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CITIZENSHIP
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3.
The Church concerning which Christ spoke as future, and built upon the rock, and confession `Thou art the
Christ the Son of the living God' related to Peter with his keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:18).
4.
The Church which was formed in the day of Pentecost, which
(a) partly fulfilled the prophecy of Joel 2:28,29.
(b) awaits complete fulfilment until the future day of the Lord.
(c) is inseparable from the enduement of spiritual gifts.
(d) is inseparable from the kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6; 2:30,31).
(e) is inseparable from baptism for the remission of sins. This Church is related to the dispersion (Jas.
1:1; 5:14).
5.
The Church of God, which Paul persecuted before his conversion in Acts 9 (Gal. 1:13, 1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6)
and which continued to assemble and to grow under his subsequent ministry (1 Cor. 1:2; 11:16; 1 Thess.
2:14; 2 Thess. 1:4).
6.
The Church of God, called in the same chapter, the Church of the living God (1 Tim. 3:5,15) to whom was
directed that ministry of re-adjustment which had in view the building up of the body of Christ until all
arrived in the unity of the faith, etc. (Eph. 4:11-13).
7.
The Church of the One Body, the calling that goes back before the foundation of the world, and ascends to
the position `far above all' where Christ sits. This church is entirely disassociated from all previous
companies, having no relation with Israel, Abraham or New Covenant, but filling the great dispensational
parenthesis of Israel's blindness, which fell on that nation in Acts 28. The status, calling and constitution of
this Church can be gathered by reading Ephesians and Colossians, remembering as the reading progresses,
ever to `try the things that differ'.
8.
The seven Churches of Asia (Rev. 1 to 3), one of them namely the Church at Pergamos, will be in the city
`where Satan's seat is' (Rev. 2:13). These seven churches will resume where the Church of Pentecost left off
and carry the fulfilment of Joel 2:28,29 through to its end. In these Churches there will be some who will
`say they are Jews and are not' (Rev. 2:9). This company, though enumerated separately, really falls under
heading No. 4, but owing to the setting aside of Israel at the coming in of the dispensation of the Mystery, we
have listed these Churches separately.
We believe that the earnest student who obeys the injunction of 2 Timothy 2:15 and discovers under which of
these heads `the church' under examination falls, will have no difficulty in correctly relating any church mentioned
in the New Testament with its respective calling and dispensation.
CITIZENSHIP. Among the glorious privileges of the members of the body of Christ is that of being `fellow citizens
with the saints' (Eph. 2:19) which is placed in contrast with a previous position, `No more strangers and foreigners',
which position is set out very clearly in earlier verses of this same chapter.
Ephesians 2:11,12
A
Gentiles in the flesh.
B
Without Christ.
C
Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
C
Strangers from the covenants of promise.
B
Having no hope.
A
Godless in the world.
The word `commonwealth' here is politeia, the word `fellow citizen' is sumpolites. In the flesh, the Gentile was
an alien, but in the spirit, he could be a citizen on equal terms.
The apostle who thus writes of this great privilege of citizenship could bring to bear upon the subject his own
conscious sense of privilege in being a citizen of Israel's commonwealth, by reason of his Hebrew birth, and the fact