Rightly Dividing (Part 1)
Bible Study Time 7-2-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 7-2-06
From his prison house in Rome, the Apostle Paul was able to look back on his life and see the influence of the three basic programs of God. Paul was raised under the influence of Israel’s first covenant, the Law of Moses. On the road to Damascus, Paul met the Lord Jesus from whom he learned the significance of the New Covenant. After Paul was arrested and sent to Rome, God revealed to him the great truth of the Church which is the Body of Christ.
With these three programs in mind, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith, admonishing him to rightly divide the word of truth. Specifically, Paul said:
2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJ)
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Without the principle of right division, the scriptures would certainly seem to be a mixed up blend of contradictions, but as we rightly divide the word of truth, we see that all of the scriptures fit together to reveal a complete and total picture of God’s dealings with man, past, present and future.
Paul was raised in the city of Tarsus which was under Roman rule but had a great deal of independence because they had proven their loyalty to Rome. It was a city which was loved and celebrated for its literature and philosophy. Some scholars believe that it was comparable to and maybe superior in culture to that of Athens in Greece and Alexandria in Egypt.
It seems likely then that Paul, even as a child, would have had access to Greek literature and philosophy, but Paul’s father was a Pharisee who probably saw to it that Paul’s primary instruction even as a child was in the Jewish Law, the first great program of God for mankind. In fact, Paul may not have been much more than a child when he was sent to Jerusalem to study under Gamaliel who was one of the greatest Jewish scholars of the day. In Acts 22 and verse 3, Paul spoke before an angry mob in Jerusalem and said:
Acts 22:3 (NKJ)
3 "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God . . .
Paul went on to tell how he had persecuted those who had believed in Jesus but how he had been saved on the road to Damascus. He said:
Acts 22:4-10 (NKJ)
4 "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,
5 "as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 "Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.
7 "And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'
8 "So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'
9 "And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.
10 "So I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.'
Paul was about to learn that God had a plan for Israel which was much more glorious than that of the Old Covenant Law. From Damascus, God did not lead Paul back to Jerusalem to learn from the apostles. In Galatians 1, Paul said:
Galatians 1:11,12,15-17 (NKJ)
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace,
16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
At this time the original Apostles knew only the promises contained in the Law concerning the Messiah and the earthly kingdom. In Acts, Chapter 3, after Peter healed the lame man, Peter said to the Jewish crowd:
Acts 3:22-26 (NKJ)
22 "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 'And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'
24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
25 "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'
26 "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."
God was doing some spectacular things through the Apostles there in Jerusalem. He was using the Apostles to heal the sick, cast out demons and grant the power to speak in tongues, but Peter was still looking at these events through the eyes of the Old Covenant. He could not see this bigger picture. These things were a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Covenant, but even more than that, they were actually being done in accordance with and as evidence of the New Covenant, God’s second great plan for mankind.
God had chosen Paul as the one who would reveal the details of the New Covenant. In II Corinthians, Chapter 3, Paul said:
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NKJ)
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
It was the Apostle Paul who revealed that this outpouring of God’s spirit was in accordance with the New Covenant and that it would be the power of the Holy Spirit which would bring about Israel’s everlasting kingdom of peace and righteousness. It was the Apostle Paul who taught that God was not just refining the Law and taking the Law to a new level, but God was doing away with the Law so that He could bring in a better covenant.
The New Covenant had a better priesthood, a better sacrifice and a better hope. Paul told the Roman believers in Romans, Chapter 11:
Romans 11:25-27 (NKJ)
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
The New Covenant, based in the power of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, will someday bring salvation to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel has to be saved before the New Covenant Kingdom can come.
This is the message that Timothy first heard from the Apostle Paul in Galatia. In Galatians, Chapter 4, Paul said:
Galatians 4:21-31 (NKJ)
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar--
25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children--
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Timothy had been taught that the New Covenant was a better covenant than the Old Covenant and that the Old Covenant had passed away. It was time to cast out the bondwoman so to speak. With these things in mind Timothy could now understand the words of the Lord Jesus when He said:
Matthew 9:16-17 (NKJ)
16 "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.
17 "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
The Old Covenant and New Covenant just don’t mix. They operate in two different paradigms. The Old Covenant operates in the realm of the flesh while the New Covenant operates in the realm of the Spirit.
Timothy had been well trained in the Law by his mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice. He had been trained in the New Covenant by the Apostle Paul. But Timothy was also with Paul there in Rome when Paul wrote his epistles to the churches at Ephesus, Colossae and Philippi. So Timothy was well aware of the revelation which God had given to Paul concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ, the third great program of God.
Timothy’s close association with Paul not only in Paul’s travels but also in Paul’s imprisonment at Rome make it certain that Timothy was aware of the difference between the New Covenant program of God and God’s program for the Church which is the Body of Christ. Timothy would have known that the New Covenant was prophesied by Jeremiah when he said:
Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NKJ)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
But Timothy would have also known that God’s revelation to Paul concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was something that was never revealed to any person ever, until it was revealed to Paul. As Paul said in Colossians 1:24:
Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
Timothy would have known the difference between the mystery of the New Covenant in Romans 16 and the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, in Ephesians, Chapter 3. In Romans 16, Paul said:
Romans 16:25-26 (NKJ)
25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
26 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations . . .
This mystery of the New Covenant was being made known to all nations by the prophetic Scriptures, but in Ephesians, Chapter 3, Paul spoke of the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, and said:
Ephesians 3:3-9 (NKJ)
3 . . . by revelation (God) made known to me the mystery
9 . . . which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
Ephesians 3:6 (NKJ)
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
The mystery of the New Covenant was hidden in the scriptures all through the centuries, and God called Paul to reveal that mystery during the Acts period. The mystery concerning the Church, the Body of Christ, was hidden in God all through the centuries, and God called Paul to reveal that mystery after the Acts period.
Timothy knew these three major programs of the Bible: the Law, the New Covenant and the Church which is the Body of Christ. Therefore, Paul challenged Timothy and every believer since Timothy to:
2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJ)
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
With these three programs in mind, the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith, admonishing him to rightly divide the word of truth. Specifically, Paul said:
2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJ)
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Without the principle of right division, the scriptures would certainly seem to be a mixed up blend of contradictions, but as we rightly divide the word of truth, we see that all of the scriptures fit together to reveal a complete and total picture of God’s dealings with man, past, present and future.
Paul was raised in the city of Tarsus which was under Roman rule but had a great deal of independence because they had proven their loyalty to Rome. It was a city which was loved and celebrated for its literature and philosophy. Some scholars believe that it was comparable to and maybe superior in culture to that of Athens in Greece and Alexandria in Egypt.
It seems likely then that Paul, even as a child, would have had access to Greek literature and philosophy, but Paul’s father was a Pharisee who probably saw to it that Paul’s primary instruction even as a child was in the Jewish Law, the first great program of God for mankind. In fact, Paul may not have been much more than a child when he was sent to Jerusalem to study under Gamaliel who was one of the greatest Jewish scholars of the day. In Acts 22 and verse 3, Paul spoke before an angry mob in Jerusalem and said:
Acts 22:3 (NKJ)
3 "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God . . .
Paul went on to tell how he had persecuted those who had believed in Jesus but how he had been saved on the road to Damascus. He said:
Acts 22:4-10 (NKJ)
4 "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,
5 "as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 "Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.
7 "And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'
8 "So I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'
9 "And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.
10 "So I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.'
Paul was about to learn that God had a plan for Israel which was much more glorious than that of the Old Covenant Law. From Damascus, God did not lead Paul back to Jerusalem to learn from the apostles. In Galatians 1, Paul said:
Galatians 1:11,12,15-17 (NKJ)
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace,
16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
At this time the original Apostles knew only the promises contained in the Law concerning the Messiah and the earthly kingdom. In Acts, Chapter 3, after Peter healed the lame man, Peter said to the Jewish crowd:
Acts 3:22-26 (NKJ)
22 "For Moses truly said to the fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 'And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.'
24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
25 "You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'
26 "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."
God was doing some spectacular things through the Apostles there in Jerusalem. He was using the Apostles to heal the sick, cast out demons and grant the power to speak in tongues, but Peter was still looking at these events through the eyes of the Old Covenant. He could not see this bigger picture. These things were a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Covenant, but even more than that, they were actually being done in accordance with and as evidence of the New Covenant, God’s second great plan for mankind.
God had chosen Paul as the one who would reveal the details of the New Covenant. In II Corinthians, Chapter 3, Paul said:
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NKJ)
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
It was the Apostle Paul who revealed that this outpouring of God’s spirit was in accordance with the New Covenant and that it would be the power of the Holy Spirit which would bring about Israel’s everlasting kingdom of peace and righteousness. It was the Apostle Paul who taught that God was not just refining the Law and taking the Law to a new level, but God was doing away with the Law so that He could bring in a better covenant.
The New Covenant had a better priesthood, a better sacrifice and a better hope. Paul told the Roman believers in Romans, Chapter 11:
Romans 11:25-27 (NKJ)
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
The New Covenant, based in the power of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, will someday bring salvation to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel has to be saved before the New Covenant Kingdom can come.
This is the message that Timothy first heard from the Apostle Paul in Galatia. In Galatians, Chapter 4, Paul said:
Galatians 4:21-31 (NKJ)
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar--
25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children--
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Timothy had been taught that the New Covenant was a better covenant than the Old Covenant and that the Old Covenant had passed away. It was time to cast out the bondwoman so to speak. With these things in mind Timothy could now understand the words of the Lord Jesus when He said:
Matthew 9:16-17 (NKJ)
16 "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.
17 "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
The Old Covenant and New Covenant just don’t mix. They operate in two different paradigms. The Old Covenant operates in the realm of the flesh while the New Covenant operates in the realm of the Spirit.
Timothy had been well trained in the Law by his mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice. He had been trained in the New Covenant by the Apostle Paul. But Timothy was also with Paul there in Rome when Paul wrote his epistles to the churches at Ephesus, Colossae and Philippi. So Timothy was well aware of the revelation which God had given to Paul concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ, the third great program of God.
Timothy’s close association with Paul not only in Paul’s travels but also in Paul’s imprisonment at Rome make it certain that Timothy was aware of the difference between the New Covenant program of God and God’s program for the Church which is the Body of Christ. Timothy would have known that the New Covenant was prophesied by Jeremiah when he said:
Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NKJ)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.
33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
But Timothy would have also known that God’s revelation to Paul concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was something that was never revealed to any person ever, until it was revealed to Paul. As Paul said in Colossians 1:24:
Colossians 1:24-26 (NKJ)
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
Timothy would have known the difference between the mystery of the New Covenant in Romans 16 and the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, in Ephesians, Chapter 3. In Romans 16, Paul said:
Romans 16:25-26 (NKJ)
25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
26 but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations . . .
This mystery of the New Covenant was being made known to all nations by the prophetic Scriptures, but in Ephesians, Chapter 3, Paul spoke of the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, and said:
Ephesians 3:3-9 (NKJ)
3 . . . by revelation (God) made known to me the mystery
9 . . . which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
Ephesians 3:6 (NKJ)
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
The mystery of the New Covenant was hidden in the scriptures all through the centuries, and God called Paul to reveal that mystery during the Acts period. The mystery concerning the Church, the Body of Christ, was hidden in God all through the centuries, and God called Paul to reveal that mystery after the Acts period.
Timothy knew these three major programs of the Bible: the Law, the New Covenant and the Church which is the Body of Christ. Therefore, Paul challenged Timothy and every believer since Timothy to:
2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJ)
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
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