Rightly Dividing Truth
Truth has become somewhat a controversial idea in the modern era. Many elevate the supremacy of what they would call their truth, establishing themselves in all their glorious idolatry as arbiters of what is acceptable truth. Sadly, the church has not been immune to such postmodern ideas and many churches in contemporary evangelism have reduced their messages to what is akin to a Ted Talk; a mere vestige of the glorious proclamation of the Gospel heralded centuries before. Saint Augustine makes the following statement that will undoubtedly shake our modern sensibilities, “If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it’s not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.” In 2022, this could not be truer for the church and society as a whole. The idea is that we piecemeal parts of Christianity that we enjoy and toss out the ones we perceive to be in opposition to the particulars of our worldview. The end result is we try and claim authority over the Bible rather than letting the Bible have authority over us, and we arrive worshipping the golden calf of religiosity we ourselves have constructed.
This kind of handling of sacred truth results in two different predicaments. The first is that if you are of the persuasion that the hard sayings of scripture should be avoided, you will invariably reduce your message and study to just the passages you find palpable. Concepts so critical to a coherent Gospel understanding like sin, and rebellion, will produce in you a watered-down imitation of the beauty of being set free, and therefore rob you of the joy produced from knowing God’s great hand of mercy is upon your life in Christ Jesus. Secondly, if you are responsible to teach others and do not rightly divide the truth of God (2 Tim 2:15), you walk the dangerous path of becoming a charlatan. One who professes to speak the truth but does not possess such truth or perhaps maliciously avoids the truth so as to not cause offense; you need not look far to find an abundance of teachers who fall into this category.
Why does any of this matter? Why is it important to you? You may say, I am not a pastor or teacher so I do not see the value here. Do you not teach your children? Do you not display the Gospel in how you live and in acts of love towards others? To be a Christian is to be a life-long student of God’s Word, being acquainted with the pages of Scripture so we might readily identify a counterfeit. It is also living in such a way that brings Him glory before a fallen humanity (Matt 22:36-40). We must be about the business of bringing the Gospel to a dead and dying world but that starts in our home. That begins with a posture of humility and submission to the authority of the Scriptures even when it makes us uncomfortable. In a world of ever-changing values and endless acronyms and grievances, the Word of God stands the test of time and will continue to do so until King Jesus returns for His own.
"Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself." -Saint Augustine