I get tired of the way the following verse is used in evangelical biblicist circles. .”Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” NOTE The word ‘study’ here just means try hard, do your utmost. Nothing to do with reading. Also, the phrase ”word of truth” does not equate to the Bible. Oral tradition, preaching, teaching, words used in liturgy, spiritual songs and hymns, sayings of apostles and elders, sayings of Jesus, prophecies, interpretations of tongues, messages from angels, instructions directly given by the Holy Spirit, words of truth conveyed in heavenly dreams and visions, even some things which today might be called apocryphal — all part of what is meant by “word of truth” in the times when Paul was writing to Timothy. The 66 book Bible did not yet even exist. It is not the Bible which Paul would gave had in mind here.
The verse (2 Timothy 2:15) is often misused in certain evangelical circles. The phrase "study to shew thyself approved" in the KJV indeed reflects the Greek word σπούδασον (spoudason), which means to be diligent, eager, or zealous in effort—not necessarily to engage in textual study as we think of it today.
Similarly, "the word of truth" would not have meant a bound collection of 66 books, since that canon was centuries away from being formalized. Instead, it likely encompassed a broad and dynamic range of authoritative teachings—oral traditions, apostolic instruction, prophetic revelations, and even liturgical elements. In a world where literacy was limited and the church functioned largely through oral transmission, the “word of truth” was a living, spoken, and spiritually discerned reality rather than a fixed text.
This verse, then, is about handling divine truth responsibly—whether in teaching, preaching, or discerning between true and false messages—not about rigorous Bible study in the modern evangelical sense. It's a classic case of an anachronistic reading that retrojects contemporary assumptions about Scripture back into the biblical text itself.
I believe the tendency to equate “word of truth” strictly with the written Bible reflects a broader evangelical misunderstanding of how early Christians interacted with divine revelation.
