The Office of an Apostle: Rightly Divided and Rightly Understood

The Office of an Apostle: Rightly Divided and Rightly Understood

In a world where titles are freely claimed and spiritual offices are often misunderstood, it’s vital that we return to Scripture and rightly divide the Word of truth. One such office that has been widely misapplied in modern Christianity is that of the apostle. What does the Bible say? Who qualifies? And most importantly—is the office of an apostle still active today?

Let’s walk through this biblically, thoughtfully, and with reverence for the Word of God. You can also watch the video of this lesson here.

What Is an Apostle?

The word apostle comes from the Greek apostolos, meaning one who is sent or a messenger. It refers to someone specifically commissioned and sent by Jesus Christ with a divine message and mission. See the following scriptures for reference: 

• The 12 apostles under the Kingdom dispensation: Luke 9:2; John 20:21; Mark 16:15. 
• Paul under the Grace dispensation: Acts 9:15-16; Acts 26:16-18; Romans 1:1; Romans 11:13; Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:11-12; 1 Timothy 2:7.

Paul opens his letter to Titus with this declaration:

“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness” (Titus 1:1, KJV).

This is not a casual title. It is a divinely appointed office, not a self-assumed role.

This translation knocked the wind out my sails

This translation knocked the wind out my sails

Browsing YouTube recently, I saw this video in my feed. (See image above). I immediately noticed the caption showing 2Corinthians 5:14-17, one of my original 'go to' verse references for teaching and encouraging the study of the Bible rightly divided. I thought, WOW!!! I have never seen or heard of many preachers who teach this passage, because it is very controversial. I wanted to know what this preacher was going to say about it, and how he was going to teach it. Without even reading the actual verse onscreen, I clicked the video and found the location of the sermon where the preacher started with this verse.

Then, as he started to read the verse to the congregation, all my excitement and anticipation came crashing down. My first thought was, what is he reading? I don't recognize anything that was coming out of his mouth. Then I read the caption on the screen and thought, "what philosophy book did this come from?" That passage is not even CLOSE to the verses I am familiar with in my King James Bible. Not even the message, or meaning, of these verses' lines up with what my KJV says. I am aware that modern Bible translations are corrupt, but this translation knocked the wind out my sails. I was shocked!!! 

Learn or Present to Others the Bible Rightly Divided (Video Series)

Hi friends,

This is just a short announcement 📢 to inform you of a new video series I am posting on my YouTube channel. The lesson series is called: "Learn or Present to Others the Bible Rightly Divided".

If you do not know right division of the Word, or if you know it but want to learn how to present it to others, then this video and series of teachings is for you. This series will present you with key verses that can highlight the need to rightly divide the Word, and also provide the supporting verses to confirm this stance.

It would be great to have your support on the channel, to listen to the lessons and provide comments or ask questions in regard to the topic. If you have learned something and believe it can benefit others in your circle, please feel free to send them the link.

Find the video series here: Learn or Present to Others the Bible Rightly Divided

God bless. 🙌

The Four Cornerstones of Romans (Part 11: Dispensational Wisdom)

Start this post series from the beginning, here.

The Four Cornerstones of Romans (Part 11: Dispensational Wisdom)

The epistle of Romans is the foundational epistle of the Christian faith. An analysis of its contents reveals that the letter can be divided into four parts, each part representing a cornerstone of the Christian faith. Missing any one of these four cornerstones, the faith foundation of a Christian can become compromised and shaky. It is vitally important to have a good understanding of each of these four cornerstones to ensure that the foundation of your faith is stable and secure.

In this series we have already covered the first two cornerstones, (1) God's Righteousness, and (2) God's Grace. The third cornerstone of Romans is "Dispensational Wisdom". Since my entire blog is based on a dispensational view of scripture, I'm not going to write much about this cornerstone, but rather point you to specific posts that I have already written in the past.

Fundamental Concepts of ‘Rightly Dividing’ the Truth

Fundamental Concepts of ‘Rightly Dividing’ the Truth

It always saddens me why so many people resist the dispensational interpretation of scripture. In addition, most of these people reject the idea BEFORE they have even understood what dispensations are. I’m not being judgmental, …just realistic, as I’m speaking from experience! They are influenced by someone who dismisses it, or their church resists it, and then they build barriers against it, all without even investigating what it is really about.

(LLTB) Recognizing and Understanding the Divisions in the Bible

Learning Point One will never reach their full potential and service to God until one understands where to look in the Bible to find God's will for them.

Recognizing and Understanding the Divisions in the Bible

Why are there so many different denominations? Why are there so many different opinions about topics such as water baptism, speaking in tongues, the Sabbath, eternal security, etc.? It is because many do not obey 2 Timothy 2:15. They do not rightly divide the word of truth. The only way to understand the Bible is to study it according to the divisional instructions given by God.

(LLTB) Why is Israel God's chosen people?

Learning Point The Lord thy God hath chosen thee [Israel] to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.  Deut.7:6

Why is Israel God's chosen people?

In this post I mentioned that most of the bible is written for Israel, God's chosen nation, and that most of the bible is addressed to, and is applicable to them. Why is this? How did Israel get to be God's chosen nation? What happened in the past to get us to the reality of this scenario? Well, let me explain this in a very summarized way.

(LLTB) Not all of the bible is for you

Learning Point All of the Bible is written for our learning, but not all of the Bible is addressed to us and for our practice.

Not all of the bible is for you

It might sound strange to hear this, but I'm going to give you a very valid point. Firstly, it's easy to see that the bible is a BIG book. It was written over a period of 1300 years by more than 40 authors (though God is the one TRUE Author) and its content is directed to different people groups over many centuries of time. So, my point is that people would be quite self-centered if they thought that ALL of the bible is directly addressed to them and is about them. 

A Parallel on the Parable of the Sower

In Matthew 13 Jesus teaches the parable of the sower. Although later in the same chapter Jesus interprets the meaning of the parable to His disciples, the context of the parable can be applied in many other ways. While dealing with this topic recently, I recalled a parallel context to the sower parable that I haven't thought about for a long time and I thought it would be worthwhile to share this in a post. 

In the actual interpretation, Jesus refers to the seed as the Word of God, the Kingdom gospel. The different soils are the hearts, attitudes, and responses, of people who hear and receive the Word.

How the religion of men confuses basic details of God's Word

The following is portions of an article published in an online UK newspaper.

Priest quits after his baptisms found invalid because he said the wrong words

Andres Arango, of the Diocese of Phoenix in Arizona, who has been a pastor since 1998, and has since performed thousands of baptisms, was forced to resign his position. According to the diocese, the priest would say "we baptise you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" instead of "I baptise you…" up until June 2021. Because of that, all of the baptisms that he performed are presumed invalid.

In an announcement, the diocese calls people to check their files for a baptismal certificate, or even photos and videos of the baptism to see if they were baptised by Arango.

And if they can’t find the files, the diocese urges people to contact their parish to look up their certificate and find out whether they need to book for a new baptism.

An announcement read: "It may seem legalistic, but the words that are spoken (the sacramental form), along with the actions that are performed and the materials used (the sacramental matter) are a crucial aspect of every sacrament ... If you change the words, actions, or materials required in any of the sacraments, they are not valid."

Original article here.

This is a sad, and even shocking, state of events. It is heartbreaking to see how far religion has veered away from the truth. Such religion of men is so distorted that it's hard to understand how people can be steered into such fables. It is hard to fathom how clergy can miss the target by the proverbial mile. Then again, I can understand that if the Word is not rightly divided, things like baptism and other ordinances can become misunderstood and terribly misapplied. 

Let's clear up the air and bring proper biblical context to what baptism is all about, and prove that this whole mess presented in the article above is so unnecessary and unbiblical.

Identify non-dispensational sites

How to identify non-dispensational websites

A few days ago I had some time on my hands, so I started browsing the web for some interesting reads. I happened upon a new site I've never seen before, and the page I was reading contained some of the authors views on where we go after death. Do we go to be with the Lord? Do we go to heaven or to a waiting room until judgement? Is our soul or consciousness aware of a new environment? Are we in a soul sleep while in the grave? As I read through the authors convictions on this topic I found that I agreed with him as he laid out the scriptures to qualify his understanding and I was genuinely impressed with the article. It was exciting to find a new site that I could relate to. However, as I browsed more I started to find some concepts that were very different to my convictions. The author expounded on some fundamental doctrines that I simply could not agree with. It was interesting to note how on the first article I read, I was in such agreement, yet as I opened more pages, and got to some basic Christian concepts, there was such a radical difference. In this post I'd like to point out what I find works well to 'test' a site and quickly determine if the views from that site are based on Paul's right dividing of the Word of truth (2 Tim.2:15).