Lesson 2988

Lesson (2988)(03-05-20) 2 Timothy 2:8-15
    “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

    In my opinion, today’s is one of the most important lessons that is to be found in the entirety of the New Testament.” If we don’t study and “rightly divide” God’s word, we can never be assured of a means to our own eternal salvation. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. (Romans 10:17)
    In order to “rightly divide” God’s word, we must find the original meaning and intent of every passage. To accomplish that, we must resort to whatever means available to make sure that we have it right. That includes the written word, first and foremost, but then, we must confirm the intent by using all of the appropriate languages and translations.
    One glaring example of how men have distorted the intent of God’s divine word is the total misapplication of the word “baptize” in all it’s grammatical variations. That word was transliterated from the Greek work “baptizo” and has been grossly misinterpreted. (To transliterate is to simply replace the original word with a sound alike that does not necessarily bring with it the original meaning or intent.) The word “baptizo” in the original ancient Greek language meant to place one article into a substance and leave it there so as to completely alter that articles original existance. Sadly, the vast majority of today’s applications of the word suggest that it simply means to dip and remove. That confusion has caused millions of people to replace the blood of Jesus Christ, as the remitter of sins, with water. Sin CANNOT be washed away with water. The ONLY means by which our sins can be washed away is by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.~