Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 1 Thessalonians 5:21 - 5:21
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Prove all things (πάντα δοκιμάζετε)
A general exhortation, not confined to prophesyings; but Paul elsewhere insists that a test be applied to phenomena which claim to be supernatural. See on discerning of spirits, 1Co 12:10; see on 1Co 14:29, and comp. 2Th 2:2, and 1Jo 4:1-3. For δοκιμάζετε prove, see on 1Pe 1:7. In lxx, Pro 27:21; Psa 11:6, δοκίμιον is a crucible or furnace.
Hold fast that which is good (τὸ καλὸν κατέχετ)
These words are associated in early Christian writers with an apocryphal saying ascribed to Jesus, and very frequently quoted, γίνεσθε δὲ δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται show yourselves approved money-changers. By some ancient writers the two are cited together as Paul's; by others they are distinguished, as by Origen, who cites the saying as an injunction (ἐντολὴν) of Jesus, and adds, “and also (observing) the teaching of Paul, who says, 'prove all things, hold fast the good, abstain from every form of evil.'” The saying about the money-changers is probably a genuine logion of the Lord. Some have thought that the words added by Clement of Alexandria, “rejecting some things but holding fast the good,” formed part of the Lord's saying, and that, accordingly, Paul's words here depend on an original utterance of Jesus. If this could be proved, εἶδος form, 1Th 5:22, might be explained as a figure of exchangers distinguishing between genuine and false coins.