The Bereans

“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Acts 17:11
Here we see the Bereans commended for having a discerning attitude towards Paul as a visiting preacher. (I’ve actually heard people teach that they lacked faith because they didn’t believe him instantly but that is inconsistent with the rest of the verse about them having ‘more noble character’.) We look at Paul today as basically being infallible – after all, he did write a large portion of the New Testament – but back in those days there were many itinerant preachers doing the rounds.
Today there are preachers who would like to think they are infallible. We need to be especially careful of those who have a ‘I can’t prove this from the Bible, but just trust me on this point’ attitude. Even the ones whom we may respect highly, and enjoy their teaching (as the Bereans did with Paul, receiving his message ‘with great eagerness’), we still need to check out what they say against the plumbline of Scripture. A preacher who is diligent to stick with the Word will not mind this kind of scrutiny at all – rather, they will encourage it. If the Bereans could inspect the apostle Paul, it is our duty to do the same with today’s preachers.