Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

The true definition of the word dividing is: 'A Mathematical function whereby we separate pre-defined units according to a precise procedure which produces a precise result'. In Math, we separate numbers. In the word of God, we separate the definitions of words.

Matthew 7:24-27 says Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Both the wise man and the fool heard the sayings of Jesus. They were both saved.
The wise man did what he was told the fool did not. The difference that God made between a wise man and a fool is obedience.
The wise man was diligent to dig down to the rock, which is a type of the ministry of Christ throughout the entire Bible. That is, he was diligent to become spiritually mature based upon a personal relationship with the Son of God.
The fool built his house on sand, which everyone agrees is a type of religion.
The fool does not obey because his religion tells him that he is obeying so long as he does what the religion says. He is not diligent enough to compare what his religion says to what the Bible actually says.

Sections within in this Study are:

Synopsys.
A detailed definition of dividing.
Rightly dividing between God's Word and man's word.
Rightly dividing requires us to find and apply the groupings within God's Word.

Rightly dividing requires doing a proper Bible Word Study.

Definitions from Websters 1828.

Defining Equivalent.

Punctuation.

Synopsys:

Baptist churches are full of people who claim to be saved but do not do what the Bible tells them to do. According to God (in this parable), that is because their true foundation is religion and not Christ. If someone showed them where their religion disagreed with the word of God, the wise man would reject his religious training and cling to the word of God. The fool would cling to his religion and claim that he was rejecting the word of the messenger and not be rejecting the word of God. However, the Bible teaches that in order to reject a message that someone tells us comes from God, we have to show where it disagrees with the word of God. If we reject the message without first verifying that it does not match the word of God, we are in danger of rejecting a message that is actually from God. In that case, God will bring judgment for rejecting a message from Him.

The Bible warns us that Satan is the most subtil of all creatures and he knows the Bible. 2Corinthians 11 (especially 2Corinthians 11:13-15) warns us that Satan's ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness. The fool trusts what a 'good godly man' tells him while the wise check it against the true meaning of the Bible. Now before anyone starts telling me how godly they or their preacher is, realize that Peter was withstood to the face, because he was to be blamed (Galatians 2:11). Peter was a good godly man who was led into preaching doctrinal error because he believed what other 'good Godly' men preached without verifying their message against the truth of the word of God. There isn't a godly wise preacher who would claim that he couldn't fall into the same error as Peter. Therefore, the truly godly wise preachers will verify what they hear against the word of God using the method that God tells preachers to use. That includes what follows this. If you can find where the following disagrees with the truth of the word of God, please show me the error according to the word of God.

Before we go on, let me say one other thing. Acts 10:34-35 tells us Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. God is not going to let you claim that God has one set of laws for everyone else that does not apply to you. People have told me that it doesn't matter how much I study the Bible or show them what is in the Bible, what the Spirit of God shows them has higher priority. Then when the Pentecostals tell them the same thing, they claim that the true Spirit of God will not give an interpretation that is against the literal translation of the word of God. I say: Preacher, live by your own rules. Yes, everyone needs the Spirit of God to properly interpret the word of God. Yes, the true Spirit of God will not give an interpretation that is against the literal translation of the word of God. Yes, preachers can claim a 'special unction' from the Holy Ghost. But Jesus, who had the Spirit without measure (John 3:34), pointed people to the Bible and said Have ye not read (Matthew 12:3, 5; 19:4; 22:31; Mark 12:10, 26; Luke 6:3) or said (and taught His followers to say) It is written (Matthew 2:5; 4:4, 6-7, 10; 11:10; 21:13; 26:24, 31; Mark 1:2; 7:6; 9:12-13; 11:17; 14:21, 27; Luke 2:23; 3:4; 4:4, 8, 10; 7:27; 19:46; 24:46; John 6:31, 45; 8:17; 10:34; 12:14; Acts 1:20; 7:42; 13:33; 15:15; 23:5; Romans 1:17; 2:24; 3:4, 10; 4:17; 8:36; 9:13, 33; 10:15; 11:8, 26; 12:19; 14:11; 15:3, 9, 21; 1Corinthians 1:19, 31; 2:9; 3:19; 9:9-10; 10:7; 14:21; 15:45; 2Corinthians 4:13; 8:15; 9:9; Galatians 3:10, 13; 4:22, 27; Hebrews 10:7; 1Peter 1:16; 1John 2:21). In addition, we have many more quotes in the New Testament which do not use these phrases but which clearly teach using the Bible as our final authority.

Plain and simple, all preachers need to use that unction that they claim to have to show where It is written in the word of God. It is written does not just mean find some words that you can take out of context like the devil and his ministers do. It means what is written within the context that it is written is so that we are using the same meaning as God meant when He wrote His Word. To do otherwise is to follow the example of Satan, the Pharisees and all other sources of religious error.

In what follows, I first try to explain the rules that I use (to get the meaning of what is written) in general terms that anyone can understand and then apply those general rules to the word of God. If anyone can show me a rule that I have applied wrongly to the word of God please do so. Also, If anyone can show me a rule that God uses in His Word that I have not applied, please do so.

In John 7:27 and John 7:40-43 the people made wrong decisions because they were sure that their information was correct when it was incomplete or wrong. In John 7:45-53, the rulers made wrong decisions for the same reason. There was division among the people and among the rulers because they had wrong information and were using wrong methods for finding God's will. There are many more examples in the Bible of people making wrong decisions for the same reason. They each suffered the consequences of being a fool.

Today, there are doctrinal divisions among so-called 'Christian' religions because most of the doctrines are based upon incomplete or wrong information about what the word of God really says. While people argue about these divisions, and even try to repair them, the divisions keep coming back and increasing in number and severity because people are not dealing with the real source of the problem. The real source of the problem is in the foundation, as the parable that we started with shows. These foundational problems are because leaders think that their foundation is Christ (the rock) while it is really sand ('religion'). One major source of this error is not obeying God in how to study the Bible. God told all of us how to study in 2Timothy 2:15. Unfortunately, while many saved people (including preachers and leaders) are studying their Bible, they are not studying 'by division'. This error in how to study is causing problems in the foundation of people's beliefs.

2Timothy 2:15 says Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

My brother has a 3story house that he repaired. When he first bought it, there were cracks all throughout the wet plaster. He hired workers to tear out all of the walls and ceilings and replace them with wallboard. A couple of years after that, cracks appeared in the walls and ceilings. That time, he personally repaired them. A couple of more years later the cracks returned and were worse. That's when he figured out that it wasn't a problem with the repair person. He finally figured out that the real problem was in his foundation and support structure. The foundational problem was hidden and took a lot of work to reveal. When he found it, many people told him to ignore it and assured him that it would be OK. When he repaired the structural problem; that caused further cracks where things had settled into the wrong position and he forced them back into the correct position. He had to wait for about a year for the house to re-settle to the corrected structural position before he could start repairing cracks. However, after he fixed the structural problems, the cracks remained fixed and more did not appear again.

His house was designed and built correctly. Someone had cut through main support joyce in several places rather than taking the time to do a job properly. It was obvious that this had happened several times with successive cuts getting bigger since they didn't see the consequences of earlier cuts. At the same time, the metal pipes that supported the joyce were covered by wood trim and when they rusted through and settled a couple of inches lower, the problem of a short support pole was hidden. With the cuts and lack of support, the joyce gave and went down a few inches, but no one noticed until cracks appeared several floors higher. Also, the ground outside of the basement cement had given way and, over time, the cement had crumbled and allowed the joyce to slip lower that it was supposed to be. The house had to be lifted and all of these problems fixed before surface repairs to walls and ceilings could be fixed. If the foundational problems had been ignored then the entire house (eventually) would have fallen down.

We have a problem in God's church in America when it comes to interpreting the Bible. This problem is foundational and structural. Individual churches in America will be destroyed if this problem is not fixed. Many people advice ignoring the structural problem and others will ridicule my call to repair the true problem. They will rightfully point out that my solution will increase the number of separations in God's people and their doctrine. However, this short-term pain is the only way to keep the entire thing from falling on our heads. The problem with our structure is that God's preachers believe that they are rightly dividing the word of truth (2Timothy 2:15) when in fact they are relying upon methods that have made significant cuts into the truth of God's Word. We need to restore the proper foundation and structure and that restoration begins with revealing hidden corruption. Let me be clear, the changes that are required will strengthen the teaching that saved people need to stop their sinning and live a sanctified life that is the result of a personal walk with God. However, many of God's people will suffer the judgment of God if they do not make these corrections and the people who taught the doctrinal error will suffer even greater judgment by God.

There is plain evidence seen throughout most so-called Bible believing churches. We teach our children the parable of the wise man who built on the rock and the fool who built on the sand. Some even properly identify that the Rock all through the word of God refers to the Son of God in His role as Christ. They also identify the sand as being religion. However, they ignore where Jesus said that both builders heard the word of God. In addition, Jesus said that the wise obeyed and the fool did not obey. Therefore, this parable is not teaching a difference between the saved and the lost but a difference between the obedient and disobedient saved. So use a simple measurement. Sere if your church teaches the song about this parable to the children. See if they sing 'the blessings will come down as the prayers go up' or if they sing 'the protection will come down as the obedience goes up'. Point out that the second phrase matches the Bible while the first does not match. Also point out that God does not answer all prayers with a 'yes' while that is what children believe they are being taught by this song. Now see how willing the church is to correct this doctrinal error being taught to children. If the true foundation is the Bible, then they will change the doctrine taught to children in this song. If their true foundation is the Baptist religion, they will keep the Baptist version.

Jesus said Go ye into all of the world (Matthew 28:19: Mark 16:15). The word ye means 'each and every one of you personally' in the Bible. So another measurement to use is: what percentage of the members in your church obey this very clear and explicate command from God? Those who do personal soul-winning are wise and those who don't are disobedient fools. Even if you don't count those that have been saved less than a year, what is the ratio of wise to fools in your church? Even if your church is filled with wise soul-winners, how many churches can make that claim? Unless you yourself are a fool making excuses for the disobedient, you will have to admit that there is a wide spread problem of disobedient saved people in the churches. According to this parable from Jesus, that disobedience is due to people believing religion instead of the personal commands of Jesus Christ.

Hopefully, we agree that there is a problem, even if it is only with the 'other guy' or with the 'other church'. So I will go on with showing one source of the problem that is in the foundation of doctrine.

I meet people all of the time while soul winning that say that they believe that you have to keep the 10 Commandments to get to Heaven. I no longer ask them if they can tell me all 10 because they never can and embarrassing them that way only gets them mad and often makes them no longer willing to listen. However, no matter how much they may want to disagree, there is no denying certain basic truths. How can you testify in court that you always kept a commandment that you can't even repeat? The Bible warns us that the day will come when we stand before the Creator of the Universe and try to justify the deeds done in the flesh. If you can't get men to agree that you kept a commandment that you don't know, how do you expect God to agree in court that you kept a commandment that you didn't know?

This principal applies to everyone and about everything that will be judged by God. We have a lot of people who are convinced that they are going to be approved by God and not be embarrassed when they are before the judgment seat of Christ (Romans 14:10; 2Corinthians 5:10-11) and are surrounded by all of the saints of God as witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). But, according to 2Timothy 2:15, that requires them to be rightly dividing the word of truth. According to the universal truth I already pointed out, you can't be rightly dividing if you can't even define dividing. So, please take out paper and pen and define the word dividing before you compare it to the definition below. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I say that an illustration is worth a million. I can think of no better way to illustrate a problem to those that have it then to challenge them to define the word dividing and then give them a definition to compare their definition against. I welcome anyone to show me any error in the definition that I provide below.

A detailed definition of dividing:

First of all, it is an action verb.

If there is no action then the action verb is not done. If you have a stack of 6 Bibles and leave them in a single stack, then you have not done the action verb of dividing.

Secondly, the action specified by the verb must be done and not some other action. Burning the stack of Bibles is not dividing them.
Dividing is a mathematical function (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, etc). That means that it is an exact and precise function that produces an exact and precise result.

There is no 'kinda, sorta like this' that is a correct answer.
If you get two answers for a Bible truth, such as two different definitions for a word, then you are not rightly dividing the word of truth.
Like all math, you can look at the answer and see if it matches the basis and if the two don't match then you can declare the answer wrong without looking at how the answer was derived. If someone says that 25 divided by 5 is a negative number, he is wrong and I don't have to find the error in his convoluted so-called logic to say he is wrong. The same is true about 'rightly dividing the word of truth'. We are to look at the fruit and compare that to the Bible and ignore all of their religious arguments if their fruit doesn't match the Bible. This important concept will be used below.

You can not take away from the source before dividing.

If you take away 2 books from your pile of 6 before dividing and conclude that 6 divided by 2 is 2, you would be wrong.
Satan quoted God's Word, but not all of it, when tempting Jesus. In the beginning (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32), end (Revelation 22:18-19) and middle (Proverbs 30:5-6) of God's Word we are warned that God will curse those who add to or take away from His Word. If you get two answers, such as two different definitions for a word, then you are not rightly dividing the word of truth.

You can not add to the source before dividing.

If you add 2 books to your pile of 6 before dividing and conclude that 6 divided by 2 is 4, you would be wrong.
Eve added to God's command and ended up being led into sin. The devil will show us an error with our addition but instead of using that error to make a distinction between our addition and God's error-free Word, the devil will attach our error to God's word and claim that our error makes God's Word untrustworthy.

Dividing must be done equally.

If you put 1 book in one pile and five books in another pile, you are not rightly dividing the word of truth
If God says something applies to 'everyone' and you preach it only applies to a few, you are not rightly dividing the word of truth. The same is true if you apply a promise offered to a few to everyone.
If God says something is everlasting and you preach it can be lost, you are not rightly dividing the word of truth. The same is true if you claim that a conditional promise can not be lost or can be claimed without meeting God's requirements.
More applications of this rule will be provided below.

Dividing must be done by the proper method. This is hard to explain to most people who do not have training in Number Theory which is well beyond Calculus. It is an absolute rule which is best understood with an illustration.

If you took a band saw and cut your Bibles in half and put all of the top's in one pile and all of the bottom's in another pile, you are not rightly dividing the word of truth.
In Math there is a precedence of order when applying multiple mathematical functions in an equation. Precedence is: left to right: negation; exponentiation; (multiply/divide); (add/subtract). This will become clearer later as we apply the rule and see some examples.
The proper method of rightly dividing the word of truth means finding the groupings provided by God in His Word and separating it according to those groupings. It also means following God's order of precedence. This will become clearer later as we apply the rule and see some examples.

Dividing requires sticking to the proper basis. The true basis of math, and of the Scientific Method, is God's understanding, which is a part of God's wisdom. This also is hard to explain to most people who do not have training in Number Theory. It also is an absolute rule which is best understood with a basic Bible truth. God does NOT change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). This means that God does not go against, or change, an absolute truth that He has revealed. God is the Creator of the Universe. Changing the basic rules of creation would destroy all of creation. God's absolute truths in the Bible are more reliable than creation because in Matthew 5:18 Jesus told us For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Proverbs 8 tells us that God's wisdom was with God before He created the universe. The fact is that all of the laws of true science are based upon Math and Math reveals part of God's wisdom that was used in creation. Evidence includes:
1. We know that God is no respecter of persons (We find the phrase no respecter of persons in: Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25 and 2:1. Also explained in the notes for Romans 14:10-LJC; Romans C7S3 and Romans C10S13. Please also see Romans C10S13 about the phrase no difference in people). Math is no respecter of men.
2. God never changes (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) and Math never changes. Math works the same no matter what factor that you may change such as language, culture, time in history, etc.
3. Galatians 5:17 says For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Math is the most hated subject in school because it causes us to think like God thinks. Our flesh hates how it is absolute and it proves the error of the claim that there is no absolute truth in the world.
4. Religion pollutes God's truth, claims to be God's truth and tries to replace God's truth. Man's logic tries to do the same with Pure Logic. For example, Law claims to be logical but Law combines man's (judge / jury) opinion with logic so that it is no longer 'pure' but depends upon changeable man for the final judgment.
1Corinthians tells us about the difference between God's wisdom and 'man's wisdom'. They are not the same. 'Man's wisdom' led to men claiming that they had 'proved the world was flat' and based their 'proof' on 'God's revelation to holy men'. Galileo said that he proved that the world was a globe based upon God's method of understanding and wisdom that we call the Scientific Method. Likewise, when it comes to interpreting the Bible, we find the same two methods used with similar results.
The dictionary definitions below show us that the main definition of divide is 'to separate'. If someone tells you that they have a new way of dividing that does not involve separation, they are lying. You can not divide by zero. Dividing by 1 is a mathematical technicality that is not really dividing.
All permutations of the word divide in the Bible show us that God uses divide to 'separate'.
The first time the root word of divide occurs in the Bible is Genesis 1:6 which says And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. God separated the water in the clouds above the air and earth from the water that was below the earth.

The ing on the end of the word ( dividing) means that this is an ongoing or repeated action.

How do you eat a cow? Answer: one bite at a time.
1. You first kill it and separate the life from the body.
2. Then you separate edible parts from the non-edible parts of the body. For example, you separate the skin and guts from the rest.
3. You then separate the carcass into large parts by dividing it at major joints.
4. You then take each large part and divide it into successively smaller parts until you have something small enough to cook for a meal.
5. You then cook the meal and divide it further into servings for individuals.
6. Each individual then divides it further into bite size pieces.
7. The individual then uses their teeth to divide the bite into smaller pieces before swallowing.
8. The stomach uses acid to separate those small bits even further and passes it to the small intestine and then the large intestine until it is down to a size of nutrients that can be carried in the blood stream and be used to build the body.
The first time that dividing occurs is Joshua 19:49 where they were giving separate portions of land to the different tribes of Israel. Those potions were then subdivided by family groups. The potions for each family group were then sub divided and the sub division continued until land was assigned to each individual and/or individual family unit.
Stopping the study of the word of truth is not repeated dividing.
Choosing another method of study is not repeated dividing.
If you don't break the Word down to the point that it causes spiritual growth, you are not rightly dividing the Word of Truth. In John 6:56 Jesus said He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. The cook is not responsible for people digesting the food but they are responsible for preparing it properly. Also, the parent is responsible for teaching the children how to eat and what to eat. Even so, the preacher is not responsible for the people digesting the word of God but he is responsible for preparing it properly and teaching the people how to properly eat spiritual nutrition.

The ongoing rightly dividing the word of truth is done using all of the steps mentioned above. More details on the proper way to do this division are below. There is more than one way to study. This particular method of study is for the mature Christian. Notice that it is commanded in 2Timothy, which means it is written to a man who has been a pastor for a while and is not spiritually immature. rightly dividing the word of truth requires spiritual maturity.

Rightly dividing between God's Word and man's word:

This level of separating God's Word from man's word is only the first step in a series of steps that God expects the mature Christian to do.

Our first rule of dividing is that 'action is required and that error results from not dividing'. Religious men say to not separate God's Word from man's word. The religious man is quick to point out the error in some other religion's writing but objects to you saying that the word of their leaders is not the same as or equal to God's Word.

Many Baptist object strenuously and all but call me a heretic when I refuse to accept the word of some famous preacher as the final authority.
A true 'man of God' is first a 'man from God'. That means that he starts from God's Word and is a guide back to God's Word. You can follow his leading back to God's Word and show the truth based upon God's Word and not have to rely upon his preaching.
If you can not show your point from God's Word then one of three things happened.
1. He did not act as a proper 'man of God' and direct you back to the word of God but set himself up as the true authority.
2. You didn't listen properly because you did not end up with God's Word as your foundation.
3. You are not yet spiritually ready to understand the subject. Someone just learning to count can not understand Calculus. Further, the lack of understanding the word of God is spiritual in nature. When a man of God preaches, different people get different understanding as the Holy Spirit uses the message to bring understanding. Don't blame the preacher but seek true understanding from the Holy Ghost.

Our second rule is that the specified action of 'studying by division' must be done.

Letting the Bible sit on a shelf is not rightly dividing.
Reading is not studying.
Study by memorization or other methods of study do not replace 'Study by Division'.
This type of study requires separating the word of truth from men's words and not considering their opinions until AFTER getting what the word of truth teaches on the subject. You may not have a complete answer before considering the input from other men but you will at least know which men agree with what the word of truth showed you and which did not. If you get your ideas from men first you will often be blinded to something new that God wants to show you in the word of truth.

Thirdly, 'dividing is a precise mathematical function'. We are to look at fruit and not religious arguments.

The purpose of God's Word is to testify of God and lead man to a saving ongoing relationship with God (John 5:39). Religions give men excuses for their not doing exactly what God said to do. Religions also give men excuses for doing something that is 'kinda, sorta' like what God said. God wrote what he meant and meant what He wrote in His Word. Any religious argument that justifies doing less than exactly what God said is to be separated from God's word and discarded.
There are only two examples of Pure Logic known to man: Math and computer programming. Those with less than a Bachelor's degree in Math probably can't understand the proof, but please believe me on the following. 1Corinthians tells us of the difference between God's wisdom and 'man's wisdom' and how man confuses his wisdom for God's wisdom and how 'man's wisdom' leads to error. The same is true about man's logic and Pure Logic. Proverbs 8:22-31 tell us of a wisdom that was with God before creation and that was used for creation and Pure Logic, including math, fits this description of the wisdom that was with God at creation. The Lord who change not (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) uses this same Pure Logic wisdom in His Word. The result is that there are similarities between the logic of Math and of the Bible. A math teacher looks at the assigned problem and the answer and can determine if the answer is right or wrong without considering any argument from the student. Similarly, the Christian can look at the 'fruit' of a person's life and at the Bible that it is supposed to be based upon and determine if they have a spirit like God or not and they do not have to pay any attention to their religious arguments. There were leaders of large so-called 'Christian Churches' who went to jail. The people who were deceived by them listened to their religious arguments. Those who were not deceived looked at the fruit of their lives.

Our fourth rule is 'Don't subtract from the portion before dividing it'. People take away from God's word and end up with the wrong answer. One of the main ways that people take away from God's Word is to say that a major part doesn't apply to them.

Hebrews 9 explains that Jesus is the mediator of the new testament and that the testament is the same legal document as we call a 'Will'. We can only have one 'Will' in effect at a time, as also said in Hebrews 9. Further, Hebrews 9 tells us that the Old Testament that was replaced was the Mosaic Law and specifically mentions the religious parts of the Mosaic Law.
Galatians 3 and in particular Galatians 3:17 says And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. This means that neither God adding the Mosaic Law (to promises already made), not God taking it away, affected those promises that were made before the Law. This same logic applies to all that came before the Law. Neither the coming nor the passing of the Law affected the Laws of Creation. Everything that is outside of the Law (but still in what we call the 'Old Testament') was not affected by the coming or going of the Law. That is the basic reason that tithing is still in effect today. Both tithing and salvation by faith came from Abraham. You aren't thinking right if you believe that you can have salvation by faith and not have tithing.
In Acts 15 and 21 we are told that even Gentiles are to keep parts of the Mosaic Law. Specifically, all of the Mosaic Law falls into 3categories. The Civil Law said how the government was to be run. 1Peter and other places tell us that we are to obey the law of the land that we are in. So, the Civil part of the Mosaic Law does not apply to those who are living under another Civil Law. The second part is the Religious Law and Hebrews and Galatians explained that they are replaced by the New Testament. The third part is the Moral Law, which covers our personal relationship with God and only clarifies what God had established before the Law. As Galatians and Acts said, we are still bound by things of the Moral Law. Proving your claimed faith by your actions was before the Law and not removed by it.

Our fifth rule is 'Don't add to the portion before dividing it'. People add to God's word and end up with the wrong answer.

As mentioned above, God curses all who add to His Word.
As mentioned above, Eve added to God's command and ended up being led into sin.
The Pharisees added their traditions and the teachings of men to God's Word and Jesus said that they made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition (Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:13; Romans 4:14; 9:1-7; Galatians 3:17).
People today quote famous preachers and other good godly men, which is OK, so long as they realize that these men made errors and when others show them that the word of these men disagrees with the literal Bible, the Bible is chosen to be right.

Our sixth rule is to 'Divide Equally' or 'Divide the way God does' (Equal to the way God divides).

Spiritual versus physical interpretation: God is a Spirit Who uses the Bible to tell physical people spiritual and physical truths.
1. Parts of the Bible are conveying a Spiritual truth and must be spiritually understood. All of John 6 is about Jesus trying to teach a spiritual truth and the religious Jews misunderstanding because they insisted upon trying to fit the spiritual into the religious and physical.
2. Parts of the Bible are conveying a physical truth and must be physical understood. Religions Spiritualize' physical rules and then use their Spiritualizing' to excuse disobedience. In Matthew 15:5-6 and Mark 7:12-13 Jesus told the Jews And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. The Bible said that they were to provide for their parents (honour thy father and thy mother) but the Pharisees said that they could neglect their parents if they 'offered' their substance to the Temple upon their death.
God divides authority according to who is talking. The word of God records a lie of Satan in Genesis. The fact that the lie of Satan is in the word of God does not make it true.
God divides truth according how someone is talking. The Bible includes various figures of speech such as parables and sarcasm. These are to be understood according the proper use of figures of speech. The word of God contains the Law of God but there are parts of the word of God that are not part of the Law of the Lord. Therefore, the parts that are not part of the Law of the Lord are not to be used as Law.
God divides truth according to whom He is talking to. If one man hears another man's wife promise to make him glad he married her, the unmarried man can't 'claim that promise' just because he is male and finds the woman attractive. Even so, God's promises to Jews or to other special people can't be claimed by others.

Our seventh rule is to 'Use proper methods including precedence'.

God emphasized a personal relationship to Him all through the Bible. He says that there are people in the church whose father is the devil and He calls them 'bastards'. Since God emphasizes a personal relationship with Him over our relationship to the church, we should do the same.
The main word for salvation is 'life', not 'everlasting'. When God uses one word for the subject and another word as a modifier, we should also put the main emphasis on the same word that God emphasizes.

Our eighth rule is 'Dividing requires sticking to the proper basis'.

God's 'Original Language' is Hebrew, not Greek. If God believed in using the 'Original Language', He would have stuck to Hebrew. God used the language that His people understood in the day that He spoke to them. 1John 5:13 says that the same written Bible that is used to lead us to salvation is also used to teach us to grow in faith. No one ever received salvation by someone showing them Greek and interpreting it to them. Only pride grows when someone switches to Greek from the English as their basis of Sanctification'.
God's Word is ahead of science. It does not violate the true laws of math or true science. It is not in conflict with any laws of nature which God created. There is no conflict between different parts of the Bible or between the Bible and any other work of God. EVERY so-called conflict has been revealed to be a conflict between an error of man's wrong interpretation and the truth or between two wrong 'interpretations'.
God's Word uses proper grammar. The next section deals with that but God does not go against the proper rules of grammar.

Our ninth rule is to 'Repeat application at each successive level.'

We can not stop here and have doctrine that will spiritually nourish us. We have separated the word of God from external things that claim to be part of the word of God or claim to replace it. At the next level we will apply separation at the high level within the Bible.

Rightly dividing requires us to find and apply the groupings within God's Word

In our illustration of eating a cow, we first separated the cow from its life then separated the edible from the inedible. With God's Word, we separated the spiritually edible word of God from the inedible things like men's wisdom and men's religions and men's traditions and everything else from men. The next step in our illustration of eating a cow was to divide it into major sections by separating it at the joints, which are the pre-designed separation points. We also need to do the same with God's Word.

Our first rule of dividing is that 'action is required and that error results from not dividing'.

The lost can't understand the wisdom of God according to 1Corinthians 1-3 (especially 2:14). The word of God has parts that can be understood by everyone and parts that can not be understood without the Holy Spirit. Parables are an example of this difference. In Matthew 7:6 Jesus told us Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. In this verse, Jesus uses dogs for lost people and says the same thing a second way in case someone couldn't understand the first phrase. Don't try to teach lost people the spiritual things of God because they will grind them into the dirt and attack you. Instead, get them saved first and then the Holy Ghost can deal with the rest. I refuse to discuss 'versions of the Bible' and prophecy and other things with a lost person. I tell them that they need to Holy Ghost to explain it to them and offer to show them how to get the Holy Ghost. But, until they are saved, I refuse to drag the wisdom of my God down into the muck of religion. Therefore, our first division within the Bible is to separate what the lost can understand from what it take the Holy Ghost to understand. Jesus refused to give the lost understanding of God's Word and demanded that they believe on Him first to get saved. If we discuss these things with the lost, we are not following the example of our Lord and we are disobeying the Lord's command. Learn everything you can that that applies to getting people saved and do everything you can to put those parts of the Bible before the lost.
Realize and accept that God makes a major division between the saved and the lost. In the book of Revelation we are told that it was written to reveal the person of Jesus Christ. It is NOT written to reveal the multiple future events. The future events are included only if they reveal that Jesus Christ is Lord. Revelation 10:4 it says that there are future events that were hid. I believe that is because they did not support the revelation of the person doing those future events. The Revelation of Jesus Christ is summed in the last verse that calls Him Lord Jesus Christ. All through that book we find that the saved are to worship the Lord and the lost are to fear Him. God makes a major division between the saved and the lost in the word of God and we are to do the same.

Our second rule is that the specified action of 'studying by division' must be done.

God uses the rules of punctuation within grammar to divide His word and Satan uses good godly men to teach error by ignoring this division by God. The main way that men subtract from the inside of God's Word is by reading and interpreting by verse, which is only part of a sentence. By accepting a partial sentence as whole, they are taking away from the word of God. The main way that men add to the inside of God's Word is by treating the colon as a sentence ending punctuation mark. Both of these points will be expanded in this section below.
Please see the illustration of the use of punctuation below. It shows that how punctuation is used can have a profound impact upon the meaning of text.

A class was asked to add punctuation to the following:

Woman without her man is nothing

The women in the class responded with the following:

Woman: without her, man is nothing.

The men in the class responded with the following:

Woman, without her man, is nothing.

Obviously, the use of punctuation can have a profound effect.

Thirdly, 'dividing is a precise mathematical function'. We are to look at fruit and not religious arguments. Isaiah 28:9 says Whom shall he[God] teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? God goes on and tells us more about whom God will personally teach and how he will teach them, but in Isaiah 28:1-8 we learn about those that God rejects as teachers. We are to ignore anything from these men because their 'fruit' does not match the character of the God of the Bible. Just like the math teacher can ignore the arguments about a wrong answer, the Christian can ignore the arguments of those with the wrong spiritual 'fruit'.

The drunk religious preacher of Isaiah 28:1-8 is rejected by God. It doesn't matter if they are really saved and it doesn't matter what positions or religious credentials they have. Read Isaiah 28:7.

Men in religions that justify the use of wine and other alcoholic drinks may be saved, but the God of the Bible is not using those religions.
The God of the Bible will use a drunk only if there is no one else available, no matter what religion he is in.

Drunks are a type of people controlled by physical sin (Ephesians 5:14-21; 1Peter 4:1-5). A 400 pound preacher screaming about how he has never tasted a drop of liquor has no more right to represent the God of the Bible than the drunk has. He is just as controlled by gluttony, which is a physical sin.
Isaiah 28:1-8 also says that God does not use those who make the tables ' full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. That is a type of moral impurity. God does not use those people and religions that justify moral wickedness.
Anyone who is a member of a religion that excuse the above sins will usually not be used by God. This includes all religions that use alcoholic wine in religious ceremonies or allow any alcohol at their functions.
The drunk and the filthy do not represent the character of the God of the Bible and even the lost can know the difference. God wants us to look at the character of the man and the fruit of his life before we consider one word of his religious opinions.
Many 'good godly men', like Peter, end up preaching doctrinal error because they hear something that sounds good to them and they do not compare the doctrine to the word of God with the help of the Spirit of God. They also do not follow the path of the doctrine back to the original source. For example, from all that I can find the original source of correcting the English based upon the Greek was the same source that started putting out man-written 'bibles'. This is the Devil using 'good godly men' to spread a lie.

Our fourth rule is 'Don't subtract from the portion before dividing it'.

In Matthew 4:1-11 and Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13; we read of Satan tempting Jesus. As part of that temptation, Satan misquoting PsalmS 91:11-12 by leaving out part of the original verse. We've already read where God promised judgment upon those who followed Satan's example and diminished His Word. In the written English language, a sentence is the smallest unit that is considered to be a complete thought. Look at Colossians 1:21 and follow it to the end of the sentence. That does not occur until the end of Colossians 1:29. It took me a while to realize that most verses are not complete sentences and that most people who claim to believe the Bible make this fundamental error. In studying and doing detailed analysis of over 4,000 verses in the Bible since I started paying attention, I would guess that the average sentence in the Bible takes 2 verses. A few verses have two sentences in them and a few sentences cover multiple verses, such as Colossians 1:21-29. However, I would guess that the average is 2 verses per sentence.
In Isaiah 28:9 and 28:13 We are told that God teaches doctrine line upon line and this phrase is doubled twice. When Isaiah was written, the word of God was divided into sentences but not into verses as we see today. Therefore, line upon line means Sentence upon sentence. According to Genesis 41:32, God doubles something that He establishes it (makes it a law which is more reliable than the laws of nature). Since line upon line is doubled twice, it is double established as a Law by God.
When Richard Nixon was President, he was ordered by the court to hand over tapes of conversations that he had. He handed over ' erased tapes and the entire nation agreed that a partial truth was a lie. As mentioned earlier, God does not go against revealed absolute truth. Revelation 21:8 equates lying with other sins that we think are terrible such as murder. In John 8:44, Jesus says that Satan was a liar from the beginning and the father of lies. Anyone who presents a 1/2 truth as the truth is a liar who is following Satan. They may not know it, until God sends a messenger to reveal it to them. However, once revealed, God will judge them for refusing to submit to the truth. A 1/2 sentence is a 1/2 truth and a lie.
When preachers read a verse that is part of a sentence, they are not necessarily going against the interpretation of the sentence. They can be emphasizing a truth contained within the sentence. They are wrong only if they apply an interpretation or application that goes against the meaning of the phrase within the context of the sentence and surrounding text. However, when someone reads several verses and they start or end in the middle of a sentence, you can be sure that they are ignoring the God given division called sentences. While what they preach after that may be truth, it needs to be examined extra carefully for error.
Properly done, the child of God reads the word of God as God wrote it, which is in whole sentences and not in verses. Only after making sure that they have the proper interpretation of the book, paragraph and full sentence, does the correct child of God apply that interpretation to life. Even if they are concentrating on a phrase contained within a sentence the child of God must first find the proper interpretation of the whole sentence and then interpret the phrase within the interpretation of the whole sentence. Otherwise they usually will be led into error and will be committing the sin of diminishing God's Word.

Our fifth rule is 'Don't add to the portion before dividing it'.

God uses the rules of punctuation within grammar to divide His word and Satan uses good godly men to teach error by ignoring this division by God. The main way that men add to the inside of God's Word is by ignoring the colon.
Reformers Unanimous does an excellent job of teaching about limits that God gives us to protect us and how we run into trouble when we step outside of the boundaries provided by God. God uses the colon to place boundaries on the interpretation of His word. We add to God's Word when we ignore those boundaries. When we go beyond God's boundaries and include interpretations that God put beyond the boundary, we are adding to God's Word. Just as Eve sinned by adding to God's Word, we sin when we add to God's Word by ignoring the colon.
Attached is some basic information from the Web on the use of the colon in English Grammar. As shown in there, a colon is an 'almost stop' where a period is a 'full stop'. In doing a detailed analysis of over 4,000 verses in the Bible, I have found that every place that a colon was used it could be replaced with a period and the verses would still be correct English grammar. However, God deliberately chose to use a colon and not a period. To replace the colon with a period is an error that causes us to misinterpret the word of God.
As explained below, a colon makes what is on either side of the colon equivalent. (Equivalent means equal and almost equal. See attachment below for the definitions of 'equivalent'.) Therefore, the interpretation of what is on either side of a colon is limited to what is equivalent to the meaning of what is on the other side of the colon. If I list olive oil: flax oil: corn oil: and oil. The colons limit the interpretation of where 'oil' appears by itself to be a type of edible vegetable oil. If I replace the colons with periods, I remove the restriction and can properly claim that 'oil' by itself includes 'dirty engine oil'. Thus, by replacing the colon with a period, I expand the allowed interpretations. When I do that with the word of God, I am adding to the word of God and sinning. Treating a colon as if it is a period is sin.

Our sixth rule is to 'Divide Equally' or 'Divide the way God does' (Equal to the way God divides). When God uses different words, He has different meanings attached to each word. We are in error when we attach the same meaning to different words or attach the same word to different meanings. There are a number of words in the Bible that God divides further with qualifiers. If we do not also make these divisions, we are not dividing as God does. Also, if God attaches one blessing to one subdivision and another blessing to the other subdivision and we attach the blessings to the wrong subdivision, we are in error.

God makes a difference between the Law of God and the word of God and the consequences of ignoring each is different. The Law of God is contained within (is a subset of) word of God. However, the word of God also has things like the lie of Satan in Genesis. That lie is not true. However, all of the Law of God is true. So, the blessings for obeying the Law of God do not apply to those parts of the word of God that are not part of the Law of God. Further, principals of true Law apply to the Law of God, but not necessarily to the parts of the word of God that are not part of the Law of God. Where men's legal systems and judges pervert true justice and refuse to follow proper legal principals, God and the law of God are 100% reliable. However, God does not expect us to trust and obey things like Satan's lie which are recorded within the word of God.
God makes a difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. Please see the note for Matthew 3:2 about the phrase Kingdom of Heaven. Please also see the notes for 1Corinthians C4S20; 1Corinthians C15S46; Galatians C5S20 and the Doctrinal Study about the phrase Kingdom of God.
There is a major difference in the Bible between the fear of the Lord and the 'fear of the world, flesh or devil'. God's instructions to His children are polar opposite between these two subjects. The consequences of having or not having each are also polar opposites.
There are other similar things in the Bible where there is a difference made by God. We will get into more detail in doing a proper Bible Word Study, however, the main point is that if we don't see how God qualified things and if we don't see how important God makes something and if we ignore the rewards and/or benefits that God attaches to a subject, we will be led into error and God will declare us to be a fool (Matthew 7:24-27).

Our seventh rule is to 'Use proper methods including precedence'. Isaiah 28:9-11 says Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. We saw earlier that God said to get rid of the teachers and preachers who don't have lives that display His Spirit. That separated outsiders. Now He is separating insiders.

them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts God separates people who have gotten rid of the sins of 1Corinthians from those that have not. The people that still have those sins are still on the 'milk' of the Word (1Corinthians 3:1-3; Hebrews 5:11-14). These people are taught by other people. The ones that God teaches directly are more mature spiritually.
God provides precedent of precept, line (context), preachers and teachers, outside commentaries. Anything that goes against higher precedence is to be rejected. For example, reject anything from a commentary that takes verses out of context.
A precept is a rule that does not change no matter what the circumstances. For example, 'God never changes' is a precept. It comes before context and limits context. For example, the precept that God will not give use something to destroy us spiritually is a precept that takes precedence over the context of the promise that 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (John 15:16; 16:23).
line upon line first of all means in context. It has been my experience that over 90% of Biblical doctrinal errors can be revealed by asking the other person to provide the verses they use to support their position and then look for the true meaning of those verses within the context. The main way to avoid is to double check the context of every verse you use.
here a little, and there a little means that God will give you a little something new through preaching at different times. However, once a person reaches maturity to be taught by God, most preaching only reinforces what was already learned when less mature or through personal study. God wants the mature Christian to use their personal walk with God as their primary teaching tool, and use what God teaches through others as reinforcement and verification of what God teaches personally.
for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people speaks of other ways that God will occasionally teach mature Christians. However, these lessons will not go against what was taught by other means if they are truly from God. stammering lips speaks of the unsure person. God uses 'babes in Christ' to teach mature Christians sometimes just to bring their pride into check. another tongue speaks of outsiders. See the next point. No outside commentary should ever turn you against those that have brought you to salvation and spiritual maturity. Outside commentators are our least reliable source of Spiritual teaching.

Our eighth rule is 'Dividing requires sticking to the proper basis.'

We covered the basics of Matthew 7:24-27 in the beginning of this study. Please notice a few things:

Both builders heard the words of Jesus. They were both saved.
The one builder was obedient and the other was not obedient.
The one who did it survived the disaster and didn't really need any help.
The one who refused to obey had a great fall in their life which indicates they had a disaster that it took them and their family a long time to recover from, if they ever did.

This parable gives us a measurement that isn't used. If our church is full of spiritually immature squabbling pew sitters who aren't tithing, won't quit their sin, aren't studying the Bible and praying on their own, then we have a disaster in the making. Further, no matter what people claim, their true foundation isn't the rock of Christ.
If the people 'in the pew' are involved in personal Bible study, prayer, soul winning and discipleship then God can do to them like he did to the church at Jerusalem. The people who ended up in Antioch (Acts 11) didn't sit around praying for a preacher to come and start a church. They went out and won souls, got them meeting regularly, praying, studying their Bible and obeying their Bible. When a preacher was sent to them, they already had the core of a church together and ready to organize and start baptizing.
The true foundation isn't seen in what people say but in what they do. If they're not doing, their true foundation is their preacher and teachers, not Christ. The people are really hearing 'believe me' not Search the scriptures and obey Christ', regardless of what teachers and preachers are really teaching.
Having said that, we can say that God does not change. If they are studying their Bible and trusting Christ, then they will not accept some new teaching that leads them away from their true foundation.

They will reject teaching about an 'unfortunate translation' or similar garbage. Since most people don't know Greek well enough to translate it, including the so-called experts, this reliance upon 'Greek' is reliance upon the unverifiable claims of some man.
1John 5:13 says These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Our salvation and our knowing we are saved is based upon the written word of God. No one gets saved by someone pulling out the Greek and translating it for them.
This verse has an and in it which means added onto our salvation like a second story of a building is added onto the first story. The believe of this addition means what we do to increase our faith. We are to build our life in Christ upon the same written word of God that we trusted to get saved.

Our ninth rule is to 'Repeat application at each successive level.'

We can not stop here and have doctrine that will spiritually nourish us. We have separated the word of God from external things and from each other at a major level within the Bible. We will skip down to the 'Word Study' for the next level that we will apply separation to.

Rightly dividing requires doing a proper Bible Word Study:

One of the main sources of false doctrine by so-called Christian religions is based upon non-Biblical definitions of Bible words.

Our first rule of dividing is that 'action is required and that error results from not dividing'.

Many Baptists claim that Fear of the Lord means 'respect for the Lord' but God and the Bible translators knew the difference between these words and deliberately used them in different verses because they have totally different meanings. Fear does NOT mean the same thing as respect in the Bible. When God divides these words and we refuse to follow God's example and even deny the division that God makes, we lead others into error.
The Bible has 38 verses with permutations of respect. It has 501 verses with permutations of fear. Out of those 501 verses, 230 also contain Lord. These numbers alone should tell us that God is far more interested in fear than He is in respect.
Many law-abiding citizens will claim that they respect the law of the land and try to obey it. They agree and support the principal of law and support the government's efforts to enforce the laws, at least in general even if they object to a few specific laws. Most of these people, when they are honest, drive a few MPH over the speed limit and the sight of a police car does not necessarily cause them to slow down if they are only going a few MPH over the speed limit. They respect the law but do not fear it. But if you look at someone that's on the 10-most-wanted list, it should be obvious that they do not respect the law. They strongly disagree with what they see as interference in their private life. However, if they are going over the speed limit by any amount, they will slow down to the speed limit or below it when they see a police car. They do not respect the law but do fear it.
Respect causes a change in attitude. Fear causes a change in action. A lot of preachers teach error when they say that we are not to fear anything. The Bible truth is that God orders His children to fear Him and to not fear the world, the devil, men or anything but Him.
The fear of the Lord is specifically designed to cause God's children to stop their sinning. It is specifically designed to overcome the lusts of this world. A few years ago my wife took everything we owned and threw me out. After she almost killed me several times, I was glad to go. However, with no wife, I was left with no sex. God convinced me, in my spirit, that if I had extra-marital sex, I would get a disease. Lots of others might get away with it, buy my personal Lord convinced me that I would not. The Fear of the Lord has literally kept me from this sin. Reformers Unanimous is full of people who were saved but did not 'fear the Lord' and ended up addicted to something.
Our churches are full of people who respect the Lord and sit on their 'blessed assurance' because they refuse to change their actions like true fear will cause a change in actions. They constantly ask for prayer because they do not have the blessings that God attaches to Fear of the Lord and to obedience (action). They listen to their preachers, claim the promises attached to the Fear of the Lord and then end up doubting God and God's promises because they do not receive the promises when they fix their attitude (respect of the Lord). The error in their belief leads to unbelief.
The 'fear of the world, the devil and men' will keep God's people from serving Him. The worship of God, on a personal level, is specifically designed to overcome this fear. However, once the fear is removed, the saved person must start serving or they will stop worshiping and end back in this fear.
Respect for God's Law must precede understanding it. We do not have to understand a Law to obey it, but we should get respect and understanding if we want to continue to obey.
Fear and respect have totally different meanings and, according to God's Word, obedience (from fear) precedes understanding (from respect) [John 7:17].

Our second rule is that the specified action of 'studying by division' must be done.

No one teaches adults and children the same way. Reformers Unanimous does an excellent job of teaching the basics of spiritual learning. However, Reformers Unanimous does not teach 'study by division' (at the time that this paper was written). 'study by division' is found in 2Timothy. That means that it was given to a senior pastor who was quite spiritually mature. It probably should not be taught to the spiritually immature because they can be easily overwhelmed and discouraged by the requirements. In addition, God tells us that He teaches precepts before line upon line and then only to them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts (Isaiah 28:9-11). We teach children to count then add and subtract and only later get into Algebra because each of these subjects are taught with the assumption that the student firmly grasps concepts that are taught at lower levels. To do otherwise would cause confusion and rebellion.
However, we also require our teachers to have education and knowledge beyond the level that they are teaching unless there are no better educated teachers or no higher level of teaching available. God does the same. God requires a certain level of spiritual maturity of church leaders (1Timothy 3). These more spiritually mature people should also be using the study method that God gave to preachers in 2Timothy 2:15.
We started with Matthew 7:24-27 and pointed out that Jesus said that those who heard His words and did not obey were fools. We then went to 2Timothy 2:15 and pointed out that those preachers who do not do 'study by division' will NOT be approved by God and will be embarrassed before all of the saints of Heaven. I will add that 1Corinthians 13:12 says For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. When we meet 'the Truth' face to face in front of all the witnesses of Heaven (Hebrews 12:1), there will be no hiding the foolishness that we continued to do after being warned to stop. And, 1Corinthians 13:12 indicates that those witnesses will know of our foolishness for eternity. Saul asked to be honored before the men of his day in 1Samuel 15. However, God also recorded his foolishness in the Bible for all men to know for all eternity. Only a fool would say that the God 'who never changes' will not do the same to them.

Thirdly, 'dividing is a precise mathematical function'. We are to look at fruit and not religious arguments. To get the precise Biblical definition of a word, we need to compare Scripture to Scripture for all occurrences of all permeations of the main word and all other words that are similar to the main word or are confused with the main word. 1Corinthians 2:13 tells us that we are to compare spiritual to spiritual if we are to get God's wisdom and not be fooled by man's 'wisdom'. God promises to reward them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Guessing the meaning of a word while reading your Bible is not diligently seeking Him. It also does not produce a single exact definition for a Bible word. When we guess we usually are influenced by the world and our flesh, which leads to error. Remember that the flesh wars against the Spirit.
Using a dictionary is better, and the best English dictionary for the English of the KJV1611 is the 1828 dictionary. However, people forget that dictionaries are written for all uses of the English language. Therefore, they contain definitions of words that are not valid when trying to interpret the Bible. In addition, dictionaries provide multiple definitions for a word, not a single definition. Therefore, the dictionary does not (usually) produce a single exact definition for a Bible word. Using these dictionaries is not diligently seeking Him. Yes, they are better than nothing but, no, they do not always give correct answers.
If you do use a dictionary, be sure to look up all permutations of the word. For example, adulterers is a permutation of adultery. Adulterers provides the true Biblical definition in the 1828 dictionary while adultery provides the human definitions but not the Biblical definition even in the 1828 dictionary. Please see the paper called Adultery which has a proper Bible Word Study and shows every occurance of this work in the Bible and gives the Biblical definition.

Our fourth rule is 'Don't subtract from the portion before dividing it'.

Religious men diminish the Bible definition of the word 'adultery'. It should be a basic proof to any saved and spiritually mature person that since the Pharisees picked a doctrinal fight with Jesus over the word adultery, their definition is wrong.Yet I regularly have leaders, teachers and preachers tell me that the definition from the Pharisees is right and what I tell them from the Bible is wrong.
One of the definitions of 'adulterers' found in Webster's 1828 defines is 'An apostate from the true faith, or one who violates his covenant engagements; a very wicked person. Jer. 9 and 23.' That is, Jeremiah chapter 9 (especially 9:2) and Jeremiah chapter 23 (especially 23:10). [In Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah says that the people's adultery is due to wicked pastors.] This is the true basic definition of this word in the Bible.
Webster's 1828 does NOT define 'adultery' as 'one who violates his covenant engagements.' Webster's is an English dictionary, not just a Bible dictionary. It MUST include common English usages including ones that do not match the Bible definitions. That is why you need to look at the definitions of all permutations of a word if you are going to use a dictionary.
The Jews had a covenant agreement with God that they violated. Several times in the Old Testament God sent prophets to call them adulterers as well as idolaters. God dealt with their idolatry in Babylon and they haven't done that sin since then. However, God isn't done with the adultery until Daniel's 70 weeks are done. The Jews were in the land 490 years and were to give the land a rest every 7 years, according to their covenant. They were adulterers because they broke their covenant agreement to give the land rest. God shows His opinion of violating a covenant with the 'Great Tribulation'.
Saved people make a covenant agreement that is upheld by God's court and sign a contract that is upheld by man's court when they get married. Many people say that God doesn't believe in divorce but both Isaiah and Jeremiah tell us that God divorced the Jews. He cut them off from Earthly blessings but kept them as His people spiritually. When saved people get divorced in man's court, that doesn't mean that they are divorced in God's court. In addition, God holds people to every part of their oath, which is the covenant agreement. Many woman who have never committed fornication will be surprised when God calls them adulterers because they continually took their children's side against their husband. That is a violation of their oath to put their husbands before 'all others' and God calls that adultery.
James tells us that friendship of the world is adultery ( James 4:4).
Every one of these Biblical examples are violations of covenant agreements that do not involve fornication. The religious man says that adultery is not any violation of the oath of a covenant agreement but only fornication. They encourage God's people to sin by taking away from the true Biblical definition of this sin. Just look at the divorce rate in churches and you will see evidence of God's people violating God's will for marriage. One of the best things that preachers could do is tell God's people to put a written copy of their marriage vows on their bedroom walls and read them every night and remind themselves that the God of Heaven punishes oath breakers.
I will go to the next point, even though I could teach much more about this sin.

Our fifth rule is 'Don't add to the portion before dividing it'.

People sin by adding to God's Word when they add a human definition to the definition found in the Bible and then use that non-Bible definition in a Bible verse. How many preachers have complained about other religions changing the definition of Bible words like Salvation' or 'baptism' and then they do the same thing? How many of us have heard preachers say 'We need to get a vision for the lost or they will perish'? They are taking Proverbs 29:18 out of context. It says Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
The Biblical definition of 'the' is 'there is only one and here it is' as when Jesus said 'I am the way' (John 14:6). So when Proverbs says the people perish, it is saying that there is only one people and the people who need a vision are the people perishing. These preachers distort God's Word when they tell one people that they need to get a vision so that another people won't perish.
The true Biblical definition for 'vision' is 'word from God' and can be easily seen in many of the verses that use it. So, the first half of Proverbs 29:18 is saying that where people have no word from God, those people will perish (go to Hell). Going on, the second (equivalent) half says but (connected idea going in a different direction from perishing) he that keepeth the law (law = word of God: you must have it before you can keep it) happy is he.
All of this preaching about people getting a 'vision' would be correct if they used the Biblical word of hope. I have not done a full study of the Biblical definition of hope , but from what I've seen, hope is like faith in that both require you to act as if you have something that you don't have. faith is based upon a specific promise of God ( Give, and it shall be given unto you') and has a specific reward that is also specified. Hope, on the other hand, is based upon the character of God and has a non-specific promise attached to it (Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:).

Our sixth rule is to 'Divide Equally' or 'Divide the way God does' (Equal to the way God divides).

In order to 'Divide Equally' or 'Divide the way God does' we must consider every usage of the word within the context that God used it. I have done a detailed study of over 4,000 verses in the Bible that are related to the various names of the Son of God in the New Testament. In the process, God has shown me new things as I remain diligent and look at every usage. I learned things in the middle of the study that I didn't know at the start. In learned things after that that I didn't know at the beginning or middle of the study.
Many people have told me that they have read through their Bible many times, which does not give them the same understanding that studying a specific name gives. It may give them knowledge and understanding, but not the same knowledge and understanding that studying a specific word in the Bible gives. How many people would be willing to accept a doctor that does General Practice as their brain surgeon, no matter how good a doctor he is in General medicine?
Many people have told me about their favorite preacher that wrote a book on one of the names of the Son of God which covered less than 100 of the verses provided by God. That's wonderful until they start telling me that if their favorite preacher didn't cover it then I must be wrong to say that the Bible does cover it. Lord occurs 670 times in the New Testament. Jesus occurs 935 times. Christ occurs 532 times. Son occurs 335 times. King occurs 81 times. Saviour occurs 24 times. Lamb occurs 31 times. When anyone says 'Here's all that God says about this name' and only covers only a fraction of the places that God uses that name, they are not dividing equal to the division that God makes. They are teaching the people, at least subconsciously, that a lot of what God says doesn't matter. I honestly doubt that godly preachers would claim that they covered all that there is to know about a given name of God. I don't make that claim and I've covered all of these verses. I also don't say that someone is wrong to say that the Bible teaches more than I covered but I say 'Show it to me in the Bible' when they claim that their minor study is more reliable than my major study. God condemned the religious people that refused to even listen and search their Bible to see if what they were told was actually there. You can't be right with God and say that I'm wrong when you haven't even heard where I got what I say is in the Bible and haven't shown me how my methods are against the Bible.
There are several places in the Bible where God tells His people to 'prove' something such as 1Thessalonians 5:21 which says Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (Please see the Study called Prove, which provides a lot of detail [including notes for evert verse in the Bible which uses the word] about how the Bible uses this word and this verse.) I happen to be a professional at proving certain things. If you have a limited number of occurrences then you MUST show the results of all cases or you have an opinion but not a proof. In order for me to prove that the Bible is talking about a literal physical man when it uses the name of Jesus, I must show it to be true in EVERY case (verse), which I have done. If you say 'I disagree', then you must find a case (verse) where under every possible consideration it is impossible to say that Jesus is used to identify a literal physical man. So, for example, you can't say that God is a spirit and God speaks, therefore some verse that says Jesus spoke is talking about a spirit speaking. Literal physical men can talk. So the ability of a spirit to speak does not eliminate the ability of a man to speak.
Many people take the attitude that if it isn't something that they have been already taught then it must not be of God. They are limiting God to their prior knowledge and not 'dividing equally'. In Isaiah 28:9-11 we are told that God will teach knowledge...and...make to understand doctrine...with stammering lips and another tongue. When you reject Bible knowledge that is outside of what you have been taught before, you are refusing the God sent teacher that has another tongue. Yes, verify it against the Bible but do not refuse it without even checking unless you want to sin against the God who sent the messenger.

Our seventh rule is to 'Use proper methods including precedence.' The exact steps involved in a proper Bible Word Study are:

Find every occurrence of the word in question.
For each occurrence, study the section of the Bible containing it to get the proper interpretation of the context. At a minimum, you need to consider the theme of the book it is in, the message of the section that it is in and the true interpretation of the full sentence that it is in. The section of the book often is within a chapter, but sections also crosses chapter boundaries often enough that you need to be careful of accepting a chapter boundary as the boundary of the section in the book. In addition, since most sentences span more than one verse, extra care needs to be made to not follow prior wrong training of interpreting verses.
The proper interpretation of the sentence should be written down. The process of writing forces the brain to do meditation that it does not do if things are not written down.
After writing your interpretation of the sentence, reread the section of the Bible containing the sentence then read it again only replace the sentence with your interpretation and verify that you still get the same meaning.
After getting the proper interpretation of the sentence, write down how the word is used in the sentence.
Repeat the above steps for every occurrence in the Bible.
Only after getting a written list of how the word is used in each case do you look at all usages and find the common usage that fits all occurrences. The Bible has one basic definition for every word used in the Bible. There may be secondary definitions for certain circumstances, and will be multiple applications, but the secondary definitions will agree with the primary definition of any word used in the Bible.
After finding the definition of the word, go back through every place in the Bible that it is used and read the section once as written. Then reread it only substitute the word's definition for the word in question. You should get the same meaning from the section of the Bible and you should also get new insights. This has to be experienced to understand how you get new insights.
After verifying the true definition of the base word, repeat the procedure for all permutations. For example, adulterers is a permutation of adultery.
After verifying the true definition for all permutations, repeat the procedure for similar or related words. Find the similarities and differences. For example, many people claim that fear means the same thing as respect. A proper Bible Word Study that examines the Biblical usage of each word will prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the Bible does not use the words interchangeably.
As you study, be sure to keep God's precedence in mind and ALWAYS keep the context in mind. As mentioned before, God puts the word 'life' at a higher precedence than 'everlasting' when it comes to salvation because everlasting is only a modifier for the main noun of life.
Be sure to write down all results because the process of writing helps the mind to meditate and learn properly. Also, if the results are kept, they can be referred to in the future, so long as the results are kept.

Our eighth rule is 'Dividing requires sticking to the proper basis.' The proper basis has already been covered. We just need to stick to it. The basis for a proper Bible Word Study is:

Use only the KJV1611 for English thinking people.
Reject any teaching that starts from religions or religious people that God has rejected. That is any religion or person that justifies physical or moral sin (Isaiah 28:1-8). For example, this 'unfortunate translation' garbage was started by worldly lost religious people who claimed to have a 'better education' (dung per Philippians 3).
Use God's order of precept before line. Keep to God's precedence in all areas.
Keep in context. Take special care to keep whole sentences as the minimum to be interpreted. Follow rules of grammar, especially sentence ending and use of the colon.
Use proper Bible Word Studies as the basis of any definition of a word found in the Bible. Do your own study or find a reliable source that is more reliable than the 1828 dictionary.
Use other books and commentaries, including the 1828 dictionary and the 'Greek', only after finding the truth in the KJV1611. Reject anything that goes against the KJV1611 and seriously consider never using that source again.

Our ninth rule is to 'Repeat application at each successive level.'

Pick one word that God lays on your heart and try this method before deciding that it is right or not right. Supposedly, no one knows as much about sex as a teenage virgin. This study method is like a lot of other things in that you can not form a valid opinion of it without first giving it a valid try.
Not only that, but God tells the spiritually mature, especially the leaders, to use this method.
Pick a word that has few occurrences and permutations for your initial attempt at learning this method of study. Gradually step up to more extensive studies.
The Lord Jesus Christ study is an example of using this method that analyzes over 4,000 verses in detail using these methods. Every book in the New Testament was studied through at least 12 times to produce the study. It provides substantial evidence that this study method works on as much of the Bible as anyone cares to apply it to and it produces consistent results.
The God who does not change and Who does reward diligence and faithfulness will reward the use of this study method more than others which please the flesh and stray from the character of God. The main reason to study our Bible is to learn of God and then become like Him.
One of the main ways of learning is by doing. John 7:17 says If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. The God of the Bible has revealed a method of studying His Word that that requires more diligence than other methods and allows less 'difference of opinion' than other methods. The God of the Bible demands submission to His revealed will.
If any person would claim that this is not God's revealed will, then let them show where the error occurs by showing how this study method disagrees with the written word of God.
If any person would use any standard (for judging this study method) other than the written word of God, they prove themselves to be liars when they claim to represent the God of the Bible.

Definitions from Websters 1828:

Websters 1828 defines 'dividing' as:

Parting; separating; distributing; disuniting; apportioning to each his share.
That indicates separation or difference; as a dividing line.

Verses using dividing are:

Joshua 19:49, 51; Isaiah 63:12; Daniel 7:25; 1Corinthians 12:11; 2Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 4:12 (7 verses).

Separating the country: Joshua 19:49, 51
Separating the water: Isaiah 63:12
Mathematically separating the time as in 1/2 of a time: Daniel 7:25
God separating spiritual gifts among men: 1Corinthians 12:11
Separating: the word of truth: 2Timothy 2:15
Separating the insides of men (soul/spirit, joints/marrow, thoughts/intents of heart) - Hebrews 4:12

Webster's 1828 defines 'divide' as:

To part or separate an entire thing; to part a thing into two or more pieces. Divide the living child in two. 1Kings 3.
To cause to be separate; to keep apart by a partition or by an imaginary line or limit. Let the firmament divide the waters from the waters. Genesis 1.
To disunite in opinion or interest; to make discordant. There shall be five in one house divided, three against two. Luke 12.
To break friendship; as, brothers divide.

Verses using divide are:

Genesis 1:6, 14, 18; 49:7, 27; Exodus 14:16; 15:9; 21:35; 26:33; Leviticus 1:17; 5:8; 11:4, 7; Numbers 31:27; 33:54; 34:17, 18, 29; Deuteronomy 14:7; 19:3; Joshua 1:6; 13:6, 7; 18:5; 22:8; 2Samuel 19:29; 1Kings 3:25, 26; Neimeiah 9:11, 22; Job 27:17; Psalms 55:9; 60:6; 74:13; 108:7; Proverbs 16:19; Isaiah 9:3; 53:12; Ezekiel 5:1; 45:1; 47:21; 22; 48:29; Daniel 11:39; Luke 12:13; 22:17 (46 verses)

Verses using divided are:

Genesis 1:4, 7; 10:5, 25, 32; 14:15; 15:10; 32:7; 33:1; Exodus 14:21; Numbers 26:53, 55-56; 31:42; De 4:19; 32:8; Jos 14:5; 18:10; 19:51; 23:4; Judges 5:30; 7:16; 9:43; 19:29; 2Samuel 1:23; 1Kings 16:21; 18:6; 2Kings 2:8; 1Chroniocles 1:19; 23:6; 24:4-5; 2Chronicles 35:13; Job 38:25; Psalms 68:12; 78:13, 55; 136:13; Isaiah 33:23; 34:17; 51:15; Lamentations 4:16; Ezekiel 37:22; Daniel 2:41; 5:28; 11:4; Hosea 10:2; Amos 7:17; Micah 2:4; Zechariah 14:1; Matthew 12:25-26; Mark 3:24-26; 6:41; Luke 11:17-18; 12:52-53; 15:12; Acts 13:19; 14:4; 23:7; 1Corinthians 1:13; Revelation 16:19 (66 verses)

Defining Equivalent:

Below are definitions from the Web for the word 'equivalent'. Basically, I am using 'equivalent' for 'equal and almost equal' where 'almost equal' allows for some technical inequalities so long as those inequalities do not prevent the two items from having the same value for the main unit of measurement. As explained below, a square and a triangle are not equal but they are equivalent so long as they contain the same area.

Main Entry:

Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Late Latin;
Middle French, from Late Latin aequivalent, aequivalens, present participle of aequival're to have equal power, from Latin aequi + val're to be strong ' more at WIELD Date: 15th century

equal in force, amount, or value; also : equal in area or volume but not superposable

like in signification or import
having logical equivalence

corresponding or virtually identical especially in effect or function
obsolete : equal in might or authority
having the same chemical combining capacity

having the same solution set
capable of being placed in one-to-one correspondence
related by an equivalence relation synonyms

see SAME ' equivalent noun ' equiv'a'lent'ly adverb Logical equivalence

From Wikipedia

statements p and q are logically equivalent if they have the same logical content. Syntactically, p and q are equivalent if each can be proved from the other. Semantically, p and q are equivalent if they have the same truth value in every model. Logical equivalence is often confused with material equivalence. The former is a statement in the metalanguage, claiming something about statements p and q in the object language. But the material equivalence of p and q (often written "p ↔ q") is itself another statement in the object language. There is a relationship, however; p and q are syntactically equivalent if and only if p ↔ q is a theorem, while p and q are semantically equivalent if and only if p ↔ q is a tautology. The logical equivalence of p and q is sometimes expressed as p ≡ q or p ⇔ q. However, these symbols are also used for material equivalence; the proper interpretation depends on the context.

[edit] Example The following statements are logically equivalent:

If Lisa is in France, then she is in Europe. (In symbols, f → e.)
If Lisa is not in Europe, then she is not in France. (In symbols, ~e → ~f.)

Syntactically, (1) and (2) are co-derivable via the rules of contraposition and double negation. Semantically, (1) and (2) are true in exactly the same models (interpretations, valuations); namely, those in which either Lisa is in France is false or Lisa is in Europe is true. (Note that in this example classical logic is assumed. Some non-classical logics do not deem (1) and (2) logically equivalent.)

Punctuation:

English Grammar Usage of the Colon:

I could find more examples on the Web, but that should not necessary. Basically, most web pages that tell of the use of colons mention lists, and lists have to have something in common to be proper lists. Thus, 'dirty engine oil' does not belong on a list of edible vegetable oils. Many of the web pages specify that items separated by colons must have a common theme. Most web pages agree that a colon is the strongest 'stop' used in grammar that is short of a period and that the part of the sentence before (and after) the colon must be a complete idea. We see the same concept as a colon provides when we have a complete idea (or a complete sentence) contained within another sentence. In that case, the outer sentence limits the contained sentence. By the same token, what is on one side of a colon limits the interpretation of what is on the other side of the colon, at least within the Bible. People used to understand this concept before the common usage of punctuation was changed. However, even when the common ussage changed the usage within the Bible did not change and we need to underst and how the Bible uses punctuation. When a sentence contains one or more colon, each part of the sentence is a complete idea that is limited in interpretation by the rest of the sentence. Often (but not always) when a sentence contains several colons, each section is divided into a separate verse and the division is done at the colon. Since each of these represent a complete thought, people have gotten into the habit of using verses as separate ideas. However, proper interpretation requires that the interpreted meaning of the verse must be limited to what matches with the rest of the sentence. EVERY doctrinal error that I have ever met can be traced back to someone taking a verse out of context and building a doctrine upon a twisted interpretation. (See the use of wrest within the Bible). Each section of a sentence that is separated by a colon within the Bible is equivalent, not equal, to other sections. Sometimes, one section is the mirror opposite of the other. So far in my study, every time that I have found a colon followed by the word "but" I have found that the two parts of the sentence are mirror opposites of the other. The Bible uses the colon to say the same thing different ways. Different people understand things different ways and God repeats the most important things more than one time and more than one way. Basically, if you realize that God controlled the grammar (jot and title of Matthew 5:18) usage in His Bible, you should realize that God chose colons, instead of periods, to indicate that certain things (verses) were strongly linked. He used colons to provide a stronger limitation of the interpretation of the verses than just using context and periods would have done. Most people read their Bible as if a colon was a period, because it is easier to read that way. God wanted to provide a more accurate interpretation. I know of no reason for God to use colons, instead of using periods, other than to show the diligent student that the proper interpretation of a thought (verse) is not complete but is only partial and that the true interpretation is limited by the other verses (within the same sentence).

Brief Overview of Punctuation: Semicolon, Colon,Parenthesis, Dash, Quotation Marks, and Italics

Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab

Punctuation marks are signals to your readers. In speaking, we can pause, stop, or change our tone of voice. In writing, we use the following marks of punctuation to emphasize and clarify what we mean. Punctuation marks discussed in other OWL documents include commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, and hyphens.

Semicolon ;

In addition, to using a semicolon to join related independent clauses in compound sentences, you can use a semicolon to separate items in a series if the elements of the series already include commas.

Members of the band include Harold Rostein, clarinetist; Tony Aluppo, tuba player; and Lee Jefferson, trumpeter.

Colon :

Use a colon..

in the following situations:	for example:
after a complete statement in order to introduce one or more directly related ideas, such as a series of directions, a list, or a quotation or other comment illustrating or explaining the statement.	The daily newspaper contains four sections: news, sports, entertainment, and classified ads. The strategies of corporatist industrial unionism have proven ineffective: compromises and concessions have left labor in a weakened position in the new flexible economy.
in a business letter greeting.	Dear Ms. Winstead:
between the hour and minutes in time notation.	5:30 p.m.
between chapter and verse in biblical references.	Genesis 1:18

Many colon errors would be avoided if only writers would remember this one rule: Colons are almost never used except at the end of an independent clause.

The function of the colon is to separate and introduce lists, clauses, and quotations, along with several conventional uses. Authorities disagree on usage of the colon and capitalization after a colon. The following guidelines generally correspond to Words Into Type(Skillin et al. 1974).

The colon is used to introduce a strong pause within a sentence. It is the longest pause short of a full stop. Examples

The colon is used to introduce a list:

The car has a number of optional extras : sun roof, tinted windows, rear seat belts, and electrically operated wing mirrors.

The colon separates two clauses which could stand alone as separate sentences, but which are linked by some relationship in meaning:

My brother likes oranges : my sister hates them.

The colon is also used before a long quotation or a speech:

Speaking at Caesar's funeral, Anthony addresses the crowd : "Friends, Romans, countrymen..."

It is also used before a clause which explains the previous statement:

The school is highly regarded : academic standards are high, the staff are pleasant, and the students enjoy going there.

Use

The colon can be used to provide emphasis, or to create dramatic effect:

There can be only one reason for this problem: his total incompetence.

It is also used at the end of a statement which is followed by an illustration:

The vase contains beautiful flowers: roses, tulips, and daffodils.

Notice that the items which follow a list are punctuated with commas if they are a succession of individual words.

You will need four ingredients: flour, butter, milk, and sugar.

If the items in the list contain clauses or phrases these may be punctuated with semicolons:

You will need the following materials: some scrap paper; a pen, preferably blue or black; some envelopes; and some good, white, unlined writing paper.

The colon requires careful handling. If you are in any doubt, use separate sentences.

The colon is also used between the title and the sub-title of a book: Magical Realism: Latin-American fiction today.