Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth – Part 1
Series – July/August 2025 – Grace & Truth Magazine
Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth
Part 1
Introduction
In 2 Timothy 2 (kjv) the believer is presented in seven characters:
Son (v.1). Soldier (v.3). Athlete (v.5). Husbandman (v.6). Workman (v.15). Vessel (v.21). Servant (v.24).
As a son, Timothy is exhorted to be strong in grace. Grace goes with sonship, just as law goes with servitude; we learn this from Galatians. As a soldier, Timothy was exhorted to endure hardness and to avoid worldly entanglements; these are right elements of good soldiership. As a vessel, he was to be cleansed and separated; as a servant, he was to be gentle, patient and meek.
In 2 Timothy 2:15 he was told what was required of him as a workman: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The Word of Truth, then, has right divisions, and one cannot be “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed” without observing them. Therefore, any study of that Word which ignores those divisions must be confusing. Many Christians confess that they find the study of the Bible weary work. More find it so, but they are ashamed to admit it.
The purpose of this series is to indicate the more important divisions of the Word of Truth. Enough is given to enable the diligent student to perceive the greater outlines of truth and something of the ordered beauty and symmetry of that Word of God which, to the natural mind, seems a mere confusion of conflicting ideas.
Do not receive any doctrine upon the authority of this article, but, like the Bereans, search the Scriptures whether these things are so (Acts 17:11). No appeal is made to human authority: “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you” (1 Jn. 2:27).
Jew, Gentile And Church Of God
Whoever reads the Bible cannot fail to perceive that over half of its contents relate to one nation, Israel, and that Israelites have a very distinct place in the dealings and counsels of God. Separated from the mass of mankind, they were taken into covenant with Jehovah, who gave them specific promises not given to any other nation. Their history alone is told in Old Testament narrative and prophecy – other nations being mentioned only as they touch them.
It appears, also, that all the communications of Jehovah to Israel as a nation relate to the earth. If faithful and obedient, the nation was promised earthly riches and power; if unfaithful and disobedient, it was to be scattered “among all people, from one end of the earth even to the other” (Dt. 28:64). Even the promise of the Messiah is of blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 28:14).
Continuing his research, the student finds much in Scripture about another distinct body, called the “Church.” This body also has a peculiar relation to God, and, like Israel, has received from Him specific promises. But there the similarity ends, and the most striking contrast begins. Rather than being formed of the natural descendants of Abraham alone, it is a body in which the distinction of Jew and Gentile is lost. Instead of the relation being one of mere covenant, it is one of birth. Rather than obedience bringing the reward of earthly greatness and wealth, the Church is taught to be content with food and raiment, and to expect persecution and hatred. Just as Israel is connected with earthly and temporal things, so the Church is connected with spiritual and heavenly things.
Further, Scripture shows the reader that neither Israel nor the Church has always existed. Each had a recorded beginning. Israel’s beginning is found in the call of Abram. Looking for the birth of the Church, the reader likely finds what is contrary to his expectations, for he has probably been taught that Adam and the Patriarchs are in the Church. However, it certainly did not exist before nor during the earth-life of Christ, for the reader finds Him speaking of His Church as yet future when He said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (Mt. 16:18) – not “have built” nor “am building,” but “will build.”
The reader finds, too, from Ephesians 3:1-10 that the Church is not once mentioned in Old Testament prophecy, but was in those ages a mystery “hid in God” (v.9). He finds the birth of the Church in Acts 2 and its termination on the earth in 1 Thessalonians 4.
The student also finds, in the scriptural division of the race, another class, rarely mentioned, and distinguished in every respect from either Israel or the Church: the Gentiles. The comparative position of the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church may be briefly seen in the following Scriptures:
- The Jew: Romans 9:4-5; John 4:22; Romans 3:1-2.
- The Gentile: Ephesians 2:11-12, 4:17-18; Mark 7:27-28; Romans 3:9.
- The Church: Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:14-15, 5:29-33; 1 Peter 2:9.
Comparing, then, what is said in Scripture concerning Israel and the Church, the student finds that in origin, calling, promise, worship, principles of conduct and future destiny, all is contrasted.
Callings Contrasted
• Israel
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” (Gen. 12:1).
“For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land … a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness” (Dt. 8:7,9).
“And he said, I am Abraham’s servant. And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly, and he is become great” (Gen. 24:34-35).
“The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face” (Dt. 28:7).
“And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath” (v.13).
• Church
“Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1).
“For our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20 asv).
“Begotten us again unto a lively [living] hope … to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4 kjv).
“Unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace” (1 Cor. 4:11).
“And Jesus … saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mk. 10:23).
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?” (Jas. 2:5).
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 18:4)
Of course it is not meant that a godly Jew did not, at death, go to heaven. The distinction is that the incentive to godliness in his case was earthly reward, not heavenly. Needless to say, in this dispensation, neither Jew nor Gentile can be saved except by the exercise of that faith on the Lord Jesus Christ whereby both are “born again” (Jn. 3:3,7) and are “baptized into [that] one body” (1 Cor. 12:13) which is “the Church” (Eph. 1:22). In the Church, the distinction of Jew and Gentile disappears (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 2:14). Consider these phrases: “in times past Gentiles” (v.11) and “ye were Gentiles” (1 Cor. 12:2).
Rules Given Contrasted
The contrast between Israel and the Church further appears in the rules given for the conduct of each.
• Israel
“When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee … thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them” (Dt. 7:1-2).
“Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Ex. 21:24-25).
• Church
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Mt. 5:44).
“Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat” (1 Cor. 4:12-13).
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Mt. 5:39).
Worship Contrasted
In the appointments for worship we find another contrast. Israel could worship in only one place, and at a distance from God – only approaching Him through a priest. The Church, by contrast, worships “wherever two or three are gathered,” has “boldness to enter into the holiest,” and is composed of priests (compare Lev. 17:8-9 with Mt. 18:20; Lk. 1:10 with Heb. 10:19-20; Num. 3:10 with 1 Pet. 2:5).
Future Contrasted
In the predictions concerning the future of Israel and the Church, the distinction is still more startling. The Church will be taken away from the earth entirely, but restored Israel is yet to have her greatest earthly splendor and power.
• Church
“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:2-3).
“The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Th. 4:16-17).
“For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:20-21 ASV).
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2 KJV).
“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:6).
• Israel
“Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Lk. 1:31-33).
Of the seven promises to Mary in these verses, five have already been literally fulfilled. By what rule of interpretation are we authorized to say that the remaining two will not be fulfilled?
“Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:14-16).
“I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin … I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy … For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:1,11,24-26).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people … And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isa. 11:11-12).
“For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob” (14:1).
“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers” (Jer. 16:14-15).
“Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in great wrath: and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God” (32:37-38).
It may safely be said that the Judaizing of the Church has done more to hinder her progress, pervert her mission, and destroy her spirituality than all other causes combined. Instead of pursuing her appointed path of separation, persecution, poverty and non-resistance, she has used Jewish Scripture to justify her in lowering her purposes to the acquisition of wealth, the use of an imposing ritual, the erection of magnificent churches (the buildings, not the people), the invocation of God’s blessing upon the conflicts of armies, and the division of an equal brotherhood into “clergy” and “laity.”
By C. I. Scofield (adapted)
Look for part 2 of this series next month, considering the Seven Dispenstions. This series is available as a booklet from Grace & Truth.