1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

I got my math test results back. I answered every question right and received a zero, F-, if there is anything less than failure I achieved it. How is that possible? I only put down the answers. It was the teacher’s responsibility to ensure I achieved the answers without cheating and to do that I had to show the steps I used to achieve those answers. I had to prove to him that I had used the lessons given.

Is it cheating to know the answers without proving your work?

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

A tried stone, a stone tested to ensure that it is strong enough to bear the weight placed upon it. Now we who believe by faith do place our trust in that tested Cornerstone. It is not we who have been tested, but rather our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

Mark 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

Luke 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

OK, but I have the answers, isn’t that good enough, since it is of faith?

Titus 1:9-10a Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,

Sound doctrine is your report card. You cannot keep the innocent from believing the gainsayers without a good report card. You must prove you have done the work.