Dividing the Word
The Bible instruct us to “study to show yourself approved to God, a workman
that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:
15). If you can rightly divide the word, you can also wrongly divide the word.
The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek for a reason, these languages don’
t merely use one word to describe many different meanings, as the English
language does. Words like fear, love, know can leave many not knowing what
a passage is really saying. Over 300 times in the Bible it tells you to “fear
not”, yet it says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. There are
many different words in the Hebrew language for fear, however, in the English
language it can mean being afraid, to being reverent. Many Christians are
afraid of God, thinking it is God that brings many disasters on them. I did a
study on the word fear in detail. We are supposed to reverence, have respect
for, and honor God as our loving heavenly Father. You can see how
meditating on the scripture “the reverence of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom” can make a big difference in how you look to God. Reverence
means a feeling of profound awe and respect. For God to say over and over
“fear not” then to say “fear the Lord” causes many to think that God
contradicts Himself, however it is the translation that confuses people.
Just like you would look up a word in the dictionary to get it’s meaning, you
need to look up Biblical words in the concordance to get it’s meaning. Even
though you don’t study Hebrew and Greek, you can get clear understanding
of the way a word is used in a verse by checking what Hebrew or Greek word
was used and examining the actual way this word was used originally.
The same goes for the word love. Mankind uses love to describe a lot of
feelings. They say I love ice cream, and not personal things, and then say I
love you. The two distinct Greek words meaning “to love”, appear in the
Bible. The word phileo means to have ardent affection and feeling; a type of
impulsive love. The other word Agape means to have esteem or high
regard. In the memorable conversation between Jesus and Peter, there is a
play upon these two words (John 21:15-17). Agape love is like oil to the wheel
of obedience. It enables us to run the way of God’s commandments (Psalms
119:21) “I will run the way of Your commandments, when You shall enlarge my
heart”. Without such love, we are nothing (I Corinthians 13:3), such Spirit
inspired love never fails (I Corinthians 13:8), but always flourishes.
Let’s look at know. The word know can be what you understand in your mind,
and what you know in your heart. Mental knowledge by itself, as good as it
man be, is inadequate, it is capable only of producing pride (I Corinthians 8:1)
“we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies”.
Moral knowledge affects a person’s will (Proverbs 1:7; Philippians 3:11-12; I
John 4:6). It is knowledge of the heart, not the mind alone. The apostle Paul’
s wish for the church at Colosse was that the might increase in the “knowledge
of God” (Colossians 1:10). Jesus said it’s the word that you know that sets
you free (John 8:31-32). The key is to continue in His word. Jesus said “that
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the
day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36), so you see it is important to divide the word.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: February 9, 2007