1 Thessalonians 5:21-The Thessalonians Must Continue to Test All Things and Hold Fast to What is Good

1 Thessalonians 5:21 But examine all things; hold fast to what is good. (NET)

1 Thessalonians 5:21 contains two more commands.

The first required that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community continue to make it their habit of testing each of the prophecies which were communicated to them by those in the Christian community who identified themselves as prophets.

The second required that each of them continue to make it their habit of holding on to those prophecies which were good.

Now, the first presents a mild contrast with the prohibition in 1 Thessalonians 5:20, which required that each member of the Thessalonian Christian continue to make it their habit of not treating prophecies with contempt.

Now, here in 1 Thessalonians 5:21, the apostle Paul solemnly issues another command which required that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community continue to make it their habit of testing each one of these things, which is a reference to the prophecies mentioned in verse 20.

This interpretation is indicated by the fact that Paul is contrasting the Thessalonians treating prophecies with contempt and testing them instead.

Therefore, a comparison of the command in verse 21 with the prohibition in verse 20 indicates that the contrast between the two is not treating prophecies with contempt and testing them.

Thus, the Thessalonians were to continue to make it their habit of not treating prophecies with contempt but instead they were to continue to make it their habit of testing each of them.

In the Old Testament, an inspired prophet could be identified using the tests for prophets in Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:14-22.

In the first century, apostolic church an inspired prophet could be identified by those who had the gift of distinguishing of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10).

In 1 John 4:1-6, the apostle John teaches that the believer can discern the false teachers from Satan’s cosmic system by their viewpoint or attitude towards the Person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Whatever a prophet communicated to the church had to be verified by Scripture in the sense that it must agree with the revelation communicated to it by the apostles and the Lord Himself.

The Holy Spirit would confirm or deny if such a prophetic utterance was from God or not (cf. 1 Cor. 12:10; 1 John 4:1-6).

The verb dokimazō expresses the idea of each member of the Thessalonian Christian community testing the genuineness of the prophecies they hear from those in their community who claimed to be prophets of God in order to determine their veracity.

It is expressing the idea that each of them testing or examining these prophecies in the sense of critically examining each one of them to determine if they are genuine or not and thus from God or not.

As we also noted, the second command here in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 required that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community continue to make it their habit of holding on to those prophecies which they identified as good as a result of critically examining them to determine their veracity.

A comparison of the first command in this verse and this second command indicates that the latter is the direct result of the former.

Therefore, what Paul is saying with these two commands is that hold fast to those prophecies which you have discerned originate from God and not the devil as a result of testing these prophecies to determine if they are from God or Satan.

The adjective kalos describes those prophecies which were communicated to the Thessalonian Christian community as good as a result of critically examining them to test their veracity and were found to correspond to the apostolic teaching.

This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the prohibition in this verse we noted required that the Thessalonians continue to make it their habit of testing every prophecy communicated to them by those who claimed to be prophets of God.

Also, the verb katechō speaks of the Thessalonians accepting as truth those prophecies that they critically examined to test their veracity to determine if they were originating from God or not and pertains to accepting them as corresponding to the apostolic teaching of Paul.

The present imperative conjugation of the verbs, dokimazō and katechō are a customary present imperative, which has the force of continuing to perform an action habitually.

Therefore, the idea of the present imperative conjugation of the verb dokimazō is that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community must continue to make it their habit of testing each prophecy communicated to them in order to determine their veracity and thus whether or not they are from God or not.

It implies that the Thessalonians were already doing so and were to continue to do so and the clear implication is that they were not treating prophecies with contempt.

Also, the idea of the present imperative conjugation of the verb katechō is that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community must continue to make it their habit of holding on to those prophecies which were found by the Thessalonians to be originating from God after testing their veracity.

It too implies that the Thessalonians were already doing so and were to continue to do so and the clear implication is also that they were not treating prophecies with contempt.

This interpretation of the present imperative conjugation of both of these verbs is supported by the contents of First Thessalonians which affirm the Thessalonians were remaining faithful to Paul’s apostolic teaching, i.e. the gospel.

For example, Paul affirms in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 that the Thessalonians’ faithful to the gospel in spite of severe persecution was serving to encourage the Christians in the Roman province of Achaia and Macedonia.

He also affirms in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 that the gospel was working mightily in their lives. Paul affirms again in 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:10 that the Thessalonians’ were faithful to the gospel.

He affirms in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 that the Thessalonians were experiencing their sanctification and in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, he affirms that they were practicing the love of God when interacting with each other and those in the non-Christian community.

Now, the apostle Paul does not explain or identify how the Thessalonians were test the various prophecies that they heard from those claiming to be prophets of God.

However, undoubtedly they were to test them in relation to his apostolic teaching which he and Silvanus communicated to them over a period 6 to 12 months before departing Thessalonica and was communicated to them through Timothy.

They would also employ those who possessed the gift of distinguishing of spirits mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:10 as we noted.

Also, 1 Corinthians 14:29 teaches that the Thessalonians could employ other people in their community who possessed the gift of prophecy as well to determine if a prophecy was from God or the devil.

The Thessalonians themselves could identify a false prophet even if they did not have the gift of distinguishing of spirits or did not have the gift of prophecy by applying five major tests.

The first is testing everything a prophet taught by comparing this teaching to the Scriptures which would be for the Thessalonians, their Old Testament and the writings of Paul.

Hebrews 5:13-14 teaches the Jewish Christian community that those who are fully trained in the Word of God are able to discern both good and evil.

The second is the doctrine of the person of Jesus Christ in the sense that if the prophecy did not agree with the apostolic teaching about Jesus Christ, namely that He is the God-Man, then it was to be rejected.

In 1 John 4:1-6, the apostle John taught the Christian community in the Roman province that they could identify a false prophet or teaching if they rejected the fact that Jesus was both God and a human being.

Thirdly, the Thessalonians could also test a particular prophecy or teaching by determining if it was in agreement with the gospel message.

In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul taught the Galatian Christian community those who taught a different gospel than his was to be accursed and he was speaking in this context of the Judaizers who taught obedience to the Law was necessary in addition to the faith in Jesus Christ in order to please God (cf. 2 Tim. 1:13; Tit. 1:9; Heb. 4:14; Rev. 2:13, 25; 3:3).

The fourth test that the Thessalonians could employ was their knowledge about the character of the prophet himself or herself.

If they did not demonstrate a godly character, they were to be rejected.

Jesus taught in Matthew 7:15 to watch out for false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.

In Matthew 7:16, He taught His disciples that they could discern such false prophets by their fruit.

In Matthew 7:17, He asserted that every good tree bear good fruit and every bad tree bears bad fruit or in other words, sound doctrine produces godly character whereas false doctrine produces ungodly character.

Lastly, the fifth and final test would be for the Thessalonians to determine if a prophets message was strengthening, encouraging and comforting them as Paul says it should to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 14:3.