Rightly dividing the word of truth: Simply means to realize the dispensational boundary that God’s place in his word. As (time Past, but Now, Ages to come), Israel vs. the Body of Christ, Mystery vs. Prophecy and Law vs. Grace.
UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (II Tim. 2:15).
In Eph. 2 the Apostle Paul sets forth the basic three-fold division in God's dealings with mankind: Time Past (vs.11,12), But Now (v.13), the Age's to Come (v.7). When the Bible is "laid out" according to this divinely inspired design we easily get an overview of not only what we are reading but when and to whom it was written. Thus the Word of God itself provides us with the key to its own proper understanding and right division:
Time Past: Eph. 2:11,12 sets forth the basic issue in Time Past as the division between the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision, between the nation Israel and the Gentiles. When you find this issue governing the way God was working with men, you know you are in Time Past. This covers the "Old Testament" (see Gen. 17:9-14, Deut. 4:5-8, Num. 23:9) as well as Matthew thur John (see Rom. 15:8, Matt. 10:5,6; 15:24, John 4:22) and the early Acts period (see Luke 24:47, Acts 1:6,8; 2:14,22,36; 5:32; 11:19).
But Now: Eph. 2:13 indicates that in the But Now portion Gentiles are no longer "far off" but rather the "middle wall of partition" between Israel and the Gentiles has been eliminated and now "those who were far off are made nigh." Romans thru Philemon provide the doctrine for the dispensation of grace (Rom. 11:13;15:16; 16:25, I Cor. 14:37, Eph. 3:1-9).
The Ages to Come: God will bring His purposes to fruition and thus Eph 2:7 points to the Ages to Come. The books of Hebrews thru Revelation focus on this.
While all scriptures is for us, all scriptures is not written to or about us. This is the key to understanding the Bible.
The Dispensation of Grace: The Pauline epistles starting with the book of
Roman-Philmon
In this present age we live in today the Holy Bible calls it "The Dispensation of the Grace of God" which has been kept secret since the world began.
Romans 16:25-26
Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, [26] But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
Dispensation- A set of rules or instructions that God gave to men at a particular time and period.
The Dispensation of Grace is a new program God introduced to the apostle Paul. This is different from the program with the Nation of Israel. (A hold new set of instructions has been given for us today from the commandment God) In this Dispensation, God has set aside his program with the nation of Israel temporarily. In time past the nation of Israel were nigh unto God which salvation was only to the Jews and the Gentiles were far off (Romans 11:11-25) (Ephesians 2:11-22) but now that's no longer the case for today, that middle wall of Partition has been torn down between the Jews and Gentiles and there's no different between the two.
SALVATION HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO ALL THAT PUT THEIR FAITH AND TRUST IN THE COMPLETED WORK OF THE CROSS!
When reading your bible you have to look at the program God has established for us today. but don't get me wrong the hold bible is for us, it's just not all to us or about us. God wants us to know who he is and how God operates, but you have to be in the right dispensation to know what he's doing today, and the only way to do that is by Rightly Divide the word of truth. you hear a lot of preachers using the phrase "Rightly Dividing the word of truth" but they done have a clue as to what God is instructing them to do in (II Cor 2:15). when you learn to do as God has instructed, you won't have all the misconceptions like most of the world have today.
Grace and Peace
Pastor Michael A. McDaniel
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