What Does it Mean to Rightly Divide the Word of Truth?

When you open your mouth to talk about God, how much do you care about being true? How much do you care about correctly representing that God? How much do you care about being a faithful witness to the very King you claim to speak on His behalf? I care to tell you, without a doubt, that most of the problems we are facing in the Church today are a direct consequence of careless men when dealing with Biblical truth. Men of loose tongues, who are not afraid, and certainly unmoved by the fact that most people who listen to our messages will live to hear us for the last time on this earth. Hence there is nothing in this wide world that is as serious as the delivery of God's word, in a way that God would have us deliver it, whether anybody likes it or not.

If you care enough about these things, then you are moving in the right direction. Here are things that you must do in that regard… 

1.) Believe the inspiration of Scripture - Fundamental to all Christian truth is that the Bible is the Word of God. That is, every book, chapter and verse is a direct message from the Holy One down to His creatures. Not only that, but that book called “Holy Bible “ is the living and “fresh” word of God, which is powerful and sufficient to accomplish all that God needs for His own glory, our salvation and sanctification. 

I have heard some preachers—God save you from them—say things like “the Bible is just a book written by men” or something as careless as “the letter (the Bible) killeth, but the Spirit gives life.” They suppose that God’s Spirit is separated [oil & water] from His written Word. If you want to be more spiritual, they think, you need to hear God speaking to you in other ways out there that are supposedly more “current” than the inspired Text. That is how deception has entered the Church. Hence you cannot, in God’s name, rightly handle the Word if you have a faulty foundation of what the Word of God is. 

2.) Context context- This has to do with the immediate subject of the verse that you are speaking from. This touches on the audience to which it was spoken, the occasion of that day and the location from which it was spoken. This then forces you to read a few verses before your text and a few more after. Understanding that setting will give you an idea of how to then interpret the passage before you apply it to your audience. For example, there is a famous verse called Jeremiah 29:11. The way it is always applied is that God has prosperous plans for you; you will never lack or suffer, you just have to believe that and run with it. Yet, anyone who wants to rightly divide the eternal Word will read that verse in its context and realise that it was spoken as an encouragement to people who were on their way to captivity in Babylon. For 70 years, they would live and die there under the cruel oppression of Nebuchadnezzar. Do you now see how ignorance of context from you as a minister can be dangerous to the innocent? 

3.) Embrace the inerrancy of Scripture - There are still some people who sincerely believe that “the Bible has problems in some places" or "the words of Paul are not the words of Jesus.” According to their opinion, we must only believe some portions of the Scripture, while the rest can be sent for peer review. Whether they realise the danger of their opinions or not, it's their problem. A good believer, most particularly a faithful minister, must be at peace with the fact that Scripture has no error. Because God is perfect (never lies and is never wrong). Hence His Word is consistent with His character. That is crucial if you want to handle Biblical truth with a clear conscience. 

4.) Be honest about “contradictions” - The great dilemma that everyone faces is that sometimes Scripture may say something on one page and then seem to suggest something opposite on the other end. As I have said, Scripture has no capacity for error, since the Author is God Himself. Therefore, you can be sure, without a doubt, that what seems like a contradiction on our part is a direct consequence of our human misunderstanding. Regardless, many believers, I have noticed, have a tendency of running with a certain kind of verses that support their ideas, while completely rejecting, even denying, the other side that seems to take a different angle. My primary example has been the God’s sovereignty folks vs. the the man’s freewill crowd. One group will emphasise the issue of election all day long, while another will go down to the grave believing that there is nothing called election but that freewill is king. What they don’t realise is that both these ideas are biblical. They need one to divide the Word of truth rightly. There are many other verses and topics in your Bible that seem to contradict one another. Do not ignore them and give your people an imbalanced diet of Gospel truth. Rather, be honest about these issues and explain to them in humility as they are presented in the Holy writ. 

5.) Consult godly sources - Every minister falls into the trap of believing that he/she is the only one who has a better understanding of Christianity and its message. It took me a long while in my Christian walk to realise that I am not the only one that the Holy Spirit has used. I am merely a grain in the sand of a long history of faithful men and women who have laboured to understand this doctrine of Christ. And that most of that deep well of wisdom is available today in the form of commentaries, books, sermons, etc. Well, let's hear what they have to say! Especially to get clarity about some of the difficult issues we find in our Bible studies. God has gifted us with good teachers to equip us for that end. Make it a habit to consult godly sources every time before you stand to speak about God. 

6.) Shun extra-biblical sources - One of these days in our church, we had a good discussion about dreams; whether God still speaks to us through dreams or not. That discussion aside, it is still my strong conviction that we can never have a clearer, more authoritative, more trustworthy way of hearing God speak than the written Bible. From that viewpoint, I believe there is nothing that has brought as much damage and confusion to the Church of Christ as people who preach their dreams and visions. We need to get back to the tried and tested word of the living God, the Holy Bible. Know your Bible and preach the Bible. I mean only the Bible and stay away from extra-biblical ideas that come from personal experiences. That is the cleanest way to faithfully divide the word of truth. 

Gentlemen, I am here to announce to you that you have no right to deal with Scripture with casual opinion. It is the living Word of the living One. Hence it must be handled in a way that the Divine Author Himself would have us handle it. Let it be in your good heart, that whenever the good Lord gives you a privilege to represent Him with His Word, you will do your level best to study it, understand its author intended meaning and faithfully and sincerely convey that truth to those who listen. So help you God!

Sinothi Ncube

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