UNITED, YET DIVIDED
6
Chapter 3
PAUL'S TESTIMONY VERY DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF MOSES
Some opposing statements
Before attempting to explain the difficulty that is manifest as a result of chapter 2, let us continue our search, this
time in the New Testament.
Galatians 5:2 says, `Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing'. Here
we find the exact opposite to Genesis 17:14. Moses says the UN-circumcised shall be cut off, while Paul says the
circumcised are cut off from any benefit from Christ.
Colossians 2:16 says, `Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the
new moon, or of the sabbaths'. Here, again, the apostle Paul sweeps aside the commands of God given in the law
regarding the feasts, fasts and sabbaths. `Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you,
lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain' (Gal. 4:10,11).
What are we to say to these things? If we believe that both Moses and Paul were equally inspired, how is it that
what the one tells us God commanded, the other equally and as positively contradicts and sets aside? The answer is
that God has spoken to His people at different times, with different messages, and that before we can render real
obedience to the Scriptures we must learn to distinguish between these different dispensations, as they are called.
This we will seek to do in the next chapter where the first great division of the Word will be set out.
Chapter 4
LAW AND GRACE
The first great division
Within the limits of the period covered by the outworking of redemption, the most important division is that
indicated by the words LAW AND GRACE. We do not imply that the reader is ignorant of this distinction, but it is
necessary for the sake of clearness to go forward together step by step. John 1:16 and 17 puts the case fairly clearly:
`And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ'.
The meaning of these words will be better appreciated by noting the following paraphrase, which seeks to
introduce the shades of meaning latent in the original:
`Because out of His fulness have all we received, even the grace of New Testament realities, instead of the grace
of types and shadows. For the law, with its types, was given through Moses as the channel, but true grace, the
antitypical blessings of the gospel, came into being through Jesus Christ as the Creator'.
It will be seen that by this change of dispensation we pass from the grace set forth in types to the true grace of
Christ. The epistle to the Hebrews recognises this position. There we read, `The law made nothing perfect' (7:19).
Its priests were sinners themselves, and were all subject to death; its sacrifices never took away sin, nor touched the
conscience. God Himself found fault with the Old Covenant, and Christ's coming and work set it entirely aside.
(For this, see Hebrews 7:11,21-28; 8:1-5,7-13; 9:1-14; 10:1-14; also Galatians 5:4, `Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace').
Chapter 5
A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE
The key to interpretation
We now reach a conclusion, the recognition of which is of the highest importance in seeking to understand the
mind and will of God for us in His Word.