1 Thessalonians 5:21
What does 1 Thessalonians 5:21 mean?
A plain-English look at 1 Thessalonians 5:21 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 1 Thessalonians 5:21 means
“Test all things; hold fast what is good” provides the essential safeguard for a Spirit-open community. Believers are to examine teachings, impulses, and claimed revelations with sober discernment, keeping what aligns with the truth and bears good fruit. This testing is not cynical fault-finding but responsible evaluation that protects the flock. When what is good is identified, they are to cling to it firmly, letting it shape belief and practice. Discernment ensures that openness to the Spirit does not devolve into confusion, and that the church’s life remains anchored in what is truly edifying and faithful to the gospel they have received.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000prove all things; hold fast that which is good;
KJV
King James Version · 1611Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901prove all things; hold fast that which is good;
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Let all things be tested; keep to what is good;
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862all things prove; that which is good hold fast;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752But prove all things: hold fast that which is good.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890but prove all things, hold fast the right;
Context
This verse balances the call not to despise prophecies. It maintains a middle path: neither quenching the Spirit nor swallowing everything whole. The final instruction in this mini-section, verse 22, will command abstinence from every kind of evil, ensuring that the church not only tests and retains the good but also decisively rejects all that is wicked or harmful. Together these verses cultivate a healthy, holy responsiveness to God’s leading.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- John 15:4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.
- Revelation 3:3
Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
- Philippians 1:10
so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ;
- 1 Corinthians 2:14
Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 11:6
and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben; how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel:
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