How to rightly divide the word of truth

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INTRODUCTION

My  friends I have learned that without the proper division of the  scriptures, it is impossible to have a working knowledge of God's word  to us today. We are not Israel nor do we take Israel's place in God's  program. We have a unique position in God's plan and purpose and Paul,  the Apostle to the Gentiles tells us that Israel has fallen temporarily  and today, in the dispensation of the grace of God, Gentiles are blessed  of God apart from Israel. My friends please remember that while all  Scripture is for us, all Scripture is not written to or about us. This  is the key to understanding the Bible. For whatsoever things were  written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through  patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4)

RIGHTLY DIVIDING YOUR BIBLE
“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. While  the entire Bible was inspired by God for our benefit, it is not all  written to the same people. God spoke different things to different  people at different times. Every time it was according to his two-fold  purpose. The key to understanding the Bible hinges on our ability to  discern what is written to us and what is not. This is what is meant by  right division of the Bible. The only way that we can truly understand  the Scripture is through the use of right division. That means separate  the kingdom gospel, from the gospel of the grace of God, and separate  the church the body of Christ from the Nation of Israel. Our  instructions for this dispensation were given to the apostle Paul, and  again they are unsearchable in all previous dispensations. Do not wait  for your pastor to tell you these things he may not even want to know  them himself. 

Understanding The Bible
"Study to shew thyself  approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly  dividing the Word of Truth" (II Tim. 2:15) In Eph. 2 the Apostle Paul  sets forth the basic three-fold division in God's dealings with mankind:  Time Past (v.11,12), But Now (v.13), and The Ages to Come (v.7). When  the Bible is "laid out" according to this divinely inspired design we  easily get an overview of not only what we are reading but when and to  whom it was written. Thus the Word of God itself provides us with the  key to its own proper understanding and right division. To “rightly  divide the word of truth” means to properly handle the Bible by  recognizing & making the division in it that needs to be made  because of God’s different programs.

What It Means To Rightly Divide the Scriptures

The  Apostle Paul tells us to study God’s word with a view to rightly  dividing the word of truth. It is interesting that when people talk  about how to study the Bible there is all kinds of different methods  that people use: historical, literal, allegorical. There are all these  different methods people use but you can see right here in the word of  God that God’s method, through the pen of the Apostle Paul to Timothy  and to us, is to rightly divide the word of truth. When the Apostle Paul  thought about the concept of rightly dividing the word of truth, he  thought of God’s Word in terms of its right division, that is, times  past, but now and ages to come. (Ephesians 2:11,13,7) Very simply, as  the Apostle Paul thought about God’s Word, he thought in terms of what  God was doing in the past, what God is doing now, and what God is going  to be doing in the future. 

Time Past: Eph. 2:11,12 sets forth  the basic issue in Time Past as the division between Circumcision and  the Uncircumcision, between the nation Israel and the Gentiles. When you  find this issue governing the way God was working with men, you know  you are in Time Past. This covers the Old Testament (see Gen. 17:9-14,  Deut. 4:5-8, Num. 23:9) as well as Matthew thru John (see Rom. 15:8,  Matt. 10:5,6; 15:24, John 4:22) and the early Acts period (see Luke  24:47, Acts 1:6,8;2:14,22,36;5:32;11:19).

But Now: Eph. 2:13  indicates that in the But Now portion Gentiles are no longer "far off"  but rather the "middle wall of partition" between Israel and the  Gentiles has been eliminated and now" those who were far off are made  nigh." Romans thru Philemon provide the doctrine for the dispensation of  grace (Rom. 11:13;15:16;16:25, I Cor. 14:37, Eph. 3:1-9).

Ages  to Come: God will bring His purposes to fruition and thus Eph. 2:7  points to the Ages to Come. The books of Hebrews thru Revelation focus  on this. Ages to Come, God's purpose with Israel is resumed and the  nation Israel will go through a period of purging. God's purpose for  Israel in ages to come is for Israel to be a kingdom of priests and a  holy nation that will rule with Christ when the kingdom of heaven is  established on the earth.