Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 146 · May 26
A Workman Unashamed
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
What did Timothy hear when this letter was read to him? The Greek word behind the KJV's "Study" is an ordinary word for making every effort to do something, and it has nothing to do with sitting at a desk. Paul uses the same word two chapters later for a journey: "Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me." Peter uses it in "give diligence to make your calling and election sure," and Ephesians in "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit." So the command is about earnest effort.
That effort has a job attached: "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The Greek behind "rightly dividing" pictures cutting a straight path, and many other Bibles translate it as handling the word rightly or accurately. The point is straightness, so no argument should rest on the idea of dividing. You can see what the job involves from the verses on either side. Just before it, Paul tells Timothy to charge people "that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers." Just after it he says, "shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." Two verses on, he names two men, Hymenaeus and Philetus, whose word "will eat as doth a canker," like a spreading sore. These are men who, Paul says, "concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."
So the workman in this verse stands between two kinds of people. Some argue over words for sport, and others teach things that quietly ruin someone else's faith. He qualifies by handling the text straight, before God, with nothing to be ashamed of. Ask yourself: when you talk about a Bible passage, are you handling it honestly, or bending it to win a point? Paul's next words give the hope that steadies every honest worker: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." The approval you are working for comes from a God who already knows you as His own.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 146 is Great and Mighty Things (Jeremiah 33:3).