Searching the Scriptures by Charles R. Swindoll

Author:Charles R. Swindoll
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Biblical Studies / Exegesis & Hermeneutics, RELIGION / Biblical Studies / Bible Study Guides
ISBN: 9781496418456
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2016-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

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

2 TIMOTHY 2:15, KJV

This sounded great, but I never knew what “rightly dividing” meant. No doubt this phrase was understood by those living in the seventeenth century, in the days of “King James English,” but I ended up reciting words I didn’t understand.

One teacher explained the verse this way: “You divide the Old Testament from the New Testament.” But that has nothing to do with the meaning of that verse. Later I was taught that this verse referred to dividing the Bible into dispensations, or eras of time, from Genesis through Revelation. Again, that verse has little to do with dispensations. At a conference I attended as a young man, I heard a Bible teacher explain the verse this way: people who teach the Bible rightly divide the truth when they take it apart, divide it up, and then piece it back together. However, this isn’t what 2 Timothy 2:15 is saying either.

The key word in this verse is divide, which comes from the Greek word orthotomeo. It’s actually a combination of two Greek words. The first is orthos (where we get our words orthodox and orthopedic), which means “straight.” Temno is a verb that means “to cut.” It was used in the first century to refer to cutting a path through a forested area. The verse is essentially saying that we should cut a straight path to the truth as we allow it to speak clearly to us. That’s what it means to “rightly divide.” I love the way the New American Standard version renders this phrase: “accurately handling the word of truth.” That’s about as close as we can get to the original Greek.

If there were a single verse that summed up my calling, this would be it. My goal as an expositor is to accurately handle the Word of Truth. I will give an account to God for what I do with His Word. I have stood before congregations for more than fifty years, and when I open the Bible, I’m responsible for making sure I cut a straight path from the truth into life so that all who hear are led into an understanding of the truth.

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