A more exact translation of the end of the above verse is "rightly dividing the word of truth." This means that we must interpret and teach God's word accurately. Without orthodox teaching, the faith of some people is upset (see 2 Tm 2:18), and we may even fall into "the devil's trap" (2 Tm 2:26). Without orthodox teaching, whole families are upset (Ti 1:11), and many will be lured away from the true faith (2 Pt 2:2). "The true way will be made subject to contempt" (2 Pt 2:2). False teachers will "pervert the gracious gift of our God to sexual excess and deny Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord" (Jude 4).

True teaching is so life-giving and false teaching so destructive that false teachers should not even be received into our houses or greeted, "for whoever greets him shares in the evil he does" (2 Jn 10-11). False teaching has played a significant role in slavery, wars, injustices to the poor, and sexual perversions. Because of false teaching, millions of babies in the womb have been killed. False teaching has been part of preventing the conceptions and lives of millions of other people. Because of false teaching, the Church is divided, marriages and families break up, and the devil literally gets away with murder.

Thank God for the Church, "the pillar and bulwark of truth" (1 Tm 3:15), who assures that God's word will be "divided rightly."

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, November 29, 1995

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 4, 1995