1378. Rightly Divide the Word of Truth

Rightly Divide the Word of Truth

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth." (2Ti_2:15).

Centuries ago the Holy Spirit wrote concerning this very thing. He exhorted students of the Word of God, real students who would stand approved of God, that they should "rightly divide the Word of Truth." The real Bible student will quickly discover two great "divisions of Truth," which are necessary rightly to receive the teachings of the Spirit. The first great division is chronological. Through Christ Jesus the ages or dispensations were planned. These dispensations cover the whole period of man's existence upon earth, and they are divided according to God's varied dealings with man. The second great division regards the peoples of the earth. It brings before us "the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God." To each of these distinct classes of earth-dwellers, God has distinct messages; and these messages must not be confounded.

Great havoc is caused when Bible students begin to rush into the realms of Scripture Truth, without tarrying to allow the Spirit to reveal these great "keys" of Scripture interpretation. Unless the Scripture is rightly divided, dispensationally, the Bible student will find himself in a labyrinth of seeming contradictions. The message and the method of God in one part of the Bible will seem to be antagonistic to the message and method in some other part.

When the Bible is understood dispensationally, and the age of "innocence" is differentiated from the age of "conscience;" and the age of "promise" from the age of "law," and the age of "grace" from the age of "The Thousand Years," then the Bible student will understand as God wants him to.

Unless the Scripture is rightly divided, as to the peoples it addresses, the Bible student will wander in a maze of misapplied Truth. What folly to write over a message written concerning Israel's great city Jerusalem (as in Psalms 122) such words as "David professeth his joy in the Church." When the Bible student lets God talk to the ones to whom He talks, he will be a student that "needeth not to be ashamed."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR