Bible Study and Insights

Right Division

So yesterday while sitting in church listening to our pastor, it suddenly struck me that I might have readers who've never heard the term "right division" before, or who are unclear what it means. I added it as a tag and then basically dismissed it. How I was raised, right division was just a given and a phrase I heard from the youngest of ages. I'm aware, however, that my experience is not universal. Therefore, I feel like it might be a good idea for me to explain what exactly right division is and why it's important.

"Right division" is the phrase used to separate what parts of the Bible are written directly to us and which are written to the Kingdom of Israel. It separates the Kingdom program from the Mystery program, terms I will explain later on.

The Bible appears to do that for us: Old and New Testaments. But the "new testament" doesn't actually start with the Gospel of Matthew.

Throughout all of the Old Testament, Israel was under the Law. This is the Kingdom program, so named because God promised Israel a kingdom on the earth. The Law was given to them by God as a way to live pure an holy lives, but the Law is perfect. Humanity is not. The Law was used to show them that they could not be purified by their own works.

Then Mary, a virgin from the line of David (as prophesized), gets a visit from the angel Gabriel, who tells her of God's plan for her. (Imagine being a teenage girl and being told you're gonna give birth to God's Son. The Savior of the world. I can't even imagine the kind of emotions that would produce.) Mary accepts God's plan and she and her espoused husband* Joseph start figuring out their life with this new development.

*fiancé

Skip ahead 33 and a half years, and we're into Jesus's ministry on the earth. He was also under the Law. The original plan was for Jesus to be sacrificed on the alter in the temple; the perfect sacrifice to save the nation of Israel. After that, the Kingdom could be brought in. That was the teaching he told his disciples. But Israel rejected him. That's when Judas Iscariot betrayed him. That's when they nailed him to a cross. That's when he took on the sin of the world, past, present, future. That was when he conquered death.

The true start of the New Testament is found during the Last Supper, when Jesus tells the twelve the metaphor of the wine being his blood and says, "Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament," (excerpt from Matthew 26:27-28). Mark 14:24 also states the same, that his blood is the new testament. Now, if God says something, it's clearly important. If he repeats something? We should really pay attention. Right here in these passages, the Lord is making it very clear that when Israel rejected Jesus--and thus God Himself--that a different plan was set in motion.

God has given Israel chance after chance after chance to turn back to Him, but they rejected Him every time. So He set Israel aside. Jesus took on the sin of the world for us and paid the price for it (which we know from Romans 6:23 is death). After three days, he rose again and was seen of men before he ascended back up into Heaven, where he currently sits at the Father's right hand.

At this point, a transition began (which is what we see throughout Acts), where Israel's position was lowered. God saved Saul, who became Paul. Paul began preaching what the Lord revealed to him, which was the Mystery. God told him to go to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. That was the first time in history that God had included Gentiles in His plan. Before then, Gentiles had to become Jews if they wanted to know God. But now Gentiles were being allowed to come to God as they were. When the Jews still rejected God, He went back to Paul and told him that to go to everyone, regardless whether they were Jew or Gentile. Israel was no longer being favored.

So Paul went out, and it's from here we get the books of the Bible which were written directly to us and which are doctrinally for us: Romans through Philemon. Paul's writings. The last books of the Bible--Hebrew through Revelation--are Kingdom books, again addressing Israel. We can see this in the name of Hebrews. I'm not a Hebrew. This book is not written to me. James starts with a greeting to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. I'm not of the twelve tribes. The books reference Kingdom teachings, such as how being rich/wealthy is bad (because going through the Tribulation, one must resist getting the Mark of the Beast, meaning they won't be able to buy or sell and will by necessity be poor and persecuted). Revelation is all about the Tribulation.

Saved people will not go through the Tribulation, and praise be to God for that. I pity anyone who waits that long. We will be taken up in the twinkling of an eye, an event that has been deemed the "Rapture." (1 Corinthians 15:52) This is separate from the Second Coming of Jesus, which will occur at the end of the Tribulation and is described in Revelation as he rides on a white horse into battle.

Because the Gospels and Hebrews on are both a part of the Kingdom program, and Acts is from a transitional period between Law and Grace, the only books that can apply to us doctrinally are Romans through Philemon. Not only are we unable to follow teachings from the Gospels, as I mentioned before in my discussion on the Great Commission, we're displeasing God by trying to. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." He wants us to know the right doctrine to follow, and He wants us to figure it out. He wants us to use logic and to compare scripture with scripture to determine what the Bible means. Note that this is a command. Paul gives us a relatively small number of commands, as most of what we're to do be basing our faith on today, in the Age of Grace, is principles. But God gave this to us as a command.

I'd say that's pretty important.

I think that wraps it up! Please don't hesitate to ask any questions, about this, other topics I've covered, or things you've thought about on your own. I'll always do my best to answer them!