The True Test
1 Corinthians 14:20
Brothers, be not children in understanding: however, in malice be you children, but in understanding be men.


The true test of any Church or ministry is not so much the knowledge which it gives or the order which it secures, as its productiveness of new men in Christ Jesus; and it is an awful test. When I see where there is the least disturbance among you, where there is the slightest disagreement in a Sunday school matter, that the old worthy members of my Church act like anybody else, and squabble, and full of answerings, call back and carry away hard feelings, I say to myself, "I have not made any men yet," my preaching has been as poor as any other minister's. One fails for one reason and another for another. When I judge from what you are, I feel that I am about as poor a minister as I know of,

(H. W. Beecher.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

WEB: Brothers, don't be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.




The Right Use of the Understanding in Matters of Religion
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