Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Transcription

1 Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth You ve probably heard the saying, There are 2 things that are certain in this life... death and taxes. Well, I submit to you, There is something certain in the after-life... that is, the judgment of God! Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Sometime after death, every person will stand before the Lord s throne of judgment. There is no escaping it: Rev 20:11-12 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. We need to understand the Holy Bible now, so we will not be embarrassed on that great judgment day to come: 2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The context following God s instruction for us to rightly divide His word... includes two men who did not have the timing of the resurrection in the proper place. As a result, they corrupted other people s faith and caused them to be unstable. So obviously, correct doctrine is important: 2 Tim 2:16-18 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Rather than blaze our own trail, or follow someone else s path... let us look to GOD... to teach us how to divide His word properly... how to handle it correctly.

2 A basic division is between law and grace. Moses gave the law Christ gave grace: Page 2 John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. This fundamental difference can be see again: Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. The prophets describe the distinction between the OLD covenant and the NEW covenant: Jer 31:31-33 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (the 10 northern tribes), and with the house of Judah (the 2 southern tribes): 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (that was the OLD covenant); which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this (NEW covenant) shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Originally, God promised the NEW covenant to His chosen people Israel, who was special to Him: Deut 14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. God gave His law, known as the OLD testament (or covenant), to the nation Israel, written on tables of stone: Deut 4:12-13 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

3 Page 3 But in the NEW testament, God wrote His law on men s hearts instead... not just Israel s, but also the Gentiles : Rom 2:14-16 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. In the NEW testament, we see true Israel is the believers: Rom 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. The scripture repeatedly makes the contrast between the OUTward and the INward... between law and grace: Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Other words for the same separation, are spirit and letter: Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. The comparison is made between the law and faith: Gal 3:22-25 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

4 The outside is ink and stone; the inside is Spirit and heart: Page 4 2 Cor 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. We trust Christ, not ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God: 2 Cor 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. 12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. When the NEW covenant came... it was better... and it made (or caused) the FIRST covenant to become OLD: Heb 8:6-7 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

5 The NEW covenant is better. The OLD has to go: Page 5 Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. The OLD covenant had animal blood. The NEW covenant is in Christ s blood. Heb 9:15-17 And for this cause (the blood of Christ) he (Christ) is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Rightly dividing the word of truth has to do with getting the difference between the OLD and NEW covenants. This is David Dowell saying, Think about it! Copyright The Magnified Word All rights reserved