Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Fresh Perspective to Understanding the Bible.

Rightly Dividing The

Word of Truth

A Fresh Perspective to Understanding The Bible

Fred S Wolfe II

Copyright © 2012 Fred S Wolfe II

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Some of the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 © by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE® COPYRIGHT © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4933-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4931-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4932-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012907312

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/22/2012

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter I .    Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

Chapter II .    The Real New Testament

Chapter III .    Christian Salvation

Chapter IV .    Of Jewish Salvation

Chapter V .    Paul’s Doctrine: The Gospel of God in Christ Jesus

Chapter VI .    The Body of Christ

Chapter VII .    Who/What is Satan?

Chapter VIII .    Going to Sleep

Chapter IX .    The Gathering Together of the Saints

Chapter X .    The Resurrections

Chapter XI .    Evil Entities of the Great Tribulation

Chapter XII .    The Cold, Harsh Reality of the Great Tribulation

Chapter XIII .    Other Aspects of The Book of Revelation

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV .    For My Muslim and Jewish Friends

Afterword

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my beautiful and virtuous wife of 33 years, Joanne. She has been by my side through good times and bad. We have done ministry, built a business, and have been in many ventures together. Also to our two sons, David and Jonathan; I am so proud to be their father. We have two beautiful granddaughters, who have won our hearts over, making us proud grandparents. We are looking forward to being in their lives as my grandparents were in mine.

I would also like to dedicate this book to my late grandparents, Beryl Love and George Washington Bristow and Helen Harris and Fredrick Stevenson Wolfe. They played as great a role influencing my life as my parents did.

Abbreviations Used in the Text

Preface

How many times have you heard, But, the Bible says… or some variation of it, like, "God’s Word says this or The Bible says that?" I think that God has probably been the most misquoted entity since the creation of man, and He is the last one I would want to be guilty of misquoting. Lucifer, formerly the anointed cherub, started the trend of misquoting God in Genesis 3. God, or YHWH (transliterated as Yahweh),¹ the name He gave himself (used 6210 times in the Old Testament), is not blessed when people misquote Him, any more than you and I are. There are consequences in either realm, but to misrepresent the creator of the heavens and the earth is much more severe. For example, we read in Revelation 22:18–19:

I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto it, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the tree of life, and out of the holy city the things which are written in this book.

This quote may very well only reference the book of Revelation, but it would be remiss to believe that God thinks any less of the other books He has authored. When we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ (and we all will), there will be no excuses. There will be no, But, but, but…, which is why we need to pay the utmost attention when we quote Yahweh, who is the sole author of the Bible.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but men of God spake as they were moved by holy spirit. (2Pe 1:20–21)

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2Ti 3:16–17)

Combining these verses, we see that all original scripture was Theo pneustos (God-breathed), not subject to anyone’s own interpretation; it did not come about by man’s will to write it, rather it came through men of God as they were moved or carried along by His Spirit. The scripture is beneficial for doctrine (truthful teaching), for reproof (conviction; refutation of error), for correction (restoration to an upright or right state), and for instruction (which aims at the increase of virtue) in righteousness, that we may be complete and fully equipped unto all good works.²

This book is full of quotes from the Bible, because I want nothing to be unsubstantiated. If I cannot prove it from God’s Word, then I will not write it. Whenever you quote God, you had better have a scripture reference in mind when you do it. Whether or not that reference is accurate or rightly divided, is another matter.

The Bible is the greatest source we have to reference what God actually said or says. But, as good or bad as any translation of it is, it is just that: a translation. When things are translated, more often than not, they tend to end up being affected by the sway or preference of those doing the translating. Thus, what we have is a blemished translation or, in most instances, an interpretation.

The longer I am in the Word, the more convinced I become that most newer translations are worse than their predecessors. The point I want to make here is that no translation, however good or bad, takes the place of making the Word of God your own. Short of becoming a Greek or Hebrew scholar, there are many Bible software programs available to install on your computer in order to help you gain a more accurate understanding of what God is actually trying to communicate. As I said earlier, there will be no excuses at the Judgment Seat of Christ. I also recommend comparing any Greek translations to the Aramaic translation of George M. Lamsa. The latter is available online and it is free.³

In this book, I will be dealing predominantly with the New Testament, which I consider to begin with Romans 1:1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the book of Acts serving as the transition period between the Law Administration and the Grace Administration. It could be said that the New Testament actually began on the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church of the Body of Christ, which is fine by me. But, for the sake of argument, it certainly did not begin with Matthew, as the testator of the testament had only just been born and was still living.

Throughout this text, all quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. I will also be quoting verses from other versions or translations. These will be noted as NRSV, NASU, NASB, etc. The KJV is the most easily referenced and the version upon which Strong’s numbering system is based. I will make many references to Strong’s numbers, of which there are 8674 Hebrew root words used in the Old Testament and 5624 Greek root words used in the New Testament.

The KJV italicizes words that were added by the translators, but literally hundreds of other words were added, which were not italicized. Since italicized words are used for emphasis in professional writing, I will [bracket] words that have been added by the translators in plain text, so you will know that they do not appear in the original texts. I save italics for my own emphasis upon the quotes examined in this book.

Unfortunately, there is not a Bible in print that shows all of the words the translators added. Any serious student of the Bible must have a computer Bible program in order to know for sure, what has been added and what has not. I will also take the liberty, as other translators have, of changing punctuation and capitalization to portray what I believe to be God’s original intent. For example, look at 1 John 5:7–8:

For there are three that bear record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth]: the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

As you can see, none of the words have been italicized, but the translators added all the words between the brackets. Here is how the NRSV portrays these two verses:

There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree.

If you were used to reading the KJV, you would think that there was something wrong with the NRSV translation. Without access to a program like Biblesoft’s PC Study Bible, you would not know that the NRSV was actually the more accurate of the two versions.

I will use parentheses to identify the Greek words and to show words I am adding for further clarification. I will only do this in order to attempt to communicate a simpler or more accurate understanding of a given verse.

Introduction

Acts 11:26 is the first time anyone was called a Christian. There were no Christians when Jesus Christ was alive on the earth and there were none before that, except in God’s foreknowledge. The Christian movement officially began when Jesus handpicked 12 Disciples to follow him. When he chose Peter and his brother Andrew, Jesus said to them, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Mt 4:19). He then called two other brothers, who were fishermen as well: James and John. Then he selected eight others, who all followed him and learned to do as he did. As the 12 began to follow him, so did others. What Jesus taught them and showed them became known as this way, a term coined by Saul, who was persecuting the followers of Jesus, as we see in Acts 9:2. Jesus proclaimed that he was the way in John 14:6. After Saul’s conversion in 37 AD,⁴ he was teaching in a synagogue, where unbelievers spoke evil of that way (Ac 19:9). Acts 19:23 says, "And the same time there arose no small stir about that way." In 22:4, Paul, recalling how he too had persecuted Jesus’ followers, referred to them as followers of "this way." In 24:14, Paul says, "But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. In 24:22, the most noble Felix" referred to the believers as those of that way, which occurred in approximately 59 AD, 30 years after Jesus’ Ascension. In 1 Corinthians 4:16–17, Paul says,

Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

Paul adopted the way that he had formerly persecuted as his way, which was in Christ. Here Paul beseeches the believers to be followers of him and his ways and he sends Timothy, who knew his way better than anyone else, to testify that Paul’s way was in Christ, as Christ would have it.

The word way (hodos, 3598 in Strong’s; hereafter, simply the number will be given) metaphorically⁵ means a proceeding, a movement, which denotes a code of conduct, a way or manner of thinking, feeling and deciding.⁶ Properly, it means a traveled road, a journey, route, or progress. The word Christian is only used three times in the entire New Testament. Even though the believers were first called Christians in Acts 11:26, around 45 AD, the term did not appear again until Acts 26:28, some 15 years later, when Paul was questioning King Agrippa, who said, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Being a Christian—a follower of the way, the truth, and the life—Jesus Christ—is not just something you are, but something you become. It is a journey in life, conducting yourself in an exemplary manner in your actions, your thinking, your emotions, and your decisions. There is more to being a Christian than just confessing Jesus as your Lord or master and believing that God raised him from the dead. A lot more. But that is enough to get you eternal life. Eternal life is longer than any mortal, except for Jesus Christ, has ever known. Have you ever thought about what you are going to do for eternity? Well, what you do then depends a lot on what you do now that you are born again, according to Romans 10:9–10.

The Bible is probably the most read, yet most misunderstood book ever. There are many reasons for this. I will endeavor to put forth several keys to understanding the Bible, which will hopefully give the reader a more accurate knowledge of the Word and Will of God.

Chapter I

Rightly Dividing

the Word of Truth

In order to understand the Word of God, the Bible, it must be rightly divided. Until you do so, you will never walk in the fullness of the power that is yours. In Paul’s second personal epistle to Timothy (2:15), he says,

Study (exert thyself), to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Ortho-tomeo, Handling the Word of God

To rightly divide means to dissect correctly, to cut straight. Paul uses the Greek word orthotomeo (3718), which comes from the words orthos (straight, erect, upright)⁷ and tomoteros (to cut comprehensibly, decisively).⁸ Tomoteros is used one other time, in Hebrews 4:12. To picture the meaning of orthos, think of an orthodontist as someone who makes one’s teeth straight and prevents them from being crooked. For tomoteros, think of a butcher separating the different cuts of meat from an animal. Tomoteros is differentiated from koptos (hacking, chopping).

One of the main reasons why there is so much misunderstanding of God’s Word is that there has been a failure to rightly divide the Word, which has been handed down to us through centuries of abuse, private interpretation, and outright fraud. One of the more obvious examples is the separating of the Old and New Testaments between Malachi and Matthew. I will argue that there are logical divisions in the Bible that are applicable to us directly and indirectly. It is easy to see that the Law of Moses, and, hence, The Law Administration, ends with the fulfillment of the Law in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When one administration ends, another one begins (though not always immediately), until the last administration of the Everlasting Kingdom, where the New Heaven and New Earth will be. We can learn a lot from what was written to those of the Law Administration, which ends with the Gospel of John, but it would be catastrophic to attempt to live by that to which Christ put an end. For example, during the Law Administration, salvation was dependant upon one staying faithful to the Law of Moses until the day one died, whereas during this administration—the Grace Administration, which began in Acts 2—salvation is freely given by grace, the undeserved divine favor of God.

According to Strong’s, the word dispensation (oikonomia, 3622), which is used in Ephesians 3:2, means administration as in a religious economy. Thayer’s defines it as the management of a household, specifically, the management, oversight, administration of others’ property. Another way of understanding this word is from the viewpoint of governance, how things are governed.

The written Word (logos) is logical and its divisions are logical. The first dispensation or administration ended with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Ge 3:24). The second administration ended with the Flood—a very conclusive end! The time that Noah spent in the Ark (Ge 7:11–8:14) served as a transition between oikonomias. Verse 15 marked the beginning of civil government, as measured out by Abraham, Isaac,