GRACE ANSWERS 6

These are questions sent to GraceLife Ministries by Internet E-Mail. We appreciate each person who sent the questions and hope our answers will be a help to many. If you would like to have a question answered for Grace Answers, please e-mail Mark McGee.

ADAM AND ETERNAL LIFE

QUESTION: I was going through your study on covenants and wondered about the following statement.
"Adam didn't have to do anything to receive eternal life. God created him with it. However, Adam did have to obey to "keep" what he had. "And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" (Gen. 2: 16-17) As we know, Adam did eat from the forbidden tree and did die physically."
Why did God say in "Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
It seems that Adam chose the wrong tree to eat from. If he had eaten from the tree of life first would he have lived forever whether he ate of the tree of good and evil? Why did God put the tree of life in the garden if Adam already had eternal life?
ANSWER: God created Adam for the purpose of having an loving, eternal relationship. He created man and woman in His Image. God looked at His creative work and saw that it was very good. Death was an unknown factor at the time of creation. Death came as part of man's disobedience, not as part of the natural order of the creative process. Death and its decay came to all of creation because of man's disobedience (Romans 8:19-22).
Eternality is not the issue here. God created every soul with a life span of eternity. The issue is what relationship souls would have with God. Man's relationship with God before sin was joyous and lovely. Man's relationship with God after sin was sad and ugly. God did not want mankind to live forever in that ugliness. It seems that eating of the fruit of the Tree of Life would have placed the human race in an eternal relationship of enmity with God. The name God gave the Tree gives us insight into its purpose and power. It was the Tree of Life! Life was the product of the Tree of Life. God stopped the possibility of mankind living forever in a state of sin and distance from God by removing man from being able to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life. God's Grace protected the future of humanity by "driving" Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. God's Grace placed a guardian angel and a flaming sword at the entrance so mankind could not get to the Tree of Life and eat of its fruit.
The Bible doesn't say that Adam and Eve never ate from the Tree of Life. It says only that God didn't want them to eat from the Tree of Life after they had gained knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam: "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2: 16-17) The Tree of Life was one of the trees God told Adam he could eat from. Adam may or may not have eaten from the Tree of Life, but we know God said that would have been okay to do. Eating regularly from the Tree of Life may have been part of how Adam and the human race would have continued to live forever. It is the Tree of Life. We know that the Tree of Life is in the New Jerusalem. It bears twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree will be for the healing of the nations. The curse will be gone. It may be that eating the fruit of the Tree of Life is how the citizens of the New Jerusalem live forever. That's not spelled out in the Bible.

THE REMNANT JEWS

QUESTION: I/II Peter was written to Jews along about the same time that Paul was writing Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians, according to the best chronology we can establish. This occurred about AD 64-65. Now these folks had a heavenly calling and reservation according to I Pet. 1:4 and they are also called Priests and a holy nation, according to I Pet 2:9. If so, then they are not in the Body, which is neither Jew nor Gentile and the Body's hope is in the Heaven of Heavens, i.e. God's throne. Now, if they are citizens of a Heavenly calling, then they are not destined for the New Earth forever, as Jews were promised thru the Old Testament Covenants of Abraham and David. So, what is the issue?
Issue: Aren't these Jews the same as the remnant Paul mentioned in Rom. 5-7, and again in vs 25 as the part of Israel that was not blinded? If true, when was such a remnant ever set aside, if at all? We know that the earthly kingdom gospel was set aside, but this is not the same as the born again, spiritual message of I/II Peter and John's books and that of Hebrews. If there existed this remnant with a heavenly calling that was not part of the body in AD 65, when did such a hope and calling cease? There are not two bodies, so who are these folks, if not the Heavenly Israel component?
My position and understanding puts them in the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21 and not specifically on the New Earth and they are also the Church of the First Born mentioned in Heb. 12:22-23 for I know of no other place to put them and have everyting fit...
ANSWER: Peter, James, John and the other Apostles of the Kingdom Dispensation had a calling and message specifically to Israel. The Kingdom was all about God's covenants with Israel. God revealed His Mystery to Paul. Paul ministered to Jew and Gentile who became members of the Body of Christ. Every Jew who believed Paul's message became a member of the Body. Some Jews did not follow Paul. They continued with the Kindgom message of Peter, James, John and other Jewish leaders who ministered from Israel. Jerusalem was their capitol since that's where Messiah would return to set up His Kingdom. Paul's capitol city was Antioch. That's where God first built up the Body of Christ. Paul returned to his church in Antioch until the Romans imprisoned and eventually killed him in Rome. Antioch was a Gentile city and carried no prophetic promise of being part of the Messianic Kingdom.
Read the letters of Paul, then the letters of Peter, James and John. Look carefully at the wording. Notice to whom they were writing. Note what they wanted believers to do. Notice the outcome of obedience. Paul mentions the Body of Christ many, many times. How often did Peter, James and John mention Christ's Body, Jew and Gentile made one in Christ? Not once. God's purpose of creating in Christ one new man out of the two (Jew and Gentile) was the Mystery Paul preached. Remember that Peter, who stood up for Paul's preaching of the Mystery, returned to the practice of separating himself from Gentiles and eating only with Jews. Peter, James and John had a message to the Jew. That was their calling and mission. Paul's mission was to Jew and Gentile to preach God's reconciliation through Christ, the Peacemaker. (Galatians 2 & Ephesians 2).
The Jews who followed the teachings of Peter, James and John hoped in God's covenant with Israel. They died without seeing the Messiah return to claim His Earthly Kingdom. Their judgment is a future one. Christ will sit on a great White Throne and all of the dead of ages past will stand before the Throne. Christ will open the Book of Life and will judge the dead according to what they had done while they were alive. The dead who's names were not found written in the Book of Life were thrown into the lake of fire. The dead who's names were found written in the Book of Life entered into the New Jerusalem to enjoy God forever. (Revelation 20 & 21) That is the eternal rest for Peter, James, John and all who followed them and were obedient to Christ's Word. They are part of the remnant Paul wrote about in Romans 11.

THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY

QUESTION: I have a question about the following passages of Scripture: Rom 16:25-26 --- "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." Eph 3:3-5 --- "How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit."
In the Romans passage, what scriptures is Paul referring to with regard to the revelation of the mystery? In the Ephesian passage, who are the apostles and prophets (other than Paul) to whom the mystery has been revealed?
ANSWER: Paul was the first Apostle of the Dispensation of the Grace of God. God revealed the Mystery of Grace to Paul, who revealed it to others. Paul did that through his teachings and writings. Paul trained some of his followers to be apostles. Other followers of Paul had the spiritual gift of prophecy. Paul wrote many letters that were "prophetic writings."
Most Christians think of Peter, James, John and other Kingdom disciples when they hear the word "apostle." However, some of Paul's disciples were called apostles, including Barnabas, Andronicus, and Junias. Paul wrote that God had appointed "apostles" for the Church, the Body of Christ. God gave the Church apostles "to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11-13) Peter, James, John and the other Kingdom apostles had no part if building the Body of Christ. That was the unique ministry Christ gave to Paul. Christ appointed 12 apostles for the Kingdom Dispensation because they represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Christ appointed numerous apostles for the Grace Dispensation to declare God's Word to Gentiles and Jews He was placing into His Body. Each dispensation had its own apostles.
Paul revealed the Mystery of God's Grace to the apostles of the Dispensation of Grace. They learned about the Mystery from Paul. Paul also revealed the Mystery of God's Grace to the apostles of the Kingdom Dispensation. Paul went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus in response to "a revelation" and set before the Kingdom apostles "the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain." (Galatians 2:1-2) Paul "revealed" the Mystery of Grace to the Jewish apostles. They didn't know it or understand it until Paul revealed it to them. The apostles and prophets, all of them, could trace their knowledge of the Mystery straight to Paul.
The same is true about the "writings" of which Paul spoke. The Mystery of God's Grace was hidden from writers before Paul. The Mystery was "hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him." Where do we find the Mystery revealed? Through the writings of Paul. The Mystery of Grace is not revealed anywhere else. The "prophetic writings" of Romans 16 are Paul's letters to churches and friends. Peter did not reveal the Mystery, but he had this to say about Paul's writings: "He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16) Paul had revealed the Mystery to Peter, so Peter was well aware of the special power of Paul's writings.
We can rejoice knowing that we are learning about the Mystery of God's Grace from the one person who can reveal it to us: the Apostle Paul.

PETER AND PAUL

QUESTION: I've been told that Peter's epistles were addressed to believers of the Kingdom church, and not to the Church of this dispensation, the Body of Christ. My question concerns his second epistle. In the salutation, the apostle addressed his letter "to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ." In chapter three, verses 15 and 16, he noted that "....our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given to him hath written unto you." Did Paul write letters to the Kingdom church, or was Peter's letter written to believers in the Body of Christ?
ANSWER: Peter wrote to Jews who continued to follow Christ's teachings for the Kingdom Dispensation. Peter and Paul were friends. They each represented a different Dispensation, but each fellowshiped with the other's group. Paul visited Jerusalem and met with the Kingdom Apostles. Peter visited Antioch and met with the Grace Gospel Apostles. They understood and accepted the differences and similarities. Even though they followed Christ through different Household Rules, they both served the same Lord and Savior. Paul opposed Peter to his face when he withdrew from eating with Gentiles in Antioch when some Jews visited from Jerusalem. Peter was afraid of these men. Paul called Peter's actions hypocrisy and said they "were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel." Paul reminded Peter and other Jews who had followed him that "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2)
Peter told his Jewish audience that though Paul wrote letters containing "some things that are hard to understand," what he wrote was Scripture and true. Paul apparently wrote one or more letters to people he knew from the Kingdom Dispensation, but we have no record of them. Paul wrote other letters that were not saved as part of God's Word. Letter writing was a primary means of communication at that time. Paul's ministry was specifically to Gentiles and Jews in the Age of Grace. That was his calling and authority. His letters were copied and sent from church to church to church. It may be that Peter's audience also read copies of Paul's letters to Christian churches. Paul's teaching was quite different from Peter's because his was a different Dispensation of God. Peter made it clear that even though Paul's teaching was hard to understand, it was still God's Word and should be revered as Truth. Peter may have also written a letter or letters to Gentile believers. Peter visited Gentile churches and knew the believers on a personal basis. He may have stayed in contact with them by letter. However, Peter did not have the authority to write the Gentiles as "their" apostle. Peter's authority was to the Jews. Paul's to the Gentiles.

THE GRACE CHURCH

QUESTION: What is the Grace Church? Is it a denomination, society, etc?
ANSWER: The Grace Church is the name given to churches around the world that agree on the basic principles of the Gospel of the Grace of God. Some Grace Churches belong to fellowships of churches (i.e. Grace Gospel Fellowship, Berean Bible Fellowship, etc) that support colleges, missionaries, publishing groups, radio broadcasts and conferences and conventions. Some Grace Churches do not belong to any particular fellowship of churches. The Grace Church is not a denomination, but rather a group of believers who share Great Truths.
Grace Churches believe that God gave the Apostle Paul a revelation of a mystery that was outside of anything known to man before. "Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 3:2-6)
Grace Churches believe that God used Paul to begin a new way of managing a new household of believers. Those believers would become part of a new spiritual Body called the Body of Christ. That new Body of believers would be known as "Christians." (Acts 11:26) Grace Churches believe that the Gospels, the early chapters of Acts and the letters of Peter, James, John and Jude were part of the Gospel of the Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom Dispensation. That's where Christ fulfilled all prophecy concerning Israel's Messiah. If Israel had received their Messiah King, Christ would have returned from Heaven and established the Kingdom God promised to Israel centuries earlier. However, Israel rejected Christ and killed His disciples, so God saved Paul and revealed His secret plan to save Gentiles and Jews "to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility." (Ephesians 2:15-16)
Grace Churches revere the entire Word of God as being written for all believers. As Paul wrote Timothy, "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." (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Grace Churches believe that while all Scripture was written "for" every believer, only Paul's letters are addressed "to" Christians. Paul's letters are God's revelation of the mystery of Christ to us. We learn from the entire Bible. We obey the specifics in Paul's letters to us.
These are general explanations about the Grace Church. You will find more detail in our Bible studies about the Gospel of the Grace of God at the GraceLife Internet site.
QUESTION: Could you please tell me more about the Grace churches that you have listed. What do they believe? Is it a denomination? Have you been to them?
ANSWER: Grace Churches are independent congregations. Some of them belong to fellowships that support missionaries, colleges, etc. (i.e. Grace Gospel Fellowship, Berean Bible Fellowship). I pastored a Grace Church for many years and appreciate the independence and the fellowship. Grace Churches are *not* a denomination. They are individual congregations that share important beliefs with other congregations and come together in different ways for fellowship and ministry. I know Grace Believers from many churches across the country and can speak to their gentle and loving hearts and attitudes.
We believe that God is managing His current Household of Faith (oikonomia - dispensation, administration) under Grace. We believe God managed His previous Household under the Law. Paul wrote the Romans that "sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14) We believe God raised up the Apostle Paul as the Apostle of Grace. God revealed the Gospel of Grace to Paul who explained it to Gentiles and Jews. (Eph. 3, Gal. 2)
We believe that Christians are free to do as God leads them. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1) However, this does not mean Christians should use their spiritual freedom to live a sinful lifestyle. "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." (Gal. 5:13) "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Rom. 6:15-18)
We are free to love God in any way He leads us to love Him! I think that's the most wonderful freedom God could give anyone. We are free to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and to use that growth to help others. It is the wonderful responsibility and duty of leaders in each Church to support every member of that Church so they can grow and build up the Body of Christ. Loving God and others and serving them with our whole hearts is what He wants us to do, unfettered by laws, rules, regulations and hassles. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:8-10) "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ ... From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Eph. 4:11-16)
GraceLife Internet Ministries exists for the purpose of introducing Christians to the Life of Grace God wants all His children to live in this Age of Grace and for helping Grace Believers grow in their personal ministry of serving God and others in love. Please read the Bible Studies in GraceLife and GraceThoughts and answers to questions in GraceAnswers. I think they will help you understand the Grace Church.