Test Everything by Scripture
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What we confess.
To us there is “one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6). Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31), who “has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). He “died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3), was buried, and “was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:4). “God has made him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), and “This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back” (Acts 1:11).
After an uproar in Thessalonica, Paul and Silas were sent away by night to Beroea. There Paul proclaimed the word of God in the synagogue. Luke records how the people listened:
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
— Acts 17:11
They were eager, and they checked. They did not take an apostle’s word on trust, and they did not wave it away. They opened the Scriptures every day to see whether what they heard was so. Scripture calls that noble.
Many readers have been told what the Bible means by a church, a teacher or an organization. Some were taught that checking was disloyal. We ask you to do with our words what the Bereans did with Paul’s. Our words are not the test; our conclusion, with the Bereans, is that Scripture is.
Passages: Acts 17:5–13.
Read These First
- Acts 17:1–12: Thessalonica and Beroea hear Paul.
- 2 Timothy 3:14–17: what Scripture is and what it does.
- Mark 7:6–13: God’s command and human tradition.
- Matthew 23:1–12: Moses’ seat, one teacher, and all of you brothers.
- Acts 8:26–39: Philip explains Isaiah to a traveler from Ethiopia.
The Bereans Checked an Apostle, and Scripture Calls Them Noble
What the text says. In Thessalonica, Paul “reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2). In Beroea, “the word of God was proclaimed by Paul” (Acts 17:13). Those in its synagogue, often called the Bereans, examined the Scriptures daily to see whether it was so (Acts 17:11). Luke calls them “more noble” (Acts 17:11). Their checking ended in faith: “Many of them therefore believed” (Acts 17:12).
The letters also tell believers to test: “Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Paul wrote this to believers who had received his word “not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, God’s word” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Paul placed even himself under the good news already preached: “But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any ‘good news’ other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed.” (Galatians 1:8). Passages: 1 John 4:1.
What we conclude. Our conclusion is that no teacher today stands above the check the Bereans gave an apostle. Our conclusion is that any church’s teaching, any publication and this article may be tested as Paul’s preaching was. The Bereans’ testing was not suspicion, for they received the word “with all readiness of mind” (Acts 17:11). Our conclusion is that testing leads to a faith that rests on God’s word, not on a person.
The strongest objection. Some hold that ordinary believers may not decide for themselves what Scripture means. They cite Peter: “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20). As they argue it, a reader who checks a teaching by his own reading of Scripture is making a private interpretation, which Peter forbids. The meaning belongs to those whom God has appointed to explain it.
Our answer. Read the next verse: “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21). The word For explains verse 20 by where prophecy came from: not from the prophet’s own will, but from God. Our conclusion is that Peter speaks of how prophecy came, not of who may read it. In the verse before, he tells all his readers to heed it themselves: “you do well that you heed it as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). Passages: 2 Peter 1:1.
Every Scripture Is God-Breathed and Profitable for Teaching
What the text says. Paul told Timothy to remain in what he had learned, “knowing from whom you have learned them” (2 Timothy 3:14). Then he named the Scriptures Timothy had known from infancy:
From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
— 2 Timothy 3:15–17
Jesus said, “the Scripture can’t be broken” (John 10:35). Scripture does not give a list of its books, but it does name groups of them. Jesus spoke of “all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me” (Luke 24:44). Peter set Paul’s letters beside the rest, saying that some twist them “as they also do to the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16).
What we conclude. Our conclusion is that any teaching may be tested by Scripture, because every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for correction. The Bereans tested Paul’s message this way (Acts 17:11). Our conclusion is that no later teaching, however old, binds a believer unless Scripture teaches it (see Teaching handed down outside Scripture under Questions Answered).
The strongest objection. Scripture alone is a later phrase, not found in the Bible. Some ask whether testing everything by Scripture is just one more human tradition. They cite Paul: “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word or by letter.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). They also cite his charge to Timothy: “The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2). As they argue it, Paul bound believers to traditions passed on by word as well as by letter. He also provided for that teaching to be handed on after him. So the written Scriptures cannot be the only test, and spoken tradition handed down in the church carries the apostles’ authority too.
Our answer. We agree that what the apostles taught binds believers, by word or by letter. The question is how a teaching handed down today can be known to be theirs. In Beroea, Paul’s own spoken word was examined against the Scriptures, and those who examined it were called noble (Acts 17:11). Jesus did not condemn every tradition. He condemned this: “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8). Our conclusion is that any tradition is to be tested by whether it agrees with God’s written word. Testing by Scripture is not our invention; Scripture shows it and calls it noble. Our conclusion is that the apostles’ teaching is now held in Scripture, and no later teaching binds a believer unless Scripture teaches it (see Teaching handed down outside Scripture under Questions Answered).
Pause. What did the Bereans do with Paul’s message, and what does Luke call them? (See The Bereans Checked an Apostle.)
Jesus Put God’s Command Above the Tradition of Men
What the text says. Pharisees and scribes asked why Jesus’ disciples did not “walk according to the tradition of the elders” (Mark 7:5). He answered from Isaiah: “They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Mark 7:7). Their tradition let a man call his support for his parents a gift to God, and then stopped him from helping them. Jesus called this “making void the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down” (Mark 7:13). Passages: Mark 7:9–12.
In the same speech, to the crowds and his disciples, Jesus said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.” (Matthew 23:2–3). He went on, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.” (Matthew 23:8). Paul wrote, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5). He also wrote, “We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy.” (2 Corinthians 1:24). Passages: 1 Peter 5:3.
What we conclude. Scripture plainly rules out two things here. No one may teach human commands as God’s doctrine (Mark 7:7), and no one may set God’s command aside to keep a tradition (Mark 7:8). Jesus told the crowds and his disciples to observe what those on Moses’ seat said, yet he answered for his disciples when they did not keep “the tradition of the elders” (Mark 7:5–8). Our conclusion is that Matthew 23:3 did not bind them to that tradition. Our conclusion is that no teacher, publication or organization may set its teaching over God’s word (Mark 7:13). Scripture names no mediator between God and men but Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). This is not a charge against any one group; it binds every teacher, including us. Our conclusion is that every teacher is a brother or sister to the reader, under the one Teacher (Matthew 23:8).
The strongest objection. Many sincere readers ask whether we need a teacher, or an organization, to understand the Bible. They point to the traveler from Ethiopia. Philip asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). He answered, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” (Acts 8:31). Of the ascended Christ, Paul writes, “He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;” (Ephesians 4:11). Hebrews says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13:17). As they argue it, God gives teachers and leaders, commands obedience to them, and shows that a reader alone cannot understand. So believers need appointed teachers to tell them what Scripture means. Passages: Ephesians 4:7–10.
Our answer. We agree that teachers are a gift and that leaders are to be obeyed; Scripture says both. Now look at what these teachers do. Philip, “beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). After his baptism, with Philip gone, the traveler “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39). Teachers are given “for the perfecting of the saints” (Ephesians 4:12), “that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men” (Ephesians 4:14). In Hebrews 13, the leaders the readers are to remember are those “who spoke to you the word of God” (Hebrews 13:7). Our conclusion is that teachers serve the reading of Scripture and help readers grow up; they do not replace the text or stand above it. When the high priest and the council forbade the apostles to teach in Jesus’ name (Acts 5:27–28), they answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29). Our conclusion is that leaders have real authority to teach, shepherd and correct by the Scriptures. Our conclusion is also that no leader, council or church may bind a believer to anything Scripture does not teach (see The authority of church leaders and teachers under Questions Answered).
A second objection. Some hold that Christ has appointed a body of leaders in our time to give his household its spiritual food. Believers, they hold, are to look to it for their understanding of Scripture. They cite Jesus: “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?” (Matthew 24:45). As they argue it, the servant is that body, and the household receives the food it gives.
Our answer. Jesus says when the servant is found faithful: “Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.” (Matthew 24:46). He then warns of the same servant: “But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’” (Matthew 24:48). When Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?” (Luke 12:41), Jesus answered with the same parable. The parable does not name the servant, and it does not tell the household not to test what it is given. Paul told the believers at Thessalonica to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
God’s Word Was Read to All His People
What the text says. Paul wrote, “I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.” (1 Thessalonians 5:27). John wrote his account “that you may believe” (John 20:31). A psalm says of God’s words, “It gives understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130). When a lawyer questioned Jesus, Jesus sent him to the text: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26).
What we conclude. Our conclusion is that Scripture expects all God’s people to read it and understand its plain teaching. Where they lack wisdom, they may ask God (James 1:5). Teachers help, as when Ezra and the Levites “gave the sense, so that they understood the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8). But, our conclusion, the reading belongs to everyone, as it did when Ezra read “in the presence of the men and the women” (Nehemiah 8:3). Passages: Nehemiah 8:1–8.
The strongest objection. Some argue that Scripture is too hard and too dangerous to read without an approved guide. They cite Peter on Paul’s letters: “as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16). As they argue it, untrained readers twist Scripture to their own destruction. So it is safer to receive an approved explanation than to read for yourself.
Our answer. Peter says some things are hard, not all things. He names who twists them: “the ignorant and unsettled” (2 Peter 3:16). And he gives his remedy to all his readers: “You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:17–18). Peter does not tell them to stop reading Paul. He tells them to stand firm and grow. Our conclusion is that hard passages call for care, humility and the light of plainer ones, not for handing the Bible to someone else.
Pause. According to 2 Timothy 3:16–17, what is every Scripture profitable for? (See Every Scripture Is God-Breathed and Profitable for Teaching.)
Questions Answered
These questions touch this article. Each is answered from Scripture and labeled. The Statement of Faith, section 15, gives the same answers.
Which books belong in Scripture. Our conclusion: Scripture is the sixty-six books, Genesis to Revelation. Jesus received the Hebrew Scriptures in their three parts, and Peter set Paul’s letters beside the other Scriptures.
Jesus said: “This is what I told you while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms concerning me must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44).
Read the other way: Hebrews 11:35; Jude 14–15. Confidence: Narrow for the New Testament list, Solid for the Old. Jesus received the Hebrew Scriptures in three parts. Scripture does not give a list of the New Testament books, as far as we can find. We receive the books the apostles and their circle wrote.
The authority of church leaders and teachers. Our conclusion: leaders have real authority to teach, shepherd and correct by the Scriptures. No leader, council or church may bind a believer to anything Scripture does not teach.
Jesus said: “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.” (Matthew 23:8).
Read the other way: Hebrews 13:17; Matthew 16:19; 18:18; Acts 15:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:15. Confidence: Solid. Leaders’ duties and their limits are both plain; applying them case by case is our step.
Teaching handed down outside Scripture. Our conclusion: what the apostles taught binds every believer, and that teaching is now held in Scripture. No later teaching, however old, binds a believer unless Scripture teaches it.
Paul wrote: “Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another.” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
Read the other way: 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:2; John 21:25. Confidence: Solid. The apostles’ authority is plain; that none of it binds outside Scripture is our step.
Whether salvation depends on these questions. Our conclusion: salvation depends on believing the good news about Jesus and remaining in his teaching. It does not depend on settling every question in this document.
Jesus said: “I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24).
Read the other way: John 8:24; 1 John 2:23; Galatians 1:9. Confidence: Solid. John 8:24 and 2 John 9 name what is required; Romans 14:1 shows that not every question divides.
“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Where We Stand
Scripture says
- The Bereans examined the Scriptures daily to test Paul’s message, and Luke calls them more noble (Acts 17:11). Believers are to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
- Every Scripture is God-breathed and equips the person who belongs to God for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16–17).
- Teaching human commands as God’s doctrine, and setting God’s command aside for tradition, are condemned (Mark 7:7–9, 13).
- One is our teacher, the Christ, and there is one mediator, Christ Jesus (Matthew 23:8; 1 Timothy 2:5).
- Christ gave teachers, and believers are to obey their leaders (Ephesians 4:11; Hebrews 13:17).
- Scripture does not list its books. It names the law, the prophets and the psalms, and sets Paul’s letters with the other Scriptures (Luke 24:44; 2 Peter 3:16).
We conclude
- Our conclusion: no teacher today, including us, stands above the check the Bereans gave an apostle (Acts 17:11; Galatians 1:8).
- Our conclusion: 2 Peter 1:20 speaks of where prophecy came from, not of who may read it (2 Peter 1:19–21).
- Our conclusion: because every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for correction, any teaching may be tested by it (2 Timothy 3:16; Acts 17:11).
- Our conclusion: teachers serve the reading of Scripture and do not replace it (Acts 8:35; Ephesians 4:12–14).
- Our conclusion: hard passages call for care and growth, not for giving up the reading (2 Peter 3:16–18).
Hope
Scripture was written to give hope: “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4). When Paul said goodbye to the elders of Ephesus, he warned them, “Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Acts 20:30). Then he said, “Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32). Our conclusion is that every believer may be entrusted to that same God and that same word.
Living It Out
These are applications, offered as invitations.
- Try reading a passage in its context before reading what anyone says about it, including us.
- When a teaching is presented as from God, you might ask, as the Bereans did, where Scripture says it, and open the verse.
- Where a passage is hard, consider asking God for wisdom and reading it beside the plainer ones.
- You might thank God for teachers who keep pointing you back to the text.
- If checking a teaching feels frightening, it may help to remember that Scripture calls it noble.
Questions for Reflection
- What did the Bereans do every day, and how did their checking end? (See The Bereans Checked an Apostle.)
- Why might eager welcome and careful checking belong together? (See What we conclude under The Bereans Checked an Apostle.)
- How does 2 Peter 1:21 shape the meaning of 2 Peter 1:20? (See the objection under The Bereans Checked an Apostle.)
- In Mark 7, what did Jesus say happens to God’s word when tradition is set above it? (See Jesus Put God’s Command Above the Tradition of Men.)
- What did Philip in Acts 8 and the teachers of Ephesians 4 aim to lead people to? (See the objection under Jesus Put God’s Command Above the Tradition of Men.)
- What is one teaching you have received that you have not yet checked in Scripture for yourself? (See Living It Out.)
Check It Yourself
- Opening: Acts 17:5–13.
- The Bereans: Acts 17:2, 11–13; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 5:21; 1 John 4:1; Galatians 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1, 19–21.
- God-Breathed: 2 Timothy 3:14–17; John 10:35; Luke 24:44; 2 Peter 3:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:2; Mark 7:8.
- God’s Command: Mark 7:5–13; Matthew 23:1–12; 1 Timothy 2:5; 2 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Peter 5:3; Acts 8:26–39; Ephesians 4:7–14; Hebrews 13:7, 17; Acts 5:27–29; Matthew 24:42–51; Luke 12:41–48; 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
- Read to All: 1 Thessalonians 5:27; John 20:31; Psalm 119:130; Luke 10:25–26; James 1:5; Nehemiah 8:1–8; 2 Peter 3:15–18.
- Answered: Statement of Faith, section 15; Luke 24:44; Matthew 23:8; 1 Corinthians 4:6; John 8:24; Deuteronomy 29:29.
- Hope: Romans 15:4; Acts 20:17, 29–32.
Next
Next in The Good News: One God, the Father. Who is the one God that Scripture names?
© 2026 Elvis Lucas, Open the Text. Original: https://openthetext.com/series/the-good-news/01-test-everything-by-scripture/
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