The simple believeth every word
Every thing that is said to him every story that is told him, and
every promise that is made him; and so is easily imposed upon,
and drawn in to his hurt: every word of God, or doctrine of his,
ought to be believed; because whatever he says is true, he cannot
lie; every word of his is pure, free from all error and
falsehood; it is a tried word, and found to bear a faithful
testimony, and, if we receive the witness of then, the witness of
God is greater; besides, his word is profitable for instruction,
and for the increase of peace, joy, and comfort, and is effectual
to saving purposes: every word of Christ is to be believed, who
is a teacher sent from God; whose mission is confirmed by
miracles, and whose doctrine is not his own as man, but his
Father's; he is the faithful witness, and truth itself; his words
are more than human, and besides are pleasant and wholesome: and
every word and doctrine of his apostles, who received their
mission commission, and doctrines from him, is also to be
believed; but every spirit, or everyone that pretends to be a
spiritual man, and to have spiritual gifts, is not to be
believed; but the words and doctrines of ordinary men and
ministers are to be first tried by the unerring rule of the
sacred Scriptures; yea, the doctrines of the apostles were
examined by them; see ( 1 John 4:1 ) ( Acts 17:11 ) ; they are
"simple", weak, silly, foolish persons, that believe all they
hear, whether right or wrong, true or false, good or hurtful;
they are children in knowledge, who are tossed to and fro with
every wind of doctrine, and are deceived with good words and fair
speeches, ( Ephesians
4:14 ) ( Romans 16:18
) . This truly describes the followers of the man of sin; who
give heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; who
believe as the church believes; that believe with an implicit
faith; believe every word and doctrine the pope and councils say
they should, though ever so absurd; as, for instance, the
doctrine of transubstantiation: these are "simple" or fools with
a witness, who give up their understandings, and even their
senses unto, and pin their faith upon, another; but the
prudent [man] looketh well to his going;
or "its going" F15; to the course and tendency of the
word he hears, or the doctrine which is proposed to his faith; he
considers well whether it is agreeable or is contrary to the
perfections of God; whether it derogates from the glory of any of
the divine Persons; whether it makes for the magnifying the
riches of God's grace, and for the debasing of men; or for the
depreciating of the one, and setting up of the other; and whether
it is a doctrine according to godliness, or not, that tends to
promote holiness of heart and life, or to indulge a loose
conversation; and according to these criteria he judges and
determines whether he shall believe it or not. Or, "to his
going"; that is, to the going of the deceiver and impostor; he
observes narrowly the methods he takes, the artifices he makes
use of, the cunning sleight by which he lies in wait to deceive;
how craftily he walks, and handles the word of God deceitfully;
and he takes notice of his moral walk and conversation, and, as
our Lord says, "ye shall know them by their fruits", ( Matthew 7:16
) . Or else the meaning is, and which seems to be the sense of
our version, that he looks well unto, and carefully observes, his
own goings; he takes heed to his ways, that they are right; that
he is not in ways of his devising and choosing, but in God's
ways; in the way of life and salvation by Christ; in the path of
faith on him, and in the way of holiness; that he has chosen the
way of truth, and walks in that; and that every step he takes in
doctrine is according to the word of truth; and that whatever he
does in worship is agreeably to the divine rule; and that every
path of duty he treads in is according to the same, and as he has
Christ for a pattern, and the Spirit for a guide; and that his
walk is as becomes the Gospel, worthy of the calling wherein he
is called, and that it is circumspect and wise; and such a man
may be truly said to be a "prudent" man: the Targum is,
``he attends to his good;''and so he does.