Hermeneutics Lesson 12

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Rightly dividing the Word of truth.

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.

There is a detailed Study on LJC1611kjv.com called Dividing that gives a precise definition of this word, the proper mathematical procedure for dividing and how this procedure applies to the word of God.  Please see that Study for details.  This lesson will provide a different, and more general, perspective of the same subject.

Dividing  is a mathematical function that is precise in procedure and provides an exact answer, if one is possible, and a good approximation with the recognition that an exact answer is not possible, when that is true.

If we must be rightly dividing the Word of truth  it should be obvious that some people will be wrongly dividing the Word of truth.  They will be made ashamed  by God and it might not happen until the judgment seat of Christ,  when it is too late for them to correct their error.  Example is the Biblical Old Testament versus the claims by religion.

1. The New Testament did not replace Genesis through Malachi.
1. Hebrews 9 talks about a legal document called a Testament  but which is also called a 'Last Will and Testament'.  Men call this legal document a 'Will' because they don't want to heat what 'the old man' says, they just want his stuff.  God calls it a Testament  because He doesn't care about stuff that He is going to burn up but He says His Word is what is most important.  Thus, we see that what men call a 'Will' is the same legal document that God calls a 'Testament'.  This can be seen by the context of Hebrews 9.
2. A given person can only have one 'Last Will and Testament' in effect at a time, as is also pointed out by Hebrews 9.  That points out a basic problem with the Mormon claim of having 'Another Testament'.  In addition, you can not add to, remove from, or change the 'Last Will and Testament' that belongs to someone else.  Yet, we have lots of religions who claim the right to do these things to God's 'Testament' and to God's Law,  which is enforced by God's court.  People who believe these lies only prove themselves to be Biblical fools. 
3. Since only God can specify what is in His Testament,  only He can specify what is in the Old Testament  that is replaced by His New Testament.  Hebrews 9:23 says It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these; but the Heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  Hebrews teaches us that Christ  offered a better sacrifice  and that His better sacrifice  replaced the sacrifices  offered under the Mosaic Religious Law.  While it is easy to miss what is being said here, if you don't consider what is said elsewhere in the New Testament, but the patterns of things  mentioned in this verse, and the things sprinkled with blood  mentioned Hebrews 9, all had to do with the religious part of the Mosaic Law.
4. The Mosaic Law has 3parts intertwined in the books that give it to us.  The Civil part told how Israel was to be governed.  No country uses that law today.  Peter, and other places in the New Testament, tell us to obey the law of the land we are in.  So. While the Civil part of the Mosaic Law is good for our admonition,  it does not directly apply to us and we do not have to obey it.
5. In addition, in Acts 15, when the Council of Jerusalem determined that Gentiles did not have to keep the Law,  they said that they did have to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.   These are all examples of the Moral part of the Mosaic Law, which deals with our personal relationship with God.  All of these parts of the Mosaic Law only clarify what God had already established before giving the Mosaic Law.  Galatians 3explains that neither the giving of the law, nor the taking away of the Law cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.   That is, the Moral part of the Law only clarified what God had already established by promises and covenants.  Therefore, the Moral part of the Law remains and applies to everyone.
6. What is left of the Mosaic Law is the religious part which caused all of the controversy in the early church.  We find it referred to as law  and as circumcision  in New Testament Epistles.  After the Jerusalem Church determined God's will, they let prophets  continue to preach keeping the religious part of the Mosaic Law which caused Peter to preach doctrinal error.  In Acts 21:20 we read ' Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:  They were zealous  for what God had clearly put aside.  They ended up getting Paul arrested and beheaded.  Then God sent the Roman Army in to kill all of these people who were zealous  for doctrinal error and had the Temple thrown down  so that it was impossible to keep the religious part of the Mosaic Law.
7. Thus we see that, according to the Bible, only the religious part of the Mosaic Law was replaced by the New Testament. 


2. The New Testament is dependent upon Genesis through Malachi.
1. There are a couple hundred, or more, places where the New Testament quotes, or paraphrases, Genesis through Malachi and uses those quotes as the basis for doctrine in the New Testament.  This would not be possible if Genesis through Malachi were put aside by God.
2. In addition, to those, we read the phrase is written  in 87verses of the New Testament and Jesus  said Have ye not read  7times in the Gospels.
3. The only part of Genesis through Malachi which is excluded by the New Testament, is the religious part of the Mosaic Law.  Hebrews actively explains how it was replaced and the rest of the New Testament excludes it by refusing to quote from it.


3. Two or more witnesses for doctrine that applies to everyone.
1. One time occurrences are used by God to tell us something that He wants in our personal life but that we are not to impose on others out of our personal responsibility.  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.  Part of rightly dividing  is top separate according to already established groupings.  In the Bible we have a very definite division between how God deals with people under His Law that applies to everyone and how He deals with people in a personal relationship with Him.  For example, there are several places in the Bible which tell us God is no respecter of persons  (using a variety of words).  Yet we also see things like the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.  (Genesis 4:4-5).  Here we see Cain and Able bringing sacrifices as a personal sacrifice within their personal relationships with God.  However, every place we see the Bible say something like God is no respecter of persons,  it is talking about how God deals with people in a legal or group setting.  Thus, we see that God makes a division between how He acts, and judges, in these two different settings.  Therefore, we need to consider which setting a particular part of the Bible is dealing with, and separate what it says according to these settings, or we will be confused when we expect one behaviour and God acts another way.
2. The main problem is that people think that they are rightly dividing  when they are not.  Part of the source of that confusion is people do not understand what God means by rightly dividing.   Please look at the Study called Dividing,  at LJC1611kjv.com, for those details.
3. Another source of confusion is that people not understand, or refuse to believe, what the consequences are of this error.  Our opening quote said needeth not to be ashamed.   If God decides that you needeth...to be ashamed  then it is going to happen.  Hebrews 12:1 says Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.   A witness  doesn't just see what happens but they also testify in court and are qualified to testify in court.  Satan will not be allowed to testify at the judgment seat of Christ.   However, saints like those mentioned in Hebrews 11 will.  What's more, the Bible will last forever, and knowledge of David's sin will last forever even though he was man after God's own heart  (1Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).  If David's sin will be known forever, so also will be the sin that we refuse to confess and forsake (1John 1).
4. Genesis 41:32 says And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.  When we search the Bible for forms of the word establish,  we see it repeatedly applied to covenants and laws from God.  Thus, we see that God's legal matters, which apply to all people without respect of persons  is said at least twice and said literally by God.
5. However, we also see things, like the sacrifices of Cain, Able and Abraham (of Isaac) only occurring once.  These one-time occurrences show us that God deals with people in a personal relationship, but they are not the basis of doctrine.  (We don't make human sacrifices.) Again, more details and Bible references are presented in the Studies mentioned but this lesson is only providing the general concepts.


4. Two or more witnesses for interpretation of the Bible.
2Peter 1:19-21 says We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
1. If interpretation  could be based upon one witness (one place in scripture), then it would be private  to the person who wrote that part of the Bible.  Our verse tells us no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 
2. Further, people and religions try to claim that they can have 'their interpretation', which is different from God's interpretation and calls this verse in the Bible a lie.  We've already seen private  (one time) applications of scripture, but not one-time interpretation  of scripture.  When we stand before God in judgment, He will make clear what He feels about our teaching lies from a devil as His Word, He will judge our pride which led us to do this error, and He will hold us personally responsible for all negative consequences of our lie.
3. Thus, if God's Spirit shows us only one place in the Bible where a truth exists, and tells us to obey it, we are to limit that truth to ourselves and, possibly, the souls that we are responsible for.  Even when a truth is stated more than once in the Bible, the Holy Spirit will often reveal only one occurrence of that truth when God wants someone to get the truth right in their own life and not run around trying to get others to obey a truth that the speaker is disobeying personally.
5. Punctuation provides divisions within sentences.
Matthew 5:18 and Luke 16:16 tell us And it is easier for Heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.  (Matthew uses one jot or one tittle.)  These are references to what we call 'punctuation marks' in written languages.  They are 'construction directions for sentences' which control the proper construction, and understanding, of sentences.  Please consider the following:



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.


We saw this earlier but it bears repeating.  While I have no Bible reference to give for the following, I have found these rules to be 100% consistent within the interpretation of over 6,000 verses.  I am open to anyone proving that they are wrong and also providing a better set of rules for the use of punctuation within the Bible.  In addition, the reader can research and verify that these rules are a subset of the formal rules of grammar used by men.  The usages that men allow, which can cause confusion, are now used within the Bible because For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.  (1Corinthians 14:33) 
1. Always start with a prayer for God's guidance and help.  Expect God to reveal new things to you and to correct doctrinal errors that you have been taught in the past.
2. First find the end of the sentence which has a period, question mark or exclamation mark and is outside of any included parenthesis.
3. Secondly provide a simple interpretation for anything within parenthesis and use that simple interpretation in place of the parenthesis.  This follows the rules for parenthesis used within Math.
4. Next divide the sentence at any colon.
5. Next divide at the semi-colon keeping the semi-colon within the colon.
6. Next divide by commas, keeping them within the semi-colons and colons.
7. Apply the meaning of each punctuation mark as you get to it.
8. A colon provides equivalency whereby the two sides of the colon provide messages with the same meaning but delivered from different points of view.  Be sure to verify that the message of each section delivers the same meaning.  A colon followed by the word but  makes the two sides of the message polar opposites.  Think of a black-and-white picture and the negative of that picture for an understanding of polar opposites.
9. Semi-colons show steps in a procedure.  These can cause confusion at first because it often is not obvious that things are steps and many times we have been taught meanings for sentences which are not steps.  However, once we start finding God's steps we will have a better understanding of our Bible and we will learn how to do some things that we, presently, are not sure how to do.
10. Commas separate items which have equal value.  The biggest error with commas is that people try to make some things more important than other things when God says that they have equal value.
11. A sentence is a complete thought and the proper interpretation of the most complex sentence must be a single thought.
12. Starting with the simplest part of the sentence, find the Biblical definition of all words and interpret it.  As you move to parts of the sentence which enclose other parts of the sentence use the interpretation of the simpler parts to determine the interpretation of the more complex parts of the sentence.
13. Once you are done with each part, review the entire interpretation and verify that if creates a single thought.
14. Check the interpretation of the sentence against the surrounding context to verify that it is in keeping with the context of that section of the Bible Book, the chapter, the book and the Bible as a whole.
15. Verify that your interpretation does not violate any of the true precepts  of the Bible.

Bottom line: There are many more applications of this precept but what was presented here gets (hopefully) the general concept across.  As said, the Study called Dividing provides many more details.  There are a lot of people who are not rightly dividing the Word of Truth  and there are serious consequences for participating in this error.  We will each personally answer to our Lord, when we are personally judged, for all of the consequences of our doing this doctrinal error.

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