rests as securely on the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus as all the previous truth from Genesis onwards, for He is

the Centre and Circumference of it all.

We wish to stress this lest we shall be accused of limiting our Bible to seven Epistles of Paul, written after Acts

28. We need all Scripture for our equipment, and the foundation doctrines mentioned above have already been laid

in the earlier writings of the New Testament, and typically in the Old Testament. However, we leave to God the

right to reveal deeper aspects of truth in His Word when His infinite wisdom decrees. We shall honour Him by

recognizing this; we shall dishonour Him and confuse ourselves and others if we fail to do so.

We are now in a position to approach the epistles of the one whom God ordained to be the prisoner of Jesus

Christ for us Gentiles (Eph. 3:1). We do so with the consciousness that we are not reading the writings of man, but

rather the message of the Christ in ascension, to us and for us, through Paul the channel. As we search the seven

post-Acts epistles we shall look in vain for the repeated references of the earlier epistles to the Jew, to Israel and to

Abraham. The word Jew only occurs once and then negatively (Col. 3:11), Israel twice, once negatively, and the

other looking back to Paul's unconverted days (Eph. 2:12; Phil. 3:5). References to Abraham are nil. We are dealing

with a new calling which has no reference to Israel the nation or the promises made to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob.

On the other hand we shall certainly discover aspects of truth that are unique and not found anywhere else in the

range of Scripture. Let us look at some of them.

1.

Before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

THE TIME PERIOD

The Church of this calling was chosen in Christ before the creation of the universe and the beginning of time.

2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2 literally read `before age times'. No other company of the redeemed are associated

with such a period. The expression is only used elsewhere of Christ Himself (John 17:24; 1 Pet. 1:20). Other

companies of believers are said to belong to that aspect of the kingdom which has been prepared by God since the

foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34). `Before' an event and `since' an event cannot refer to the same thing. This

Church has the farthest `look back' into the past.

2.

`The Church which is His Body' `the Fulness of Him that filleth all in all'.

THE TITLE

Here is a title so gigantic in its meaning that it is beyond complete comprehension. In Christ Himself dwells all

the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9), and each member of this company is filled to the full (complete) in Him

(10). Christ is the fulness of God. This church is the fulness of Christ and each individual member is filled to the

full in Him. What a Trilogy of truth! And how we need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, to grasp to any degree

the glorious reality that lies behind these words. Such language is above anything given to Israel, wonderful though

their blessings are.

3.

THE STATUS

Ephesians 3:6 gives the relationship of each redeemed member of this called-out company. In the original there

is a threefold emphasis on perfect equality which is lost in the Authorized Version. Literally it reads `that the

Gentiles should be joint heirs and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel whereof I

(Paul) was made a minister' (Eph. 3:6,7).

Here is complete equality between Jew and Gentile at last. The Jew as a nation has gone and with this laying

aside nationally go all the privileges they had in the flesh (Rom. 9:4,5). In that sphere the Jew has the first place

always in the Divine plan and the Gentile by nature is an alien from the commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:11,12) and

an outsider (Matt. 15:24-26). This church however is taken out of the realm of the world and the flesh and blessed

in the sphere of spirit in the heavenlies where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Consequently all earthly

distinctions vanish, Jew and Gentile cease to exist as such and Christ is ALL (Col. 3:10,11).