Post by tomdurst on May 12, 2015 9:51:15 GMT -5
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”—2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV
The Bible was written FOR us but not TO us. When reading any passage of scripture we need to always ask ourselves such questions as: Who said it? To whom was it written? Under what circumstances? What was the significance of the passage to the hearers or readers of the time? Does it contain exact details that we need to follow today or rather should we be looking for timeless principles of truth being stated? What were the cultural issues that the writer may have been addressing that were relevant at the time? (Such as women should have long hair as it was given to them for a covering, it is a disgrace for a man to have long hair, women should be silent in church, etc.—see 1 Corinthians 11:3-15; 14:35)
One of the greatest sources of mischief among Christians is to take passages out of their historical context, as though they had no specific application to their audience. This is especially true in respect to Bible prophecy. When Jesus spoke of ALL of the things mentioned in the Olivet sermon being fulfilled in THAT generation He meant exactly that (see Matthew 24:34). That generation was from 30-70 AD. The gospel of John doesn’t have an Olivet sermon but instead he wrote an entire book, Revelation, on the "end times." This book is an expanded Olivet sermon and was fulfilled in THAT generation and is not addressing succeeding generations, dispensations, or events yet future in our time. The Amplified Bible makes this especially clear, "[This is] the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries]. God gave it to Him to disclose and make known to His bond servants certain things which must shortly and speedily come to pass in their entirety. And He sent and communicated it through His angel (messenger) to His bond servant John” (Revelation 1:1 AMP). “Shortly and speedily come to pass in their entirety” doesn’t mean 2000 years later but IN THAT GENERATION (30 to 70 AD). There are universal principles of truth in everything in the Bible that apply through all ages but we must take into account TO WHOM the word was originally written and the application for that time in order to “rightly divide the word of truth” and apply it today.
I invite you to read THE SECRETS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD on the link below:
SECRETS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD