RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE SCRIPTURES

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. The main way we know about God is through Bible study. We hear preachers and would-be prophets giving all kinds of messages, so it can be difficult to know what is truth and what is not. What we know for sure, that can be objectively verified, about God is written in the Bible. This is why the Bible is so important, and why its study is important. The best way to have a good relationship with God is to study about Him in the Bible. In the above verse, The King James version says to Study to Shew thyself approved. The word translated УStudyФ in the King James Version, and УMake every effortФ in the New International version comes from a Greek word transliterated SPOUDAZO. It means to put in effort, to work at something, to be diligent in your efforts. It does not mean passively reading it, or waiting for the spirit to mysteriously reveal it to you. It means to do your best to make every effort to understand the meaning. If you do this you will be able to handle the word of truth accurately. УThe phrase Уword of truthФ is a reference to the message of the Bible.
Paul is telling Timothy, and the other Christians there, that they should try their hardest to be the kind of children God approves of, one that can handle the scriptures accurately. If we handle the scriptures accurately, meaning to interpret them accurately, we will grow in our relationship with God, and we will be safe from false teachers. There are lots of preachers out there teaching bad stuff, and many twist the scriptures around. If you donТt know what the bible says, you wont know if that preacher is telling the truth or not, or if he is misinterpreting it. For this reason we should study our Bibles consistently. This does not mean to just read it passively without regard to the meaning. It means to dig into it, meditate over it, pray over it. To get the total meaning we must think through what we are reading, picking it apart and asking as many questions as possible. You may find questions that you cannot answer, but usually you will find an answer. The only question that there is absolutely no answer for is the one not asked. In studying the Bible, we should understand exactly what it is we are studying. Basically, the Bible is GodТs love letter to you. It is a book where God reveals himself to you. In a sense it is supernatural, but for the most part it is quiet natural. We should use our minds, and every tool available, to get as much as we can our of our studies. The Bible is the written word of God, which God has inspired and preserved through the ages. Since God has given us this book, it only stands to reason that He would want us to understand it correctly, or to handle it accurately. Even so, it is important to understand that the bible is not a rule book. It is not a history book. It is not even a guide book on how to live our lives. It has all those things in it, but basically it is a love letter from God to us. It may be a good think to listen to teachers and preachers and so forth, but since we have this letter written to us personally, I believe it is important to dig out the meaning for ourselves individually. The reason we do this is, as the verse in Timothy says, Уto show yourself approved.Ф This does not mean that God approves of you if you study the Bible, or that His approval is conditional on our understanding every little point just right. God approves of us if we believe in his son Jesus as our savior. There is nothing we could do to earn salvation or anything else, that is not what is being said. He is saying here, that we should be able to present ourselves to God as one approved, one who can handle the word in the right way, which is the kind of Christian god approves of or likes. This would be as opposed to people who do not handle it accurately, and have false beliefs and lead others into false beliefs. It is the believer who either benefits or suffers as the result of handling the Уword of truth.Ф If we do this we will be like a workman who does not need to be ashamed. A workman in any field is judged by his work, and as a result, he can either feel pride or feel shame. A workman who has done his job well has nothing to be ashamed of, but gains his bosses blessing. In the same way, if we are a good workman when it comes to the word of truth, we too will gain a blessing from God. How do you feel if your boss shows up and the work is not being done well? You might feel ashamed. However, if the work is being done well, you know the boss will be pleased, so there is no reason to feel anything negative. It is the same in our Bible study. If we handle the word accurately, by studying, we will not be misled or fall into error, and this is pleasing to God. We should also understand that the point of bible study is not that we are doing something for God. Even though God blesses those that handle the word accurately, God does not УneedФ for us to study the word to accomplish His purposes. The real beneficiary is the student. The point of Bible study then is to get to know God better and to develop our relationship with Him. It allows us to better relate to God because we gain new understanding when we study. This is what Paul is talking about in the Timothy passage. The studying, or making every effort, is not done to gain GodТs approval, it is done to show that you are the kind of child of God that God approves of. Often people may think of Bible study as something spiritual, but really, just like in any endeavor, if it is to be done well it takes work. You will get out of your Bible study what you put into it. Just like an athlete in training, the harder he or she trains, the better athlete they will be. It also works better if you do it the right way. This is why it is important to have a good system. There may be several good systems out there. The key is to find the one that works best for you, but be sure you are using a system that works. We should use our minds, and this is what Уmake every effortФ means. A lot of people use their feelings to interpret scripture, and even attribute those feelings to a spirit. Your feelings may or may not be right. Feelings do have their rightful place, but it is in our minds that we learn truth. It is our minds that should govern our lives. We also may have preconceived notions about things, things we have been taught since we were children and so forth. These things may not be right either. The key is to try to be objective, and look honestly at what the words say. From there we can interpret accurately. Always remember too, to keep it in context. This is why it is important to read the bible in general, perhaps all the way through, several times, so you will have an overall picture. We need to expose our minds to the scriptures every day. We need to keep pouring it in there, and keep processing it, and then we will learn how to handle it accurately. Part of handling it accurately is to ask questions. In a sense it is good to have a healthy dose of skepticism. It is not that you enter the Bible with a skeptical attitude, but look at teachings and beliefs with skepticism. DonТt ever let anyone tell you its wrong to question the bible or to question anything. In the Bible there is the story of Уdoubting ThomasФ who would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead unless he saw Jesus for himself. What did Jesus say to him? Jesus didnТt get mad, he let Thomas see what he needed to see. This is the same response God has to us when we ask questions. We may not get a message written in the sky, but if we search and study, we will find the answer eventually. Now to return to the passage in Timothy, let us see exactly what Paul meant by what he wrote. We should look at the context. The context here is basically chapter two. Paul is writing to Timothy who is a young pastor. It applies to us as believers as well. The context is teaching others to grow spiritually. In the first couple of verses he encourages Timothy to stay strong and to pass the word along to others. Notice in verse one he says to Уbe strong in thegrace that is in Christ Jesus.Ф We cannot be strong by ourselves. It is a matter of faith to be strong in Christ, realizing that it is Christ who makes us strong. Then Paul starts talking about being a good Christian. The kind that God approves of which is one that is growing in the spirit. In Verses three through five he gives analogies of what it takes to be a good Christian, one who is growing in God and developing his spirit. Remember, God didnТt save you so you could just sit there and wait for the next bus to heaven, and he didnТt save you so you could try real hard to prove that you are saved. He didnТt save you so you could screw up so he could condemn you. God saved you so that you could have a personal relationship with Him. When we are able to handle the word accurately, we are then able to actually have and enjoy that relationship that God has provided. These are not conditions of salvation, they are just word pictures of how one is to develop a relationship with God. He continues the analogy in verses three and for, talking about the soldier enduring hardship. A soldier endures with loyalty and focused. We are to keep focused on the word of truth like a good soldier would.


In verse five, he switches to the analogy of an athlete. He says an athlete only wins if he competes according to the rules. Every sport has rules, it has boundaries and if you are going to win you have to compete according to the rules. So he is saying if you want to grow as a Christian, you have to follow the rules. He is saying you cant take shortcuts, you have to go through the process of growing. This means doing the work of studying, puting the time in. He then moves on in verse six to the analogy of a farmer. The farmer gets his share of the produce even though someone else owns the field. The farmer plants his seeds and reaps a crop. It does not happen over night, it takes time for the plants to grow and produce the fruit. The same is true in studying the scriptures. Our learning will not happen over night, but we will reap the rewards if we put in the effort. The common theme among the three analogies, the soldier, the athlete and the farmer, is that it takes an effort to grow spiritually. The message is, it takes work to grow, but the rewards are great. Remember he is not talking about salvation here, that is not the issue at all. The issue is growing spiritually, to become the kind of person that can accurately handle the word. This is the kind of person who knows the truth. If we accurately handle the word, you could say then you know how to use it, and this leads to victory in all kinds of areas. It makes us stronger Christians and happier Christians. When you do put the time in, and learn to handle the word accurately, things will start to click. One day you will be reading along, and suddenly something you read last week will pop into your head. Then maybe you will recall a word study you did the day before, and suddenly the pieces fit and you have a new revelation. This new revelation is good because it is based on the facts of the Bible and not on feelings that may or may not be valid. As Paul continues, in verse seven he encourages Timothy to keep remembering these things. He notes in verses eight through ten that he himself has done these things so that he can handle the word accurately. Verses 11 through 13 are like a short poem, which in essence is teaching the rule of cause and effect. It is not salvation by works, but he is saying that if we put in the effort we will get the results. In verse 13 he says even if we are faithless Jesus will remain faithful to us. This is to say that even when we fail, God will still love us. He always gives us another chance, even if we blow it when trying to handle the word accurately. From there he says to keep this in mind, and to avoid quarrelling about words. There is nothing as emotional as religion, and people want to be right so bad, that they will even go to war with people who disagree with them. Paul is not saying to agree with people who oppose you, but he is saying that it is best to not get into arguments with them. Instead of arguing over words, or over what the Bible means, we should do what verse 15 says, which is to do your best to find the truth in the word. Arguing doesnТt do anyone any good, but working to find the truth does good, and if you do that you will be able to present yourself to God as one approved. How does one become approved? He does by developing the relationship with God The workman is a word picture It is like being a workman who does not need to be ashamed because he works hard and he has the tools and knows how to use them. In the three analogies, the soldier, the athlete and the farmer, really all win approval the same way. They win their approval by doing their best. The soldier by being loyal, the athlete by following the rules and the farmer by working at his crops, all reap their reward. They key is that they all did whatever was necessary. All of this goes to make the point of verse 15. Paul is saying that we should do our best to Уrightly divideФ the word of truth. The Greek word for Уrightly divideФ is a word that a carpenter might use, meaning to make a cut in something accurately. It is to divide something. It means to correctly interpret the scriptures. If we correctly handle the word by learning to study diligently, we will be able to understand things about God. We will then be able to apply these things to our lives and our relationship with God will flourish.