Scrutiny Is a Virtue: Learning from the Bereans in Acts 17:11

For as long as I can remember, questioning what we were taught about God was treated like something dangerous. Maybe you’ve felt that, too. You ask a hard question and the answer you get is, “Well, God’s ways are higher than ours.” Or, “We just have to trust Him.” And sometimes, if a leader doesn’t know how to answer, it turns into, “Just trust the Lord.”

I don’t think anyone means that maliciously. But let’s be honest — that kind of response doesn’t bring peace. It doesn’t clear up the doubts. It just teaches us to stay quiet. To stop asking. To bury our questions and pretend they don’t matter.

But here’s the thing: Scripture actually praises people who asked questions.

Acts 17:11 tells us about the Bereans. It says they were more noble than others because they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

That means they didn’t accept or reject any teaching right away. They checked it. They tested it. They opened the Scriptures themselves to see if what Paul was saying actually lined up. And the Bible calls that noble.

Think about that. The Bereans weren’t scolded for questioning. They were praised for it.

So, when did we start believing that scrutiny was a bad thing? Who told us that questioning what people say about God was somehow questioning God Himself? Those aren’t the same thing.

Asking questions isn’t rebellion. It’s not faithlessness. It’s the very thing the Bereans were celebrated for.

If anything, refusing to ask questions might be the most dangerous thing we can do. Because if we never test what we’re told, we just inherit traditions without ever knowing if they hold up.

That’s exactly where our journey began. We weren't trying to rebel against God. We weren't trying to throw out the Bible. We were just asking: Does this actually line up? Does this really say what we’ve been told it says?

And once you allow yourself to ask those questions, once you open the Scriptures and look with fresh eyes — things start to change. You see patterns you didn’t notice before. You find contradictions you can’t ignore. And eventually, you might just stumble into the gospel in a way that finally makes sense.

So let me encourage you: don’t be afraid to be a Berean. Scrutiny isn’t a sign of weak faith — it’s a sign of noble faith. It’s not a threat to the truth. It’s the path that leads you there.