II TIMOTHY 2:15

“A workman needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God.” (II Timothy 2:15b)

 I chose this passage to illustrate two potential pitfalls one runs into while trying to understand the Bible:

A. We all approach Scripture from our own personal viewpoint, prejudices, interests and concerns. And then we think that our understanding is the only possible meaning to the text and argue with those who have a different understanding or insight into the passage. For example, I once taught a Sunday school class where I outlined two of the most common ways of understanding eschatology throughout Christian history. A visitor to our class stood up angrily and said, "I don't see how you could call yourself a Christian and believe those!"  

Turning to the II Timothy verse above, I have been exposed to two quite different ways of understanding it.     

    1. I am not exaggerating when I say that the elders in the church I grew up in would quote this verse 

at least twice a month in their Sunday morning prayers. I always wondered what was so special about 

this verse, and then I figured it out years later. The church was composed almost entirely of blue collar 

workers who had never gone to college, and they openly expressed their suspicion of anyone who had.

To them, the first part of this verse said that they did not need to go to college in order to understand 

the Bible as well as anyone else. And that included our pastor.

 

    2. On the other hand, an earlier generation of dispensationalists such as C. I. Scofield used this verse, 

especially the last part, as their motto and main proof text. To them it clearly taught that each portion of 

Scripture needed to be assigned (divided) to its proper dispensation in God's plan in order to be 

understood.

 

B. The second problem that this verse illustrates is reliance on outdated translations. Underlying the 

above interpretations is, of course, the fact that they were all quoting from the 1611 King James Version

of the Bible 

    1. The elders in my old church would be shocked to learn that translators and commentators now 

explain "workman" in terms of the effort and discipline it takes to preach (RSV Study Bible) and the 

necessity to be efficient and fully equipped to do the work of Christ on earth (NEB), in order that he 

(i.e., Timothy) will have no cause to be ashamed of his life's work (Jerusalem Bible).  Of course, the 

additional pitfall here is in totally ignoring the whole context of the epistle addressed to a 

preacher and evangelist concerning the proper way of carrying out those particular duties. Timothy's 

secular line of work, assuming that he even had one, is not in mind here.

    2. Regarding the correct "dividing" of the word of God, all modern translations render the original 

Greek word more accurately as "handling" (RSV, NIV, NASB), "using to best advantage" (J. B. 

Phillips), "being straightforward in your proclamation" (NEB), (NASB), "teaching" (TEV), "keeping

a straight course" (Jerusalem Bible), "explaining" (NRSV), etc. So paradoxically, those earlier teachers 

who said that the word must be accurately divided were actually guilty of going against Paul's teaching 

in this very verse.