19 Do not quench the Spirit.
성령을 소멸치 말며
The Greek work used here for quench means metaphorically to quench, damp, hinder, thwart. [1] Do not hinder the Spirit! Through whom God fulfils his will of making us holy (1 Thes 4:3). These short spurts of imperatives are to be understood in one phrasing rather than individual commands, just as ‘Rejoice, pray, give thanks’ in vv. 16-18 was in one go, telling us of the outward aspect of being filled with the Spirit. Now these series warn us of the opposite, thus, about not being filled with God’s Spirit.
20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt
예언을 멸시치 말고
Profeteia: gift of interpreting the will of the gods, gift of prophecy.[2] This goes in line with vv. 12,13 above concerning the workers who teach them about the will of God, Christ’s cross, and the Spirit’s indwelling.
21 but test them all; hold on to what is good,
범사에 헤아려 좋은 것을 취하고
Test and see! God confidently invites us! Test for yourself if it is the working of the God Almighty. If it is really God who sent Christ Jesus, if it is really God who sends you His own Spirit to make you holy. Dig into it! Remove your own greed and jealousy, but purely test and see for yourself if it is God who does all these things around you.
Only the testing must not end with testing alone but has to lead to holing on to the good, who proves Himself right, the only who is good alone, and powerful enough to make us good like him if we have him in us! If it ended with testing alone we would be like the forefathers who endlessly tested the Lord but did not make the choice to the end and therefore provoked the Lord to swear that they would never enter his rest (cf. Heb 3:9-11).
22 reject every kind of evil.
악은 모든 모양이라도 버리라
Some tend to understand this as various outward behaviour patterns that remind people of evil. But this is more definite and active rejection against being filled with the Spirit God gives.
Now we have Christ who have taken on himself such sin of provoking the Lord as mentioned above, we can freely choose what is good! Therefore Job foresaw and pleaded, ‘Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good’ (Job 34:4). And Paul elsewhere says. ‘Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. … For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light’ (Eph 5:10, 8). The overall all in all overwhelming statement is to be continued tomorrow…
Lord, how well you teach us through your word. It was all there all along but I did not test and choose the good! I postponed without knowing and sometimes purposefully. But now I cannot postpone it any longer because the time is scarce. You have made me light. Let me live as a child of light, holding on to what is good, holding on to you my God my Lord, who longs to make me holy through your Spirit. Let this Spirit be at work when I am on my own and when I am with others. Let Him be the decisive factor and ground that determine my relationship with others. Let me never quench Him, Lord. Let me go with you wherever you take me, Lord. Let me be strong and courageous. Thanks and praise be to our Almighty.
[1] Teknia Greek Dictionary © 1995-2013 Teknia owned by Bill Mounce
http://www.teknia.com/greek-dictionary via STEP Bible
[2] Liddell – Scott – Jones Greek Lexicon, 9th ed. Electronic edition under CC-BY-SA by the Perseus Project of Tufts University. via STEP Bible
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