Christian Spiritual Growth

BEREANS
Part 2 of 2

Judge the Fruit of Teachings, Not People’s Processes

Go to Bereans, Part 1 of 2.

This article is a personal testimony about how the Lord used a trial in my life to help me discover more of His Truth. Among the many things that took place during this trial, my husband and I studied the word judge:

Using Strong’s Concordance, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, and Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, we noted two primary definitions and one secondary definition of the word judge:

From 1828 dictionary:

1. To hear and determine a case; to examine and decide
   
2. To try; to examine and pass sentence on.
   
3. Rightly to understand and discern
   
4. To censure rashly; to pass severe sentence
   
5. To esteem; to think; to reckon
   
6. To rule or govern
   
7. To doom to punishment

From Scripture:

1. krino (2919) (These are all our paraphrases of these verses)
   Luke 12:15: We judge what is right

   John 5:30: Judgment is just when seeking not your own will but the will of the Father

   John 7:24: judge not according to appearance but to righteous judgment

   John 7:51: do not judge before hearing

   Acts 4:19: listen to God, not men

   Romans 14:13: Judge that no one put a stumbling block in another's way

   I Cor. 6; Exodus 18:26: We'll judge the world, can't we judge in small matters?

   I Cor. 10:11: Judge what I say

   I Cor. 11:13: Judge for yourselves

   Luke 7:43: Jesus said, "Thou hast judged rightly"

   Acts 16:15: Lydia wanted to be judged

2. anakrino (350)
   1 Cor. 2:15: But he that is spiritual judgeth (investigates, scrutinizes questions, examines, searches, discerns—perhaps like the Bereans? [Acts 17:11)) all things, yet he himself is judged of no man (perhaps because he is judging himself??? [see number 3]).

   1 Cor. 4:3: I judge not my own self...but he that judgeth me is the Lord (it's God who scrutinizes our hearts as we yield to Him; He does the judging)

3. diakrino (1252)
   1 Cor. 11:31-32: If we judge (thoroughly examine ourselves through and through) ourselves, we should not be judged (2919). But when we are judged (2919), we are chastened of the Lord..

A few years back, my husband and I were facing a trial together. I mentioned to a concerned friend that I wasn’t hurt by the actions of a fellow Christian towards me, just grieved. My friend judged (2919) me—questioned me very kindly—about not being hurt. Her comments caused me to judge (1252) myself before the Lord and examine what hurt is all about.

I explained to her that, to me, hurt felt like a punch in the stomach and I wasn't feeling that. Grieving felt like a really heavy, heavy heart...and I was definitely feeling that. She encouraged me to examine hurt, and I did.

As my husband and I studied the Word, I learned and now agree that a part of grieving includes hurt. Yes, I was hurting at the time and I am now thankful for the chastening from the Lord that caused me to examine my own feelings.

Throughout the trial, and after this Word/word study with my husband, I learned that:

My husband and I also looked up Acts 17:11, where the Bereans searched the Scriptures. That is the same word as judge (350).

We concluded and believe that Christians should be encouraged to self-inspect and examine/scrutinize/discern the substance and fruit of teachings, not people’s processes.

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