The Wrong Path

Abstain from every form of evil. –I Thessalonians 5:22

Good teaching is to be held on to, and bad teaching is to be let go. Paul instructs the Thessalonians to examine all teaching and then instructs them what to do with what they have examined. Testing is not the same thing as trying. Paul’s command in v. 22 serves as a caution against doing such. Testing is essential because evil is to be avoided in all its forms. Every doctrine that comes before us is to be evaluated in the light of Scripture. On the surface some doctrines seem to bring knowledge or give comfort, but we cannot accept them unless we know they are supported by Scripture.

Falsehood makes its way into the Church because it has some semblance of truth. But, given time, what is false will eventually lead those in the Church away from God. This is why we test rather than try. When we indiscriminately try a doctrine, we use it to function. We use it to tell us who God is and how his plan for salvation works. If we choose a form of evil we start down a wrong path. That path may for a time closely follow the true path, but in the end it will lead us to destruction.

As Christians we cannot spend any time on the wrong path. There are no scouting missions as far as the way of glory goes. Once we go down the wrong way it is very hard to come back. In giving us his Word, God has given us the means of discerning the right path. When we come upon a new way God means for us to look to his Word and not the way itself to determine if it is evil or good, and once that determination has been made, we are not to look back.