1 Thessalonians 5:20

despise not prophesyings; prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.

Despise not prophesyings ... There is no need to understand this as a reference to charismatic gifts of the primitive era before the New Testament was written. It is well known that Paul often used the word in the sense of teaching the holy scriptures. Calvin and many other noted expositors construed it in this way. Calvin said, "By the term `prophesying' I do not understand the gift of foretelling the future, but the science of interpreting Scripture." [33] In this light, therefore, "proving all things" and "holding fast to that which is good" would be exemplified by the ancient Bereans who "searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Even today, in finding the difference between what is true and what is false, there is no substitute for searching the word of the Lord. Some commentators find a reference here to money-changers biting coins to see if they were good; but this is fanciful, being founded on variant meanings of Greek terms which Paul used.

Abstain from every form of evil ... Despite the traditional usage of this verse (as in the KJV) to warn against "the appearance of evil," the actual meaning, in this context, is that, having tested what is true and false, the believer should cling to the true and abstain from the false.