RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

by Paul Ditoro

The words to a favorite song reflect the attitude of many who love the Lord.

I want to be a worker for the Lord.

I want to love and trust His holy word.

I want to sing and pray and be busy ev'ry day

In the vineyard of the Lord.

The apostle Paul discussed being a workman for the Lord in the following manner; “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth“ (2 Timothy 2:15).

The word "study" in the above passage actually carries the meaning of - do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study. Therefore one who desires to be God's workman will diligently apply himself to those things that would make one approved unto God. Many people are not diligent in their study of God's word. Rather than making a diligent and thorough study, they are just satisfied with reading a verse or two every now and then. But in our definition above, we learn that it is through a labor of study that Christians receive the approval of God.

Then the requirement to "rightly divide" means to make a straight cut, i.e. (figuratively) to dissect (expound) correctly (the divine message): The word of truth must be handled correctly. A life of study will be for naught if the message is not handled correctly. One may have learned the deep things of God through study, but if what one has learned has not been applied to ones own life, the entire effort is to no avail.

One does not accidentally arrive at the point where God approves of the individual. One who desires to become a carpenter does not just pick up a hammer or a saw every now and then. Or, how would you like to be treated by a surgeon or dentist who just went to class every now and then? And so it is with the one who would be a faithful Christian. This is the one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness (Matthew 5:6), and who systematically digs into the word of God and submits to its principles.

Why not get involved in a systematic study of the Bible, the book from God? Just click on our link for the Bible Correspondence Course, and we will send you the first two lessons in the beginning series. There will be no charge to you other than the time and effort you put into the lessons. When you complete a lesson, just mail it in to us and we will grade it and return the graded lessons along with the next lessons in the series. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have, and may God richly bless you as you continue to study His word.

^{1 (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)}

^{2 ibid.}