TRY THE SPRITS

By Stanton See

The apostle John in I John. 4:1 writes: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." What he is saying in this verse is that one should not blindly accept what a person is teaching but to try (King James Version) or test what they are teaching to see if it is really the will of God. The reason why one should test the teaching of a preacher is that there are many false teachers who have gone out into the world and are teaching false doctrines. Peter in Second Peter and Jude also warn about the dangers of false teachers.

Paul gives another reason why we should test the teachings of any and all teachers in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works."

This raises the question, as how are we to test the teachers? Are we to trust in feelings? Are we to trust in human reasoning? Or is there some other way to test the teachers?

Are feelings reliable? A popular song of a few years ago put forth the attitude of many people today by stating "something that feels so right can’t be wrong." The problem is that feelings are not reliable. For example, during the Old Testament times, many felt that it was right and proper to sacrifice babies (that is, burn them alive) to idols. Yet the Bible condemns the sacrificing of babies to idols. Another example is the apostle Paul before he became a Christian felt it was right to persecute Christians and even have them put to death. So we see that feelings are not a good way of testing the teachings of teachers or preachers.

Can we use human reasoning as a guide to test the teachings of preachers and teachers? The problem with human reasoning is that there is no absolute standard to follow. What may seem reasonable to one will not seem reasonable to others. For example, it may seem reasonable to someone to take a gun and kill a number of people. Just because it seems reasonable to that person, does it make it right? Of course not! Therefore, human reasoning can’t be a safe way to trust the teaching of someone.

If we can not use feelings or human reasoning as the way to test the teaching of someone, how can we test the teaching? Luke records in Acts 17:11 that the people in the city of Berea took the Scriptures and studied and examined what they were being taught in light of what the Scriptures said. "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." We need to follow their example in testing the teaching of teachers and preachers. Let me encourage you to follow their example.

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