Once, during a visit to an American church, I noticed a booklet in the church library that caught my attention. It was titled: “Rightly dividing the word of truth.” by the well-known dispensationalist theologian Cyrus Schofield (1). When I quickly skimmed through the booklet, I was quite surprised by its content. It constructs, or attempts to support—and here I mean dispensationalist theology—an entire theology based on a single word that appears in several forms in a single verse of the New Testament. Yes, you read that right, a single word! That's what I discovered then. Recently, I wanted to do more research on this topic, and I was surprised to find that it is much deeper and more comprehensive than I had imagined.

There are some biblical verses that dispensational theology focuses on and interprets far removed from their biblical context. Perhaps the most prominent of these verses is that found in 2 Timothy 2:15, in which the Apostle Paul urges the servant of God, Timothy, saying to him: “Do your utmost to present yourself to God approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, correctly detailed the word of truth.” This verse appears in some English translations as follows:

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Here we observe that the Arabic translation of this verse reads: “detailed the word of truth with integrity,” while the same verse appears in some English translations as: “rightly dividing the word of truth.” As we can see, the word I wish to examine is ”detailed, which appears in English as “dividing .” Surprisingly, dispensational theology has built an entire interpretation, or rather supported its dispensational interpretation, upon this very word, which in Arabic means “detailed the word of truth” rather than “dividing the word of truth.”

Now, let me return to the verse itself. This verse is clear and needs no further explanation. Here, the Apostle Paul urges Timothy, the servant of God, to strive and dedicate himself to God, working diligently to proclaim and explain the word of truth—the message of the Gospel—with integrity, that is, without ambiguity or distortion. So, how does dispensational theology interpret this clear verse?

Dispensational theology has built the core of its flawed interpretation, or its attempt to support it, upon this phrase, " dividing the word of truth with integrity." According to dispensational theology, the interpreter must divide God's word into numerous topics or headings in order to grasp its true meaning. Based on this booklet, the author presents ten sections:

1. Jews, Gentiles, and the Church. This view distinguishes between these three groups in God's dealings throughout history. According to this perspective, God deals with each group separately. There are biblical verses that pertain to Jews, verses that pertain to Gentiles, and others that pertain to the Church. The interpreter must categorize these verses in light of this distinction. It is important to note here that dispensational theology insists on a complete separation between God's dealings with the people of Israel and God's dealings with the Christian Church.

2- The different eras or stages of governance that regulate the relationship between man and God. These are the seven measures (2)

3- The separation between the Law of Moses and the Age of Grace in Jesus Christ, the Law and Grace.

4- Distinguishing between Christ’s first coming for redemption and his second coming for the Kingdom (the two comings).

Here we must note that dispensational theology does not consider Christ's first coming to the Jews to fulfill God's promises to them. Because of the Jews' rejection of him, he changed his mission and turned to redeeming the Gentiles and establishing the Christian Church, which, according to this interpretation, was a hidden secret in the Old Testament. This does not, in their view, preclude the possibility that some Jews will believe and join the Church. Meanwhile, Christ, in his second coming, will fulfill the promise of an earthly kingdom for the people of Israel.
However, the truth is that Christ's primary message in his first coming was about the Kingdom of God: "After John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time has come, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the gospel'" (Mark 1:14-15). Therefore, we believe that the Kingdom of God began through Christ's redemption and glorious resurrection from the dead, and his sitting at the right hand of God the Father in the center of power and authority. In other words, there was no postponement of the Kingdom of God to the time of Christ's second coming, as dispensationalists believe.

5- The resurrection for the righteous and the resurrection for judgment, the two resurrections.

Dispensational theology insists on what it calls the secret rapture of the righteous, that is, the first resurrection, at the end of what it calls the age of the Church, and the beginning of God's renewed dealings with the people of Israel. The second resurrection of judgment, however, will occur after the literal millennial reign of the people of Israel on earth.

6- A detailed explanation of the different types of judgments mentioned in the Bible, the five judgments.

Perhaps one of these five judgments is the judgment that will befall the nations at the beginning of the earthly millennial kingdom, regarding how they treated the people of Israel during the Great Tribulation, according to the dispensational interpretation.

7- The conflict between the old and new nature of the believer, and this is what they describe as the nature of the believer.

8- The difference between the believer’s acceptable status before God and his daily behavior, and this is what is called the stance and the state.

9- The difference between free salvation as a gift, and the crown or reward for deeds, i.e. the difference between salvation and reward.

10. The true nature and unity of the Church: the Church is the body and bride of Christ. Here, dispensational theology insists on considering the Church as God's heavenly people, entirely distinct from the people of Israel, who are God's earthly people. In other words, there are two peoples of God: a heavenly people and an earthly people.

Isn't it truly astonishing that dispensational theology would rely on a single phrase, " dividing the word of truth with integrity"—which appears in other translations as " detailing the word of truth with integrity"—to support its flawed interpretation? And to present us with all these baseless conclusions from the verse in question? Where do we find these ten points in the aforementioned phrase? The Apostle Paul was advising the servant of God, Timothy, on how to deal with God's word with integrity, and this advice has absolutely no connection to what the interpreter Schofield concluded. Schofield did the opposite of what the Apostle Paul advised Timothy; he went too far in his interpretation, violating all the rules of biblical interpretation, and he did not detail the word of truth with integrity. Doesn't this demonstrate the great deviation this dispensationalist interpreter has taken? How can we trust such a theology or interpretation that starts from a completely false foundation? Doesn't it make us question all the erroneous assumptions put forth by this theology?

These are indeed questions worthy of thought, study, and review.

(1)Cyrus Schofield produced a special translation of the Bible known as the Schofield Translation, published in 1909, which had a significant impact on evangelical Christian thought, particularly in the United States. It contributed to the widespread dissemination of dispensational theology and later Christian Zionist theology.
(2)The seven dispensations are:
1. The dispensation of innocence, the time of Adam and Eve in Paradise.
2. The dispensation of conscience, from the expulsion of Adam to the Flood. 3. The dispensation of tyrants or human governments, from the time of the Flood to the confusion of languages in Babylon.
4. The dispensation of the promise to the patriarchs, from the calling of Abraham to slavery in Egypt.
5. The dispensation of the Law, from the Exodus from Egypt to Pentecost.
6. The dispensation of grace, which began on Pentecost. It ends with the secret rapture of the Church. Finally, 7- The Dispensation of the Kingdom, from the rapture of the Church to the end of Christ's earthly millennial reign.