Bible Discussion Thread

what does it mean to rightly divide the word of truth?

Great to hear back and Australia is a ways away but we are in Orange County ourselves and a part of a right division Fellowship that meets in San Juan Capistrano. We also have a lively website called helpersofyourjoy com where you can Zoom in to live Bible studies most days or otherwise access years of right division study resources.

It was great hearing your thoughts Chris, thank you

.. and I have to say I'm in agreement with most of them and want to invite you, if you'd be interested, to our fellowship if you're anywhere in Southern California

Thank you Steve - you're very kind. Though getting to SoCal will be a problem as I live in Western Australia. My wife & I have many friends all over the States & particularly in Orange County where we used to base ourselves when visiting folk. These days though, our travels are very limited & our last visit to the States was just before Covid hit our respective shores. We have been so thankful to the Lord that He enabled us to get there at that time, or else we would have missed out on making that final visit.

But we do have regular contact with folk there, & even here, where the pastors of our small Fellowship are from the U.S., and we all enjoy the teaching & fellowship we share together in Christ. May the Lord bless you brother & your Church there.

Hi Steve. 2 Timothy 2:15 is what you're referring to: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

When looking at the original language of the New Testament, Greek, the word is 'orthotomeo'. And this is interpreted as, 'to cut straight, to handle correctly, to teach rightly'. So when we apply this meaning to a rather archaic form of English expression, we can understand that Paul is advising Timothy to 'be zealous to seek God's Approval, having no cause to be shamed, and correctly handling/understanding/teaching God's Word to others.' Apart from personal letters & verbal teaching by the apostles, the New Testament Church only had the Old Testament Scriptures to learn from - so Timothy was told to properly deal with God's Word in his pastoral duties.

Today, we have much more Scriptures than the early Church had, so we are even more responsible to preach & teach correctly from the whole Word of God. And to do this, we must first understand its message, comparing Scripture to Scripture, ascertaining the correct or common line of thought being given, and then sharing that Truth (whether in simple terms or deeper exposition), so that the Church might be taught, blessed, and built up in their love & faith. Why we get so many divergent beliefs & doctrines, is because people have departed from a correct understanding of Truth & often add their own opinions/perceptions to support a particular doctrine. The Bible tells us that teachers of God's Word will be under sterner judgement ( James 3:1).