9
A KEY TO HOLY SCRIPTURE
some principles which are inter-dispensational. No one dispensation has the monopoly of sin and death, and no
dispensation since the fall of man until his perfect salvation is accomplished can do without Christ as the Redeemer.
Other points will be touched upon as we proceed. One of the objects of this booklet is to clear the ground, to
impress the fact that there is such a thing as the dispensation of the Mystery, that there is a church of the one Body
entirely separate from Israel or Abraham, or miracles, that there is a sphere of redemption in the very
super-heavenlies, and a set of Scriptures, written after Israel had been set aside in Acts 28, containing this distinctive
dispensational teaching.
If only the reader is stirred up to go to the epistle to the Ephesians with no traditional views, but as it were for the
first time, what a blessing he may receive!
We will not stay to say more in this strain, but approach the Word, trusting that the reader will have his interest
sufficiently quickened to be willing to examine some aspects of truth that bear upon these important themes, even
though the study may at times prove a little tedious.
Chapter 8
THE CHURCH: WHAT IS IT?
A definition needful
We must first observe the true meaning and Scriptural usage of the word church, or confusion will result.
First, its meaning.- The word in the New Testament is the translation of ekklesia (which gives us our word
ecclesiastical) and literally means `a called-out company'.
Secondly, its usage.- The following examples will show the various `called-out companies' mentioned in
Scripture:
ISRAEL, as called out from other nations -'That thou mayest be a multitude (Hebrew equivalent for ekklesia) of
people' (Gen. 28:3).
ISRAEL, redeemed from Egypt - `The church in the wilderness' (Acts 7:38).
JEWISH BELIEVERS - `The church of God' (Acts 8:3; 1 Cor. 15:9). Up to this point no Gentiles had been
converted, see Acts 10.
JEWS AND GENTILES, who believed during the `Acts' (1 Thess. 1:1).
BELIEVERS, mostly Gentiles, called under the dispensation of the Mystery, form `the church which is His Body'
(Eph. 1: 22,23).
Genus and species
The word `dog' is the name of a genus; the word `terrier' of a species. All terriers are dogs, but all dogs are not
terriers. Just in the same way the word church is the name of a genus, indicating a called-out company; the `church
in the wilderness' is one species, the `church of the one Body' another. If I described the peculiar points of a terrier,
and applied them generally to the genus `dog', I should be inaccurate. In just the same way, if I describe the
peculiar blessings, hope, and sphere of the church of the one Body, and say they are true of every company ever
called a church, I shall be equally in error.
An examination of the various circumstances and degrees of advancement, of deep difference in doctrine, of
complete contrast in enduement (e.g. miracles), of differing spheres of blessing - earth, new Jerusalem, and heavenly
places - and of many other facts yet to be observed, shows us that we must `rightly divide the Word of truth' in its
teaching concerning `the church'.