 |  |
B 14.
d
Peter's walk against the truth of the
gospel
c
Gentiles compelled.
(For the structure of the whole epistle,
see article Galatians, p. 37).
Paul went up to Jerusalem `by revelation', and his purpose is expressed
in the words `I communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the
Gentiles', which, to say the least, makes it appear that those at Jerusalem did
not preach exactly the same message. Whether we are prepared to recognize a
difference or not, we are not left without evidence that Peter, James and John
were convinced.
`But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of 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' (Gal. 2:7
-9).
Into the differences that are to be observed between such expressions as
`The gospel of the grace of God' and `The gospel of the glory of the blessed
God' and what constitutes `My gospel' in the three references made by Paul, we
do not here enter. Romans 2:16 will fall to be considered in its place when
the epistle to the Romans is before us, as also will the closing verses of
Romans 16. Romans 16:25 -27 will be given a fuller scrutiny in the article
entitled Mystery3. All that we hoped to accomplish in this article was to
demonstrate the essential part that dispensational truth has to play, even in
the preaching of the simple gospel, in spite of the prejudice that many
evangelical believers have against the whole subject.
If the reader is still unconvinced, let him limit himself to the gospel
of Matthew, find the three references to eternal life in that gospel, and then
ask himself if he could, with a good conscience, make those three references,
without modification, his gospel message today? If he cannot do so he has no
alternative but (1) to deny the inspiration of Matthew's gospel or (2) to admit
the place of dispensational truth. (See Right Division4).
GRACE
The dispensation of the Mystery, entrusted to Paul, is called `the
dispensation of the grace of God' (Eph. 3:2). The gospel which accompanies
this dispensation is called `the gospel of the grace of God' (Acts 20:24).
Grace therefore is a word of fundamental importance both in dispensational and
doctrinal truth. The Greek word so translated is charis, the only exception
being in James 1:11 where a word meaning beauty of outward appearance is used.
The Greek word is derived from chairo `to rejoice', and in the classics charis
does not rise much above the idea of a favour, but like many another Greek word
it has taken on deeper and richer values by its employment in the Scriptures.
The word charis is employed in the LXX version to translate the Hebrew chen,
and it will be profitable to consider this word before analysing the Greek New
Testament. Chanan, the root, means `to deal graciously' (Gen. 33:11) and the
fact that in a number of passages the A.V. translates the word `have mercy'
(Psa. 4:1) and `have pity' (Prov. 19:17) and `to beseech' or `make
supplication' (Deut. 3:23; 1 Kings 8:33) shows something of its depth of
meaning. The substantive chen is often combined with the verb `to find', as
`Noah found grace' (Gen. 6:8) or `found favour' (Gen. 30:27), especially to