🎥 Baptist Bold: Ask a Pastor
📅 Episode 15 – Thursday: Doctrine Day
Question: “Why Is Rightly Dividing the Word So Important?”
🎬 Intro Script:
Welcome to Baptist Bold: Ask a Pastor—where truth isn’t filtered, and the Bible has the final word. I’m Pastor Joshua Tapp from True Words Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Let’s get into today’s question…
📖 Answer:
If you don’t rightly divide the Word—you’re going to wrongly apply it.
That’s why so many preachers today are mixing up Israel and the church, grace and law, and confusing the clear Gospel message.
Right division isn’t about cutting the Bible into pieces—it’s about understanding who’s being spoken to, what applies when, and what never changes.
1. The Bible Commands Us to Rightly Divide
📖 2 Timothy 2:15 — “Study to shew thyself approved unto God… rightly dividing the word of truth.”
This means separating truth from truth—not truth from error.
It’s all true—but not all of it is written to you, even though all of it is written for you.
2. Not Every Command Was Given to You
- God told Noah to build an ark. That’s not your calling.
- God told Israel to offer animal sacrifices. You don’t do that today.
- God gave laws for the land, the temple, and a Levitical priesthood. That’s not the church.
If you treat every verse as if it applies to you directly—you’ll end up with false doctrine and serious confusion.
3. The Gospel Must Never Be Muddled
📖 Galatians 1:6–8 — “…if any man preach any other gospel… let him be accursed.”
People who don’t rightly divide end up mixing works with grace.
They’ll say things like “you have to turn from sin to be saved,” “keep the commandments to stay saved,” or “endure to the end to make it to heaven.”
That’s not rightly dividing. That’s adding to the Gospel.
📖 Romans 11:6 — “If it be of works, then is it no more grace…”
4. Right Division Clarifies Doctrine—When It’s Done Biblically
Right division helps you recognize real biblical distinctions:
- Israel vs. the Church (they’re not the same)
- Law vs. Grace (we’re under grace, not the law)
- Old Covenant vs. New Covenant (Jesus fulfilled the old)
But some people wrongly divide by inventing false distinctions—like saying the rapture is separate from the second coming (they’re the same event), or claiming the Kingdom of Heaven is different from the Kingdom of God (they’re the same thing, used interchangeably).
Right division means making the divisions God makes—not the ones men force.
5. The Devil Quotes Scripture Too
📖 Matthew 4:6 — Satan quoted Psalm 91 to tempt Jesus
📖 2 Peter 3:16 — “…they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [the Scriptures]…”
Just because someone uses a Bible verse doesn’t mean they’re preaching truth.
Right division protects you from deception and helps you keep the Gospel pure.
🎯 Bottom Line:
God’s Word is perfect—and we’re commanded to study it, not shred it.
📖 2 Timothy 2:15 still applies.
If you want doctrinal clarity, Gospel purity, and spiritual maturity—you must rightly divide the Word of truth.
🎬 Outro Script:
Got more questions? Drop them below and hit subscribe for daily bold Bible answers. I’m Pastor Joshua Tapp—see you next time on Baptist Bold: Ask a Pastor.
Leave a Reply