²¹But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; ²²abstain from every form of evil.

Test and hold fast—this would make an excellent motto for new believers, especially in our religiously plural world. Even in Christendom, there are many contradictory doctrines dealing with fundamental issues. Characteristic of those young in faith is a ready acceptance of the things taught them by the group or sect in which they find themselves after salvation. How do they determine which are teaching right doctrine? Of course, if they are new believers under my influence, I hope they will accept my teaching as true; all Christian teachers would say the same thing.

The Thessalonians were new believers, less than one or two years old in their faith. Their previous peer group was the Jewish people. Presently they were open game for those who attacked Paul’s teachings, the so-called Judaizers who taught that believing in Christ on the cross to forgive sins was not enough. One must be circumcised and follow the Mosaic Law to be genuinely right with God. So what does Paul say to them? Examine and hold fast!

So how do we examine, and on what basis can we determine truth? The apostle John says, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2). In other words, look at the source of the teaching. Does the teacher confess that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh? If Jesus were only a man and not God, then John is confused about His coming in the flesh, because all humans come in the flesh. This is significant because Jesus is the Messiah, prophesied in the OT, who is God come in human form (see Phil. 2:5–11).

Secondly, does the doctrine line up with existing teaching that is from God? For the Thessalonians that would mean the OT Scriptures and Paul’s teachings; that is all they had. But any new doctrines that come along must be examined against those two sources.

Thirdly, anything that results in participation in evil must be held to be contrary to the Spirit. This takes an acute sensitivity to what is good, so that our examination will see through those who make evil out to be good (Is. 5:20).

These are the minimum requirements for examining doctrines or experiences. After examination, we are to hold fast to the teaching received or the practice encouraged. We should then wholeheartedly embrace what is good. We should hold fast.

Lord, help me to get better at scrutinizing everything carefully so that I would not be led away by deceptive teaching or practices or experiences.