"We, today, live in the dispensation of the grace of God for us Gentiles. As the apostle Paul teaches in his epistles, God ushered in this present dispensation when He raised him up to be a brand new apostle, as is historically recorded in Acts 9. Until that time God's program and dealings were with the nation of Israel. This issue of God suspending His program with Israel and bringing in a new dispensation with the raising up of Paul, (along with the purpose and significance behind it), will be the subject matter of the next chapter. However, it is referred to at this time because of the prevailing tendency among Christians to view the record of the Gospel accounts and the opening of the book of Acts as if they described God's dealings with us today. Though it out to be obvious from the testimony of the Scriptures themselves that this is not the case, unfortunately the record of our Lord's ministry on this earth, along with the ministry of the 12 apostles, is looked upon by many Christians as the Lord's ministry to us today.
To many Christians, for example, the Lord's teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are looked upon as God's instructions regarding how He wants us to live today. The so-called 'Lord's prayer' of Matt. 6:9-13 is memorized and recited, with Christians thinking this is how God wants us to pray today. The Lord's miracles and sign ministry along with that of the 12 apostles and others at that time, are thought of as something that should be going on today. The day of Pentecost, and the events of that day recorded in Acts 2, are set forth as the norm for the church today. Accordingly, cries of 'Back to Pentecost' are often in effect at that time. Appeals are made to any number of the practices, promises, instructions, and messages contained in the Gospels and early Acts, in order to support the myriad of diverse and conflicting things done by Christians today in the name of following Christ. Just about every ism and schism today under the umbrella of Christianity can and does point to the Bible to support what it says and does. And just about every one of them has as the keystone to its existence some cardinal practice, injunction, or instruction that comes from the record of our Lord's earthly ministry, or that of his 12 apostles following His return to heaven. What is so unfortunate about all of this is the abundant testimony of the Scriptures themselves, which plainly declare that the record of the Gospels and the opening of the book of Acts pertains to God's program and dealings with the nation of Israel, and not to what He is doing with us today. Therefore, following God's instructions and practices that He gave at that time, along with claiming the promises that He also made at that time, is not what God wants us doing today. Following God's program with Israel is not God's will for us today. It is not until we come to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ unexpectedly re-appeared from heaven and raised up the apostle Paul-- that new and other apostle-- that this dispensation of Gentile grace in which we live today was brought in and the revelation of the "mystery of Christ" about God's purpose with us was made known.
Though these comments on this matter will be expanded upon in the following chapters, it is necessary to make them at this time so that we look at the testimony of the Lord's earthly ministry properly. Since the Gospel accounts begin what we call the New Testament Scriptures, all too often the assumption is made that they are describing the details of God' new program with us Gentiles. But that is not the case at all. In fact, the failure to understand and appreciate this is detrimental to a Christian. It causes not only a misunderstanding about what God is doing today. but also produces confusion and disobedience to the Lord, as one tries to serve the Lord in things He Himself is not doing, nor wants us doing.
It is in the epistles of the apostle Paul that God has set forth the details of His program for us today. In Paul's epistles are found God's doctrines, instructions, injunctions, promises, and provisions for the members of His "new creation," the church the body of Christ, and that pertain to His program with us today. However, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the opening of the book of Acts pertain to God's program with His nation Israel. They record the details about how God's program with them was climaxing at that time with the coming of the Messiah to deliver Israel from their 'lawful captivity' to Satan, to cast Satan out as the "prince of the world," and to establish the covenanted kingdom of heaven on this earth in Zion."
-Keith Blades: Satan and His Plan of Evil; A survey of the bible doctrine: Ch. 6, pg. 117-118
I write this quote because to many Christians that I know are confused and some who don't even know they are confused. Many Christians if not most don't have a clue about what Satan is doing today more or less what God is doing, but it is quite obvious with the mass confusion under the umbrella of Christianity. If you don't think so, then your ignorance has blinded you, for look at all the denominations and different "theological systems." Some people say I make too much of the apostle Paul, friends have, I mean close friends, have so called given me up saying what I believe is heresy and that I am not a believer, because "I didn't endure until the end" according to Calvinistic theology, asking for me and my friends to come back to the faith. I ask come back to what?, a theology that is confused and confuses the scriptures wrongly handling God's Word more less then wrongly dividing it. I rather listen to the apostle of the Gentiles a man from God's own Word who was receiving revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who informs me that as a Gentile God will save me by His grace which He did many years ago and now not that I have to endure until the end, but to be sustained by God's grace, to walk in God's grace in my assured position in Christ, being led by the Spirit not under the law, but under grace, making much of Christ's sufficient work of the Cross and boasting only in Him and not in my own endurance, for I could not endure, but only by God's grace through His Son. I quote this because it starts by making divisions in God's Word between Jew and Gentile where God does. It starts by rightly dividing the Word of truth. It is all truth, but it needs to be rightly divided that we may not get confused but be built up unto the full stature of Christ, not being tossed to and fro, not understanding what James and Paul say and thinking they are the same thing, but to notice they are to two different people groups and to be applied correctly to God's different programs between the nation of Israel and the Body of Christ.
Are you confused about the Scriptures? Do you want to be able to read your Bible and for it to make sense? You need to rightly divide God's Word. How you ask? Well 2 Tim. 2:15 tells you to rightly divide, so logically the one who tells you something is probably doing it. Paul wrote 13 books of your Bible, why? Read Romans through Philemon and see where God through Paul rightly divides His Word, make distinctions between Jew and Gentile in time past. Good places to start are Eph. 3. Compare Rom. 16:25 and Acts 3:21. There are many distinctions between law and grace, prophecy and mystery, Jew and Gentile. Understand that baptism, gospel, and church are general terms, therefore let the context tell you the differences for there are differences. Understand the history of the Bible and how God gave up Gentiles to a reprobate mind Romans 1 all the way back in Gen. 11 and since then He dealt with the nation of Israel. Any Gentile that wanted to serve the true God had to bless Israel and follow God's Word to them, this was time past, but now as God saved the apostle Paul He is dealing with Jew and Gentile individually by pure grace. All people today are Gentiles before God, because even the Jews are now the enemies of God, no longer God's friend because of their unbelief in their Messiah. Now God will save anyone by His grace because of Christ and will impute Christ's righteousness to you and you appropriate it through faith. If you have any questions, please comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
In Him,
Josh
