Re: Donna Dana (19 Dec 2021) and
Greg A. (19 Dec 2021)
Conflating the Scriptures: A
Fundamental Failure to Doctrinally Divide the Word of God
The Essentials of the Faith:
Salvation doctrine is one of the “essentials of the
faith”. When a church member professes a doctrinal
belief which contradicts an essential of the faith, reproof
and correction are necessary. This correction should
be gentle but stern with an essential of the faith.
Paul, in 2 Timothy provides guidance. Paul states in 2
Timothy 2:24-26 the following:
“24And the servant of the Lord
must not strive (quarrel), but be gentle unto all men (and
women), apt to teach, patient, 25In meekness
instructing those that oppose themselves; if God
peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth; 26 And that they may recover (come
to their senses) themselves out of the snare of the devil,
who are taken captive by him at his will.”
Non-essentials of the faith are not
worthy of argument, quarreling and division.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJB states:
15 Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth. (King James Bible)
If your bible does not contain the phrase
“rightly dividing the word of truth”, then you should
consider studying doctrine and prophecy with the King James
Bible (KJB). The KJB is singularly and archeologically
unique. It is the only Bible which originates from the
“majority text” of extant biblical archeological manuscript
evidence. You see, there are two bibles in circulation
today. All modern bibles originate from the “minority
text” which represents 5% of the extant archeological
manuscript evidence. Whereas, the majority text, the
King James alone, originates from 95% of the extant
archeological manuscript evidence. If you were in a
court of law, the majority of evidence or proof would
necessarily prevail.
Why do we need to divide the word of
truth? Because the Bible is written to three
groups: (1) Jews, (2) Church and (3) Gentiles.
Keep this in mind when searching and studying
Scripture. All scripture should be studied in the
context of (1) history, (2) doctrine, and (3)
inspirational or spiritual application. The bible is a
history book dealing with history of past, present and
future. Prophecy is future history from a divine
perspective. The Bible is a history book.
2 Timothy 3:16 states: 16All scripture is given by
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
(King James Bible)
Bible doctrine is of primary
importance: Let’s define doctrine. It is a
set of beliefs held or taught by a church. In our
case, biblical doctrines are Christ’s truths. Biblical
doctrine is first on God’s list of inspired scripture.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for (1) doctrine, (2) for reproof, (3) for
correction, and (4) for instruction in righteousness. God’s
doctrines are essentials of the faith. Observe that
doctrine is first on the list followed by reproof
(disapproval for error) and correction (a process of
correcting error) and finally instruction in
righteousness (application of the scriptures to one’s life,
ie inspirational or spiritual application regardless of
doctrinal focus). Let’s take the doctrine of
salvation. It is plainly stated in Ephesians 2:8-9
which says: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; Not of
works, lest any man should boast.” An example of
fundamental doctrinal error would be adding works, worthy
works, as an additional salvation requirement. Such an
addition directly contradicts God’s salvation
doctrine. In other words, this is a doctrine of
demons, plainly stating that Christ’s death alone is
insufficient for salvation. This is patent heresy.
Why would someone try to add works?
Because that person has a fundamental misunderstanding of
the doctrinal divisions of scripture. That person
fails to rightly divide the scriptures. The
addition of works mixes biblical doctrine aimed at
tribulation Jews in Daniel’s 70th week. The Bible
will be used by “Remnant Israel” during Daniel’s 70th
week. Where is there an example of a works and
faith type of salvation in the New Testament that might
confuse a person? Matthew 24:48-51, Luke 21:42-44, and
Revelation 3:35,7:13-14,12:17, 14:12 19:8 provide examples
of taking Jewish biblical doctrine out of Daniel’s 70th
week and applying it to Church age Christians.
Scripture has doctrinal orientations:
Why? Because scripture to three specific
groups. There is Jewish doctrine, applicable to
Daniel’s 70th week, when the apostate Jewish
nation known as Israel today, will receive Jesus, also known
as “remnant Israel” in the Old Testament. By way
of example, Jewish salvation doctrine in the New Testament
is not applicable to the Church because it contradicts
Church salvation doctrine. Jewish doctrine is
applicable inspirationally to the Church, but not
doctrinally directed at the Church. Church doctrine is
not applicable to Jewish doctrine, however is may be applied
inspirationally during Daniel’s 70th week.
Biblically, there are passages which speak directly to the
lost who represent those who have rejected Paul’s gospel of
grace, Jew and Gentile. An example of a lost group begins in
Romans 2 which follows the excoriating indictment of the
lost in Romans 1. “Rightly dividing” the
scriptures, as commanded by God, is necessary for avoiding
doctrinal confusion. Paul states that in “latter
times” some shall depart sound doctrine and profess
doctrinal error. (1 Timothy 4:1-2)
This is not a simple matter. It is
complicated. Sometimes the doctrinal message can be to
the Church followed by Jewish doctrine aimed at tribulation
Jews. These “back and forth” dispensational
applications within the scriptures takes serious searching
and studying as noted in 2 Timothy 2:15 and John 5:39.
Searching and studying God’s words is an
incredible privilege which should be approached humbly and
reverently. We should all abhor error,
especially those of us who share our beliefs and
understandings with the body of Christ! You must
study!
A substantial portion of the New
Testament is written to Jews now so they can find their
Messiah in this age. However, after the
resurrection/rapture event, the New Testament be used by
Jews in Daniel’s 70th week, also called the “time
of Jacobs Trouble. (Jeremiah 30:7, Ezekiel 20:34-38,
Romans 9:27, 11:26) The Book of Revelation is the
counterpart to Daniel 9:27. The 70th week
salvation will be different than the Church age salvation.
It will be works and faith. (Revelation 12:17, 14:12,
20:4-5) The four gospels and some of Paul’s epistles
are principally Jewish in their doctrine, but
inspirationally very relevant to the Church for instruction
in righteous living. All scripture is good for
training in righteous behavior as we grow in Christian
maturity.
The Book of James is addressed to the 12
tribes of Israel, not the Church. (James 1:1)
Inspirationally, this book is good for Christian training in
righteousness. Certainly, James 2:21 does not apply to
the Church for James says that Abraham was justified by
works implying a works/faith salvation, but we have
Ephesians 2:8-9 saying the opposite to the Church. Such
scriptures emphasize the need to correctly doctrinally
divide the word of truth. The Church is
justified/saved by faith in Jesus’ atoning works. Our
salvation is independent of our works because Jesus did it
alone, once for all. Our works are a response to our
present spiritual transformation and our yielding to
Christ. Christian works will form the basis of rewards
at the Bema Seat following the Resurrection/Rapture
event. These works will form a basis for an
inheritance yet to be disclosed.
There are hundreds of examples of these
“dispensational differences” in the Bible. If you
cannot doctrinally divide the important ones dealing with
the fundamentals of salvation and the essentials of the
faith, you will fall into great error.
If you having trouble understanding what
I am saying, and you truly desire to know correct bible
doctrine, you should consider studying.
I encourage everyone to look at Tim
Morton’s webpage. His dispensational bible study work
is available online at:
https://www.preservedwords.com/dispen/dispen1a.html
or you can buy his pamphlet. He
provides abundant simple explanations and examples: https://www.amazon.com/Difference-Dispensations-Timothy-Morton/dp/B002EVSJO2
Tim’s simple book will walk you through
the bible dispensations so you can learn to rightly divide
the Scriptures. He follows Clarence Larkin summarizing
his seminal work on Dispensational Truth.
Sincerely, Greg Wilson