Rightly Dividing Truth

2 Timothy 2:15 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain

15Study to shew thyself approved unto G-d, a

workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly

dividing the word of truth.


Hmmm... not sure where to begin this morning. On

the Jesus Bus, the effort is always aimed at

'...rightly dividing the word of truth...' It's

no small challenge. What, with all the opinions

and theories and just plain ignorance, there's no

way to cover every objection that rears up

against the doctrines of scripture. So, I'll try

to keep to the central issues as they have been

outlined over the years of internal debate, and

attempt to properly place them in the context of

modern times and the popular mood. A useful

framework for that effort is The Apostle's Creed.

It's been posted here before.


The point to take away is really simple. You can

believe whatever you please. It may or may not

have anything to do with truth. But as soon as

you veer away from the clear teaching and

historic traditions of christianity, then it's no

longer christianity that you're talking about,

it's something else. There has been alot of

disagreement about scripture over the years.

There have always been objections to those

doctrines that people find difficult to accept.

You know, the 'miraculous' or supernatural. Once

you reject every aspect of scripture that isn't

part of your ordinary life experience, you've

just rejected the purpose of scripture.

Scripture wasn't provided in order to describe

for us the mundane aspects of everyday life.

That's what TV is for. Scripture provides an

account of the communication between G-d and man.

What some men prefer, is a G-d created in THEIR

own image, rather than a G-d in whose image we

are created. So, when they approach scripture,

their first impulse is to begin an attempt to

explain away everything that is not a part of

their ordinary experience. Am I the only one who

finds this to be a silly approach? It's so

simple that most seem to miss the obvious point

that as soon as you reject any single obvious

element of christian doctrine, then you've

rejected christianity as a whole.


As outlined in the creeds, the doctrines of

christianity are either accepted as a whole or

they lose any basis for validity. As soon as you

reject one aspect of scripture, then you've

raised doubts about everything else. If any one

aspect central to christian doctrine turns out to

be false, then the Bible becomes insignificant.

That, of course, is the goal of the religious

sceptic. And many are taken in by their efforts.

It has to do with the exclusiveness of truth,

and the passage above says that there has to be

an effort made to 'rightly divide'.


So, that brings us to this next passage:


2 Timothy 3 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

2 Timothy 3


Godlessness in the Last Days


1But mark this: There will be terrible times in

the last days. 2People will be lovers of

themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,

abusive, disobedient to their parents,

ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving,

slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not

lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash,

conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers

of G-d— 5having a form of godliness but denying

its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6They are the kind who worm their way into homes

and gain control over weak-willed women, who are

loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds

of evil desires, 7always learning but never able

to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and

Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose

the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as

the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they

will not get very far because, as in the case of

those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.


Paul's Charge to Timothy


10You, however, know all about my teaching, my

way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love,

endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds

of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and

Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord

rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone

who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus

will be persecuted, 13while evil men and

impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving

and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in

what you have learned and have become convinced

of, because you know those from whom you learned

it, 15and how from infancy you have known the

holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise

for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16All Scripture is G-d-breathed and is useful for

teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in

righteousness, 17so that the man of G-d may be

thoroughly equipped for every good work.


The part that I'd like to look at is verse 16.

Notice it says '...All scripture...' That would

include those two infamous books, Genesis and

Revelation. I like to think of them as the

bookends to all of christian doctrine. They both

reach outside of the finite dimension of time to

which we are presently bound, and describe the

things that are beyond our reach because they lie

in the vast realm of the infinite. Yeah. Alot

of folks aren't going to like the implications of

that. But it just can't be dismissed because

someone's worldview is made uncomfortable by the

implications of a sovereign G-d. Either our

reference for doctrine is holy scripture or it is

pure speculation. The Apostle seems to prefer

holy scripture. All of it. ( That would include

Genesis only, at the time that Timothy's epistle

was written. The greek scriptures were still

being written/received.)


So there are these two really objectionable

doctrines -- the beginning and the ending; the

creation and the apocalypse. We really don't

like to ponder the significance and implications

of these two. Oh, they just don't set well.


But if you pause for a moment and consider all

the rest of scripture, you see that there is a

whole lot more to be uncomfortable about. In

fact, you have to reject an awful lot of

scripture before you can get really comfortable

about modern doctrines of materialism. There is

the exodus, Jericho, Decalog, and almost

everything about Moses, Jonah, Job, all the major

prophets were just doom and gloomers, the

incarnation, the resurrection, heaven, hell and

everything about a throne of judgement. What you

are left with is nothing that resembles

christanity. Because it isn't. Christianity is

all that stuff that makes people uncomfortable.

It's the fact that G-d has made himself as clear

as possible in the pages of scripture and we just

don't like the G-d that's revealed. ( We don't

like us so well either, but that's another

discussion.)


So I'm not likely, any time soon, to be convinced

that there any valid doctrinal reason to reject

either the literal creation account or the

literal apocalyptic account of final judgement.

Why? Because Jesus placed himself on the cross.

It explains everything. It was not a figure of

speech that the lamb of G-d had to die. It was a

literal death, because that is the literal

penalty for sin.


If you've read any of the other posts on the

Jesus Bus, then you know that I don't hold the

view that everything about the language of

scripture is literal. But there is a literal

significance to symbolic language. I'm not so

sure I really want to know all about the literal

meaning of every last detail of Revelation. It's

enough to know that final judgement of this world

is coming, it's not going to be pleasant, and in

the end, the Supreme Judge will render perfect

justice. Everything will be made perfect. To

me, that's a happy ending.


So when I see stuff like this:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology

"For Christians then, the “end times” refer more

to their ultimate salvation than the literal

destruction of the world. [2]"


It makes me cringe. Set down the crack pipe

dude. There was a literal creation event and

there will be a literal re-creation event. The

problem is sin. In order for sin to be

abolished, the old order has to be removed

completely, and every trace of sin erased. Then

and only then, can there be perfection. G-d

demands perfection.


Of course, if you don't believe in sin, except as

a metaphor, then you could be correct. But you

would not come into the context of christianity,

because it is an outright rejection of central

christian doctrine. So, it should read, 'For

someone other than a christian then...' If there

is no literal sin, then Jesus didn't have to die

literally. And you may as well take that Bible

off your shelf and toss it, because it has no

relevance.


I'm thinking, that was one reason why the Apostle

stressed the importance of a literal

resurrection. Jesus had a literal resurrection.

Without which, we would have no hope. And with

that, he stresses the importance of 'rightly

dividing the word of truth'.