Rightly Dividing the Word

Monday, 6th August 2007

15Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (King James Version)

I am currently reading Walking on Water by Joshua Lye, and I must say that it is a very refreshing book.

Instead of the "fiery" style that I have gotten used to, this dear brother puts across his points in a very calm and persuasive manner.

In chapter 11 of his book, he talks about "rightly dividing the word of truth". I can identify with him the struggles faced when attempting to read the Bible.

When I was much younger, I had the impression that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament were like 2 separate personalities. In the Old Testament, He was always angry, never satisfied, just waiting to zap the living daylights of our people. In the New Testament, He was more approachable but had "gone soft".

It was only recently that by His grace, I began to understand that I needed to "rightly divide the Word of God", like what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Tim 2:15.

What I know now is that the Bible is one consistent message of God's redemption plan for mankind.

In the Old Testament, a covenant was cut between God and His people. In order to obtain God's blessings, the people of Israel had to obey all the commandments that He gave via Moses.

However, this covenant was but a shadow of a better one that was to come. The New Covenant was cut between God the Father and God the Son. This New Covenant was`sealed by the blood of Jesus, and it is the one that believers this side of the cross are partakers of.

The God of the Old and New Testaments are the same. God has also not "gone soft" on sin, like what I had thought previously. In fact, His full judgement fell upon Jesus on the cross. When the sin of the entire universe was upon the body of Jesus, we read in Matt 27:46 that God had to abandon His Son.

This leads us back to the topic of "rightly dividing the Word". When we come across verses in the Old Testament, we should remember that Paul tells us in 1 Cor 10:11 that they were written "for" us (for our admonition) and not "to" us.

Take for example the passage that Pastor B mentioned in his final sermon. Deut 28 spells out a whole list of blessings (in verses 1-6 and 13-14) as well as curses (verses 15-19).

These blessings and curses were pronounced under the old Mosaic covenant.

We read in Gal 3:13 that "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us". That means to say that the curses no longer apply to the new-covenant believer.

But the blessings continue, because Christ only redeemed us from the curses of the law. We continue to enjoy the blessings because Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law on our behalfs.

So we are still blessed in the city and the country (verse 3), we we will not be cursed in the city and the country (verse 16), because Jesus was cursed in the city and the country on our behalfs. It was in the city of Jerusalem that Jesus was whipped, cursed and spat on. And it was outside the city on Calvary’s hill that He was pierced and crucified.

Pastor B also referred to Jn 15:5-6, where Jesus told His disciples that those who abide in Him will bear much fruit, but those who do not will be thrown away.

Paul tells us in Gal 2:20 that "it is no longer I that lives, but Christ lives in me", so we as new-covenant believers have the assurance that we abide in Christ at all times, and His Holy Spirit abides in us.

Some may argue that Jesus addressed John 15 to His disciples. But do you know that one of His disciples was actually a "non-believer"? This disciple did not remain in Him, was tempted by the devil for 30 pieces of silver, and ended up being "thrown away".

Pastor B warned us that we should be careful of false teachings and wrong doctrines.

I agree wholeheartedly with him on this point!

Let us rightly divide the Word of God, and not allow the evil one to confuse us with what is no longer applicable to the new-covenant believer, and thus rob us of the joys and blessings that is rightly ours. Amen?