Paul was given the doctrine for the body of Christ

2 Timothy 2:7 (KJV) Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

The doctrine for the church, the body of Christ, is contained in the 13 epistles of Paul, Romans to Philemon.

This is the pivotal concept in right division, which if not applied leads to doctrinal error, confusion and apparent contradictions.

For example, are we to provide for ourselves or not?:

Matthew 6:25 (KJV) Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

2 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV) For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

Matthew 6:25 is spoken by Jesus to his disciples (ie believing Israel) under the prophecy programme. Under this programme, Israel was required to demonstrate its complete trust that God would provide for them, as he had provided food and water for them in the wilderness (Exodus 16-17) and as he will provide in the future during the time of tribulation (Revelation 12:6).

2 Thessalonians 3:10 is spoken to the church today, when the blessings are spiritual and the provision of physical/material necessities is not in scope.

The red letters

Many bible versions give particular prominence to the words of Christ spoken during his earthly ministry by printing them in red. This can cause misunderstanding and divert saints away from the doctrine for this age contained in the words spoken by Christ to Paul as part of his (Christ’s) heavenly ministry .

All scripture has equal authority as all its words are the words of Christ:

Revelation 19:13 (KJV) And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

Paul models right division

Scripture not only requires right division but it also demonstrates it for us.

On many occasions Paul refers in his epistles to other scriptures. This does not refute the proposition that it is his epistles alone which contain the doctrine for today. Rather, it demonstrates Paul “rightly dividing”, and profiting from the other scriptures, as he expounds truth - but not doctrine for the body of Christ - from them.

Reasons why Paul quotes from other scriptures include:

• To prove to the Jews that the Christ saving in this dispensation was not a new invention of his:

Acts 17:2-3 (KJV) And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

• Because they contain truths for all dispensations, for example the requirement to believe what God is saying at any given time:

Romans 4:3 (KJV) For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

• To teach why Israel is presently fallen, but that it will also be restored:

Romans 9:1-6 (KJV) I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Romans 11:25 (KJV) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Christ also demonstrated right division firstly in the sense of not revealing during his earthly ministry that which he later revealed to Paul…

For example, during his earthly ministry Christ did not teach that his resurrection from the dead would justify all men before God. We can see this in the fact that when Peter and John found the tomb empty they assumed that the body had been moved (ie it did not occur to them that he had risen):

John 20:1-2 (KJV) The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

John 20:8-10 (KJV) Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed [ie that Christ’s body had been taken away]. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

…and secondly by pointing to the scriptures where his ministry to Israel could be found:

Luke 24:27 (KJV) And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.