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About Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Part One

By Gene Lawley


The Apostle Paul’s directive to his son in the faith, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:15 carries tremendous importance and impact for any who would embark on a serious study of the Holy Bible. He exhorts Timothy:

“Study to show yourself approved of God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God.”

Let’s let that sink in, firmly.

Approval of God is at stake here, he indicates, and personal shame is a consequence if one does not rightly divide the word of God. The directive to “rightly divide the word” tells us that there are divisions, or partitions, in the Word of God, indicating and supporting the concept of dispensations, or periods of time in which God’s overall plan as it relates to mankind differs in manner and content. (That is my layman’s understanding of that Scripture.)

How does one not rightly divide the Word? By picking and choosing to place various prophetic events, past and future, in different periods of history, contrary to the evidence of historical reality. Here is an example. I once picked up on a television program in which the speaker, allegedly a Jewish Christian, was speaking on the clear evidence that the apostasy of the church is currently underway, as Paul described it in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that was the speaker’s stopping point.

I don’t recall him making reference to the revealing of the man of sin that is mentioned as a result of the falling away of believers. So, I sent an email asking why he did not continue the context that ultimately leads to the “removal of the restrainer” who is holding back that gradual encroachment of evil over all people of the world. He replied that he did not believe that was in the same time frame as the falling away, but that it actually happened back in the thirteenth Century—an interplay between Rome and the Catholic Church. Yet, in the context, the revealing of the man of sin is the result, which is followed by his taking over the temple and proclaiming himself God.

That did not happen before the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and has not happened to this day, for there is no temple, yet, for him to take over. This is still future. Bottom line is that God is not a God of confusion, and rightly dividing the Word of God makes sense of it. A straight forward understanding of the context is that a falling away of faith toward God (you can see it happening now) leads to the removal of the body of Christ—the true church— in whom the Holy Spirit lives and restrains against the evil encroachment of the devil. Then he is revealed to those left behind, upon whom he, the devil, has total and unrestrained access. Given what we see already, it will not be pretty!

One can readily see, I think, the broader “partitions” in the plan of God, which is essentially, the Word of God to Man. We see the broad periods before the law, under the law, and now, under grace. And, future, the millennium under the rule of Christ—a theocracy—and finally, the eternity promised. One segment leads to a higher revelation of God’s identity—character, attributes, person, etc., and His plan for bringing mankind into a proper relationship to Him, long-term.

For example, the dispensation of the law with its unwavering requirements shows us the unwavering holiness of God and our lack of ability to meet that requirement without His provision of mercy and grace. His perfection in holiness and our total degradation in sin and rebellion, then, is the summation.

That period is marked by the rigid requirements of regular blood and other sacrifices that now are called foreshadows of the coming of that perfect sacrifice, Jesus, the Lamb of God. See Hebrews 10 for this. Another important point for that era is the fact that the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers. John 14:17 tells us, in Jesus’ words, “…now He is with you, but then He will be in you.” Yes, even under the law, “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4), and before he was renamed to be the founder of the Hebrew nation, Abram “believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

How the Law Points Us to Grace

John 1:17 tells us, “For the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

It’s another evidence of a division in the Word of God’s dealing with mankind. By foreshadowing that which was to come, while establishing that foundation of grace and faith in the Christ who was to come, the law provided a very necessary factor in sinful man’s relationship with God.

Romans 3:20 tells us that by the law sin is made known, and Romans 6:14 tells us this: “…sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”

Thus is shown the purpose of the law and its continuing ministry to the world, even today, and God’s solution for believers in this dispensation of grace. In this article I want to bring together some truths of Scripture that “rightly dividing the Word of God” and will clear up some misunderstandings that may have been missed due to our tendency to follow what someone else has told us, instead of following the rule of those of Berea, as in Acts 17:11:

“These (of Berea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

In Hebrews 10:1-2 we see another indication of a division in the Word. It says this:

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect, for then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”

A shadow is an announcement of a reality that is coming, as in this case the law is the shadow and Christ is the reality. The sacrifices called for by the laws of Moses were not the real solution to the sin problem, but the coming “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” as John the Baptist called Him (John 1:29), was to fulfill that call for reality made by its shadow.

Now, let’s look at a specific doctrine that brought this matter of rightly dividing the word and its connection to dispensational truths into sharp focus for me. We are told that we are to worship God on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, because that is one of the Ten Commandments God gave Moses on the holy mountain. So bold is that doctrine among its followers some would hold that our failure to keep it may well cost us our eternal redemption.

Jesus told the devil at the temptation incident, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). So, if the law is a

shadow of the reality that is to come (Hebrews 10:1-2), are there select laws that are not a shadow of the reality to come?

Hebrews 10 goes on to describe the inadequacy of the sacrifice of bulls and goats to cleanse one of sin permanently. Thus, it must be repeated over and over. But the blood of Christ, the coming reality, was to be the true sacrifice that could and would do it, because it was [is] eternal, thus constant in time. And you say, “this had to do with temple sacrifices.”

What about the Ten Commandments, in which no mention of sacrifices is made?

What did the commandment to observe the Sabbath actually foreshadow? And, did Christ fulfill it? After the creation was completed, God rested on the seventh day, and He wants us to share His rest with Him. Is that too simple or not spiritual enough? The problem is that “resting in the Lord” is a faith issue, not a day of the week issue. Hebrews 4:10 sums it up quite neatly:

“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his [own] works as God did from His”. In the context it tells of Israel’s failure to enter into that rest because of unbelief.”

So, if the fourth commandment is yet to be followed in its seventh day observance under threat of eternal ****ation, of what future reality is it shadowing? Paul writes to the Colossians:

“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance [reality] is of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

Does more need to be said? Yes, just this: “And he said unto them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-2 .

In Part Two, of this topic we will look at the shadowy implications of this concept in another area of biblical interpretation that hovers over us in these last days.

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About Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Part Two

By Gene Lawley


Following the concept from Part One, that the law of God, as given to Moses was a shadow of a coming reality, and that reality being Christ (in whom dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily, Colossians 2:9), let’s look at another controversial arena that demands consideration and a better, more consistent interpretation.

I wrote in my prior article, Part One, of the connection of the directive to Timothy to “rightly divide the word of truth” as a good student, and how the “dividing” is a referral to the dispensations of time in God’s plan for the ages of His relationship with mankind. Any other approach seems to be greatly lacking in the demonstration of the orderliness usually ascribed to the conduct of God. He does things decently and in order. God records His actions in a forward flow of fulfillments, according to the passage of time, as it relates to man. Yet, God’s plan has not evolved only as time passes, it was put in place long before creation. Note Titus 1:2:“… in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began….”

Otherwise, one might suppose that God operates erratically, springing up some Tuesday morning and telling Gabriel, “This is a good day for us to go down to earth and take care of that perfect sacrifice idea I thought of last week.” No, it doesn’t work that way, of course, and thankfully so. On that particular subject, Galatians 4:4-5 tells us: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (There’s that reference to dispensations of time, again.)

It’s no wonder some folks are greatly confused with end-time prophecy, having no idea “when these things began to happen,” as Jesus spoke of it, and when He said to “watch,” for what does He mean, we must watch. (Matthew 25:13: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” We have been warned that a “thief-type” is yet to come, but not when.

The day and the hour are not known, but ample evidence has been given for when the “times and seasons” of His coming are upon us. The “confirming of a covenant with many,” which Daniel predicted in Daniel 9:27, is for a seven-year period. The missing 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy appears to begin at that same time, and Jeremiah labels it, “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), a seven-year period.

Attention is then fixed on Israel, for the confirming of the covenant is certainly involving the Jews, and the permission to rebuild their temple on the old location in Jerusalem. Why? Because the one who confirms the covenant will enter that temple after three and a half years of the seven and declare himself God, thus desecrating the holy place, just as the Scriptures have foretold.

In that scenario, rightly dividing the Word includes looking at all of the converging events as predicted to make sure the total picture is in place. Like a jigsaw puzzle, if one or more pieces are missing or you have squeezed a piece in where it does not fit, the picture is not “rightly divided” or connected.

The related pieces of the end-time “puzzle” would appear like this:

The Jews would have to be back in their own land; in connection with the Jewish restoration to their land, the physical and religious preparations for restoration of their temple.

An ongoing demand for peace because of the raging anger and confrontations involving Israel and its neighbors; thus, the potential of a covenant of peace being signed, with its attendant elements, as predicted in Daniel 9:27.

The strong potentiality of a raging conflict from which would come that peace covenant followed by the cry, “Peace and safety”, as noted in 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

All of these elements now exist, are in place or on the horizon. Add to that other matters of worldwide importance, such as economic conditions, geophysical occurrences (and I don’t mean so-called “global warming” or “climate change” as is the label now), but the various disasters in nature that Jesus spoke of and Paul wrote of in Romans 8:23 and following—the groaning of creation expressing its own desire for justice and redemption.

What I am trying to say is that it is not all that complicated when you are careful to take into consideration all of parts of the puzzle. And, most important of all, believe that the Scriptures, the Holy Bible, is indeed the actual word of God. The fact that the pieces are not

lined-up under their particular heading, like it would be in an encyclopedia, does not make them untruthful. Jesus did not seem to have a problem with that issue. In John 5:39, He is recorded as saying to the religious leaders, “You search the scriptures for in them you think you find eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me, but you will not come to Me that you may find life.”

In that same vein, Jeremiah recorded the Lord saying, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 ). Lay that thought down beside that of 2 Peter 3:9 and you will have a true picture of the intensity of where God stands and what He requires as a “must” on the issue: “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Here’s a little tag teaser: If the events of Revelation have taken place already in the first century, at the time of the fall of Jerusalem at 70 A.D., yet John recorded his visions in Revelation some 25 years later (as most Bible students date it), it seems like things just don’t add up there! It stands to reason to this old country boy, that squeezing a piece of a puzzle into where it does not belong really does foul up the picture. God is not the author of confusion! ( So, who is? )

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Zechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
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