Dr. Couch, I understand you and a team of dispensationalists will be answering the 95 Theses Against Dispensationalism produced by Robert Reymond and the Nicene Council Group. Will each objection they raise against dispensationalism be answered?
ANSWER: Yes, and we cannot wait to get into this project. The answers will be put on a set of CDs. In looking at their objections, we find it will be easy to answer what they have to say. We will be using church history and the Scriptures to show their mistakes in their view of dispensationalism. We were very surprised at how they misread what the Scriptures have to say on this issue.
Below is a sample: it is their objection against the dispensational view of "rightly dividing the Word of truth" from 2 Timothy 2:15. They somehow say dispensationalists argue for the structuring of history from the word "dividing" whereas "dividing" should be translated "handling accurately." I have never heard dispensationalists using this passage to make historical divisions. The Word of God is what should be handled accurately.
The KJV uses the expression "rightly dividing" in translating the Greek word orthotomeo. It is a Present Active Participle. The root idea of the word is "to cut straight," as in cutting a straight line in building. Ortho=straight, and temno=to cut. The point is that in studying the Word of God we must cut accurately, straight, in understanding the full meaning of the Scriptures. In the Balz & Schneider Lexicon the authors write on the word:
The covenant guys bunch the Bible up all in a wad and fail to see the different dispensations that make the Word of God clear during specific periods of the unfolding plan, through the OT and on into the NT. They fail to understand "progressive revelation" when interpreting the Scriptures. The amil Ellicott makes the same point that dispensationalists do from the word. He writes, "The word literally signifies 'cutting a straight line.' The word of truth is to be laid out straightly and truly." Or, "to manage rightly, to treat truthfully without falsifying."
The old Greek scholar Alford also sees the light. He points out that the original meaning of the word, "to rightly divide," was lost but still is the most valid way to translate the idea. He adds, the word came to signify "to manage rightly, to treat truthfully without falsifying, seems to approach the nearest to the requirements of the context." RIGHT ON! This is what dispensationalists see in the word. To be faithful in Bible study in taking note of the CONTEXT of a passage! The covenant, amil guys fudge at this point in handling the Scriptures!
The covenant guys say that dispensationalists use the expression "rightly dividing" to divide the Bible "into discrete historical divisions," but that it has no "allusions" to this. I have never heard or read of dispensationalists saying that this passage, 2 Timothy 2:15, is about making historical divisions!
On this verse and subject, Scofield writes: "The word of truth has right divisions, and one cannot be a workman without observing them. They cannot be ignored. Many who study the Word makes the Bible confusing. Many Christians confess that they find the study of the Bible weary work." Scofield uses 2 Timothy 2:15 to help clarify the Bible not history. I don't know what the amil guys are talking about.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
ANSWER: Yes, and we cannot wait to get into this project. The answers will be put on a set of CDs. In looking at their objections, we find it will be easy to answer what they have to say. We will be using church history and the Scriptures to show their mistakes in their view of dispensationalism. We were very surprised at how they misread what the Scriptures have to say on this issue.
Below is a sample: it is their objection against the dispensational view of "rightly dividing the Word of truth" from 2 Timothy 2:15. They somehow say dispensationalists argue for the structuring of history from the word "dividing" whereas "dividing" should be translated "handling accurately." I have never heard dispensationalists using this passage to make historical divisions. The Word of God is what should be handled accurately.
The KJV uses the expression "rightly dividing" in translating the Greek word orthotomeo. It is a Present Active Participle. The root idea of the word is "to cut straight," as in cutting a straight line in building. Ortho=straight, and temno=to cut. The point is that in studying the Word of God we must cut accurately, straight, in understanding the full meaning of the Scriptures. In the Balz & Schneider Lexicon the authors write on the word:
The instruction to Timothy is that he is to show himself to be a zealous workman "who correctly administers the word of truth. Or "to follow the right way," or "to proclaim the word forthrightly without unprofitable disputes."
The covenant guys bunch the Bible up all in a wad and fail to see the different dispensations that make the Word of God clear during specific periods of the unfolding plan, through the OT and on into the NT. They fail to understand "progressive revelation" when interpreting the Scriptures. The amil Ellicott makes the same point that dispensationalists do from the word. He writes, "The word literally signifies 'cutting a straight line.' The word of truth is to be laid out straightly and truly." Or, "to manage rightly, to treat truthfully without falsifying."
The old Greek scholar Alford also sees the light. He points out that the original meaning of the word, "to rightly divide," was lost but still is the most valid way to translate the idea. He adds, the word came to signify "to manage rightly, to treat truthfully without falsifying, seems to approach the nearest to the requirements of the context." RIGHT ON! This is what dispensationalists see in the word. To be faithful in Bible study in taking note of the CONTEXT of a passage! The covenant, amil guys fudge at this point in handling the Scriptures!
The covenant guys say that dispensationalists use the expression "rightly dividing" to divide the Bible "into discrete historical divisions," but that it has no "allusions" to this. I have never heard or read of dispensationalists saying that this passage, 2 Timothy 2:15, is about making historical divisions!
On this verse and subject, Scofield writes: "The word of truth has right divisions, and one cannot be a workman without observing them. They cannot be ignored. Many who study the Word makes the Bible confusing. Many Christians confess that they find the study of the Bible weary work." Scofield uses 2 Timothy 2:15 to help clarify the Bible not history. I don't know what the amil guys are talking about.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
