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 ;D Please give your Questions & Comments in the "Right Division" Questions & Comments POST. The KEY to Bible Study is found in 2ndTim.2:15 = "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". This verse is a command. "Study"="Be diligent", Gr: spoudason, vb.command. The Bible is THE Word of God,and unless the word is rightly divided, we shall not get the "whole" truth, but truth only in proportion to the measure in which we divide it rightly. The SCOPE of 2ndTim.2:15 teaches that: (1) Our one great endeaver is to seek God's approval, and not man's. (2) We are to show diligence in pursuing this study of Rightly Dividing His Word. (3) As workmen, our aim is to have no cause to be ashamed of our working through study. (4) In order to gain God's approval and avoid any shame, we must be accurate in When, Where, and How we divide.....As to its Subject Matter, [II]As to its Times(Ages) and Dispensations, [III]As to its Dispensational Truth and Teaching. :)  # :  While the Word of God is written FOR all persons, and FOR all time, yet it is as true that not every part of it is addressed TO all persons or ABOUT all persons IN all time. Every word is written FOR our learning (Rom.15:4; cf. 1stCor.10:11), and contains all we ought to know; yet, its subject-matter is written according to the dividing principle in 1stCor.10:32, concerning one or the other of 3 distinct classes of persons: The Jews, The Gentiles, & The Church-Body. What is written TO and ABOUT the Jew, belongs TO and must be interpreted OF the Jew. What is written OF and ABOUT the Gentile, belongs TO and must be interpreted OF the Gentile. What is written TO and ABOUT the Church-Body, belongs TO and must be interpreted OF the Church-Body. E.g. - The Visions that were shown to the Prophet Isaiah were "concering Judah and Jerusalem" (Isa.1:1). The Book of Isaiah was written FOR our learning, but was not addressed TO us, nor written concering us, but to/for/about Judah & Jerusalem. It would be dishonest to appropriate that which was spoken to Israel, by interpreting it to ourselves. Every part of the Bible is written concerning one or the other of the 3 groups or classes of people. Sometimes in the same book or passage there is something that is concerning more than one group; sometimes a whole whole book may be concerning only one of the three groups, and the other two are altogether excluded. We may learn much from what is written wherever, for the Inspired, God-breathed Word is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2ndTim.3:16). The Interpretation always belongs TO the class addressed in each book. (Cp. Jas.1:1 & Eph.1:1). Application can be made so long as it does not conflict with what is written elsewhere concerning the church-body. Otherwise, we shall find ourselves applying one truth contrary to another truth. Application cannot be made until the Interpretation is obtained first. The Interpretation is the foundation on which the Application is built. There can be no building till the foundation is laid. MORE TO COME!

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