2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
"word of truth" does not mean the written word alone.
"Word of God" appears in scripture roughly 180-200 times, depending on the translation. Use any Bible search engine. I haven't found any instance where "word of God" means the written word alone. Maybe you can find one. Don't get me wrong. The written word is the word of God, but the written word is not in isolation from the spoken word.
How do you "rightly divide", without changing the meaning of "word of God"???
"as one approved" doesn't mean any believer with a Bible (the NT as we know it would not exist for the first 350 years) it refers to those with apostolic authority.
"Paul, Silvanus [Silas], and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians... we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel." (1 Thess. 1:1, 2:4)
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Let me start with the abhorrent translation of 2Tim2:5 you've scrounged up. The phrase "rightly dividing" means, according to Strong's, "to make a straight cut", "correctly cut" or "correctly dissect". All of these involve CUTTING. Only the weak, perverted versions, like the NIV, ESV, or the RV, pervert the meaning and use such weak phrases as "correctly handling". These terrible versions obviously don't like the idea of cutting God's word, so they changed it to suit themselves. Sort of like the Catholic Church.
The only group i know of, today, when we finally possess the completed Word of God, that would say that "the word of truth" does not mean only the written word, would be the Catholic Church, since they go against Christ's Words and use Satanic oral traditions for probably 95% of their doctrine. And of course, everyone knows that you can't believe anything the Catholic Church says. Their entire doctrine is built on fabrication and lies and the only people in Christendom that don't accept this FACT are the Catholics, themselves.
For the last 1950 years, we have had the completed word of God. Therefore, we have no Deity, as in other eras, talking directly to us, no matter what anyone says. We don't need these things, because we have ALL of God's word, everything that God wishes us to know. Paul's after-Acts dispensation competed the word of God. The word "fulfil" means fill full, complete, satisfy, verify, accomplish, fill up, etc. The same Greek word is translated "complete" in both Col 3:10 and 4:12. Col 1:25 means what it says. The Word of God was COMPLETED by Pau's after-Acts dispensation and it's all contained in the Bible that we all have. Anyone that would trust a person (including popes) that told them that God spoke to them is a fool.
Col 1:25
Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to
fulfil the word of God;
You said, "How do you "rightly divide", without changing the meaning of
"word of God"???"\
Right division changes absolutely nothing. It just focuses of those things that
directly affects us Gentiles, like out hope and calling and eliminates Israel's hope and calling, which are totally different than ours, from OUR doctrine. During Acts, there was a body of believers that made up the Acts Church. After Acts, the new Church actually becomes part of Christ's Body, where He is the Head. This cannot be the same church as in Acts because some members in Acts are said to be part of the head - ears, eyes, etc. - 1Cor 12:15
Eph:5:30
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
The Calling of the church during Acts was the New Jerusalem, which isn't Heaven - Gal 4:26 and several verses in Hebrews and Revelation. The Calling after Acts is Heaven. There are many verses that tell us that. In the ASV, ESV, RV, and the NIV, Phil 3:20 says the citizenship of the after-Acts church is in Heaven. The KJV uses conversation but, in the KJV margin, it says citizenship.
So, 2 huge things, Calling and Church, are totally different, when comparing the 59 all-Israel books with Paul's 7 all-Gentile books that he wrote after Acts. There are many other things that are different. For example.
(1) Paul was able to heal in Acts 28:8-9, the very end of Acts. In the after-Acts books, there were 3 instances of sick people that Paul was unable to heal. One almost died. There is no mention of tongues or the other gifts after Acts. Therefore, the Gifts had obviously stopped after Acts.
(2) In the rapture for the Acts church, the saints meet Christ in the air above the earth. In the "Appearing", which is the "rapture" for the after-Acts church of today, the saints are immediately resurrected INTO Heaven, to Appear with Christ, when HE first Appears IN Heaven - Col 3:4. Note that Glory in that verse is defined as being above the heavens in Ps 8:1
When things are different, they are not the same. That might sound obvious, but nearly all of Christendom has failed to believe it.
Without right division, there will definitely be the confusion of which church we really belong to?, whether we go to heaven or the New Jerusalem?, whether or not we still have the Gifts?, whether the "rapture" or the "appearing" is our resurrection. This confusion is obvious if we examine Christendom today. No mainstream denominational churches that I've ever heard of obey 2Tim 2:15 and rightly divide. They, for some reason (Satan's influence, maybe?) have mainly picked the dead and gone doctrines found in Acts to teach as truth for today. Therefore, I define the denominational churches as Jewish synagogues teaching Jewish doctrine to unsuspecting Gentiles, whom the doctrine they teach does not apply.
God's solution to this confusion, of which He is not the author of, is to tell us to rightly divide His Word in 2Tim 2:15. Also, a verse that goes with this is Phil 1:10, where it tells us to test the things that differ - see Strong's. Both of these verses occur only in Paul's after-Acts, all-Gentile books. The reason is that they were not needed before this, in any of the other 59 all-Israel books, since Israel has always had the same basic Callings and Hopes. Since the main Strong's definition of rightly dividing is "to make A straight cut", I believe it requires only ONE cut and, since the things we want to separate are those present day rules and doctrines from those that pertain only to Israel, we must find a place where it is all-Israel on one side of the cut and all-Gentile on the other side of the cut. In all of scripture after Gen 12, the only place this phenomenon occurs is at the very end of Acts.
All of this sounds complex but, in practice, it is extremely simple. All of the things that tell us what things are NOW available TO US and what WE have to look forward to after death, we can ONLY FIND IN Paul's after-Acts books, because these same things in the other 59 books belong to Israel and they are ALWAYS different than OUR things.
Those other 59 books aren't discarded. God forbid!. According to 2Tim 3:16. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" I spend as much time in those other 59 books as anyone. However, when it comes to future happenings or today's rules concerning those happenings, that will DIRECTLY effect me and my family, I know the only place I can possibly find that information is in Paul's after-Acts books. That's right division in a nutshell.
Right Division removes contradictions and confusion. Right Division eliminates the pick-and-choose method of doctrine. If right division were universally taught, as it should be, the Denominational Church system, as we know it, would likely fade away. Its ONLY purpose today, Theologically, without the benefits of right division, is to to help its sheep pick-and-choose whatever the preacher happens to like. If all knew right division, most anyone could easily find Bible truth on their own. Understanding this makes us understand why God approves of those who rightly divide. Besides Paul's salvation scripture of 1Cor 15:1-4 and Eph 2:8-9, the most important passage in the Bible for enhancing our knowledge is 2Tim 2:15.
In 2Tim 2:15, if you rightly divide, you are approved unto God, no matter who you are, period. The keyword is
RIGHTLY. Apostolic authority sounds like one of those non-Biblical Catholic things. In any case, it certainly doesn't apply to 2Tim 2:15.
