2 Timothy 2:15 KJV Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
To me, this means placing the Words of God into their proper dispensational ages. To do this correctly, you have to determine who the Words were spoken to. Was it the nation of Israel, was it the church, was it the heathen? (let’s get one thing straight before we go on, No one can come to the Father but by Me. Everyone is born dead to sin and must be cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and born again sinless. Whether this happens by faith during the church age, at the preaching of the Gospel to the prisoners in Matt 27 or at the White Throne Judgement [aborted babies judged sinless by Christ, etc,] matters not. All must be washed clean in the blood of Christ.)
People came to different salvations based on the time they lived. How could Adam or Abraham be saved by following the Law if the Law had not been given at the time they lived? How can someone in the Millennial Reign of Christ be saved by faith alone when the Lord Jesus Christ is standing right there in front of them?
1 Peter 1:11 KJV Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
This is why the nation of Israel rejected Jesus Christ at His First Advent. They expected Him to come as the King, getting rid of the romans and restoring Israel as rulers, but instead He came as the Lamb. They did not rightly divide the word into the First and Second Advents.
To those who still resist dispensations, who is the Bride of Christ? And who are the guests at the wedding? Who are the bridesmaids that kept their lamps filled with oil? Sinners get shut out of the wedding party but who are the guests that are let in? Shouldn’t they be a part of the Bride?
Rightly dividing The Word is somewhat twofold, imo. Firstly, beinq properly equipped and knowledgeable about The Word, and secondly, having discernment in understanding. For instance, I see many people here who claim to be Christians but who seemingly fall for new age crapola and it's appealing words when it's posted. To me, that demonstrates a lack of discernment. And that could spring from a lack of knowledge of The Word.
Knowledge, discernment and understanding are all separate and defined apart from "rightly dividing," in the scriptures. Knowledge and understanding are two of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and discernment, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, reveals what is the truth and what is not. Since the scriptures are without lies, you cannot "divide" the lies from the truth. So "rightly dividing" has to be something else.
Oh no, I wouldn't suggest that one need to divide the lies from the truth, because as you say, it is all truth. However, rightly dividing implies skillfully separating what needs to be known or said at one point in time. If you're proselytizing, you can't explain the entire bible to someone in one sitting. You have to be able to discern what is necessary (what that person's needs are) at the time and consequently, know which verses are relevant. That is dividing it.
However, as you know, most translations render the words 'handling accurately' rather than 'rightly dividing.' To me, the relation is evident. Paul is exhorting Timothy to be well steeped in the knowledge and understanding of The Word so that he can handle it (disseminate info and defend it) accurately in his teachings and evangelism.
However, rightly dividing implies skillfully separating what needs to be known or said at one point in time.
Exactly. Because believers are not required to observe the Sabbath or abstain from eating pork. Old Testament Jews could not be born again because no blood had been shed for all the world's sins, when they lived.
However, as you know, most translations render the words 'handling accurately' rather than 'rightly dividing.'
God gave us the KJV in 1611 and satan gave us the modern translations 300 years later. During those 300 years, the dark ages ended and the Great Awakening began, the nation that kept my word, England, became the worlds greatest empire (at that time,) America was born, religious freedom was granted world wide, I could go on. After satan changed all of God's Words for us, the British empire was destroyed by two world wars, the churches all went into apostasy, America is ruled by women and children and immorality abounds.
I'll stick with what the KJV says.
Without looking too far I to it myself (im on vacation), it usually helps to do a few things if you wanna understand a passage.
Hope that helps!
using that, determine if it's a kind of lingo, if it's poetic, or if it's literal.
Practically every verse of scripture has all three interpretations, spiritual, literal or doctrinal. This would be more of a "interpretation" exercise, apart from dividing, but I can see where you're coming from.
I agree. In the end, the most important thing when citing the Bible is to understand it enough to not misconstrue its meaning. There are such things as wrong interpretations and so doing the above is good a practice to help limit erroneous interpretations
"Who are the bridesmaids that kept their lamps filled with oil?" To rightly divide, or literally "cut straight" the Word of God would at the very least be to carefully take care of interpreting the words of Jesus. There were 10 virgins in Matthew 25, not bridesmaids. All 10 took their lamps, but only the wise took oil in their vessels. Who are these virgins? What does their lamp represent" What does their vessel represent? What does the oil represent?
Good catch. Some versions translate "bridesmaids," and I picked up a bad remembrance somewhere along the way. But the virgins are clearly not of the body of Christ, nor are they invited guests, which are tribulation saints who didn't take the mark of the beast. It's showing different types of salvation.
The Jews rejected Christ because they were not the children of Israel. They were from the line of Edom. Christ told them that they do not hear his voice because they are not of his sheep. My sheep hear my voice and they know me. You are the sons of your father the devil. The synagogue of satan.
The people of Israel had no access to the scriptures. It wasn't like they could go to the Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of the KJV. The giving of the Word to the people was the duty of the Sanhedrin, who kept, interpreted and taught the scriptures (assisted by the Pharisees and scribes.) They either lied to the people about the Messiah or misinterpreted the scriptures. You can get a pretty good idea of which one it was by reading Ezekiel; when God sends out His vengeance on transgressors, He commands the avengers to start at His own house, the Temple.