The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
The simple believeth every word - whether, true or false, useful or injurious. "Charity," indeed, "believeth all things" (1 Corinthians 13:7); but not things that are palpably untrue. It is the truth which it readily believes. It believes all that it can with a good conscience believe to the credit of another, but not anything more. Epicharmus says, 'The sinews and limbs of faith are not rashly to believe' (Acts 17:11).
But the prudent (man) looketh well to his going - whether it tends to grace and salvation, or to sin and perdition: he 'believeth not every word,' as, for instance, the flattering words of seducers, who commend to him false doctrine or licentious practice (cf: Ephesians 5:15).