Rightly Dividing the Word

What Did the Apostle Paul Mean by "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth"?

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Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.

English Standard Version Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. Berean Study Bible Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth. Berean Literal Bible Hasten to present yourself approved to God, a workman not ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

What does it mean to "rightly divide the Word", and how do we do it?

New American Standard Bible Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. King James Bible Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Christian Standard Bible Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

Contemporary English Version Do your best to win God's approval as a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message. Good News Translation Do your best to win full approval in God's sight, as a worker who is not ashamed of his work, one who correctly teaches the message of God's truth.

Holman Christian Standard Bible Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. International Standard Version Do your best to present yourself to God as an approved worker who has nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of truth with precision. NET Bible Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.

The result of this view is that many dispensationalists teach a division between what they see as the Jewish portions and the Church portions of the Word of God. And on that basis, classic dispensationalism postulates separate programs for Israel and the Gentile church, extending out into eternity - one group of people in the New Heaven, the other group of people on the New Earth.

Table of Contents

There is some degree of disagreement among dispensationalists about which group will be where for eternity. And there is also significant disagreement among them about where to "cut and divide" the Bible between Jewish parts and Church parts, and there is significant disagreement among them about the number of dispensations, where they begin and end, whether or not they overlap, and so on.

Over against this view is what I will call, for the sake of shorthand, the covenant theology view.

Now, I want to make it clear that I do not agree with all covenant theologians, because there are differences of opinion among them, too. I mainly disagree with those who see a total transference of Old Testament prophecies and promises from the nation of Israel to the New Testament church, and no future at all in God's plans for ethnic Israel. I don't believe you can read the book of Zechariah, especially in the light of Romans chapters nine through eleven, to support that view.

Introduction

But that issue aside, the covenant theology view in general says that "rightly dividing" in 2nd Timothy 2: As a result, in contrast to the dispensationalist view, what I'm calling the covenant theology view teaches that there is one program of God, encompassing both Jew and Gentile, beginning before the foundation of the world and extending out into eternity - and that we will all be together in the New Heavens and New Earth.

And it says that God's plan is manifested in two covenants, which Scripture calls the Old and the New, within the over-arching framework of one unified plan of redemption. That part of the covenant theology view, the main force of it, I most heartily agree with. Now these are two polar opposite points of view.

One says that "rightly dividing" means "cutting up" and the other says it means "accurately teaching" a unified whole. The question is, which one does Scripture support? And the answer to that question is a key not only to how you interpret the book of Zechariah. It is a key to how you interpret all the prophetic books and passages throughout the Bible - indeed, how you interpret the entire Word of God. The key to evaluating the two views is to look at the original language of 2nd Timothy 2: And this is what we find.

The word that is translated "rightly dividing" in the Old and New King James versions, and in several others, is a single word in the Greek.

It is a form of the Greek verb orthotomeo. This is a very interesting word. In New Testament times, orthotomeo was primarily a civil engineering term.

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