The verse is II Timothy 2:15 & 16: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." (KJV)
Actually, I have never heard a preacher, theologian or scholar connect verse 16 to verse 15. In my experience, they have always been treated as two separate and unrelated verses, each with its own meaning.
Let me state something clearly. Every word of Scripture must be interpreted:
in light of what the word(s) means specifically;
in the light of the context of the sentence in which they are found;
in the light of the context of the verse in which they are found;
in the light of the context of the chapter or section in which they are found;
in the light of the context of the of the book in which they are found;
in the light of the context of the Covenant to which they apply and in the light of the context of the Bible as a whole.
That's a tall order. If any one of those contexts is violated, the proper interpretation of the Scripture is invalidated.
"There is only one interpretation, but many applications" is a clever bromide, but it places in jeopardy the real meaning of a passage.
So, what's this "rightly dividing the word of God" about?
I have heard it explained as "correctly interpreting" passages of Scripture. That's important, of course. But it is not what is meant here.
I have heard it taught that it means to study so you can please God. God is pleased not by what we do or don't do, but by what we have done with His Son, Jesus.
I have heard it said that it means to "try hard" to gain favor with God by learning a lot about Scripture (you can't gain favor with God by trying hard).
I don't think any of those are correct.
Here are a few of the important words from this passage, their Greek origins and their definitions in this passage:
study - Gk: spoudazo - to diligence, to make speed, to get to it.
shew - GK: paristemi-to place or set near. Used to express drawing closer.
approved - Gk: dokimos - tested, tried. Meaning to have been operated with and found to work properly.
dividing - Gk: orthotomeo to cut straight. Most often used in Greek to mean slice in two so as to never be united again.
word - Gk: logos - speech, matter, reason. Often used to describe Jesus (John 1:1 ff)
truth - Gk: aletheia - the same word used in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the light..."
profane - Gk: bebelos - impious - marked by or showing reverence for deity and devotion to divine worship
vain - Gk: kenophonia - empty sound having neither substance nor meaning.
babblings - Gk: kenophonia - empty sound having neither substance nor meaning. ("Vain" and "babblings" are the same Greek word.)
Given that many Greek words require context to understand their meaning in a particular usage, we can still put together the raw definitions of each word in the passage and find an interesting meaning.
We might read it:
(15)"Hurry! Get to it! Set yourself near to God. Be a workman who can work properly, correctly slicing the word (logos) of God forever into its two parts (the Old Covenant and the New Covenant).
(16) "Stay away from the use of empty rhetoric, meaningless babbling. They will only show how ungodly you are."
By the way, this is one of those phrases incorrectly translated by the NIV. I believe "Do your best..." is wrong as is "...correctly handles..."
The other Greek word used for "dividing" in most places in the New Testament is merismos - which is division into parts that may or may not be able to be reunited.
In our passage, the word orthotomeo indicates that that which is divided cannot be reunited.
So, what does it mean? In the totality of its context, it means that because of Christ, we now have a New Covenant that is forever and completely separated from the Old Covenant, and that we need to set about the task of trusting the author of the New Covenant [the blood of Christ (I Corinthians 11:25), (Galatians 4:24 ff (Hebrews, chapters 6-10 and ] and avoiding meaningless philosophies and theosophies.
Christ's New Covenant is written not on tablets of stone or paper between leather bindings, but on our hearts by the deliberate action of the Holy Spirit.
We must proclaim the gospel message of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ, Messiah and Lord.
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