These Were More Noble

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”-Acts 17:11

God has always placed a remnant of the “noble” who would not be swayed by the passing opinions of the day-from prophetical, personal, professional or political-in social media or public commentary: “[For] they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.”

Imagine how often commentary from pundits and-would be prophets alike-are promoted as promise without an objective and eternal standard against which to weigh their opinions against. All the same, scripture does not forbid public utterances. The apostle Paul urged the brothers that we “despise not prophesying…but to prove all things.” 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21

(So just how does one prove opinions and views in a society where we are encouraged to live with so many varying pronouncements of truth?) Centuries earlier, Isaiah the prophet answers this quite profoundly in Isaiah 8:20: “To the law and the testimony. If they speak not according to His word there is no light in them.”

The Christians of Berea were not as those of Thessalonica who took every opinion of proverbial prophet, priest or politician as truth. Rather, they went to the “law and the testimony” to see “if these things were so.” The admonition in this passage is to become studious not withstanding the celebrity, popularity or prominence of the position or the person behind the position. For God first spoke through His word then wrote through Moses, exhibited His power in Elijah then personified in Christ His grace and truth for the manifestation of all things in “spirit and truth.”