Search For Yourself
By Anthony Casperson
10-10-26

When I was young and growing up in a local church, I thought I understood faith pretty well. I’d grown up in the church, heard the Sunday school lessons, listened to sermons, and was the one among my peers to whom they tended to look, if they wanted the answer about a bible story.

But when I started attending bible college, I realized how little I actually knew. Sunday school answers didn’t even scratch the surface of what’s needed for a real and thriving faith. And they certainly didn’t provide me with easy understanding when confronted with the theological differences that the bible college’s denomination had.

In my very first year there, I was confronted with a decent-sized difference. It was counter to what I had been taught. And so, I had to figure out what to believe. What was true in this instance?

Did I just maintain the earlier teachings, merely because they were first? Did I follow the bible college’s teachings because they sounded pretty sure about it, and were the most recent to enter my brain? Or was there a different way?

It was then that I’d decided to always approach differences to teaching on the bible the same way. Taking the bible as the ultimate and final authority, I approached it with what I have long believed and the new teaching shown to me, and then compared the two to the word of God.

Quite often, it can take some time to really search and read. But the most reasonable reading of the truth can be found if we’re honest in holding loosely everything other than the final authority of the word of God that we call the bible. (I’d specify the final authority of the original text—or as close to it as we can get—but that gets into an area that exceeds our primary topic for this blog.)

In the end of my search during this first major difference with theology I came across, I realized that the church in which I grew up didn’t emphasize the topic as much as we should, while the bible college emphasized it too much. So, I landed somewhere in the middle.

But the important thing is that my faith is stronger for it.

When we take the time to actually study the bible—rather than just accept whatever teachers, preachers, and other people in authority over us say—then we can build a faith that will last many storms of life. Although, we must always be willing to hold even this new understanding loosely, if another teaching calls us to reevaluate. But always with the word of God as primary and final authority. Not what we want the bible to say, but what it actually says.

I bring this memory up because, over the past month or so, I’ve seen a brother in Christ talking publicly about church hurt that stemmed from false teaching by the spiritual leaders of his church. The story is his to go into, so I won’t repeat it here. But one thing he’d said made me think about this need for the followers of Jesus to study the bible rather than just blindly accept the words of their spiritual leaders.

More than once, this man has said that if he hadn’t been diligent in his own study of the bible, then he would’ve probably fallen into one of two categories because of this negative experience with the church. One, he might not have even realized there was an error, and just went blindly along with the falsehood. Or two, he might’ve ended up doing the same type of deconstruction that far too many people are presently experiencing.

Both would be detrimental to his faith. But notice that the major difference is his willingness to approach the word of God and see what it says, rather than clinging with a white-knuckled grip on what he’d always believed, or on what he wished to be true.

(And as an aside, to be honest, I think this is a topic all the more important to discuss as people have started using AI as an authority of what is true. Blindly following an error-prone technology designed and programmed by people with their own incorrect stances is even worse. And easier to access. But I digress.)

Every follower of Jesus, from the day-old convert to the person who can quote the whole bible in the original languages, needs to search and study the sacred text of our faith to see what it says, rather than just take the word of others blindly. Yes, listen to others and have them help in the areas that are more difficult. But always know that they could be wrong, mistaken, or—unfortunately—purposefully misleading.

It’s our responsibility to approach this relationship with God as one of our most important ones. This isn’t two people working at the same place, but not knowing each other very well. It’s not two acquaintances who spend a couple hours a week with one another. This is a life commitment that is meant to grow deeper every day. And we can’t do that if all we know of God is what one person says during a sermon once a week.

Because of that, we need to interact with God in the one of the main ways that he gave us to learn about him: his word.

I know I’m a couple weeks early to connect this blog to a sermon on the website, but I guess I can give an advanced look at Acts 17:11. There, we see Paul and company going to a city called Berea. And the verse says that the people of the city were more noble than those in Thessalonica because the Bereans searched the scriptures daily.

They didn’t just accept the teaching that Paul taught, nor did they only cling to their old readings of the scripture they had at the time (mostly Old Testament, because the New Testament hadn’t been written yet). Instead, they knew that the word of God was the final authority, and so any new teaching needed to align with the bible. Which is why we can confidently point to certain OT passages speaking about Jesus.

And notice, this wasn’t just the spiritual leaders searching the scriptures. No, it was the whole gathering of people. They took the time every day to search for the truthfulness of the teaching Paul gave them.

On top of that, see that they are called noble for doing this. What Paul taught was the truth of God from the Holy Spirit. But because the Bereans didn’t want to be led astray, they questioned the teaching until it could be proven with the authority of the word of God. Don’t be afraid to question or doubt, but always let it build you up in truth, using God and his word as the final authority.

The Apostle John says as much in 1 John 3:23-4:3. Here, John tells us to keep Jesus’ commands of believing him and loving those of the family of God. We belong to this family, if the Holy Spirit dwells in us. And this Spirit will always call us to the consistent commands of Jesus.

When the chapter shift happens, John explains that many spirits will try to teach us. Theologies and doctrines of many kinds will claim to be the truth of God through the Holy Spirit. But not all will be. And so he tells us to test the spirits. Scrutinize the teachings.

How do we do that?

We compare it to the commands of God. We study the scripture. We use the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to provide wisdom and grace to find the truth as shown in the authoritative word of God. The teachings which conform to the ways and word of God are good. Because God’s not going to contradict himself. The revelation of how salvation through Christ works might clarify previous words, but they will not contradict themselves.

Every other teaching is ungodly. Specifically, John calls it coming from the spirit of “antichrist.” In the context, this means any false doctrine follows the same ungodly and antithetical-to-Christ perspective as even the worst of the enemies of the gospel.

(Look up how the word “antichrist” is used in the bible and see for yourself. I’d be thrilled for you to check up on my interpretation. See if I’m teaching falsely here. And email the address given on the Contact Us page, if you feel the need to show me differently. I welcome it.)

Over and over again, the New Testament tells followers of Jesus to test the teachings. We shouldn’t be taken captive by the philosophies and empty deceits of human tradition (Col. 2:1-8). And part of the spiritual leaders’ job is to help mature the body of Christ so that we aren’t tossed around by every wind of false doctrine (Eph. 4:11-14).

Some of you might be thinking that this is all fine to say. Sure, we need to study the bible regularly, but how are we able to tell true doctrine from false? If we don’t know the bible very well, or can’t read the original language, what hope do we have to understand?

To this, I would say that there are a few things that even new believers can do to check up on spiritual teachers and leaders.

1.) Look at the context of every verse given.

Far more times than I’d like to admit, if we were to look at the few verses just before or after those given, we’d find that the words don’t mean what the teacher is trying to say that they mean. The promise is only for a specific person or group of people rather than all followers of Jesus. Or the words are used in a specific timeframe of life, like only when the local congregation is gathered for worship of God, rather than all the time.

You’ll see that I often provide the context of the verse I want to emphasize, so that you can see I’m not cherry-picking something to apply it in a way it was never meant to be applied. And this is why I will sometimes remind you all to check up on me when I provide references like I did above. (Yeah, I purposefully gave you two references above so that you have “homework.” Built in practical application for you. You’re welcome.)

As well, context can mean not just the immediate verses above and below. But can mean looking at the chapter before and after, or the book as a whole, or even the writings of this particular biblical author. The broader we understand the words of the bible, the easier it’ll be for us as we continue to grow spiritually.

2.) Find some biblical teachers whose teaching you trust, and listen to their perspectives on it.

We need to be careful here, so that we don’t just fall for one person’s teaching. But there are plenty of times that even those who regularly search the scriptures will find something they don’t understand. (Do you think I know everything? Please, don’t assume that.)

In these cases, where the meaning eludes our understanding, we can turn to the teaching, preaching, and writing of others. But we should be careful to make sure we don’t just look at one single reference for everything. See if there are multiple teachers who agree, or if there are several perspectives on the topic. At least then we have a starting point for our comparison in the teachings about the bible.

And remember that just because one person’s teaching is correct in one area, it doesn’t mean they have everything right. Test the spirit in every new area. Always be willing to hold the teaching loosely. And only cling tightly to the word of God.

3.) See how the teacher reacts to your questioning of their teaching.

Oftentimes, false teachers are considered to be wolves in sheep’s clothing. Do you know how a disguised wolf would feel in the moment that the wool is inspected while still on the animal? They’d hate it. Despise it. Balk at it. Because the search will reveal them to be the predator that they are.

If a spiritual leader gets angry or defensive when you question their teaching, then that can be a warning sign to inspect even deeper. Again, this doubt should be in the teaching of the person, not the ultimate authority of God’s word for the topic. But if we humbly submit to the word of God while studying the teaching, then anyone proclaiming the truth would be like Paul among the Bereans, considering those people to be of noble spirit. The leader should praise others for caring enough to keep the leader’s teaching in line with the word of God.

As a spiritual leader, I know that I am fallible. And I know that God is not. I also know that others might be able to show a facet of the truth that I hadn’t considered before. Spiritual leaders also need to continue growing. And there is no hierarchy for dispensing truth beyond God and his word on top. Everyone else can clarify the error others hold. And a good teacher should welcome correction when deeply considered by others.

These three ways to start comparing various theological teachings to the word of God are just a starting place. And others could be given. But I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, leaving them to think that the task is impossible.

We all have to start somewhere. And it’s better to compare teachings to the word of God, than just blindly follow falsehood. The path of blindly following has a high probability of falling for painful abuse by spiritual leaders. And might even lead to a deadly path for our faith.

It’s better for us to have to take time and energy to look into the teachings for ourselves, rather than realize years later that our faith is weak or non-existent. All because we didn’t take the time to look at what has always been within arms’ reach. So, let’s start looking deeply into the teachings from spiritual leaders. Compare them to the word of God.

And if you don’t know where to start, look at the words I just gave you. See how my words compare to the word of God in this topic. And then continue that study for every other teaching you come across.

Trust me—or better, look it up in God’s word—and see that the time and effort are worth it.