The Scriptures
by Charles H. Welch
1. The declaration
We believe the original Scriptures to be fully and verbally inspired by God, and that they come to us with all the authority of 'Thus saith the Lord'.
We believe them to be a revelation from God given through men chosen by Himself, and superintended by the Holy Spirit in such a way as to preclude all human error.
We believe the Scriptures to be the one and only authority for the Christian in matters of faith and practice.
We accept them unreservedly as the Word of God.
2. Scriptural grounds
' ... No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost' (2 Peter 1:20, 21).
'Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts' (Heb. 3:7,8).
' ... This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake' (Acts 1:16).
' ... All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me' (Luke 24:44).
Moses 'received the lively (living) oracles to give (them) unto us' (Acts 7:38).
'Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth' (Jer. 1:9).
' ... Son of man ... go ... speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God' (Ezek. 3:10,11).
'The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue' (2 Sam. 23:2).
3. An examination of some of these scriptures, and a reason for the hope within us.
While it might be conceded that the doctrine of the Person and work of Christ, or the essentials of the gospel, are of greater importance to us as sinners needing salvation than the question of the inspiration of Scripture, nevertheless, it is true that we can only know Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures, and the gospel as preached by Paul and the apostles from the same writings.
See 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 for Paul's attitude :
'The gospel ... Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures ... He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures'.
See 1 Peter 1:25 for Peter's attitude :
'The Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you'.
These testimonies of the two great apostles -- the apostle of the Gentiles and the apostle of the Circumcision -- are of great weight, but there is a still higher authority -- the testimony of Him Who is Lord of all.
The testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is both scriptural truth and common sense that the servant is not above his Lord. Every Christian who owns Christ as Saviour and Lord has no alternative but to believe what He says, and He has spoken explicitly as to the Old Testament Scriptures.
'For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?' (John 5:46,47).
How can we answer that question? Can we call Him Lord and Saviour, Prophet, Priest and King, Vanquisher of Death, Deliverer from Sin, and say, too, that He was mistaken about the law of Moses? The Lord met His first great temptation with three quotations from the book of Deuteronomy (Matt. 4:4,7,10). Throughout His ministry He quoted as authoritative, Law, Prophet and Psalm. Even in His dying hour he placed the fulfilment of prophetic Scripture in the very foremost place (John 19:28). And as the Risen One, when all possible limitation was for ever gone, He accepted the complete canon of the Old Testament, saying :
'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself' (Luke 24:26,27).
'These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me' (Luke 24:44).
We pass from this most emphatic testimony to that of other witnesses to the same truth.
How Scripture was given.
'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God' (2 Tim. 3:16).
'Scripture' is graphe, something 'written'; 'given by inspiration of God' is theopneustos, 'God-breathed'. In other words the written Word is the Word that God spoke, no interval being allowed for the imaginings of men.
How Scripture came.
'Private interpretation' is the rendering of idias epiluseos, 'of its own unfolding'. Prophecy did not originate in the mind or the will of man. The writers were 'moved' by the Holy Ghost, 'moved' as irresistibly as was the ship in Acts 27:15, where the same word is used -- 'We let her drive'.
In both of these basic passages, the thought of the Spirit is emphasized. So we read elsewhere :
' ... This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas' (Acts 1:16).
' ... That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of (by hupo) the Lord by (through dia) the prophet' (Matt. 1:22).
'But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled' (Acts 3:18).
It is not our present purpose to do more than supplement our declaration with a brief 'reason for the hope within us', and what has been brought forward must suffice. 'Thy Word is truth'.
For a more elaborate treatment of the subject, dealing not only with the question of Inspiration, but of the Canon of Scripture, together with an examination of a series of alleged inaccuracies, the reader is directed to a series published in The Berean Expositor Vols. 20-29, entitled The Volume of the Book, and now available as a book.
The Lord Jesus Christ
by Charles H. Welch
1. The declaration
We believe that 'confessedly great is the mystery of godliness'. While God absolutely is Spirit and invisible, Whom no man has seen or can see, yet for the purpose of creation He assumed the limitations suggested by the titles, 'The Image of the invisible God', 'The Form of God', and 'The Word', and for the purpose of redemption He yet further limited Himself by being made flesh and tabernacling among us as the Only Begotten of the Father. In spite of all such limitations, and in spite of the problems arising out of His incarnation, we believe we may, with Thomas, fully and unreservedly bow at the feet of Christ, and say: 'My Lord and my God'.
2. Scriptural grounds
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... All things were made by Him ... the world was made by Him' (John 1:1,3,10).
'Before Abraham was, I am' (John 8:58).
'Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power ... Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever ... Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but Thou remainest' (Heb. 1:3,8,10,11).
'Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist' (Col. 1:15-17).
'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation' (Phil. 2:6,7).
' ... The church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood' (Acts 20:28).
' ... shall call His Name Immanuel -- God with us' (Isa. 7:14; and Matt. 1:23).
'Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given ... and His Name shall be called ... The mighty God' (Isa. 9:6).
'These things said Esaias (Isaiah), when he saw His (Christ's) glory, and spake of Him' (John 12:41).
' ... Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts' (Isa. 6:5).
'l am the Lord: that is My Name: and My glory will I not give to another' (Isa. 42:8).
3. An expansion and exposition of some aspects of this mighty theme.
We have no place for pictorial representations of the Lord at all, but Fra Angelico's difficulty expresses something of our own. How can we adequately express what the Lord Jesus is to us? If we are brief, it may seem that we have no reverence for our theme. If we are lengthy, all the pages at our disposal cannot touch the fringe of the subject. lf we make no reference to false translations such as that of John 1:1, where some render the passage, 'The Word was a God', the omission may be misconstrued. If we load our pages with refutations and arguments, we may but put out our hand to stay the ark of God. Reasoning and logic are true only when employed within the sphere of our experience. It is true for us to say that nothing can be in two places at one and the same time, but such logic becomes untrue when taken into God's sphere. We therefore content ourselves with the following brief exhibition of the scriptural grounds for our faith concerning the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We most surely believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man -- 'God manifest in the flesh'.*
We believe that Christ as perfect sinless man was miraculously born of a virgin, thus becoming the Head of a new race, Himself untainted by the fall of Adam.
According to Scripture there are three outstanding attributes of God which He declares belong to no one else. These three attributes are unreservedly given by Scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Creator.
'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth' (Gen. 1:1).
' ... in six days the Lord made heaven and earth' (Exod. 20:11).
'For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it ... I am the Lord; and there is none else' (Isa. 45:18).
2. Redeemer.
'Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside Me there is no God' (Isa. 44:6).
3. Jehovah -- Lord.
'I am the Lord: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another' (Isa. 42:8).
In each of these statements the claim is exclusive. And we may now seek to shew that these exclusively divine attributes belong to Christ.
1. Jesus Christ is the Creator.
'All things were made by Him ... He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not' (John 1:3,10).
He made the world. Yet He was in the world. This chapter recognises the problem and solves it.
' ... The Word was God' (John 1:1).
' ... the Word was made (became) flesh' (John 1:14).
' ... by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist' (Col. 1:16,17).
The range here is tremendous. Not only is creation attributed to Christ, but it is for Him, and held together by Him. Here instead of the title 'The Word', we have 'The Image of the Invisible God', and 'The Firstborn of every creature'. If the title 'Firstborn' be construed as meaning that the Lord had no existence before, how shall we explain its recurrence in verse 18, 'The Firstborn from the dead'? If we accept the inspired explanation which is given in the passage considered -- 'The Beginning' -- we shall understand its bearing upon creation itself. Christ is called, 'The beginning of the creation of God' (Rev. 3:14), not because He was the first One created, but because He created all things.
The first verse of Hebrews states that in times past God spoke by the prophets, but the second verse reveals a deeper truth -- He has since spoken Himself, for the words are, 'Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son (in Son)'. The Son is addressed as 'God' and 'Lord' (Heb. 1:8,10), and the creation, including heaven and earth, is attributed to Him. As we read Isaiah 45:18 and the passages from John, Colossians and Hebrews already quoted, we have no alternative but to bow in the presence of the Saviour and say, 'My Lord and my God'.
2. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer.
There is no need to quote chapter and verse. All we need do is to remind the reader of Isaiah 44:6, and to affirm that Whoever is in a scriptural sense the Redeemer, is God.
3. Jesus Christ is the Lord.
' ... Every tongue should (shall) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil. 2:11).
This is a quotation from Isaiah 45:23, and by reading the four previous verses in this chapter we learn that the One referred to as 'Lord' is God :
'There is no God else beside Me ... I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return. That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear'.
Isaiah 42:8 declares that the Lord will not give His glory to another. When we read that Jesus Christ is Lord, it means that He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the 'I am' who was before Abraham.
John 12:41 declares that when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in the temple, he saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, while Hezekiah most emphatically affirms that the Lord of Hosts seen by Isaiah was 'God ... alone' (Isa. 37:16).
We can understand that the Creator is God, but that this is true of the Redeemer Who is necessarily man (for He must die) is at first sight a difficulty to many. Yet the question of the deity of Christ could be decided by this matter alone, for He Who is a Redeemer in the scriptural sense must be God and must also be man. No one else can fill the position, for the Hebrew word for the Redeemer is Goel, meaning a kinsman (as in the story of Ruth). If Jesus Christ be not God, and if He be not truly man, we have no Redeemer.
Now the Redeemer has the following titles in Isaiah: 'The Lord', 'The Lord of Hosts', 'The mighty One of Jacob', 'The Holy One of Israel', 'The Creator of Israel', 'Beside Whom there is no God' (Isa. 41:14; 47:4; 49:26; 54:5; 43:15; and 44:6). Here, then, is the problem. How can God, the Creator, the Lord of Hosts, be 'next of kin' to man? Isaiah, whose emphasis upon the Godhead of the Redeemer creates the problem, supplies the solution :-
' ... Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel' (Isa. 7:14).
'Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace' (Isa. 9:6).
' ... Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us' (Matt. 1:20-23).
' ... Feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood' (Acts 20:28).
For a fuller discussion of this important subject, and a consideration of some erroneous views concerning the teaching of Scripture, the reader is referred to the pamphlet, 'The Deity of Christ' -- same author and publisher.
* We adhere to the A.V. of 1 Timothy 3:16 after a fairly comprehensive survey of the question,
accompanied by photographic evidence that till recently was not available.
The Finished Work of Christ
1. The declaration.
We believe that the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is fourfold :
(1) His one sacrifice for sins for ever.
(2) His resurrection, as the last Adam. Head and Lord of all.
(3) His ascension to the right hand of God.
(4) His second coming, reign and final triumph, when at the consummation of the ages, as a result of His cross, His resurrection, and His reign, God shall be all in all.
2. Scriptural grounds.
'I have glorified Thee on earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do' (John 17:4).
'After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst ... . When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His Head, and gave up the ghost' (John 19:28-30).
'Lo, I come, (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God ... by the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once ... This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God' (Heb. 10:7-12).
'Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God' (Rom. 6:9,10).
'Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin' (Rom. 6:6).
'Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification' (Rom. 4:25).
'He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things' (Eph. 4:10).
' ... henceforth expecting' (Heb. 10:13).
' ... He shall send Jesus Christ ... Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began' (Acts 3:20,21).
'When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory' (Col. 3:4).
3. An examination and explanation of some aspects of the finished work of Christ.
It is the unspeakable joy of the believer that the work of Christ on his behalf is finished. Man had utterly failed, both under the law of conscience and creation (Rom. 1:18-32, 'without excuse'), and as favoured under the law of Moses (Rom. 2:1-29, 'inexcusable').
It is usual in considering the work of Christ to focus attention upon that supreme moment when the Lord Jesus offered Himself without spot to God, the one sacrifice once offered for ever. This we believe to be right, and all that He will ever accomplish both for us, and in the outworking of the purpose of the ages, must take its root at the cross. While yielding to none our emphasis upon the place of the cross and the sacrifice there offered, we believe Scripture would have us remember that all the work of Christ is vital, and every phase complete. No one could lay a charge against the apostle Paul regarding his faithful witness concerning 'Jesus Christ and Him crucified', yet the very epistle that emphasizes the cross contains the following sweeping statement:
' ... if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished' (1 Cor. 15:17,18).
It is well to remember that a more accurate translation of Romans 4:25 reads :
'Who was delivered because of our offences, and was raised again because of our justification'.
The resurrection of Christ is vital to the purpose of God.
As Zion's King He must be raised from the dead.
'I will declare the decree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee' (Psa. 2:7; cf. Acts 13:33).
' ... David ... therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ' (Acts 2:29-31).
As the last Adam, the second Man, Christ must be raised from the dead, to give new life, to open the way to immortality and glory for all 'in Him' (1 Cor. 15:45-58).
As Head of the church, and Head of all things, He must be raised from the dead :
'For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived (lived again), that He might be Lord both of the dead and living' (Rom. 14:9).
'And He is the Head of the body, the church: Who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence' (Col. 1:18).
Even when we have united the death and the resurrection of Christ, we have not exhausted the work which He finished. As we read John 17, we become conscious that one further step beyond resurrection is needful to complete the work.
' ... I have finished the work ... and I come to Thee' (John 17:4,11).
'Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God' (John 13:3).
The first message sent to His disciples by the risen Christ was this :
' ... Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend ... ' (John 20:17).
This ascension is vital not only for the church of the mystery (this question is examined on pages 33 to 38), but for the whole purpose of the ages.
'He ... ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things' (Eph. 4:10).
' ... He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world (age), but also in that which is to come (the coming one): and hath put all things under His feet' (Eph. 1:20-22).
The ascension and the seated Priest speak of a finished work.
' ... every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool' (Heb. 10:11-13).
It is the seated Christ of Whom it is written, 'from henceforth expecting'. He came from God, and He went to God, the Apostle (sent from) and High Priest (went to) of our profession. We would therefore remember His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension as three phases of one mighty work. The present period at the right hand of God is of unspeakable blessing to His saints, for He is able to save to the uttermost, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
This period is but for a time. The moment will come when He Who is now hidden and veiled, the unseen and absent Christ, shall be manifested in glory. Then the church of the One Body will realize its blessed hope, the manifesting of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Tit. 2:13, Col. 3:4). He will then be revealed, coming with His mighty angels to execute wrath and judgment upon the anti-Christian world, and to deliver His people, both those who sleep and those who are alive at His coming. He will then set up His throne and reign with the saints whose calling associates them with earthly blessings for the thousand years, generally spoken of as the Millennium.
After the thousand years have expired He will sit upon the great White throne to judge the rest of the dead. This judgment is two-fold. First, a judgment out of 'the books' according to works, and then a judgment out of 'the book of life' deciding destiny. It is quite unscriptural to affirm that all who stand before the great white throne will be cast into the lake of fire. The word 'whosoever' in Revelation 20:15 is misleading, for the Greek here is in the singular number. After speaking of a vast multitude beyond computation, the record continues:
'And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire'.
'The end' is now at hand and commences with the introduction of 'a new heaven and a new earth' (Rev. 21:1). No more sea is to be found here; no more death; no more sorrow; no more curse; the former things have passed away.
We now approach the glorious goal. He Who once hung upon the cross and said, 'It is finished', shall one day sit upon the throne and say, 'It is done' (Rev. 21:6).
'For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (the names in the book of life, and the principle given in Romans 9:6-8). But every man in his own order (so the two resurrections in Rev. 20): Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end (i.e., the goal, the object in view, not "the end rank") ... that God may be all in all' (foreshadowed in the tabernacle of God with men, in Revelation 21:3, and going on to the consummation of the age) (1 Cor. 15:21-28).
Before this consummation is reached, Christ must reign until every principality, authority, and power (same words used in Ephesians 1:21), are put down, and until all enemies are placed under His feet, the last being death (which we see cast into the lake of fire and so destroyed for ever -- Revelation 20:14). Then when all things are subjected unto Him, the crisis of the age is reached, the supreme moment arrives: the Son, the mighty Victor, the glorious Redeemer, the Head over all, lays the restored kingdom at the feet of the Father, that God once more may be all in all.
Here is the finished work of Christ, blessed fruit of the cursed tree, blessed contrast to the death, sin and revolt brought in by the first man. Here no more shall sin rear its ugly head; no more shall the tempter seduce the children of God; no more shall the curse descend upon the earth. Redemption and resurrection have forged a bond stronger than creation. All things are new, all things are of God. Let us glory, therefore, in the finished work of Christ.
On the cross -- 'It is finished'.
On the throne -- 'It is done'.
'That God may be all in all'.
The Right Division of Scripture
by Charles H. Welch
l. The declaration.
We believe all Scripture to be inspired and profitable, but we also realise that while all Scripture is written for our learning, all has not been written to or about us. We see the need to distinguish between dispensations, to avoid confusing law and gospel, kingdom and church. In other words, we believe it fundamental to all true interpretation of Scripture to put into practice the injunction of 2 Timothy 2:15, viz., rightly to divide the Word of truth.
2. Scriptural grounds.
'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth' (2 Tim. 2:15).
'And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent (margin -- that ye may try the things that differ)' (Phil. 1:9,10).
3. An expansion and application of this important principle of interpretation.
While we believe that the Scriptures are nothing short of miraculous in their origin, we do not believe that laziness, indifference or misdirected zeal in the reader are thereby encouraged. Throughout the record we find continual exhortation to meditate, ponder, learn, read, study and compare, remembering always that we are dealing with holy things, and that spiritual matters cannot be handled with carnal instruments. We believe the principle enjoined in 2 Timothy 2:15 to be fundamental to all true interpretation.
'Rightly dividing the word of truth'
The word translated 'rightly dividing' was in use before Paul wrote his epistle to Timothy, for it is found in the LXX (Greek Version of the Old Testament compiled long before Christ) of Proverbs 3:6, where it is used for 'rightly dividing' a path -- A.V. 'Direct thy paths'. While, as we have said, all Scripture is written for us, it was not all addressed to us or written about us, and before we consider the meaning of words or the grammatical construction of sentences, we must see to it that we do not confuse 'things that differ'.
Let us once more turn to the example of Him whom we call Master and Lord. In Luke 4:18,19 we have a quotation from Isaiah 61, but if the reader will compare these two passages he will find that the Lord shut the book half-way through a verse. He closed His quotation with 'the acceptable year of the Lord', for He was about to add: 'This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears' (Luke 4:21). Such a statement could not have been made, had the quotation been complete, for Isaiah goes on to speak of a day of vengeance. This day of vengeance is future, and between the two statements in Isaiah lies the bulk of Luke's Gospel. We do not meet with these days until the prophecy on the Mount is given: 'For these be the days of vengeance' (Luke 21:22).
Here, therefore, the Lord 'rightly divided' Isaiah's prophecy, allotting one portion to the days of His first advent, and the other to His second coming.
The ways of God with men are differentiated into dispensations. This word, used by Paul of the present dispensation of the grace of God to Gentiles (Eph. 3:1,2) means 'the administration of a household' or, as it is translated in Luke 16:2, 'stewardship'. The church at Jerusalem was compelled to recognise the distinctive 'stewardships' or 'dispensations' given to Peter and Paul (Gal. 2:6-10), and saw that the distinction involved not only 'apostleship' but 'gospel'. There are some, prompted we do not doubt by a zeal for the glory of God, who quote Galatians 1:8 against any who dare to suggest that there is more than one gospel in the Scriptures. They fail to see that they would need to quote this verse against the Council of the Church at Jerusalem. Let us see the passages together :
'But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed' (Gal. 1:8).
' ... Fourteen years after ... I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles' (Gal. 2:1,2).
' ... When they saw that the gospel of (not merely 'to') the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter ... they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen (Gentiles), and they unto the circumcision' (Gal. 2:7,9).
Paul's anathema is against any who preach to the Gentile Galatians any other gospel than that of the uncircumcision, for 'certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved' (Acts 15:1).
The gospel of the circumcision differs from the gospel of the uncircumcision in many particulars. What would Paul's gospel be without justification by faith, and reconciliation? Yet neither of these basic doctrines finds expression in Peter's ministry.
When a letter is delivered to our door by the postman, we usually look at the envelope before we open it and read the letter, for it may be addressed to another member of the family. When we open the Bible, we should also look at the envelope, for, though all the redeemed are one family, they have different spheres, different callings, different destinies. Some are to 'inherit the earth', others are to be 'seated together in heavenly places' and instructions sent to guide the one may not always fit the other.
Isaiah's prophecy is wonderfully evangelical, yet it is wise to note the inspired 'address' -- 'Concerning Judah and Jerusalem' (Isa. 1:1).
Peter's epistles contain much precious truth, yet the believer called during the present dispensation of grace to the Gentiles would be wise to note that Peter does not transgress the bounds of his administration; he still ministers to the circumcision and addresses himself to 'the dispersion' -- the people of Israel scattered among the nations. If this is noted, the Gentile reader may be saved from misappropriating the exclusively Jewish calling of a 'kingdom of priests'. 'A royal priesthood, a holy nation' does not describe the character of the church of the One Body.
The epistle of James is addressed to 'the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad'-- (Jas. 1:1), and we therefore consider that no Gentile assembly or Gentile minister can find scriptural warrant from James 5:14 for anointing the sick with oil.
Other divisions of truth that are vital to its true understanding are :
T he distinction between law and grace.
The difference between standing and state.
The distinction between salvation and service.
The difference between kingdom and church.
And there are many others which the earnest student will recognize as he pursues the truth through the Word.
Once again we must remember that our object here is to make a 'declaration', the explanation and defence being subsidiary. Each heading would demand a volume to itself if we would present it in any measure of completeness. We therefore must leave the matter here, with the declaration that we most sincerely believe that to attain unto the truth of the Word of God, that Word must be divided rightly, especially with reference to its varied 'dispensations'. 'Distinguish the dispensations, and discrepancies disappear'.
The interested reader will find the pamphlet, United yet Divided, a Key to Holy Scripture, by the same author and publisher, of help in this matter of right division.
