The Meaning of Study

By Lee Carter Maynard

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     "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

     I think I have never conducted a quotation meeting without someone quoting this verse. It is a familiar one with Restoration people. They have heard it so often they have memorized it. Before I begin a quotation meeting I generally say, "Please do not quote God so loved; Blessed are the poor in spirit; The Lord is my shepherd; or Jesus wept." That just about disarms most folks. It shows laziness when our people only know a half dozen scriptural quotations. I am always afraid for a "Jesus wept" boy for he is apt to turn out bad.

     I have heard 2 Timothy 2:15 from the pulpit since I was a lad, and I accepted the usual interpretation until one day I discovered that perhaps there was a better explanation to be made. All those I ever heard explain it understood that "study" meant to study the word of God. To rightly divide the word meant to divide the Bible first into old and new testaments, then the subdivisions of history, law, poetry, prophecy, the gospels. Acts, epistles and Revelation would complete the scholarly division of the "word of truth."

     I do not believe these natural divisions of God's holy word have anything to do with the explanation of 2 Timothy 2:15. I do not believe that Paul was talking about reading the Bible at all. At the time Paul wrote this they only had the old testament and we do not go there to know how to be approved of God. It was for the Jews. The new testament had not been written when Paul wrote to Timothy, so he could not have been referring to the new testament. I believe that all of my readers will agree with these statements as factual.

     Timothy was a young preacher filled with the Holy Spirit, but Paul knew that he did need to study. What was he to study? I think that first he had to study himself and his opportunities. He had to study how to be humble, courteous, mannerly, respectful and dedicated as a young preacher ought to be. He was to be a paragon of good behavior. He was to avoid all that might appear evil. The verse applies to ourselves as well as Timothy. It takes study to be a good Christian. The best in us comes only by serious study.

     Elders need to study how to do their best. Deacons need to study how best to serve God, the church and their fellowmen. Fathers and mothers should study how to be good parents. Citizens of our land need to study how to be good citizens. Farmers can be better farmers by study. A man came through our country selling books on how to be better farmers. One farmer said, "I don't want your book for I already know how to be a better farmer than I am." All of us could improve ourselves with study and prayer. It is the result of such personal study that makes us approved unto God.

     Those who diligently pursue such study will become workmen for the Lord who need not be ashamed. A carpenter installed cabinets in our kitchen and stopped to tell me that thirty years be-

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fore, he had heard a preacher use 2 Timothy 2:15, and it made such a lasting impression upon him that all through his life he could not do work for which he was ashamed. He said that he could not cover up poor workmanship or faulty material, even though it could be hidden from the sight of men.

     What about "rightly dividing the word of truth?" I believe that Paul was telling the young preacher that he should study the people and their needs. He should prepare lessons for the little ones. He should study the needs and problems of the teenagers, and parcel out the things relevant to them and their problems. He must study the problems of the young married and the middle-aged and divide out to them such messages as fitted their problems. He must never neglect the aged, the sick, and the shut-ins, and he must study how to act and what to say in their presence. It takes a lot of study to be a good worker in the kingdom of the Lord.

     Now, don't dare go out and say that I discouraged anyone from studying God's word, for I am sure I study it more than any of you. But it takes more than just studying or memorizing the scriptures. The Bible reveals God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, and the Christian life to me, but I must study to make the truths revealed practical in my life. Our God is not confined to the four walls of any building, nor to the pages of a book. The Lord, the Spirit, the Word, and other Christians will all help the student to live so that he will be approved of God in the great day. Those things he learns of love, kindness, forgiveness, and faithfulness, he will gladly parcel out to others of like faith.

     (Editor's Note. Lee Carter Maynard may be addressed at 523 Forty-first Avenue North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33703.)