Directional Bible Ministries
A teaching ministry that is called to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Perverting the True Gospel
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Discerning the Audience Matters
Just read this by Justin Johnson of Grace Ambassadors. This is why rightly dividing the Scripture is so important.
An important rule in Biblical application is to respect the intended audience. Who is being spoken to or about in a passage?
If every Bible passage were about you, then discerning the audience would not matter, but this is not the case. There are many different audiences in the Bible that change how a passage applies to you.
It is easiest to recognize general audience groups including Israel or Gentile, male or female, and believer or unbeliever.
It is harder to discern whether the audience is singular or plural without the “thee” and “ye” found in the King James Bible.
It is more difficult to consider dispensational change when identifying the audience, but this may be the most important.
For example, what God said to males only in Deu 16:16 only directly applies to males in Israel under the Old Covenant in the land. This law exempts women and those of every other nation. However, if you are not under the law, then it would not apply to men nor women.
Speaking of Israel, it might be necessary to discern obedient Israel or rebellious Israel, priests or land tribes, Israel (northern tribes) or Judah (southern tribes), Israel in the land or Israel in captivity, believing Jews or unbelieving Jews. Identifying to whom God is speaking in Israel is important for knowing why God says what he does.
There are many believers in the Bible. There may be a different application based on whether the believer is Jewish or Gentile. Likewise, it should be considered if they are believers from John the Baptist’s ministry, believers from Jesus’ ministry, believers from Peter’s ministry, or believers from Paul’s ministry. What do they believe?
In some ways it may not matter (1 Cor 1:13). All believers have some things in common (Rom 3:4). In other ways, it matters greatly (Rom 15:20; Acts 18:26). Not all believers are given the same message to believe or position to hold.
Moreover, Jews and Gentiles partaking of Israel’s earthly kingdom differ from Jews and Gentiles partaking of the Body of Christ’s heavenly position. Which Jew or Gentile is it? These must be rightly divided.
While we can learn from every book and chapter of Scripture (Rom 15:4), not every passage is written to or about you in the mystery Body of Christ, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
Considering the audience is important to understand where you can take direct application. For the rest, we learn from what we have in common but rightly divide what we don’t.
For your greater understanding,
Justin "if the shoe fits" Johnson
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Am I Still a Baptist?
Friday, March 14, 2025
The Books of Galatians & Ephesians Rightly Divided
Sunday, December 22, 2024
The Apostolic Timeline
Spearman, H. Dwayne. The Book of Acts Rightly Divided (p. 7). Directional Bible Ministries. Kindle Edition.