GRACE ANSWERS 1

• QUESTION: Dear Mark--Thank you for your answer to my previous questions. Here's another. Matthew 28: 18-20, Mark 16: 15-18 and Luke 24: 45-49 all deal in one way or another,with "the Great Commission" = Go ye into all the world and teach ALL MEN." Did Peter, James and John not understand what was meant here?

• ANSWER: I believe Peter, James and John understood what Christ wanted them to do. They knew they were preaching the Kingdom Message of the Messiah. This message was prophesied and known about for centuries. The Jews continually looked to God to provide them with their Savior, the Messiah. The Kingdom would begin in Jerusalem and go from there to all of Israel, then the world. The message of the Kingdom was a promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel, Moses, David and all Jews. The message included a King and a Kingdom. The King, Messiah, would have a throne in Jerusalem. He would rule all Jews and Gentiles from His throne. Jews would be the leading people of the world. Gentiles (non-Jews) would be blessed by their relationship to Jews and Israel. That was what Peter, James and John preached. Jesus taught them that His ministry was to Jews first. He told them that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 15:24). He taught them to go only to the Jews. They did that during their ministry before and after Christ's death and resurrection. Gentiles were not the primary mission of Christ and His disciples. Their mission was to establish the earthly Messianic Kingdom. Peter, James and John never left Israel to preach the Gospel to ALL men because Israel rejected the Messiah. The Messianic Kingdom never happened. Therefore, Christ's disciples couldn't go beyond the borders of Israel. The Messianic Kingdom only has power and meaning for the world when it exists in Israel. That will happen in the future.

• QUESTION: The explanation of vertical spiritual dispensations seems to rule out God speaking to us directly through His Word. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" has been important to me. God reveals himself to us through His Word. His Word is Jesus. His Word is Truth. The explanation is that All Scripture is FOR us but not TO us. Are you just referring to that part of scripture which deals with The Law?

• ANSWER: God speaks to people based on His Plan. He doesn't work contrary to it. He speaks to people in each dispensation (economy, household) through letters sent to them. He speaks to us directly through Paul's letters today. That's because we are in the Age of Grace and Paul is the Apostle of the Age of Grace. He's the Apostle to the Gentiles. We can learn a lot about God through all the letters of the Bible. All Scripture is profitable for us. However, not all Scripture is mailed to us. Many Scriptures tell people to obey hundreds of levitical laws, sacrifice animals, sell all they have to follow Christ, worship on the Sabbath, kill the enemies of God, etc. That was true for people living in other dispensations, but not true for us in the Age of Grace. God speaks clearly and directly to us through the Apostle Paul. Paul's Gospel message is full and complete, lacking nothing. God says everything He wants us to know and do through Paul's letters.

• QUESTION: I have many spiritually-mature friends who believe deeply that God communicates with them personally through scripture and I must say that it has been my experience that I have been led directly to scripture which answers prayers I've been praying. But I don't think you would dispute this would you?

• ANSWER: Paul wrote that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." God speaks to us through ALL of His Word. The important thing to remember is that God speaks "directly" to today's Christian through Paul's writings. God "blesses" us through all of His Word. He "directs" us through Paul. If we are careful to make that distinction during our Bible study, we will receive both: God's blessing and direction.

• QUESTION: Given the premises of the Grace Gospel and your reference to Matthew 15:24, weren't Paul's letters written to specific groups of people with specific problematical situations? Apart from the Gospel truths they contain, e.g. In his letter to the Colossians (just to pick one), he is dealing with the false teachings regarding good, religious festivals, circumcision, etc., which apparently were occurring in Colosse at that time. Wouldn't it be true to say that THOSE scriptures were meant for the Colossians? that they are also FOR us but not TO us?

• ANSWER: One of the easiest ways to understand God's Word is to see it as divided into two large categories: Prophecy and Mystery. Prophetic literature includes all of the Bible "except" for Paul's writings. God was very clear about events that would unfold in the future from Genesis to the first portion of Acts and from Hebrews to Revelation. That's the "Prophecy" portions of God's Word. The "Mystery" literature runs from the middle portion of Acts to Philemon. Everything Paul wrote to the Gentile churches of his time dealt with Mystery Truths. Each letter was about a different set of circumstances in the individual churches. It was God's Way of setting out the Truths for the Dispensation of Grace. Some material is similar because problems and situations in the churches had similarity, but each church had its own particular needs and God met them through Paul's letters. We are the beneficiaries of being able to see God's Truth about the GraceLife through the combination of all Paul's letters.

• QUESTION: I quite understand that the history of the Jews as portrayed in the Old Testament with all their laws and restrictions are not meant for us. But their repeated cycle of listening to God, prospering, then turning from Him, repenting,and reconciliation is very similar to our own lives. Thus there are many lessons we can learn from reading and studying the OT. What I hear Grace Gospel saying, however, is that the pattern for our daily lives/walk with God is to be found mainly in Paul's letters and, in the live of Jesus as reported in the four Gospels. Is that correct?

• ANSWER: We learn TREMENDOUS lessons through every Word of Scripture! The Old Testament is an EXCELLENT source about human nature and how God works. The Gospels are WONDERFUL for learning about Christ's life on earth; His beliefs, actions, power, and sacrifice. However, God's "direction" to Christians is through Paul's letters. God, through Paul, makes the correct interpretation of the Old Testament and Gospels for us so we know how to use the Bible for our walk with God today.

• QUESTION: What function do NT commands play in the believers life today?

• ANSWER: New Testament commands have to be understood in the light of Prophecy and Mystery, Kingdom and Grace. These are HOUSEHOLDS of God. He manages each one separately and differently. God has commands for the Kingdom. He has different commands for Grace.

  God has given "commands" to His different HOUSEHOLDS since Adam. One of the longest running HOUSEHOLDS (Dispensations) was Law. That began with Moses receiving the LAW and telling it to Israel in the desert. God promised a KINGDOM to Abraham and continued to remind Israel of that promise for centuries. The LAW and KINGDOM are connected to each other. Jesus told His disciples and all the people of Israel to "obey the commands" of Moses' Law. Jesus was strict in His Own obedience to the Law's commands and He expected His followers to do the same. Peter, James and John continued to obey the Law's commands and taught their followers to do the same.

  The Apostle Paul began his experience with God as one who obeyed God's Laws. That's clear in Acts 9. However, Paul disappeared for many years and learned something new from God. When he reappeared at the end of Acts 12 into Acts 13, we see a change. Something's new. It reached a peak in Acts 15 when Paul came into sharp disagreement with Jewish followers of Christ from Judea. Paul was telling Christians NOT to obey the Law of Moses. Jewish believers from Judea were telling Christians they HAD to obey the Law of Moses. That led to an emotional series of meetings in Jerusalem that gave birth to an understanding that Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles and Peter, James, John and the others were Apostles to the Jews. That was the first declared understanding of the differences between the Kingdom Age and the Age of Grace.

  What we learn here is that obeying New Testament commands is a matter of understanding which DISPENSATION the commands were meant. God wants us to obey His commands that appear in Paul's letters. We learn much about God by reading the commands He gave to Jews through the Gospels, early Acts and the General Epistles (letters that John, James, Peter, Jude and the writer to Hebrews wrote). However, the commands God wants us to obey are found in Paul's letters. If we do that, we'll be doing EVERYTHING God wants us to do.

• QUESTION: Maybe you can help me, I checked out your grace teachers page and thought I would post this question to you. I have been having a discussion with someone regarding Christians, especially women posting them selves onto Dating Services on the Internet. I personally do not feel it is right even if the Dating Service is Christian. The word tells us that the man will stumble upon his wife so to speak. It does not say, go out and search for a man. He uses the story of Ruth however Ruth was not searching for a man, she was seeking a SPECIFIC Godly man, which I still feel as women we shouldnt go running after a man, God WILL bring you one and you WILL know if that is the man for you. Anyway my point is are you aware of some scripture I could use to back up my claims?

• ANSWER: Dating is an interesting issue for Christians in our modern time. People see the morals and values of just a few decades ago as "old fashioned" and "prudish." The exciting thing about the Bible is that it is ALWAYS timely and on target, no matter which century it addresses.

  Christian men and women are to respect each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, first and foremost. That's more important than any other relationship on earth. Television, films, magazines, advertisements and the "philosophy" of the world may tell Christian men and women to "get with it," but our obligation is to treat each other with purity and self-control. Paul makes that clear in his letters to Timothy and Titus. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul tells Christian men and women that a single life is a good choice. However, he says that if they "cannot control themselves" (in the sexual sense), it's better for them to marry than to "burn with passion."

  Think about how Christians have dealt with the life issue of meeting someone of the opposite sex for the purpose of marrige for almost two-thousand years. Each culture has a different way. Pagan cultures have been as bad or worse than ours through the centuries. Christians still had the responsibility of treating the opposite sex with purity and self-control. The same is true for us today. Whether Christians meet each other at church, a singles retreat, at work, school or through a Christian dating service, nothing has changed about the way we should treat each other. Whether the man or woman speaks or shows interest first, the same Christian philosophy applies: treat each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Show the proper respect.

  I believe the issue of respect and self-control is more important than where, when or how Christians meet each other. That seems to be more of a cultural issue. Cultures change. God's Word does not.

  Christians have freedom in Christ to do as they please, but that freedom is for the purpose of serving others in love. That's the true test of whether God is in something or not. A Christian man or woman should ask themselves why they're trying to meet someone of the opposite sex before doing it. Are they doing it to serve someone in love or because they want sex with someone. Having sex outside of marriage is serving yourself. Waiting to have sex until marriage is serving your brother or sister in Christ. That's true respect and self-control.

• QUESTION: I guess my 1st question is "Do you believe there was any life on Earth before Adam and Eve?" I'll probably answer my own question by replying what the new testament says about "No death before Adam sinned", but I was wondering what you thought.

• ANSWER: I don't see any evidence in Scripture that human life existed before Adam. Other life (animal, fish, foul, insect, plant, tree, micro-organism) existed only hours or days before God created Adam. God created the heavens and the earth and life in it in six days. Angels existed prior to that time, but the Bible doesn't say how long. That may be because God created angels before time and space. Angels relate to time and space as they relate to the universe and earth.

• QUESTION: The other question deals with what the believers that come to know Christ before the tribulation will be doing during the Day of The Lord (ie the tribulation and the millenium). The first chapter of Ephesians seems to me to be the bringing together of all things to be made new at the end of the millenium, if this is so then what will we be doing in Heaven in the mean time? I'm sure it will be wonderful, and I am looking forward to it. Any clarification of these questions would be appreciated.

• ANSWER: The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonian Christians that Jesus Christ would catch the living and dead in Christ together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. "And so we will be with the Lord forever." It is quite probable that members of the Body of Christ will return to earth with Christ when He sets up His Messianic Kingdom. Our roles will certainly be different than Kingdom disciples since they have the promise of an earthly Kingdom with Christ the King sitting on the Throne of David in Jerusalem for 1,000 years. We may slip between heaven and earth living out the WONDERFUL LIVES Christ gives us for eternity. Some of us may have opportunities to enjoy and serve Christ on or near earth during the Millenium. Some of us may have opportunities to enjoy and serve Christ on planets light years away from earth. Others of us may have opportunities to enjoy and serve Christ in the throne room of God in Heaven. What we do during the Millenium and into eternity is part of God's Great Plan for our lives. Whatever He has for us is certainly fantastic and will meet our every wish and desire.

• QUESTION: A follow up: If Paul writes commands to Grace Believers then hasn't grace imposed an obligation? And aren't grace and obligation mutually exclusive?

• ANSWER: Christians are free. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free....You, my brothers, were called to be free." (Galatians 5:1 & 13) We can do whatever we want. However, our freedom came with a great price: the death of Christ our Lord and Savior. Christ was free to do what He wanted to do and what He wanted to do was give His Life for us so that we would be free and spiritually alive. Christ's example is to use personal freedom for the good of others, not just ourselves. "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:1-5) There's nothing wrong with caring about yourself and your freedom and what you want to do, but don't forget about the other guy. As Paul wrote, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:13)

  I look at Grace as giving us the freedom and capability of serving God and man. It's not an obligation. It's an opportunity! Why serve God with your whole heart? Because He said to? No! Do it because you can. What a wonderful thing God has done for us. He has placed His Loving Spirit in our hearts and then tells us we are free. He gives us a Book to teach us how to be happy and use our freedom for the good of ourselves and others. What a super deal!

  Christians can do anything they want. What they can do with that freedom is love and serve God and the world. God knows what will make Christians happy longterm and it's not indulging their selfish desires. That lasts for a short time and is not true happiness. Real, lasting, rewarding happiness is what we get from serving God and others.

• QUESTION: I'm a little confused about when the Dispensation of Grace actually began. Did it begin at the cross when Christ paid the penalty for sin once for all, or did it not begin until the "mystery" was revealed to Paul sometime later?

• ANSWER: Dispensationalists don't always agree on when the Dispensation of Grace began. Some believe it began when Christ began ministering on earth. Others believe it began when Christ died on the cross. Still others believe it started when the Holy Spirit descended on Christ's disciples waiting in Jerusalem. I believe it began many years later than that.

  Everything Christ did and said was in fulfillment and support of Jewish Prophecy and Law. Jesus told His disciples, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17) Jesus lived up to His word and ALWAYS obeyed the Law. His life and actions were fulfillment of the Mosaic Law. He did everything required of Him as the One Who would set up the Messianic Kingdom and restore Israel to the place of power and prominence promised to Abraham thousands of years earlier. Jesus taught His disciples to obey "everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:20) The disciples did as they were told and obeyed Christ and the Law.

  Saul (Paul) was saved in the Dispensation of the Kingdom. His early actions in Acts 9 demonstrate that. He was a bold convert and stirred up trouble in Jerusalem. The Grecian Jews wanted to kill Saul, so the disciples of Christ took Saul to Caesarea and shipped him back home to Tarsus. "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace." (Acts 9:31) However, Saul's conversion speaks of something different to come. Ananias was the Jew God used to preach to Saul. God told Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel." (Acts 9:15) The fact God placed Gentiles and their kings ahead of the people of Israel is a sign of change. God had never said that to anyone before. Taking His name before the Gentiles and their kings was not part of the ministry Christ gave His disciples. They were to go only to the lost sheep of Israel. (Matthew 15:24) Peter, James, John and the others obeyed Christ and went only to Jews until AFTER God saved Saul and began His Change.

  We don't hear from or about Saul for a long time. Peter is still prominent as the spokesperson of the Kingdom Dispensation. He doesn't want to talk with Gentiles about Christ but God forces the issue. Peter talks with a man who already believes in the God of Israel and wants to convert to Judaism and Christ as Messiah. Peter tells him what Christ did and while he's talking the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. Peter immediately baptized the Gentile converts. This action caused Peter a lot of trouble back in Jerusalem because no one thought God would work in the lives of Gentiles like that. Peter explained that the Holy Spirit made the choice to bless the Gentiles, not him. Peter said, "So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

  That was the beginning of change. However, the Jewish disciples didn't know how much of a change was coming. They thought God was allowing the Gentiles to receive a spiritual blessing as they converted to Messianic Judaism. That meant obeying the Law and becoming Jewish converts. What they didn't know was that God had been preparing Saul's heart for the BIG CHANGE.

  Some Jewish believers who lived and travelled outside Israel preached only to Jews. However, some preached Christ to Gentiles. When the believers in Jerusalem heard about it they sent Banabas to Antioch to see if it was true. When Barnabas saw "the evidence of the grace of God," he went to Tarsus to look for Saul. Barnabas and Saul spent a year in Antioch teaching the Gentiles about Christ. "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." (Acts 11:19-26)

  Why did Barnabas travel many miles to find Saul (Paul) when he saw the evidence of God's Grace in the lives of Gentiles in Antioch? Why were the Gentile disciples in Antioch called Christians first? Why wasn't that name given to the Jewish disciples in Jerusalem years earlier if they were the first Christians?

  Saul and Barnabas took a special gift from the Christians in Antioch to the belivers in Judea. That was about the same time King Herod had James killed and Peter arrested. Angels released Peter from prison and killed Herod. Saul and Barnabas finished their mission of mercy to Jerusalem and returned to Antioch with John Mark. Saul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey from Antioch to Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Paul demonstrated the supernatural power of God in his life and ministry. They first went to the Jewish synagogues in each city to preach Christ on the Sabbath Day . Jews and God-fearing Gentile converts to Judaism heard the message and many recieved Christ. Many of the Jews despised what Paul was preaching. They were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. "Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: 'We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.'" (Acts 13:46) This angered the Jews but thrilled the Gentiles. Something's changing here. It's a somewhat slow change, but a definite change. "From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." (Acts 14:26-27) What happened during Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey was to begin preaching the message of Christ to Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism on the Sabbath Day in Jewish Synagogues. They ended their journey by going primarily to Gentiles and winning many who were worshippers of other gods. Their ministry and evidence of spiritual power were so great the Gentile pagans thought Paul and Barnabas were gods themselves and tried to sacrifice to them. (Acts 14:11-18)

  This "change" we see from Acts 9 - 14 culminates in Acts 15. The issue that brought everything to a head was "circumcision." Some Kingdom disciples came from Judea to Antioch and started teaching the Christians that "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." That was a huge issue! Circumcision was necessary for inclusion in the Kingdom. God had given it to Abraham and every generation of Jews had continued its practice. It was "the custom taught by Moses." Jesus had told His disciples to obey Moses and those who sat in Moses' seat of authority in Judaism. What was Paul going to do? Disobey Christ's command? Go against Moses and the Law? Change his ministry to conform to the standards of the Kingdom disciples? No. What Paul did was stand for the New Dispensation he represented: the Dispensation of the Grace of God.

  The disagreement between the Jerusalem disciples and Paul brought them into "sharp dispute and debate." (Acts 15:1-2) They all agreed to take the disagreement to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about it. The Kingdom disciples who belonged to the party of the Pharisees (notice that some of Christ's disciples still belonged to a ruling part of Jewish leadership) stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses." Circumcision AND obedience to Mosaic Law are the issues. Did the Kingdom Dispensation apostles and elders have an immediate answer? No. "The apostles and elders met to consider this question." After much discussion, Peter got up and reminded the other apostles and elders how God had made a choice of Gentile converts years earlier. Peter sided with Paul and Barnabas! Paul and Barnabas then got up and told the crowd of Kingdom disciples about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. James had become a spokesperson for the Kingdom group and made the final judgment that they "should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." (Acts 15:19)

  Paul related more about this monumental decision in his letter to the Galatian Christians. "...they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews." (Galatians 2:7-9)

  The point of this historical overview is to show that the Dispensation of the Grace of God had its infant beginnings in the salvation of Paul and grew to a point of full and accepted understanding years later at the Council of Jerusalem. I believe the Dispensation of God's Grace and the Body of Christ were underway in Acts 11 when Barnabas brought Paul to Antioch to minister to the Gentile believers. The Gentile believers were first called Christians during Paul's ministry in Antioch. Paul refined his message during the following years, but that simple congregation of Gentiles in Antioch is where God's New Household came together. I understand the arguments of some who believe that is too early a time for the Grace Dispensation and the Body of Christ to begin, but it's my opinion based on careful study and consideration.

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