THE DISPENSATION
MYSTERY
20
OF THE
stand. A new movement from God was absolutely necessary to meet the new circumstances, and that new
movement was the revelation of the present dispensation of the mystery, in which the hope of Israel and Pentecostal
conditions have no place.
For the difference between the body of 1 Corinthians 12 and of Ephesians the reader is referred to The Berean
Expositor, Vol. 18, p. 177.
CHAPTER 10.
THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY
1.
THE DECLARATION.
We believe that since the setting aside of Israel (Acts 28) God has ushered in a new dispensation, called the
`dispensation of the grace of God' to the Gentiles, and the `dispensation of the mystery'. We believe that this new
dispensation was originally revealed by God to Paul the prisoner, and that its teaching is to be found in his prison
epistles alone. The company of believers called during this dispensation is called the church which is His Body, of
which Christ is the Head.
Its sphere of blessing, its constitution, and its hope are unique, and neither the promise to Abraham, nor the
characteristics of the Pentecostal church belong in any way to this new calling.
2.
SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS.
` ... By revelation He made known unto me the mystery ... that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the
same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister ... to make all
men see what is the fellowship (dispensation R.V.) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath
been hid (has been hidden since the ages) in God' (Eph. 3:3,6,7,9).
` ... For His body's sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of
God which is given to me for you, to fulfil (complete) the Word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints' (Col. 1:24-26).
`Praying ... for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to
make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds' (Eph. 6:18-20).
` ... blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation (overthrow) of the world' (Eph. 1:3,4).
` ... The church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all' (Eph. 1:22,23).
3.
AN EXPLANATION OF SOME SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE MYSTERY.
This present dispensation is connected with a series of facts that influence its character :
1. Its chosen apostle and minister is Paul the prisoner.
Paul, the prisoner, in Acts 28, spent a whole day with the leaders of Israel in Rome, and when it became evident
that Israel of the dispersion were as obdurate as their brethren in the land, blindness settled upon the nation and the
door of grace was opened wide to the Gentiles.
` ... the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it' (Acts 28:28).
Israel's hope (Acts 28:20) and Israel's signs (28:1-9) did not cease with Matthew 28 or Acts 2, but remained to
the end of the Acts. Till then, the Gentile believer had been but a wild olive graft into the stock of Israel. In Acts
28, the Israelite stock is cut down; the axe, so long laid to the root of the tree, does its work. A new dispensation
with new terms is ushered in - the dispensation of the grace of God for the Gentiles committed to Paul the prisoner
of the Lord (Eph. 3:1).