2 Timothy 3:16-17
All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.
The above scripture is clear that the
word of God is beneficial to the children of God hence it is imperative that
every child of God must be adequately exposed to it. The Psalmist once wrote,
“Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” on
yet another day the Lord himself said, “Now ye are clean through the word which
I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. To the child of God, the word of God is
therefore very crucial.
The first point to take note of here is
that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. In other words, every
scripture is divinely breathed by God or is God sanctioned or is inspired by
God. Scripture does not come from men but from God hence Peter once wrote, “We
have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:19-21. Scripture is thus divine and God’s gift to men.
Paul says that scripture is profitable
for doctrine or is helpful and advantageous for doctrine or for teaching and
learning. Scripture is thus important for our learning. The disciples of Christ
in the New Testament were not only followers as some may assume. The term
disciple refers to a learner, a student, an understudy, or a devotee follower
of a principal. Primarily, disciples were not teachers but leaners.
Interestingly, Christ once said to his disciples, “you are not to be called
'Rabbi,' because you have only one teacher, and all of you are brothers.” Mt
23:8. During Bible days, the term disciple related to devoted followers of an
influential religious leader or teacher hence Isiah once wrote in verse 16 of
his 8th chapter, “Tie up the scroll as legal
evidence, seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my
followers.” Isiah, here, makes it clear that what he gave to his followers is
exactly what he had learnt from God. In another scripture he says, “The Lord
GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a
word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he
wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Isiah 50:4.
To one of his followers, Paul also wrote,
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15. This shows that
it is beneficial to study the word of God. When we approach the word of God, we
must exert ourselves or give diligence to understanding the word of God. We
must endeavour to understand and comprehend the teaching or doctrine of the
word of God. Paul says we must handle aright the word of truth and when we do
so we will then be able to teach the truth directly and correctly without being
ashamed. In that way, the word of God will become profitable for doctrine.
The challenge we have in our day is that
of conflicting doctrines amongst churches. This is primarily due to the custom
of developing doctrines independent of scripture. Having formulated such
doctrines, creators of those doctrine then hunt for scriptures to support their
views. Such an approach is defective from the onset. The correct approach is to
earnestly study scripture without any preconceived ideas. When we do so
scripture will be beneficial for doctrine. We must read scripture to learn and
not to formulate doctrine. Scripture on its on is enough doctrine and does not
require any cosmetics.
When Paul
writes, "rightly dividing the word of truth,” he refers to accurately
teaching or applying scripture without being influence by man-made ideas,
cultural perceptions, prevailing world trends or false teaching. He is
referring to the accurate application of the word within the inspirational
confines of the Spirit of God or of Christ. The interpretation of the word will
not be influenced by societal trends but by what God wants achieved.
Approached from
another angle, we could say that this is a job which stresses precise, straight
and accurate or exact interpretation of the word of truth. In other words, a
teacher of the word must diligently study God's word so that he will precisely
and accurately interpret it such that his students will properly grasp and
understand the word so that they will in turn teach the same word to their
listeners also.
This does not
mean crafting a teaching and then hunting for scriptures to back that teaching.
Many teachers hide behind the excuse of revelation when they create such
doctrines which they later seek to back with scripture thereby twisting
scripture to their own whims. An example which comes to my mind is the salvation
or redemption offering which is now collected in some African churches. Peter
wrote, “…... you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or
gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot.” Despite such scriptures, certain pastors “received a revelation” thereby
introducing offerings of redemption and looked scriptures to back that
teaching. The result is such teachings end up contracting scriptures such as 1
Peter 16 to 25 and a host of other redemption scriptures. Such behaviour is not
interpretation of scripture but assassination of scripture for selfish gains.
Another interesting
example of modern day revelation relates to 1 Timothy 6:10 wherein some
teachers have boldly pointed out that it is the lack of money
which is the root of all evil and not what Paul wrote there. Indeed, this is a
doctrine created by worshippers of wealth to cover up for their great desire
and love for money yet the bible teaches that we must trust in the Lord for
both our defence and security.
One more thought-provoking
doctrine is one which insinuates that because of grace, we can satisfy our essential
desire to worship God, and at the same time, live the lifestyle that we want to
live regardless of how ungodly it really is. It is considered legalistic when
certain boundaries are set up for us. Indeed, “wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” Mt
7:13. Surprising Galatian 5:19-21 sets boundaries yet we lie that boundaries
for living are legalistic yet Paul himself, concerning those who breach
boundaries, said, “and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have
also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God.”
The foregoing
teaches us that bible interpretation must come from the bible formulating what
we must follow rather than formulating a doctrine and then looking for a
scripture to vindicate our position. Properly interpreting the bible is of
great importance for all Christians when reading or studying it. Bible
interpretation is not as complicated as it sounds if we remain under the
leading of the Spirit of God. In order to "rightly divide" the word
of truth it is crucial that we do the following.
·
Prayer must be the starting point wherein we
implore God to reveal through the Holy Spirit the truths of his word.
·
Start on an empty page and never bring in
presuppositions because what we have been taught and learnt before might be
incorrect.
·
It is important to remain within the context of the
subject of study.
In my next post, I will proceed with the
term “for reproof.”
