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Glory · The Word of God
Yes, always. Scripture commends hearers who verify: the Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to check even an apostle's preaching, John commands testing every spirit, and Paul tells the church to test everything and hold fast to the good. No messenger, office, or title exempts anyone from the test.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/should-i-test-every-teaching-by-scripture · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Acts 17:10-15
As you read: They received the word eagerly and then examined the Scriptures daily to see if it was so.
10The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
12Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.
13But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes.
14Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.
15But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
As you read: Do not despise prophesying, but test all things and hold fast what is good.
19Don’t quench the Spirit.
20Don’t despise prophesies.
21Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.
22Abstain from every form of evil.
1 John 4:1-6
As you read: Many false prophets have gone out into the world; the test is what they say about Jesus.
1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
3and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.
4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
6We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
2 Timothy 3:14-17
As you read: The God-breathed Scriptures are the standard that equips for every good work.
14But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.
15From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
16Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Luke stops to praise the Bereans, and notice why: not eagerness alone, but eagerness joined to examination. They listened to the apostle Paul with readiness and then went to the Scriptures daily to confirm his words. Faith is not credulity; believing the right things includes checking that they are the right things.
“Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.”Acts 17:11-12
““You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.”John 5:39
Paul commands the church to examine all teaching and cling only to what survives. John sharpens it further: 'don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God,' because false prophets have gone out into the world. Jesus warns of wolves in sheep's clothing, recognizable by their fruit, which requires looking closely.
“Don’t despise prophesies. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.”1 Thessalonians 5:20-21
“Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”1 John 4:1
““Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.”Matthew 7:15
'Turn to the law and to the testimony!' Isaiah's rule stands: if teaching does not speak according to this word, it carries no light from God. The measure of a message is not the messenger's office, sincerity, miracles, or majority, but agreement with the God-breathed Scriptures, the sum of which is truth.
“Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.”Isaiah 8:20
“Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.”Psalm 119:160
Testing is not a taste for quarrels. When Apollos taught accurately the things about Jesus but incompletely, Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained the way of God more carefully, and he grew. The Lord's servant corrects opponents gently, contending earnestly for the faith without becoming contentious in spirit.
“He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”Acts 18:26
“The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle towards all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,”2 Timothy 2:24-25
“Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”Jude 1:3