by Pastor Cornelius R.
Stam
Mystery or Prophecy?
We have often insisted that while the “testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,” they
knew nothing of the present period of grace which lies between our Lord’s
suffering and His kingdom glory.
“The dispensation of the grace of God,” we read in Ephesians 3,
was “a mystery” only made known “by revelation” to Paul, some years after the
rejected Christ had returned to heaven. In verse 5 he says that “in other ages”
it was “not made known.” In verse 8 he calls it “the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God.” In Romans 16:25 he says it was
“kept secret since the world began.” In Colossians 1:26 he insists again that
it was “hid from ages and from generations.”
But there are still thousands of sincere believers who do not
see this. They think that the prophets predicted the reign of grace as
well as the reign of Christ. Thus they lose some of the joy of that
great surprise of grace which God planned for sinners “before the world began”
(II Tim. 1:9), but “kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25).
One of the Scriptures which troubles them most is I Peter 1:10:
“Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you.” They say that this proves
conclusively that the dispensation of Grace was prophesied beforehand and was
no mystery at all.
But here again we must distinguish between grace in a
dispensation and the dispensation of Grace. Peter is not speaking of the reign
of grace here, but of the grace that will prevail during the reign of
Christ. This is clear from the 13th verse, where he exhorts his Jewish
Christian brethren, “Hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Remember that like Christ on earth, Peter was a minister of “the
Circumcision” (Rom. 15:18; Gal. 2:7). His message to the believing Jews had the
kingdom reign of Christ in view.
The prophets had clearly predicted that God would judge the
world for rejecting His Son and would enthrone Christ in spite of them. He did
not do this immediately, however. In matchless mercy, He deferred the judgment
and offered salvation to all who would receive it as a free gift through the
merits of Christ. And so, while Christ is not yet reigning, grace reigns.
“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign” (Rom.
5:21).
An over-abounding grace is the outstanding characteristic of
God’s dealings with man in “this present evil age.”
When Saul of Tarsus became the leader of an organized rebellion
against Christ, God in love reached down to save him, choosing him as the very
agent through whom He would proclaim grace to a lost world.
Listen to his testimony and his message:
“Who was before a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injurious, but…the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant” (I
Tim. 1:13,14).
“Not as the offence, so also is the
free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace
of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many” (Rom. 5:15).
“But where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).
“In whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace;
wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence” (Eph. 1:7,8).
“Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).
“And God is able to make all grace
abound unto you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound
to every good work” (II Cor. 9:8).
“For all things are for your sakes,
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the
glory of God” (II Cor. 4:15).
Do you wonder why we say that an over-abounding grace is the
outstanding characteristic of God’s dealings with man in “this present evil
age”? Surely grace is reigning. Otherwise the thunders of God’s judgment
would roll and He would bring in the reign of Christ.
Though, in his first epistle, Peter told the believing Jews to “hope
to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ,” he later learned something of that greater grace which God was
to manifest in deferring the judgment of the nations and the reign of Christ,
and, as we shall see, he learned it from Paul.
As Israel refused to repent and Christ did not return, some
began to cry “Where is the promise of His coming?” (II Pet. 3:4).
Peter now answers this beautifully. He says “Beloved, be not
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.” And note, this is not a lame explanation
offered today at the close of the age of Grace. This statement was made
at the dawn of the age.
Peter goes on, “The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some men count [it], slackness; but is longsuffering to
us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance” (II Pet. 3:8,9 cf. I Tim. 1:16 “all longsuffering”). So the delay
must not be counted slackness on God’s part, but longsuffering,
and since “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day,” this delay might continue for any amount of time, even though the
signs of the last days had already begun to appear (Acts 2:16,17).
How did Peter know this? He certainly didn’t find it in
prophecy.
Before we quote the significant closing words of his epistle let
us remember Paul’s word in Ephesians 3:1-3. “For this cause I Paul, the
prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the
dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by
revelation He made known unto me the Mystery….”
How beautifully this harmonizes with the closing words of
Peter’s second epistle! He tells them not to count the delay slackness,
but says “…account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as
our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath
written unto you” (II Pet. 3:15). No wonder he says in the closing verse
“But grow in grace!”
Peter has learned why “the revelation of Jesus Christ” is being
delayed. May we learn it too. God is waiting because of “His great love,”
because He is loathe to judge.
How long He will continue to wait we cannot tell. We can only
say to the unsaved, “We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also
that ye receive not the grace of God in vain….Behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Cor. 6:1,2).
And to the saved, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as
wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15,16).
THE MEANING OF GRACE
AND HOW THIS AFFECTS US
Ask the average believer what the Bible word “grace” means, and
he will doubtless reply “unmerited favor.”
Actually, however, grace is much more than this.
Subjectively, it is that loving attitude, or disposition, on God’s part,
from which all His kindness toward us flows.
Objectively, it is all the kindness that flows from His love toward us.
Thus we read in Ephesians 2:2-6 that we were “the children of
disobedience” and therefore “by nature the children of wrath, even as
others.”
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for
His great love wherewith He loved us,
“Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
“And hath raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
Note: This passage begins with those who were “children of
disobedience” and “children of wrath” and, saving them “by grace,” gives them a
position in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus!
God’s grace to us as sinners was great indeed, for:
“In [Christ] we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His
[God’s] grace” (Eph. 1:7).
But now, having given us a position in His beloved Son,
God’s grace goes out to us in still greater measure.
Ephesians 1:6 declares that God has “made us accepted [Lit.,
“engraced us”] in the Beloved.” “The Beloved”! What a name for the Son of God’s
love!
Beholding us in Christ, God loves us and delights in us more
than any father ever delighted in his son, or any grandfather in that precious
grandchild.
Thus, while in Ephesians 1:7 we read that we have “redemption…the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace,” in Ephesians
2:7 we see these riches of grace increased to us “exceedingly,” now that we
occupy a position “in the Beloved”:
“That in the ages to come He might
show the exceeding riches of His grace….”
How?
“…in His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus”!
What a prospect! Through the ages of eternity God will lavish
His loving kindness upon us to demonstrate to all the universe “the
exceeding riches of His grace”!
THE NATURE OF GRACE
To a young Christian who kept bemoaning his failures and lack of
spiritual growth, and wondering how God could love him, a more mature believer
responded substantially as follows:
“When I leave here and return to my
home I will pick up my little baby girl and put her on my knee. Tired as I am,
I will dandle her on my knee and, somehow, looking into that darling face and
those pretty blue eyes, I will soon feel rested and refreshed.
“This is strange, in a way, for she
does not love me. She doesn’t even know what love is.
“She doesn’t appreciate my problems
and has no sympathy for me. My heart can be burdened with grief or filled with
anxiety, and my mind vexed with difficult problems, but she doesn’t even know
or care. She just keeps gurgling and giggling at the attention I lavish upon
her.
“She doesn’t contribute one cent
toward the needs of our family; indeed, she costs me a great deal of money and
will for years to come. Yet I love that child more than I can say. There is no
sacrifice I would not make for her; no good thing I would not gladly give her.”
Such is the grace of God towards us, His children. It does not
depend upon our faithfulness to Him or our appreciation of His love to us. He
loves us with an unspeakable love and keeps lavishing upon us “the riches of
His grace” simply because we are His children in Christ, the Beloved.
And strangely, is it not precisely this fact that proves to be
our greatest incentive to give ourselves to Him in loving service and
sacrifice!
GRACE
The Unvelling and Shining Forth of Grace
“For the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11).
THE GREATEST
REVELATION OF ALL TI
To the Apostle Paul was committed the greatest revelation of all
time: “the mystery,” the secret of the gospel and of God’s eternal purpose
(Col. 1:25,26). To him was entrusted “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph.
3:1-3). His ministry superseded that of Peter and the eleven as, upon Israel’s
continued rejection of Christ and His kingdom, he became the apostle to
the nations (Rom. 11:13). Solemn recognition was given to this fact by the
leaders of the twelve (including Peter himself) as they gave to Paul and
Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, acknowledging Paul’s divine commission
to go to the Gentiles, and agreeing thenceforth to confine their own ministry
to Israel (Gal. 2:2,7,9).
In connection with this commission Paul was also the divinely
appointed minister of the Church of the present dispensation, “the Body of
Christ” (Col. 1:24,25). (Composed of Jews and Gentiles reconciled to
God in one body by the cross (Eph. 2:14-16; I Cor. 12:13), as compared
with the kingdom church, which had the reign of Christ in view
(See Matt. 16:15-18; 19:28; Acts 1:6; 3:19-21).) No other Bible writer has one
single word to say about “the Church which is [Christ’s] Body.” None of the
other apostles mention it. Not only would we seek in vain for such phraseology
in their writings, but we would seek in vain for any discussion of the subject,
for they do not discuss the Church of which believers today are members. But
Paul, who wrote more of the books of the Bible than any other writer, deals
consistently with those truths which concern “the Church which is His Body”
(Eph. 1:19-23).
THE REVELATION LOST
SIGHT OF GRACE
But this great revelation and the glorious truths associated
with it have been largely lost to the professing Church.
The Church of Rome ignores the facts we have stated above,
though they are clearly set forth in her own translations of the Bible. She
insists that the true Church of today is a perpetuation of that which was
founded by Christ while on earth; a kingdom to be established on
earth, over which Peter and the eleven were appointed to be heads and
rulers during His absence. And even though our Lord said nothing about a prolonged
absence or of any succession of such rulers, Rome declares that her
present pope is a successor to Peter and, as such, the Vicar of Christ and
supreme Head of the Church on earth. Consistent with this she holds that she is
laboring to fulfill the “great commission” given to Peter and the eleven,
requiring water baptism for the remission of sins and claiming to possess
miraculous powers.
But Protestantism, while boasting freedom from the tyranny of
Rome, has by no means emerged entirely from the shadows of the dark ages. She
still suffers a Roman hangover. While renouncing papal authority, she
nevertheless still clings to the Roman teaching that the Church of today is a
perpetuation of that to which our Lord referred in Matthew 16:16-18 and that it
is God’s kingdom on earth. She too seeks to carry out the “great
commission” given to Peter and the eleven, though half-heartedly, for she
cannot make up her mind whether water baptism is or is not necessary to the
remission of sins and is also confused and disagreed as to whether or not she
possesses the miraculous powers of what she calls the “great commission.”
Martin Luther, under God, shook Europe to its foundations with a
partial recovery of Pauline truth, but the Protestant Church has done little to
further that recovery, so that rather than recognizing the distinctive
character of Paul’s position as our apostle, most Protestants think of
him simply as one of the apostles, along with Peter and the eleven. In
taking so short a step away from Rome the Protestant Church has assumed a very
weak position, for if Paul is to be considered as one with the twelve, Rome can
easily prove that Peter, not Paul, was appointed as their chief (See
Matt. 16:19; Acts 1:15; 2:14,38; 5:29, etc.).
THE EXTENT OF PAUL’S MINISTRY
Since Christendom has strayed so far and so long from the great
Pauline revelation, she has lost sight almost completely of the vastness of his
ministry and influence, and the extent to which his message once became known
in the world. An example of this is found in what Bible scholars have done with
Titus 2:11.
It is generally--and correctly--agreed that the epiphaneia
in this passage connotes a conspicuous or illustrious appearing,
a shining forth, and that the phrase “all men” therefore does not
signify each individual singly, but all men collectively; all mankind.
But few can quite believe even that under Paul’s ministry the gospel of God’s
grace shone forth to all mankind, that its proclamation ever became world-wide
in scope. They conclude that Paul could not have meant this in Titus 2:11; that
he must have meant only that the grace of God, bringing salvation for
all, had appeared.
This problem seems to have troubled even the translators of this
passage, for Bible translators have never been agreed as to its true meaning.
According to some translations, like Darby’s New Translation,
the apostle meant that the grace of God had appeared, bringing salvation for
all men. According to others, like the Authorized (quoted above) he
meant that the grace of God had appeared to all men, bringing salvation.
Still others use guarded phraseology, even to the point of ambiguity, but most
take one or the other of the above views. The majority, probably, including
some of those apt to be most faithful in their renderings, conform in
substance to the Authorized Version as quoted above. One cannot help
feeling that were it not for the translators’ doubts that Paul could have
meant that the message of Grace was shining forth to all mankind, all, or
nearly all, would have rendered the passage substantially like the Authorized
Version. In view of these doubts it is significant that so many have rendered
it like the Authorized.
THE TWELVE AND THEIR
COMMISSION
Apart from Paul’s statement in Titus 2:11 there is much
Scriptural evidence that his message did shine forth to all the known
world. Before considering this evidence, however, let us first observe that the
eleven, under Peter, had previously been sent to proclaim their God-given
message to all mankind. In the records of their “great commission” three
different terms are used to emphasize this fact:
“Go ye therefore, and
teach [make disciples of] all nations” (Matt. 28:19 cf. Luke 24:47).
“Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature [i.e., all creation]” (Mark
16:15).
The reader is asked to remember well these three terms: all
nations, all the world and all creation, for we are to find them
used again in connection with the ministry of Paul.
The Twelve (Matthias replacing Judas) began to carry out
their world-wide mission, but never got beyond their own nation. We should
always associate Acts 1:8 with Acts 8:1 in our study of the Acts, for
Jerusalem, rather than turning to Messiah so that the apostles could go on with
their “great commission,” started a “great persecution” against the Church
there, with the result that “they were all scattered abroad throughout the
regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”
The twelve have often been charged with bigotry and
unfaithfulness for remaining in Jerusalem at this time. In fact, however, it
was rare courage and fidelity to their commission that kept them in Jerusalem
while persecution raged and their very lives were in danger. They remained at
Jerusalem for the same reason that the rest fled: because Jerusalem was not turning
to Christ. The first part of their commission had not yet been fulfilled,
therefore they were duty-bound to remain there.
The twelve did not remain at Jerusalem because they were
prejudiced against the salvation of the Gentiles. There is too much scriptural
evidence against this. They remained there because they had a clear
understanding of the prophetic program and of their Lord’s commission (See Luke
24:45; Acts 1:3; 2:4). They knew that according to covenant and prophecy the
Gentiles were to be saved and blessed through redeemed Israel (Gen.
22:17,18; Isa. 60:1-3; Zech. 8:13). Our Lord had indicated no change in this
program. He worked in perfect harmony with it. Even before His death He had
insisted that Israel was first in God’s revealed program, commanding His
disciples not to go to the Gentiles or to the Samaritans but to “go rather
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6), and saying to a
Gentile who came for help: “Let the children first be filled” (Mark
7:27). And later, in His “great commission” to the eleven, He had specifically
stated that they should begin at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8).
Peter certainly indicated his desire that the “commission” under
which he worked would bring about the fulfillment of the prophecies and the
covenant to Abraham, when he said to the “men of Israel”:
“Ye are the children of
the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto
Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
“Unto you first God,
having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:25,26).
And Paul, though not working under this same commission, later
also bore witness that Israel had been first in God’s program, when he said to
the Jews at Pisidian Antioch:
“It was necessary that
the Word of God should first have been spoken to you...” (Acts 13:46).
It was only when Israel persisted in rejecting Christ and His
Kingdom that God began to set the nation aside, raising up Paul to go to the
Gentiles with the good news of salvation “by grace,” apart from the
covenants and prophecies, and “through faith,” apart from works. It
was then that Paul went to Jerusalem “by revelation” and communicated to the
leaders there that gospel which he preached among the Gentiles (Gal. 2:2). And
those leaders, including Peter himself, gave to Paul and Barnabas the right
hands of fellowship in official recognition of the fact that Paul had
been chosen by Christ as the apostle to the nations and that they were
henceforth to confine their ministry to Israel (Gal. 2:7-9).
With this official recognition of the divine purpose the apostles
at Jerusalem were “loosed” from their original commission to make disciples of
all nations, and Paul alone could say:
“I speak to you Gentiles,
inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office” (Rom.
11:13).
Arguments are sometimes presented from church history to prove
that the twelve did go to Gentile territory; that not more than one or two of
them died in Palestine. But even if these arguments could be fully
substantiated, this would not enter into the case, for whatever the Circumcision
apostles may have done after the agreement of Galatians 2, they had no
apostolic authority among the Gentiles, and after the declaration of Acts
28:28 they had no apostolic authority whatever. What any of them wrote
(of the Scriptures) after that, they simply wrote by inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, just as any other Bible writer.
Let us mark well, then, that Peter and the eleven, who had
originally been sent to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to “all nations,”
“all the world” and “all creation,” never completed their mission.
Indeed, had they done so that dispensation would have been brought to a close,
for our Lord had said concerning the tribulation period (then imminent, but
later graciously postponed):
“And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and
then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14).
If, therefore, the pouring out of the Spirit had been followed
directly by the pouring out of God’s wrath (both predicted in Joel 2 as quoted
by Peter in Acts 2) Israel would have turned to God in repentance and the
twelve would have proceeded to proclaim “the gospel of the kingdom” to all
nations. That dispensation would thus have been consummated; the end would have
come. But rather than send the judgment immediately, God interrupted the
prophetic program and revealed His secret purpose, sending Paul forth to
proclaim to all mankind “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
PAUL AND HIS
COMMISSION
Surely no one even superficially acquainted with the Book of
Acts or the Epistles of Paul will question the fact that sometime after our
Lord’s commission to the eleven, Paul was sent, as an apostle of Christ,
to proclaim to all mankind “the gospel of the grace of God.”
It is significant that the three terms employed in the so-called
“great commission” to indicate its world-wide scope are also used in Paul’s
epistles in connection with his ministry. Only, whereas the twelve never got to
“all nations,” “all the world” or “all creation” with their
message, Paul did with his.
In closing his epistle to the Romans the apostle says:
“Now to Him that is of
power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus
Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since
the world began.
“But now is made
manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith”
(Rom. 16:25,26).
And to the Colossians he writes concerning “the truth of the
gospel”:
“Which is come unto you,
as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you...”
(Col. 1:6).
“...which ye have heard,
and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven [all creation
under heaven]; whereof I Paul am made a minister” (Col. 1:23).
Various arguments may be advanced to prove that “the gospel of
the grace of God” did not actually reach “all the world” or “all creation,” and
we do not deny that to those addressed “all the world” would doubtless mean all
the known world, and “all creation” would likewise mean all the creation
as they knew it. But the point is that whatever these three phrases mean
in the so-called “great commission,” they must also mean in these statements by
Paul, for the terms are exactly identical in the original.
We have seen how the twelve did not get their message to
“all nations,” “all the world” or “all creation,” because, on the one hand
Israel rejected it and on the other hand God had a secret purpose to unfold.
But Paul, to whom this secret purpose was revealed, says he did get his
message to “all nations,” “all the world” and “all creation.”
Whereas the twelve never got beyond their own nation in carrying
out their commission, it is written of Paul that during his stay at Ephesus “all
they which dwelt in Asia [Minor] heard the word of the Lord Jesus” (Acts
19:10). To the Romans he writes: “from Jerusalem, and round about unto
Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Rom. 15:19), and
speaks of his plans to go to Spain (15:24), plans which may well have been
accomplished between his two imprisonments. Even of his helpers it was said: “These
that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6).
And to the Romans again he says: “your faith is spoken of throughout the whole
world” (Rom. 1:8).
With regard to this last statement it is argued by some that
since Paul had not even been to Rome by then, it must be that believers from
the Jerusalem Church got as far as Rome under their “great commission.”
We do not accept this as valid, for while indeed there were
“strangers from Rome” present at Pentecost, there is no indication that there
was any substantial number of these, or that those present were even converted,
much less that they started a church at Rome. Thus those to whom Paul wrote at
Rome could scarcely have been converts of the Circumcision believers at Jerusalem.
They had doubtless been won to Christ through those whom Paul had reached with
“the gospel of the grace of God.”
This leads us to recognize another important fact. We have seen
from Matthew 24:14 that if the twelve had gotten their message to all the world
“the end” of that dispensation would have come. This proves at the same time
that Paul was not laboring to fulfill the “great commission” to the
eleven and that he did not preach the same gospel as they, for then “the
end” would have come in his day, since he says that his message had
gone to “all the world.”
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
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