

That love is better than spite, and a neighbour than a spy;

In the darkest night of the year, when the stars have all gone out,

That courage is better than fear, and faith is better than doubt;

And fierce though the fiends may fight, and long though the angels hide,

I know that truth and right have the universe on their side,

And that somewhere beyond the stars is a love that is better than fate;

When the night unlocks her doors I shall see Him, and I can wait.

3. Happily for us, the great truths which should guide our judgment are just those which cannot escape our observation. The distinction between good and evil is written upon our conscience in characters which nothing can altogether efface The love of God beams in the sunshine, is poured forth in the refreshing shower, reveals itself in all the wondrous glory and beauty of the world. History reveals one human life in which Divinity shines out in all the radiance of perfect love, and purity, and Divine self-sacrifice. The condemnation of sin and the way of deliverance for the sinner were manifested in the death upon the cross. Thus, grasping with a perfect faith the great elements of good, we are able to look accurately at the difficulties which beset us, and prepare ourselves boldly for the journey or the fight.

Christianity has abler advocates than its professed defenders, in those quiet and humble men and women who in the light of it and the strength of it live holy, beautiful, and self-denying lives. The God that answers by fire is the God whom mankind will acknowledge; and so long as the fruits of the Spirit continue to be visible in charity, in self-sacrifice, in those graces which raise human creatures above themselves, thoughtful persons will remain convinced that with them in some form or other is the secret of truth.1 [Note: J. A. Froude.]

Proving and Holding Fast

Literature

Aglionby (F. K.), The Better Choice, 144.

Barry (A.), Some Lights of Science on the Faith, 218.

Blunt (J. J.), University Sermons, 243.

Boyd (A. K. H.), Changed Aspects of Unchanged Truths, 1.

Calthrop (G.), Hints to My Younger Friends, 121.

Denney (J.), The Epistles to the Thessalonians (Expositors Bible), 233.

Hardy (E. J.), Doubt and Faith, 1.

Henson (H. H.), Christ and the Nation, 102.

Henson (H. H.), The Road to Unity, 97.

Hutton (A. W.), Ecclesia Discens, 92.

Jones (T.), The Social Order, 45.

Merson (D.), Words of Life, 91.

Porter (N.), Yale College Sermons, 332.

Secker (T.), Sermons, i. 25.

Christian World Pulpit, xxviii. 378 (R. H. Newton); xlviii. 333 (J. B. Hastings); l. 241 (W. D. Maclagan); liv. 395 (E. J. Hardy); lxv. 308 (C. S. Horne); lxxv. 193 (J. G. Henderson).

Church of England Pulpit, xlii. 265 (W. D. Maclagan).

Clergymans Magazine, 3rd Ser., x. 228 (J. R. Palmer).

Guardian, lxvii. (1912) 1409 (H. C. Beeching).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Prove: Isa 8:20, Mat 7:15-20, Mar 7:14-16, Luk 12:57, Act 17:11, Rom 12:2, 1Co 2:11, 1Co 2:14, 1Co 2:15, 1Co 14:28, Eph 5:10, Phi 1:10, *marg. 1Jo 4:1, Rev 2:2

hold: Deu 11:6-9, Deu 32:46, Deu 32:47, Pro 3:1, Pro 3:21-24, Pro 4:13, Pro 6:21-23, Pro 23:23, Son 3:4, Joh 8:31, Joh 15:4, Act 11:23, Act 14:22, Rom 12:9, 1Co 15:58, Phi 3:16, Phi 4:8, 2Th 2:15, 2Ti 1:15, 2Ti 3:6, 2Ti 4:14, Heb 10:23, Rev 2:25, Rev 3:3, Rev 3:11

Reciprocal: Gen 43:12 – double Job 34:4 – choose Pro 21:21 – that Ecc 1:17 – I gave Jer 8:5 – they hold Amo 5:15 – Hate Joh 1:46 – Come Act 13:7 – a prudent Rom 2:18 – approvest the things that are more excellent 1Co 10:15 – General 2Ti 1:13 – Hold Tit 1:9 – Holding Heb 5:14 – to discern Rev 2:13 – thou holdest

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE DUTY OF INQUIRY

Prove all things.

1Th 5:21

There was the amplest justification in the history of the Church for these warnings. St. Paul warns the elders of Ephesus (Act 20:30) of the peril which false prophets threatened. Later history showed that peril in a much more aggravated form than was known to the Church of apostolic days. Prophets abounded, and came to great honour in the ministry. With the good were found the evil. Occasionally into the ranks of the prophets there crept men who cared exceedingly little for the Spirit of God, but much for wealth, for advancement, for personal power. Then, more than ever, it was seen with what loving foresight our Lord had bidden all beware of false prophets, and St. Paul had been moved to warn Thessalonian believers to prove all things.

St. Pauls words, in their natural context, had therefore a clear and pertinent meaning for the early Church. But how shall we take the words and apply them to our own day and our own affairs?

I. Where are the prophets?They are not wholly lacking. It would be a presumptuous limitation of the powers of the Holy Spirit to suggest that He does not as truly direct the speech of some as He did upon the Day of Pentecost. We humbly believe such inspiration to be frequent; it is to be sought and looked for. But the statement of every man who cries Thus saith the Lord must bear the test of such proof as the cautions of Christ and of St. Paul would suggest. A deeper conviction of the Holy Spirits power may well be sought; preachers would take their preaching more seriously, and hearers might less often drift into bored and listless inattention.

But there is another and a wider application of the same words. There are other pulpits besides those of the churches, and other prophets than those of the ministry.

II. Practically what St. Paul may say to us is, Cultivate an intelligent, reliable judgment in regard to all influence upon life and thought. There are reasons why we may extend the area of his advice. Teachers have multiplied who obtain willing pupils within the Christian Church. They are listened to with as much devotion as any ancient hearers gave to any ancient prophet. They deliver themselves upon questions of faith as well as of morals. Their influence is inevitable and must be counted with; but we are responsible for our own subservience to them. They cannot answer for us at the bar of God. We are, indeed, responsible for the effect our words and deeds have upon others; but each must also answer for himself, and himself bear his own burden of punishment.

III. But our responsibility is, of course, limited.We can only prove and try within the bounds of our own knowledge and capabilities. The old woman in a rustic cottage cannot prove the prophet when he speaks on Biblical archaeology, or the young man of business try the prophet discoursing upon the textual criticism. Beyond our proper range no responsibility is laid upon us by God. But even then, when all allowance has been made, how vast a field remains, as to which from the time we begin to exercise an intelligent judgment, responsibility lies upon us! It covers much of the domain of faith. Men and women move amidst a babel of contradictory statements. You are told by one that a thing is false, by another that it is true, and you have to exercise your judgment upon it. If you shrink from this, you must either fall into the arms of an infallible Church, or drift aimlessly from side to side, or take refuge in utter unbelief. It is very much your business to arrive at a right judgment; you cannot evade the responsibility.

Rev. A. R. Buckland.

Illustration

You must have noticed in St. Pauls epistles two strongly contrasted styles. At one time he gives himself to a long, carefully reasoned, yet, owing to his vehement nature, in parts involved argument. You may find such an argument in the opening chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, or in the well-known chapter, 1 Corinthians 15., in which he discusses the resurrection of the dead. At another time he produces a series of short, pithy sentences, dealing with the details of everyday life among his converts. He speaks to them in the plainest of language, in terms which might be passed from man to man, or from parent to child, and understood by the simplest minds in the Church. You have examples of such a style in Romans 12., in Col 3:4., and in the chapter from which my text is taken. St. Pauls letters, indeed, always most happily combine two things, which not seldom are most unhappily divorced. He both carefully establishes the foundations of the faith, and gives the plainest advice upon Christian conduct. He is not willing that any man should misunderstand or corrupt the faith of his Master; nor yet that any convert should be in doubt as to the moral habit which that faith demands of him.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Th 5:21. Prove is from DOKIMAZO, which Thayer defines at this place as follows: “To test, examine, prove, scrutinize,” and he explains, “to see whether a thing be genuine or not.” The passage applies to the various doctrines that were being offered by the teachers in religion. Disciples were warned not to take the mere word of any stranger, but to test his teaching by comparing it with the truths that had been delivered to them by inspired men. The same kind of warning is given in 1Jn 4:1-2. After the disciples have applied the scripture test, they are to accept and hold fast to everything that passes inspection.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Th 5:21. Prove all things. Neither in regard to these manifestations of the Spirits presence, nor in any matter, were they to be led by prejudice and appearances and first impressions, but they were to put things to the proof, to test them. Rules for doing so are furnished by the Apostle John (1Jn 4:1-8). In Corinth some Christians enjoyed a special gift of discernment of spirits (1Co 12:10). The Thessalonians were to judge by the moral quality of the prophesyings, or of whatever else came before them. And this moral discernment was to result in a practical choice, as expressed in the two following clauses.

From every form of evil. This does not mean, as the Authorised Version might lead a reader to suppose, abstain from everything which has the appearance of being evil, for he has just counselled them to look deeper than appearances. Having tested all things by their real character, they are to abstain from evil of every form. Even though it had the appearance of good, even though it was in the form of pretended spiritual wisdom or zeal for Christ, they were to abstain from it.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The persons to whom this advice is given: to the church of the Thessalonians, not to the ministers, but to the people, Know them that labour among you, &c. 1Th 5:12

Observe, 2. The advice itself, Prove all things; examine, try, and approve them, with a judgment of private discretion, not of public decision.

Learn, 1. That it is the duty of all Christians to examine the grounds of their faith and religion, and not to take them upon trust; otherwise their embracing the best religion in the world is rather the result of chance than of judgment and choice.

Learn, 2. That although all doctrines and opinions must be tried: yet, only that which is good, must be retained.

Learn, 3. That nothing is to be held fast, but what is first tried: Suppose we hold that which is good, yet if we have not tried and proved it to be good, it is no better to us than that which is evil; to approve before trial is not good, though the thing approved be never so good.

Inference, That this is a strong argument for the perspicuity and sufficiency of the holy scriptures, and against the necessity of a living Judge; for he that must try all things, must also try the doctrine of this living Judge; and therefore, till he has made this trial, must not admit his doctrine as an article of Christian faith; for these words plainly teach, that what we hold fast must be first tried; Try all things, and hold fast that which is good.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

prove all things; hold fast that which is good [Sift the bad from the good (1Jo 4:1-13), and cherish the good. To this corresponds the “unwritten saying” attributed to Jesus, “Show yourselves approved money-changers;” i. e., distinguish between the true coin and the counterfeit. Surely such advice has always been pertinent, when false teaching of every kind abounds];

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)