"Rightly Handling" or "Rightly Dividing," which Translation Does God Approve.

An Elijah's Ax Head Commentary by Glenn A. Griffis

Recently a FACEBOOK follower of mine responded to a comment that I made about a New Testament scripture saying that it did not apply to Christians today, to the church. My "friend,s argument was that certain New Testament passages applied to Jews while others applied to Christians.  He went on to argue that there was a dichotomy between Israel and the church. Apart from being saved by faith alone there is nothing New Testament believers have in common with Jewish believers. The church he proposed was a Divine "afterthought," "a parenthesis," in God's plan after the Jews rejected him. I had heard this before; there is a whole community within Christianity that teaches this separation. It is a view I categorically reject.

Yet, it is a very well developed theological systems with entire seminaries and whole denominations supporting it, so I can in no way address the flaws in the whole system, but I do want to address the verse my friend used to accuse me of a profound and dangerous error. So let me explain my understanding of the passage we were debating, and you decide, which one of us is the heretic:

2 Timothy 2:15[15] Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (ESV)

My friend's referenced the New King James Version, which gives a slightly different slant to the verse; its translation of one key word is essential to his understanding of our debate:

15Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.(KJ2)

My friend argued that one who study's the scripture in a way that is "approved" is one who understands how scripture is "divided." He argues that this passage (supported by many others) teaches that God has worked out his purposes in different ways at different times (Actually I agree with him on that part) based on  the conditions and circumstances under which humans respond to him. The key to "study[ing] to show yourself approved, correctly understanding scripture, is to understand the era in God's plan or dispensation, the passage references. "The New Covenant," is given to the Jews:

Jeremiah 31:33[33] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (ESV)

It is not a promise made to the church. It is illustrative of what God does for the gentile, but it is not a promise given to the church. Since the promise is made to "the house of Israel," it is a reference to the nation of Israel and God's promise to fulfill the law in them. The New Covenant is not made with the church, as a matter of fact in my friends view the church is never pre-figured or spiritualized in anyway (and to suggest otherwise might not be heresy, but it is close to it.) Now without getting into the absolute ludicrousness of this understanding of the relationship between Jews and the church, let's get back to how this relates to the passage in question. 

According to my friend implicit in the word translated "dividing" is the idea of understanding scripture according to the different phases and nuances of God's work. So when my friend "rightly divide[s]" the word of truth, he interprets every passage based on which phase of God's plan it references. Some of his persuasion might say that the work of the gospel carries no compulsion to help the poor or oppressed. They would take a passage like Matthew 25:40, "[40] And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ " (ESV), as referring to Jews living in the tribulation period. In other words, one can only understand Matthew 25 if one divides the application of scripture in the appropriate way. 

I've addressed the teaching of Matthew 25 elsewhere, so I will not correct this misunderstanding here, but the question for this post is does 2 Timothy 2:15 teach that scripture is only correctly understood when it is interpreted in light of the way God has responded to people in various eras. Few modern translations render the original word referenced here as "dividing," rather they translate it as "handling," This is a far more accurate rendering of the original New Testament language. 

The word rendered "handling by some of the contemporary translations and "dividing" by the authorized and the New King James is from the Greek word "orthotomeo." This is the only place the word is used in the New Testament. However it is used in the Septuagint (the Greek Translation of the Old Testament) in Pr 3:6; 11:5: 

Proverbs 3:6
[6] In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight [orthomeo] your paths. (ESV)
Proverbs 11:5
[5] The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,[orthomeo]
but the wicked falls by his own wickedness. (ESV)

It means to cut out a straight path. In Classical Greek it was often used in the sense of cutting something according to an architectural plan. In no sense is the word ever translated "divide" in the way the Authorized and the New King James do. The word means to follow a straight path, or to find the right way. 

Notice the context in which 2 TImothy 2: 15 is placed:

2 Timothy 2:14–19
[14] Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. [15] Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. [16] But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, [17] and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, [18] who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. [19] But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” (ESV)

The context is about people who either stray from the truth, such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, or people who get caught up in meaningless controversies. But those who are studying in such away that they are approved of God "depart from iniguity;" in other words they carefully examine the word of God to find the life transforming principles that lead to holy living. There is nothing in the meaning of the word, or the context in which it is used that would lead one to say that the proper understanding of scripture results from interpreting each passage in accord with God's plan for the time period in which it is set.

Those who take the passage that way are imposing their theology on the text. They are doing exactly what the text warns against getting caught up in meaningless controversies. 

So once again we see that there is one people and one program of God. He has given us his word to find our place in that program so

2 Timothy 2:15[15] Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (ESV)