RIGHT DIVISIONBy Charles H. Welch
Right Division is the key that unlocks the dispensations and should govern our entire approach to the Scriptures. The Scripture that enjoins the practice of this principle is 2 Timothy 2:15, "study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".
This verse divides naturally into three parts:
(1) The approval of God.
(2) The unashamed workman.
(3) The essential principle of interpretation. [More]
The one great requirement of the Word
is grounded on the fact that it is "the Word of truth." And
this fact is so stated as to imply that, unless the Word is thus rightly
divided we shall not get "truth"; and that we shall get its
truth only in proportion to the measure in which we divide it rightly.
The Requirement is thus stated in II Tim. 2:15: "Give diligence to
present thyself approved to God, a workman having no cause to be ashamed
rightly dividing the word of truth." [More]
The most significant phenomenon the world has ever known is the fact that God HATH SPOKEN. The Invisible God, Whom no man "bath seen, nor can see" (1 Tim. 6:16), has spoken. In times past God spoke in divers manners and at sundry times (Heb. 1:1). That which God has spoken He, by the Holy Ghost, has caused to be put down in writing. The Writings are the Scriptures.
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The passages that claim our attention are Philippians 1:10 and Hebrews 1:4, these having particular bearing upon the
dispensational aspect of truth. The A.V. of Philippians
1:10 reads, "that ye may approve things that are excellent," the margin reads, "try the things that differ." It is impossible to approve things that are excellent without trying things that differ, and whatever translation we adopt, we reach the same end. verse before us, is echoed in 2 Timothy 2:15 where we have
the injunction, "rightly divide the word of truth", and the sequel in Philippians 1:10, "that ye may be sincere and without offers `` till the day of Christ" is to the same effect as that of 2 Timothy 2:15, "approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed." [More]
THE
MINISTRY OF PAULBy
Charles H. Welch
In the endeavour rightly to
divide the Word of truth we are sure to have difficulties, one great reason
being that centuries of neglect and tradition have left us prejudiced in favour
of a system foreign to the teaching of Paul, and further, the low spiritual
state of the church as a whole has rendered it incapacitated for the reception
of the mystery (I Cor. iii. 1-3). Those who have had the eyes of their heart
enlightened (Eph. i. 18), still find many difficulties and problems, which we
must all expect while in the flesh, and among the many causes of difficulty is
the fact that the ministry of Paul has a two-fold aspect; in one case he is seen
severed from the teaching of the twelve, while in another he is found working in
harmony with them. His epistles, covering a space of some sixteen years, are not
confined to one period, some epistles being written while he worked in
fellowship with Jerusalem, and some being written after Israel was set aside and
Paul was a prisoner at Rome. [More]
