Additional information
by Clarence Larkin (Author)
Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. --2 Timothy 2:15 (kjver)
As a follow-up to his highly successful and much sought after work Dispensational Truth, Baptist minister Clarence Larkin wrote Rightly Dividing the Word to explain how the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith should be "rightly divided" in a series of contrasts, such as law and grace, faith and works, sin and salvation. Larkin's aim was not to express his opinion or the thoughts of other writers, but to present biblical concepts "based solely on the Scriptures," with chapter and verse given for every statement.
The Bible, Larkin said, "is not a heterogeneous jumble of ancient history, myths, legends, religious speculations, and apocalyptic literature. There is a progress of revelation and
doctrine in it. You cannot understand Leviticus without Hebrews, or Daniel without Revelation. The judges knew more than the patriarchs, the prophets than the judges, and the apostles more than the prophets."
While the Bible is written for everyone, he maintained, it is addressed to three classes of people: Jews, gentiles, and the church.
Now including updated layout and illustrations for easier review, this work is designed to fulfill the author's original intent, "to confirm in the Christian faith those who are wavering and to instruct those who have not been clearly taught the great cardinal doctrines."
Author Biography
An advocate of gap creationism, Rev. Clarence Larkin (1850-1924) was an American Baptist pastor, Bible teacher, and author whose writings on dispensationalism had a great impact on conservative Protestant visual culture in the twentieth century. His intricate and influential charts provided readers with a visual strategy for mapping God's action in history and interpreting complex biblical prophecies.
Larkin's study of the Scriptures led him to adopt many of the tenets of the premillennialist theology that was gaining favor in conservative Protestant circles in the Gilded Age. After World War I broke out, God laid it on his heart to prepare a work on dispensational truth. Larkin spent three years of his life designing and drawing charts and preparing the text for his seminal work, Dispensational Truth. The book became a bestseller around the world.
During the last five years of his life, Larkin gave up his pastorate and wrote full time. He initially envisioned Rightly Dividing the Word as "an ABC book" to introduce Dispensational Truth, but after writing and condensing several times, he felt led to abandon that idea. Instead, Larkin aimed to write about the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith in a clear, concise manner that was accessible to the average reader.
