RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

A Study By Gary Ray Branscome

    While Bible makes it clear that we are to rightly divide the Word of Truth, actually doing it requires an understanding of the proper relationship of the law to the gospel, along with the wisdom necessary to bring our teaching into accord with the gospel message. That means, essentially, that we must first understand that the law is God’s message to the unrepentant and the gospel is His message to those who repent, while also realizing that since the law cannot make us righteous, true righteousness comes only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. [1 Timothy 1:9, 1 John 1:7, Romans 5:19, 3:20 and 10:4]

     When this is explained to some people for the first time, they react by saying, “Saved people need the law too.” What they fail to understand is that when saved people use the law, God is not speaking words of condemnation to them. Instead they are using the law to condemn their own unrepentant thoughts and desires. In fact, that is what the Bible is talking about when is says, “If we would judge ourselves we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). Our entire life should be a life of repentance. We should daily use the law to put to death the old Adam by condemning and putting to death any sinful feelings or desires that arise in our heart (Romans 7:16-17, Colossians 3:1-5). However, there are times when saved people fail to do this and fall into sin. On such occasions the law does condemn them as it condemned David when he sinned willfully (2 Samuel 12:7-12). Nevertheless, it condemns them because they are unrepentant, so the rule still holds true. The law is God's message to the unrepentant, while the gospel is His message to those who repent (1 Timothy 1:9).
 


     Because the law and the gospel are two separate messages, they seem contradictory to those who do not understand the way of salvation. For example, Romans 6:23 first tells us that sinners receive death, and then tells us that God gives sinners life. Those who do not understand wonder which is true. Do sinners receive life or death? This is confusing for them, but perfectly clear to those who understand the way of salvation, for the key is repentance. The phrase, “The wages of sin is death,” is God's warning to the unrepentant, while the phrase, “The gift of God is eternal life,” is God's promise of mercy to those who repent.

     Because the law and gospel are two distinct messages we must distinguish between them, while using them as God intended. On one hand, that means that we should never give the unrepentant a false hope [i.e. false gospel] by leading them to think that they can gain God’s favor or blessing through their works. On the other hand, it means that we should never rob those who repent of their assurance of salvation by leading them to believe that God’s favor or blessing depends upon what they do. The unrepentant (and that includes the self-righteous) must be warned of God’s wrath and pointed to Christ (not works) as the source of all mercy. However, those who place the emphasis on “obedience,” are doing the exact opposite. By portraying works as the way to please God, “obedience” preachers give the self-righteous a false assurance of salvation, lead the repentant away from faith in Christ to trust in works, and lead those who are openly wicked to believe that salvation comes through works. Yes, sin must be condemned! However, what “obedience” preachers fail to understand is that righteousness comes through faith in Christ, not works. As it is written, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes” (Romans 10:4).

    As God’s message to the unrepentant, the law warns all who commit adultery of God's wrath, while His message to those who repent assures them that there is, “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 8:1, 1 John 1:7-9).


    Because law and gospel are two separate messages, we must never confuse them, mix them together, or compromise them in a vain attempt to make them agree. On the contrary, it must be understood that they were never meant to agree! Therefore, in order to rightly divide the Word of Truth, the law must be taught in its full sternness, the gospel in its full sweetness. That means, essentially, that God sees no good in the unrepentant (Isaiah 64:6), and no bad in those who repent (Romans 4:7-8 and 8:1, 1 John 1:9).

     We must never give the unrepentant a false comfort by leading them to believe that God has made His law easier to keep. On the contrary, those who sin willfully need to be warned of God’s wrath, while the self-righteous need to be warned that as long as they try to earn God's favor by keeping the law, they are debtors, “To do the whole law” (Galatians 5:3). As it is written, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). At the same time, we must also make it clear that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 2:13 and 3:10). Moreover, we should not hide the gospel from them. They need to know that there is forgiveness in Christ. What we do not want to do, is to give them a false hope, by leading them to believe that they can gain God’s favor through their own works or “obedience” (Romans 3:10-20, Galatians 2:16 and 3:11,21, James 2:10). [That is one reason why I object to the song, “Trust And Obey”]


     The words, “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” summarize the essential truth of the gospel (Romans 6:23). Our salvation is a gift! And because it is a gift, it is free. In fact, if we had to earn it, it would no longer be a gift (Romans 11:6). For that reason, receiving it does not depend upon our ability to cooperate with God, keep His law, or keep ourselves saved. On the contrary, our salvation is solely the work of God and solely a gift of His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 4:12). That being the case, rightly dividing the word of truth means that we must never rob the repentant of their assurance of salvation by leading them to believe that they must do something in order to gain, or continue in, God’s favor.

    While willful sin and an unrepentant heart will bring God’s condemnation and wrath, God warns those who seek righteousness through the law of the same condemnation and wrath. And He does so because those who think that they are keeping the law are refusing to acknowledge their sins, those who refuse to acknowledge their sins are not sorry for them, and those who are not sorry for their sins are unrepentant. Therefore, if we are to rightly divide the Word of Truth, we must never seek to motivate people by the law, or in any way lead them to believe that they can gain God’s blessing and favor through their own efforts. Once we come to faith in Christ, we do what is good, and right, and pure because we love Jesus, and because want to do what is right, not because we think we will gain something by doing it.

    One very prominent delusion, is the idea that God has somehow made His law easier to keep. Nevertheless, the Bible is very clear in telling us that not one jot or tittle has passed from the law. The freedom we have in Christ is freedom from the whole law, not just the exchange of one law for another (Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17, 1 Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23). Just as a woman whose husband has died is free from the law forbidding her to marry another, so likewise we, through the death of Christ, are dead to the law and all of its demands (Romans 7:1-4). Still, as long as someone believes that obeying the law will make them righteous, they will find it very difficult to know how they should behave once Christ has freed them from the law. However, the problem is in their own mind, and in the fact that they still think of righteousness as obedience to the law. Once they come to see themselves as God sees them, and realize that the law condemns everything they do (even their righteousness), their eyes will be opened to see that freedom from the law is the freedom to be righteous, not the freedom to do evil (Isaiah 8:20, Ecclesiastes 7:20).


     Although the law and gospel are two separate messages, they are each to be taught together side by side. We should never condemn sin without offering forgiveness, nor should we offer forgiveness without condemning sin. The law is to be used to warn the unrepentant, the gospel to comfort those who repent. At the same time, it must be made clear that forgiveness is available to us only because Christ died in our place. Without His sacrifice, there would be no forgiveness (Joshua 24:19).

    When baptism is portrayed as a work, law and gospel are not being rightly divided. And that can have in two dire consequences. If baptism is portrayed a work that brings forgiveness, the unrepentant will think that they can escape God’s wrath simply by going through a ceremony (Acts 22:16). If the promise of forgiveness connected with baptism is explained away, its comfort will be withheld from those who repent (Acts 2:38). Therefore, it is important to understand that baptism is not something we do, instead it is something that God’s representative does to us. Furthermore, although God uses the ceremony as a way of giving us His promise of forgiveness in Christ, it is only through personal faith in Christ that we receive what is promised (Galatians 3:22, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Romans 5:2).
As a vehicle that conveys a promise of the gospel, baptism is God's message of forgiveness to all who repent (Mark 1:4, Luke 3:3, Acts 2:38 and 22:16). Yet the ceremony will never remove the sins of the unrepentant, no matter how many times they are baptized, because it is not the ceremony, but faith in God’s promise of forgiveness in Christ, that is “accounted” to us for righteousness (Galatians 3:6-22, Hebrews 11:6).

     When those who were once saved are told that they can live in sin and harden their hearts in unrepentance yet still be saved, law and gospel are not being rightly divided. That doctrine not only contradicts the plain teaching of Scripture, but it also encourages unrepentance (Luke 8:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). When God’s Word says, “If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,” God wants evildoers to be convicted by those words (Hebrews 10:26). Likewise when God’s Word says to the self-righteous, “Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace,” God wants the self-righteous to be convicted by those words (Galatians 5:4). Yet, those who deny that anyone can ever lose salvation, make those warnings of Scripture of none effect by their tradition (Mark 7:13). Furthermore, because God put those warnings in His Word in order to bring the unrepentant to their knees in repentance (that their souls might be saved) those who contradict those warnings hinder the work of the gospel.
    At the same time, God’s Word is not rightly divided when men contradict God’s promise to keep us from falling (1 Peter 1:5, John 10:27-28). When God’s Word says, “now to Him that is able to keep you from falling,” He wants us to believe that promise and entrust the preservation of our faith to His grace (Jude 24). Yet, those who insist that the preservation of our faith depends on what we do, burden the faithful with a fear of falling, while hindering the gospel by undermining faith in God’s promise.
Those who teach either of these errors fail to understand the proper relationship of law to gospel and, for that reason, fail to see the big picture. They need to understand that God only warns us of the danger of falling so that we will see our need for His help and, therefore, trust in His grace (rather than in our own efforts) to keep us from falling (Luke 8:13, Jeremiah 17:5). His warnings are law; His promise to keep us is gospel.
 

    American churches are, all too often, rich in the things of this world, but poor in the things of the Spirit. Few even think about rightly dividing the Word of Truth and fewer still actually understand what that entails. As a result, some churches give a false assurance of salvation to the unrepentant, while others burden those who repent with the warnings and works of the law.