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“Paul taught that four things are necessary for a biblical testing mindset.”
“Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Paul taught that four things are necessary for a biblical testing mindset.
First, the new birth. We see this in two ways in this passage. The people addressed here used milk and they had spiritual senses. That only happens through the new birth. Before that, there is no spiritual life and mind. Before salvation, the individual is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), having no ability to receive the things of the Spirit, no spiritual discernment (1 Co. 2:14). It is the new birth that brings new life and the equipment necessary to understand the Bible properly and to use it wisely.
Second, a conviction that the Bible is God’s infallible Word. It is “the oracles of God” and “the word of righteousness.” This is foundational. Unless the Bible is the infallible Word of God, it cannot be used to test right and wrong. The evidences that the Bible is God’s Word are endless. The man who led me to Christ showed me the evidence of Bible prophecy. Take the prophecies pertaining to Christ’s coming. The details of His life were written in Scripture hundreds of years before He was born: His birthplace (Mic. 5:2), His place of ministry (Galilee, Isa. 9:1), His miracles (Isa. 35:5-6), His rejection by Israel (Isa. 53:1-4), His unjust trial (Isa. 53:8), His crucifixion (Ps. 22:16), His words from the cross (Ps. 22:1), His mockers (Ps. 22:7-8), the gambling for His garments (Ps. 22:18), His bones not broken (Ps. 22:17), His burial in the tomb of a rich man (Isa. 53:9), and His resurrection (Ps. 16:10). The Bible’s prophecies of Christ set the Bible and Christ apart as entirely unique.
Third, being skillful in God’s Word. You can’t test right and wrong by the Bible unless you know it well. It is not enough to know a little. “Skillful” is the Greek peíros, “to perforate, pierce through to test, experience” (Complete Word Study Bible), the ability to make a trial (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament). To be unskillful in the Scripture means the individual doesn’t have sufficient experience in using it so that he is knowledgeable; he doesn’t have the ability to use it well; he cannot use it effectively to try things. The context explains the level of skill that every believer is to pursue: Skillful enough to be a teacher of the Word (Heb. 5:12), to understand the strong meat of the Word (Heb. 5:12), to be able to discern good and evil in a fully mature way (Heb. 5:14). For protection from apostasy, you must set out to be a serious Bible student. You must make the Bible the book of your life. You must read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it. You must learn to rightly interpret Scripture, to handle prophecy by the normal-literal approach, to understand figures of speech, to do word studies, to know the law and the gospel, to know Bible history, geography, times, culture, to use Bible study tools properly, etc.
Fourth, having a testing mindset and habit (“who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil”). This must be a way of life. I must be on the outlook against error. Everything I encounter must be tested by God’s Word to see if it is right or wrong, true or false, good or evil. Note that I must discern “both good and evil.” I am not just looking for error; I don’t have a critical mind and spirit; I am looking for truth to hold to as well as error to reject. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Th. 5:21).
At age 23, this is the path I chose.
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