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Selected Bible Treasures - 27 - - 28 - Selected Bible Treasures same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel . He then continues in verse 7 to state that he was made a minister of this message. Many would say at this point that we need go no further for we have the key to this mystery the Gentiles are to be added to the church founded by Christ and started by Peter and the others at Pentecost. This seems to be the case in Acts 10 where Peter, himself, is sent to Cornelius after a special revelation from God (see verses 34 & 35.) If Peter is, in fact, preaching the "mystery" referred to by Paul, why was Paul made an apostle? After all, Peter was already an apostle and quite capable of getting the message across. This is attested to by the Holy Spirit, Himself in Acts 10:44-48. Another point which must be carefully considered is the reason Peter was sent to Cornelius in the first place. Acts 10:1-8, 29-33 show that God was rewarding Cornelius for his good works toward Israel. This is certainly not something new. It is merely the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham "I will bless them that bless the .in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Ge. 12:3) Also, that the Gentiles should share with the Jews in salvation through Christ was no secret. See Is. 11:10; 60:3; Mt. 12:17-21; Luke 2:28-32. These are but a few examples. What then does Paul mean by fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ ? The beginnings of an answer can be found in Eph. 2:14-22. Here we see that Christ has broken down a partition and made into one the two that were separated by it. That men are the things being brought together can be seen from verse 15. So who are these men? Verses 11-13 clearly show them to be the Jew and the Gentile. These two then are now of the same body and that is Christ s body (2:15) of which Christ is the head (Eph. 1:22-23). We can now conclude that of the same body clearly points to the Jew, the Gentile and our Lord Jesus Christ being joined together into one body, the Body of Christ. From Eph. 2:11-13, it would seem that the Gentiles have been made fellowheirs with Israel. However Eph. 2:19-22 suggests a deeper meaning. Here we see that we have become members of God s household. If we can determine what position we are to fill in this household, we should gain additional light on our question. Eph. 1:4-7 leads us to the key. Here we are said to be predestinated to adoption as children of God by Jesus Christ. Following this thought leads us back to Ro. 8:14-17 where we are told that we have been adopted as children of God and made to be joint or fellowheirs with Christ. Now then, if we are not to be fellowheirs with Israel but rather are to share in Christ s inheritance, the promises that the Body of Christ will partake of are not the promises made to Israel but the ones made to our Lord Jesus Christ. From this we conclude that the fellowship of the mystery is a fellowship consisting of Jew and Gentile, placed by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:13) into one body with Christ as the head. Those so placed lose all distinction as to their background. Ga 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. The members of this body have been adopted as children of God and are to be joint heirs of God with Christ. Because of this position, they will share with Christ in all that He has received from the Father. This fellowship is not a fellowship in which Gentiles are now to share in the gospel of the kingdom promises made to Israel as a nation. The church, the Body of Christ, did not replace the nation of Israel. God will keep all His promises to Israel and the nation of Israel is but a part of the inheritance of Christ in which we share. God has divided man into four groups and decreed a separate destiny for each group. These groups and their destinies are: The Body of Christ will spend eternity in Heaven with
Selected Bible Treasures - 29 - - 30 - Selected Bible Treasures God. It is impossible to even imagine the glory that we will share. (Eph. 1; 1 Cor. 6:3; Eph. 2:7; 1 Cor. 2:9) The Elect of Israel will spend eternity ruling over the earth. (Rev. 1:6, 5:10) The Elect Gentiles will spend eternity on the earth serving Israel. (Isa. 49:22, 54:3, 60:3, 5, 11, 16, 61:6, 62:2) The Non-Elect will spend eternity in the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:11-15) How marvelous a secret this is and what better way to show forth the grace of God than by its revelation. Nothing but the matchless grace of God could provide so great a treasure as fellowheirship with Christ Jesus to share with The Creator in all that He has created -- as a free gift. A gift that cannot be purchased, earned or deserved. A gift to be given by God to those whom He has chosen to receive it those who believe (Eph. 2:8 & 9). Won t you join with us as we endeavor to follow the great commission given to the Body of Christ, the church of this age, through the apostle Paul to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery? Substitution and HUPER A Big Doctrine and a Little Word by Dr. David Rodabaugh 1. Introduction One of the most important doctrines of the Word of God is that of the substitutionary or vicarious character of the death of Christ. This doctrine states that Christ died in the place of the sinner. It is not enough to say that Christ died for the benefit of the sinner. To illustrate the difference as normally presented, we borrow from Charles Baker ([1] p. 339). Suppose a policeman is killed while protecting a citizen. Clearly, his death benefits the citizen, However in no way was he the citizen - 's substitute, Another illustration of this difference is given by Mr. Baker ([1] p. 339): If one person pays another's fine, he is in no way his substitute. The one who is benfited still stands guilty before the law. (It would appear to me that there would not be this difference in a capital case,) (Note: Numbers in brackets refer to the References in the back of the article.) Without substitution there is no salvation, as Lewis Sperry Chafer put it ([4], vol, III, p. 130), "To reject this truth is to reject the plainest doctrine of Scripture, to reject the gospel, and the only righteous ground on which God may exercise grace toward the lost," One would expect that the scriptures would be full of direct proofs of such an important doctrine, While we fully believe that there are many such proofs, a surprising number do not believe this. 2. The Teaching of Sir Robert Anderson For example, Sir Robert Anderson has a whole chapter on substitution in his book The Gospel and Its Ministry ([2], chapter VII). In this chapter he essentially denies
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