How to rightly divide the word of truth

2Ti 2:15 NRSV "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth."

Rightly dividing the word of truth is a phrase that is found in the KJV and the NKJV of the bible. It is also referred to as correctly teaching, correctly handling, and in the NRSV version posted above it is rightly explaining the word of truth. I have written a couple of blog articles on rightly defining the word of truth. They show beyond doubt that when Paul and James used the phrase word of truth, they meant the gospel and not the scripture per se. However, that is not that important to the discussion in this post because Jesus said that the entire scripture's purpose was to point to him so that the reader could find him and then by finding him find life.

So then, whether you want to think of it as rightly dividing the bible or rightly dividing the gospel I am quite happy with either conclusion. However, I think it is important that we use the above definition which is rightly explaining or rightly handling the word of truth.

First we'll discuss what I believe is the incorrect way of handling and explaining the word of truth. Many, and I would actually say most evangelicals first think of the word of truth as a legal constitutional document, handbook, or manual for Christian living. Similar in nature to the standard operations procedures manual (SOP) that you find most business have for their employees and managers. This is most definitely NOT the way to correctly handle or explain the word of truth.

So let's examine the various kinds of messages that are in the scripture. I will list them in importance as I see them. First you have what I call God's redemptive decrees. They are passages of scripture such as Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 5:1, Romans 8:1-4, and John 3:16-18. This is by no means an exhaustive list but merely an example as there are myriads of these redemptive decrees throughout the entire scripture. Secondly, there are prophecies that point to redemption such as those by Isaiah, Jeremiah and many other prophets.  Third, there are promises of God's faithful care such as can be found in the Psalms. Fourth, there are historical stories that act as metaphors for spiritual realities, such as the forty-year desert wanderings etc. Fifth, there are occasional messages that are essentially cultural in nature and to a specific audience for a specific occasion.

Common sense should let one know that not all of the messages of scripture are of equal importance. Here is Jesus priority: John 5:39-40  "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.  (40)  Yet you refuse to come to me to have life." and..... Luke 24:27  "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures." and... Luke 24:45-47  "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,  (46)  and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,  (47)  and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." It should be crystal clear from this that the important message in scripture in Jesus eyes and mind was redemption, and his redeeming mission.

When you look at the bulk of Paul's epistles you find that they all begin with the redemptive decrees. These redemptive decrees have pre-eminence in the scripture. I came up with a slogan about twenty years ago give or take a few years: it is simply this: "the only way to rightly divide the word of truth is with the cross." What that means practically is there are many passages in the Old Testament that prophesy of the time after the cross and the New Covenant, and get this, most of the gospels are written about a time before the cross about messages to Jews who were still under the Mosaic Covenant. A whole lot of doctrinal error is wound up in missing this most important point.

Faith cometh by hearing

Many of the blog posts here have been devoted to proving that Jesus and his first century followers changed the meaning of the phrase word of God from Torah to gospel. Jesus taught a uniquely redemptive purpose to the scripture. This is plainly proclaimed in John 5:39-40 and Luke 24:27; 43-45. In the past, I have issued a challenge, to take all of the verses in the New Testament with the phrase word of God in them, and to substitute either scripture or gospel in place of the phrase. When one does that it is easy to see that their meaning in using the phrase was gospel or Jesus the living gospel and not scripture. Again, please do not think that I am downplaying the scripture or its inspired status. I am not. I am rather showing the extent that Jesus taught his followers to go to in emphasizing and underscoring the redemptive purpose of the scripture.

With this in mind let’s turn our attention to Romans 10:17. In the KJV it reads, “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” So then, let me ask the question; did Paul mean that faith cometh by hearing scripture or gospel? Well, when you look at it in context it becomes rather obvious that he meant the gospel. The sentence could easily be stated that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the gospel of Christ.

Let’s take a look at this verse in some of the new versions of the scripture.

NASB “Rom 10:17  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

HCSB “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the

message about Christ.”

ESV “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” 

Why is that so? The answer is that there are a number of original Greek texts from which the translations are made, and further there are many variations within those texts. Some say word of God and some say word of Christ. The Byzantine Text or Textus Receptus which the KJV was translated from says word of God, but the Westcott Hort and the Nestle-Aland say word of Christ.  The Greek is as follows: It is the rhematos christou (word of Christ) or the (rhematos theou) the word of God.

         When one realizes that the first century apostles meant the gospel or the word of Christ when they wrote word of God it becomes less of a problem. The newer versions call it the word of Christ because the translating scholars believe that it is far more likely that the original scripture had the word of Christ in Romans 10:17. I believe that the original text could have had the word of God there but I have proven beyond doubt that in most cases in the New Testament, and in ALL cases from the book of Acts forward they meant gospel or Jesus the living gospel when they wrote the phrase word of God.

It does have interesting implications that go against the common explanation of this verse. Faith does not come from hearing just any ole scripture passage. Faith comes by hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since rhematos (a variation of rhema) more rightly means spoken word, it would suggest that faith cometh by hearing the spoken word of Christ.

Opening the scroll

Rev 5:6-9 NLT  “Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.  (7)  He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the One sitting on the throne.  (8)  And when He took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God's people.  (9)  And they sang a new song with these words: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For You were slaughtered, and Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

There is a direct correlation between the above passage and the following one:

Luke 24:44-45 NLT  “Then He said, "When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled."  (45) Then He *opened their minds* to understand the Scriptures.”

Jesus had a specific way of looking at the scripture. He saw it as expressing his purpose and destiny. It is only in seeing the scripture as Jesus sees it that one can have the scripture opened. It is only opened when Jesus and the redemption that he brings is the sole focus of the scripture. All scripture must be viewed with the understanding that Jesus is Lord and Christ and the sole purpose of the scripture.

Paul puts it another way in this passage: 2Co 3:14-16 NRSV  “But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.  (15)  Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds;  (16)  but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.” Notice that the veil is only removed with a Christ-centered approach to reading and understanding the scripture.

That is one of the main obstructions to revelation knowledge today in the church. To really truly understand the scripture in the way that it was meant one must see the redemptive gospel focus. The passage that I quoted above from second Corinthians ends with an explanation of the ministry of reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not counting trespasses. He made Jesus who knew no sin to be made sin for sinful humanity so that reconciled humanity could be the righteousness of God in Christ and be at peace with God.

Peace with God is the most important aspect of truly loving God. The Shema, Deu 6:4-6 NRSV  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.  (5)  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  (6)  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.” Jesus said that this was the first and greatest commandment. i.e, loving God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might.

This commandment can only be fulfilled when one is set at peace with God because of the grace found in Jesus Christ. The scripture will only be opened when one understands the gospel of grace in its fullness and ties all the reading and teaching and preaching to it.

The uncompromised word of God

You often hear people refer to the uncompromised word of God. What do they generally mean when they use that phrase? Most of the time when they use the phrase, they mean, they teach the bible uncompromised. Is that a correct understanding of the phrase? I don’t think so; especially, if they are a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. The reason is that Jesus defined the word of God as the gospel, and he taught his first century followers to do the same. If you look at the New Testament writings you will find that predominately in the gospels, and exclusively from Acts forward, whenever you read the phrase *the word of God,* they always mean the gospel, the good news.

The follower of Jesus should then concentrate on the good news as it is presented in the scripture. When someone tells you that you should get the word of God inside you, and have it become a part of your DNA… if you are a follower of Jesus, then you should make sure that you get the gospel (good news) on the inside of you and have it become a part of your DNA.

So then you ask, what is the gospel? Galatians explains that according to the scripture the gospel was preached to Abraham (Gal 3:8.) What was the gospel that was preached to Abraham? The short answer is this… “that in Abraham’s Seed all the nations of the world would be blessed.” Galatians 3:16 explains that the promised seed of Abraham was Jesus Christ. This is how it becomes the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice that we do not find out that the Seed is Jesus in Genesis. Revelation is progressive.

How is the world blessed by the Seed of Abraham? The answer is that Jesus reconciled the world back to the Father on the cross. His birth, death, and resurrection is the good news that reconciled humanity to Father God. This is what brings peace with the Father (Rom 5:1.) But, Galatians 3:29 explains that if one is in Christ, they are then Abraham’s Seed and heirs according to the promise. This is also part of the good news. The blessings of Abraham are for believers.

This means that the blessings in Deuteronomy 28 are blessings for all those who are *in Christ.* this means that believers are automatically blessed in the city and the country; they are blessed when they come and go. They are the head and not the tail, they are above and not beneath. This is really a birthright of the new birth. When one is born again, at the new birth, they become Abraham’s Seed in Christ, and heirs of the blessings of Abraham.  

So what does this have to do with the uncompromised word of God you ask? The uncompromised word of God is the uncompromised gospel. It is the fact that the believer is the righteousness of God in Christ. God made us convenantally right in Christ and we are in line for the blessings. How did Abraham receive the blessing in the first place? Look at this passage of scripture… Gen 15:6  “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” By the same token, we receive the blessing by believing the report (Isa 53:1.)

Peter defines the word of God; He was following Jesus and the other apostles

1Pe 1:23-25  since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;(Jesus)  (24)  for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,  (25)  but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

I have devoted a lot of key strokes to the indisputable fact that first Jesus, and then his first century followers redefined the phrase word of God to mean, either, Jesus the living word or the gospel (the good news of Jesus.) I have shown that Paul defined the word of truth as the gospel (Eph 1:13)… and likewise, so did James (James 1:18), and here we have Peter as yet another witness of the first century Christ follower who has redefined the word from Torah to gospel.

I recently did a word study on this and would like to include it here for you. I confess that it is more words than the usual blog post because it is quite exhaustive.

Jesus defines the word of God as the gospel:

Jesus defines the phrase “word of God” as the gospel in the parable of the sower.

(Mat 13:18-19)  "Hear then the parable of the sower:  (19)  When anyone hears the *word of the kingdom* and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.” So then, in this account from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus equates the seed with the word of the kingdom or the gospel of the kingdom. Now look at the same parable in Luke’s gospel. (Luke 8:11-12)  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  (12)  The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Here Jesus defines the seed as the word of God. So then, in one place he calls the seed the word or gospel of the kingdom and in another place he calls it the word of God. One can conclude from this that Jesus defined the word of God as the gospel of the kingdom.

This becomes especially important when you look at the way that all of his first century followers who wrote the New Testament defined the phrase *word of God.* It was always gospel or Jesus the living gospel. In the New Testament writings, when you see the phrases *word of God*… *word of truth*… or just the word *word.* It always means *the gospel* or Jesus the living gospel and conversely, it never means scripture. You can easily test this out. Do a concordance search of the phrase *word of God* and then substitute the phrase with either scripture or gospel. You will soon see that it only makes sense when the word gospel is substituted.

Here is an exhaustive list with the substitution made and commentary that follows to justify the meaning.

(Luk 5:1)  On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,… to hear the gospel makes sense… to hear the scripture does not. They went to the synagogues to hear the scripture read

(Luk 8:11)  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God… In this passage as shown above the seed is the gospel of the kingdom.

(Luk 8:21)  But he answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." Hear the gospel and do it, not hear the scripture and do it

(Luk 11:28)  But he said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"… hear the gospel and keep (believe) it.

(Act 4:31)  And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness… The continued to speak the gospel with boldness.

(Act 6:2)  And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables… preaching the gospel not the scripture.

(Act 6:7)  And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith… the gospel continued to increase

(Act 8:14)  Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John… Samaria received the gospel they already had the scripture.

(Act 11:1)  Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God… received the gospel not the scripture

(Act 12:24)  But the word of God increased and multiplied… the gospel increased and multiplied, the scripture was already very wide spread.

(Act 13:5)  When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them… they proclaimed the gospel not the scripture.

(Act 13:7)  He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God… sought to hear the gospel

(Act 13:46)  And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles… gospel be spoken first to you… first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.

(Act 17:13)  But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds… the gospel was proclaimed

(Act 18:11)  And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them… teaching the gospel, not the scripture

(Rom 9:6)  But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel… not as though the gospel had failed

(1Co 14:36)  Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?... the gospel came?

(Eph 6:17)  and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,… which is the gospel

(Col 1:25)  of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known… make the gospel fully known

(1Th 2:13)  And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers… received the gospel which you heard from us

(1Ti 4:5)  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer… by the gospel and prayer

(2Ti 2:9)  for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!... the gospel is not bound.

(Tit 2:5)  to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled… that the gospel may not be reviled

(Heb 4:12)  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart… for Jesus is living and active… see verses 13-15 for context and proof.

(Heb 6:5)  and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,… tasted the goodness of the gospel

(Heb 11:3)  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible… created by Jesus

(Heb 13:7)  Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith… spoke to you the gospel

(1Pe 1:23)  since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

(2Pe 3:5)  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,… Jesus

(1Jn 2:14)  I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one… Jesus abides in you

(Rev 1:2)  who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw… bore witness to the gospel

(Rev 1:9)  I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus… on account of the gospel

(Rev 6:9)  When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne… slain for the gospel

(Rev 19:13)  He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God… Jesus

(Rev 20:4)  Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years… testimony of Jesus and the gospel

Word of truth

Both Paul and James actually define what they mean by the phrase word of truth.

(Eph 1:13)  “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

(Jas 1:18)  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures… brought us forth by the gospel and Jesus

A question to ponder:

Here is my question; if Jesus, and his followers re-defined the word of truth and the word of God to be the gospel, and Jesus the living gospel… why… do all evangelical pastors and theologians insist on calling the scripture the word of God? Does this alone not show that they are walking in error?

Note: **I acknowledge that Psalm 119 defines the word of God and word of truth as the Torah. I acknowledge that Jesus referred to Torah as the word of God in Matt 15:6, Mark 7:13 and John 10:35. It really just speaks about two times because the Matt and Mark passages are both referring to the same instance. In each of these instances he was speaking to unbelieving Jews who thought that the Torah was the Word of God and he was being critical of how this belief had affected their theology.

Redemptive decrees; why they must have precedence in the scripture

What are redemptive decrees? Why are they important, and why must they have precedence over other messages of scripture? These are just some of the questions that must be asked to and answered by evangelical Christianity today. If we do not eliminate the legal constitutional reading of scripture, and replace it with a redemptive reading there will always be a schizophrenic message to the gospel, and legalism will always have precedence over grace.

The first question is what are the redemptive decrees? The answer is that they are declarative statements in the scripture that… if they are not true as they stand alone, then are not true at all, and further then, the person who wrote or spoke the decree is actually misleading the hearers or readers. The decrees cannot be modified by other statements, especially by statements made by other authors on other occasions. Here is an example of a redemptive decree:

(Rom 10:9-13 ESV)  “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (10)  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  (11)  For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."  (12)  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. (13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

This is the kind of statement that must be true or it is not. Salvation must come from confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart. That is the sole criteria for being saved. Paul says that it is the word of faith, or the gospel that they proclaim. This simply put is a concise statement of the gospel… the gospel is that if you confess and believe you will be saved.

There are many such decrees found in the various passages of the scripture. Some are in the Old Testament and some are in the New Testament. However, in order for people to be able to rest in Jesus, that is, achieve the Sabbath Rest described in Hebrews chapter four, the redemptive decrees must have precedence over all other messages in scripture. This is why Jesus taught a strictly redemptive hermeneutic (John 5:39-40 & Luke 24:27-43-45.)

The fact is that today; within evangelical Christianity, people already give greater importance to some scriptures over others, and they ignore others all together. For example, the admonition that women are to keep silent in the church (1Corinthians 14:34) is not followed or accepted as being pertinent today. Likewise no one is selling their daughter as a concubine (Exodus 21:7-11.) How do they choose which to follow and which not to follow? All too often it is based on cultural preference and what is culturally accepted instead of understanding that the redemptive decrees have precedence over all other messages, and that all other admonitions are occasional and must be understood within their cultural, historical and literal context and specifically what they would have meant to their intended audience.