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Rightly Divide The Word of God Introduction: The Bible is one of the most quoted Books in the world. We see quotes on the Monuments at the Nation's Capital. It is quoted on various occasions. I remember hearing it quoted often after 9/11. Unfortunately it is also probably the most misused Book in the world. I remember hearing someone say that you can make the Bible say almost anything you want it to say. This is probably true but to do so it must be misused. We need to take seriously Paul's instruction in 2 Timothy 2.14-15. Paul is writing to Timothy with instructions in preaching the Gospel. Earlier he tells Timothy to: "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me" (2 Timothy 1.13), endure hardship (2 Timothy 2.3),commit the word to faithful men who will be able to teach others (2 Timothy 2.10), and now to be diligent in his studies. I) Our Text A) Verse 14 1. There are things to do while teaching and preaching the Gospel and there are things to avoid. a. Focus on what the Bible says. b. Stay away from what the Bible does not say. Goes along with verse 16 and Titus 3.9. 2. We are to be precise in what we teach. Unclear teaching will cause many to not believe and/or leave the faith. a. Do not be drawn into useless controversies. B) Verse 15 1. Be diligent (study to show) --"accepted after testing" a. Pulpit Commentary -- "one that has been tried and tested and found to be sterling,; properly of metal." b. Obviously one can misuse or improperly use the word of God. We are told to not believe everything that is taught but to test the spirits, 1 John 4.1. 2. Of God -- He is the one we should be trying to please and it is His word we are dealing with. It is His word that gives life and His word that condemns. 3. Rightly dividing the word of truth (handling aright the word of truth, ASV). a. Rightly dividing is literally "to cut straight" b. A metaphor referring to stone mason's as they would cut stones straight so as to fit in the proper place. c. To handle without falsification, Alford. 4. Underlying principle: we are to study so as to properly understand the word of God. a. There are many false teachers and false prophets who misuse and abuse the Bible. b. This will cause many to be lost. c. If we properly use the word of God we will be pleasing to God, and may save some. II) Common Misuses and Abuses A) Misquoting the Bible 1. Money is the root of all evil a. Where does the Bible say this? Not 1 Timothy 6.10. b. The love of money is the problem and not money itself. 2. Man is saved by faith only a. Simply not in the Bible. b. James 2.24 the point being that a saving faith is an obedient faith. It does not minimize faith but points out the type of faith we must have. 3. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace a. Bible says that baptism is the means by which we are saved, 1 Peter 3.21. b. The lost are baptized into to have their sins washed away; be added to the body of Christ but not as a ceremony to show people that they are saved. 4. The end result is that the faith of some will be misguided. B) Taking something out of context 1. What does context mean? This applies to the who, what, where, when, why, and even the how. a. We know the Bible covers 4,000 years and contains 3 different dispensations. b. Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian Dispensation. 2. We study the Patriarchal and Mosaic to understand how God dealt with man, the promises He made, and His reactions to obedience and sin. 3. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality? a. We can see what the Law of Moses taught in Leviticus 18.22; 20.13. b. We can see that is was considered as sin under the Law of Moses. c. We can see that it had nothing to do with society and how it considered homosexuality but how God viewed it. d. But the law of Moses is not binding on us today, Colossians 2.14. f. The Law of Moses also condemned working of the Sabbath, commanded stoning for adultery, etc. 4. The question is what does the Law of Christ say about homosexuality? a. Romans 1.24-27; 1 Corinthians 6.9ff condemns the practice of homosexuality. b. That is what we need to focus on because that is what applies to us today. 5. This applies to instrumental music, animal sacrifices, the Sabbath Day, etc. C) Creating a contradiction so as to create doubt. 1. Often this is done in unison with one of the other two mentioned earlier. 2. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. a. Meaning that as long as we "love" God and each other then it does not matter if we worship with an instrument or not; or if one engages in homosexuality or not, etc. b. Love is used as the umbrella to allow anything. c. This creates a contradiction in dealing with sins the Bible clearly condemns. d. Love is important as shown in 1 Corinthians 13. e. But we must allow the Bible to define what love is and does, John 14.15; 1 John 5.2,3. f. If the Bible condemns a sin then proper love for God means that we must condemn the sin. 3. You should never judge for Matthew 7.1-5 condemns those who judge others a. What is Matthew addressing? b. What kind of judgments are we to make? John 7.24 c. What was the church at Corinth rebuked for in 1 Corinthians 6.5 Conclusion: The end result is that many are being lead astray because of their ignorance of the Bible and its misuse. Our task is to simply point them back to what the Bible teaches. Logic is on our side as long as we use the Bible logically.
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