So when they searched the scriptures to see if what Paul said was so you say it may still not be true? Got it.
No, you don't understand, or you are unwilling to understand. When the Jews of Berea heard Paul in the synagogue they heard true doctrine. Their search of the Scriptures could not negate anything Paul taught because they were unqualified to judge apostolic doctrine. They could only receive it or reject it. The search of the Hebrew Scriptures was beneficial to them in reinforcing that teaching. It is impossible for them, or you, to prove apostolic doctrine false from the Hebrew Scriptures. You are not an apostle. You do not have that authority.
CynicalBear So when they searched the scriptures to see if what Paul said was so you say it may still not be true? Got it.
Here's how Paul explained certain Scriptures to the Thessalonikans, according to Luke:
>> "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
>> they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
>> And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them,
>> and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
>> Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered,
>> and risen again from the dead;
>> and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ" (Ac. 17:1-3 AV).
What Paul was showing them from Scripture that Jesus was/is Messiah. Some of the Jews and many Greeks believed, but some of the Jews did not.
It was not said that any of the Thessalonikans searched the Scriptures daily, through the two to three weeks that Paul and his crew were there, to see if the Scriptures did validate Paul's thesis that Jesus is Messiah = The Anointed One = the Christ; that is, "if it was so."
But going on further to where the Bereans did search the Scriptures daily, we blithely assume that the same message was preached to them (although the passage does not say so); and, assuming that was the message, that their search was to determine if the Scriptures verified that Jesus is The Christ.
Some Thessalonikans did believe this, but some didn't, whether or not they did the Scripture scrutiny. Likewise, some of the Bereans did believe in Paul's gospel, but some did not, although they all were more noble than their neighbors in their method of fact-checking. However, just because some believed in the proposition does not make it true, any more than some not believing does not make it false. The passage only clearly affirms that some did believe in either location, and some did not,
Furthermore, the passage only affirms that the Bereans were open-minded enough to compare Paul's thesis with Scripture. It does not say what the results of the comparison were, nor what passages of Tanakh were considered. But the passage also says that many, but not all, of the Bereans were convinced enough by Paul's arguments to believe something, presumably that Jesus is Messiah. The passages says nothing about the truth of the hypothesis that Jesus was Messiah/Christ, only that it was preached to the Thessalonikans.
So it seems to me that af_vet_1981 is quite correct in his summary of what the passage says, and what it does not say regarding "truth" in the matter. I believe he is insisting that nothing be read into the passage that is not there, and I agree with that kind of rule for the literal aspect of hermeneutics.