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(The Theosis or the Divinization of Man
Are We Gods?
by George Sidney Hurd
Few believers have even begun to fathom the riches of our inheritance in Christ. We are complete in Him who is seated above all principality and power (Col 2:10). Even as He is the head, so we are His body in a real organic sense (Eph 5:30; Col 2:19). We have become one spirit with the Lord, and He is our very life (1Cor 6:17; Col 3:4). We are called to manifest His life in our mortal bodies, to be one with Him as He is one with the Father and exercise all His authority as joint heirs with Him (2Cor 4:10-11; Jn 17:21). We need divine revelation in order to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of His love, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:16-19). He is able and willing to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what we are able to comprehend (Eph 3:20-21).
Some have gone a step further and affirm that we are not only born of God and therefore one with Him, being partakers of the divine nature, but that we ourselves are gods. Until recent years, the doctrine was almost unknown in Evangelical Charismatic circles, being held primarily by the Gnostics, the New Age Movement and a few different sects such as the Mormons and Witness Lee’s “The Local Church”. Now there is a major shift taking place where many prominent evangelists, pastors and teachers are promoting the belief that we are gods. What arguments do they present?
Arguments of Those who affirm that we are Gods
Their first argument is that Jesus, when accused of blasphemy for saying that He was one with the Father, responded by citing Psalms 82 where men are called gods:
“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, ‘You are gods’?” If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (John 10:34-36)
Clearly, when Jesus cited this passage to silence his opponents and further said “the Scripture cannot be broken,” He establishes that certain individuals are indeed called gods by God Himself. However, while it is true that God designates certain individuals with God given authority as “gods” (more will be said about this later), nowhere in Scripture does it say that all God’s children are “gods”.
The second argument is based upon our having been created in His image and likeness:
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen 1:26,27)
It is argued from this passage that we were created as gods - just like God. However, it is best to understand this to refer to our likeness to God in the sense of our creative intellect, our emotions and free will. Also, man was originally created predominately as spirit, enabling us to have communion with God who is Spirit. All of these qualities enabled us to exercise dominion over creation, reigning with Him in the sphere of authority which He delegated to us. Comparing our nature to the rest of creation, we can see that we are unique in this sense. Even in our fallen condition, no other creature is comparable to us in our emotional sensibilities and our creative capacity. No other creature has had dominion over the earth as man has. In spite of the fact that man in his fallen condition has used his power for selfish means and is in danger of destroying the earth’s delicate balance, no other creature is comparable to man in his ability to creatively control and manipulate his environment and make it subservient to him. No other creature is capable of making such a difference when motivated by love and compassion as man is. While no man seeks God in his fallen state, no other creature is inclined towards spiritual matters in the way man is.
However, it should be clear that man is not a sovereign with the prerogatives of Godhood. Our relationship to God by creation is designed to be a dependent one. From the very beginning God warned that death would be the result of acting independently in disobedience to Him. The lie of Satan was and still is, “you shall be as gods (or God)” if you act independently of your Creator. The very Psalm that Jesus quoted emphasizes the consequences of one who has been delegated authority as a “god,” disobeying Him. It reads: “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.’” (Ps 82:6-7) They had been called gods by God Himself. Nevertheless, God pronounces judgment upon them for their disobedience. Our relationship to God as the crowning jewel of His creation must be understood as a dependent one:
“for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” (Acts 17:28)
In Isaiah 43:10 we can see clearly that, though we were created in God’s image and likeness, we were not created as “gods”:
“‘You are My witnesses,’ says the Lord, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.’” (Isa 43:10)
How are we to be His witnesses declaring that Jehovah is the only God while at the same time claiming that we were created as gods? Any explanation of the passages where God calls certain individuals gods must take into account the fact that God did not create us as gods.
The third argument presented is based upon our new birth into the family of God. We have been born of God and are called the children of God. Therefore, we are gods. To illustrate this, they say: “Horses give birth to horses; dogs give birth to dogs; cats give birth to cats. Therefore, God gives birth to gods.”
While it is true that we have now been made partakers of the divine nature and possessors of eternal life, we do not possess this life independently. “Christ is our life” (Col 3:4). “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1John 5:11,12). To be a partaker of the divine nature means that we have received God’s nature; it does not constitute us gods but rather recipients of His nature. As members of the body of Christ, we are collectively called ho Christos “the Christ” (1Cor 12:12). But separate from Him who is the head, we are nothing. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us, but Jesus clearly said, “Without me you can do nothing” (Php 4:13; Jn 15:5).
Another argument that is presented to demonstrate that we are gods is to quote orthodox theologians of past centuries. Irenaeus (130 to 202 A.D.) said that God had “become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.” Athanasius (293 to 373 A.D.), wrote concerning the Incarnation of Christ that He “was made a human being, that we might be deified (theopoiēthōmen).” Martin Luther wrote: “For the Word becomes flesh precisely so that the flesh may become Word. In other words: God becomes man so that man may become God.”
These references to the theosis or the divinization of man will be examined later in their contexts. However, for the moment I would just like to emphasize that they were referring to an impartation of the divine nature in union with God, and not that we ourselves are gods as is often claimed today. Whether or not certain theologians taught or teach that we are gods, however, is not determinative in itself. We must draw our conclusions solely from the Scriptures.
In conclusion, we have seen that some have argued that we are gods based on the fact that we were created in the image and likeness of God. Others say that we are gods based upon the new birth, while others affirm our divinity is based upon both creation and the new birth. However, looking at Scriptures, there is only one who can rightfully lay claim to be God.
There is Only One God who is Worthy of Adoration
Although there is record of many gods being worshiped in the Bible, only one is worthy of being worshipped. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he offered Him all the kingdoms of this world if He would bow down and worship him. Jesus responded: "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Matt 4:10). In like manner, Peter, instead of accepting worship as a god, rebuked Cornelius:
“As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.’” (Acts 10:25-26)
It is worthy of note that he neither accepted worship as a man, nor as a “little ‘g’ god.” Neither is there any indication that other apostles considered themselves to be gods. Paul said:
“Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (1Cor 8:4-6)
On one occasion, Paul and Barnabas were taken to be gods by the inhabitants of Lystra when Paul healed a man who had been crippled from birth. The multitudes were about to worship them as gods and make sacrifices in honor of them. Paul and Barnabas’ reaction makes it clear beyond any doubt that they did not consider themselves to be gods:
“But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.’” (Acts 14:14-15)
It is very apparent that Paul and Barnabas, even though they were born-again believers, did not consider themselves to be divine. Is it possible that they simply had not as yet received this revelation as to who they really were? Just a short time prior to the incident in Lystra, God revealed what he thought of a man accepting the glory as if he were a god:
“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.” (Acts 12:21-23)
Could God, who struck a man dead for not correcting the people when they called him a god, approve of those who say that they are gods today? Even angels who are called gods (elohim) in Psalm 8:5, did not permit man to address them as being more than servants of God. John, overwhelmed by the glory of God which was upon the angel, fell down to worship him and the angel replied:
“See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’” (Rev 22:9,10)
If neither the disciples nor the angels accepted worship; if Herod was struck dead for not giving God the glory when the people called him a god; if Paul says that for us there is only one God, then how can we be justified in declaring ourselves to be gods? Having said that, let us now turn our attention to the passages where God Himself calls certain individuals gods.
God Calls Certain Men Gods
While it is clear that men are not to call themselves gods or receive adoration as gods, some men are actually called gods by God Himself. At first glance, it seems to be a contradiction, and has resulted in some opting for one extreme or the other without attempting to harmonize these apparently conflicting statements of Scripture.
Nowhere do we find in the Bible that we are called gods for having been created in His image and likeness. Nor are we called gods by virtue of the new birth although we do at that time become partakers of the divine nature. Jesus Himself, in quoting Psalm 82 showed that the title was restricted to certain individuals:
“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, You are gods’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)...” (John 10:34-35)
First, we can see that they are not intrinsically gods, but were called or anointed as gods at a certain point in time, referred to as “when the word of the Lord came” to them. In other words, they were not created gods nor born gods. They were designated as gods by God at a certain point in their adult life when the Spirit of God came upon them. This is well illustrated in the life of Moses. When he was eighty years old, the word of the Lord came to him: “So the Lord said to Moses: ‘See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.’” (Ex 7:1) “So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.” (Ex 4:16) In Exodus 7:1 it literally states, “I have made you a god to Pharaoh.”
When did the word of the Lord come to Moses? As a child? At forty years of age when he felt ready? No. The word of the Lord came to him only after forty years of preparation in the wilderness had done its work and converted him into the meekest man in all the earth. If the Lord had anointed him as a god to Pharaoh when Moses felt he was ready at forty years of age when he killed the slave master, it no doubt would have been his downfall. It wasn’t until Moses no longer felt worthy that God determined that he was ready. It was only then that the word of the Lord came to him at the burning bush and God placed His power and authority upon him, designating him a god or a representative of God to Pharaoh.
It is important to note that Moses never referred to himself as a god or accepted glory for himself. Even when his face shone with the glory of God, he put a veil over his face to cover it. When it was God’s timing for him to be anointed with power and authority to save His chosen people, Moses had become so meek and humble that his only desire was to do the will of God and glorify Him.
The only other mention of men as gods are the judges that God vested with authority and power in order to govern His people (Ex 21:6; 22:8,9). The word here translated “judges” is the Hebrew word elohim meaning “mighty ones.” Their only power and authority was delegated to them by God in order to govern His people.
Another example of a man of God who remained in the wilderness until the word of God came to him, is John the Baptist. It says of him: “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” (Luke 1:80) In the solitude of the desert, John grew strong in spirit in preparation for the day of his manifestation. Many now who have been growing strong in spirit in the desert are about to enter into the day of their manifestation to all of creation. Those who have submitted themselves under the mighty hand of God will be exalted in due season. Those who wait upon Him in the desert will not be put to shame. When the day of John’s manifestation came - the time appointed by the Father, the word of the Lord came to him:
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” (Luke 3:1-3)
John had a mighty calling upon his life from his mother’s womb, but in order for that calling to be fulfilled, he had to await the Father’s timing in the desert. Those who have a high calling on their lives must also be prepared in the desert until they are strong enough in spirit – sufficiently mature to be able to carry the anointing God has for them without being lifted up with pride. God gave them a promise, a vision for what He was going to do through them, and then led them into the desert to prepare them until a precise point in time, known only to the Father. The desert may seem unending, but as we wait upon the Lord and learn of Him there, in His perfect timing He will bring us into our inheritance. Though the desert must have seemed unending to John, we can see that the timing of his manifestation was very precise and specific: “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests…”
The honor of being called by Him “a god,” or a representative of Him to the nations, walking in His power and authority, is reserved for those who like Moses have learned meekness – those who have matured in the desert so as to be able to walk in that level of anointing which God delegates only to the mature sons of God. Only those who have learned of Him and grown downward in meekness and humility of spirit will be able to walk in that level of anointing without taking glory to themselves. We must purpose in our hearts to remain in the desert until the word of the Lord comes to us. When His kairos time comes for us, may He find us there, patiently awaiting His perfect timing, no matter how long He seems to delay His coming.
Partakers of the Divine Nature
Participation in the divine nature is primarily what the Church Fathers were referring to when they spoke of God becoming man in the incarnation in order that man may become God. While I feel that it was an unfortunate way of expressing it since it is foreign to the language of Scripture and gives place to erroneous conclusions, what they seemed to be referring to was that we become one spirit with the Lord in the new birth and thus become partakers of the divine nature (1Cor 6:17; 2Peter 1:4). In this sense we undergo a theosis, becoming one with divinity as partakers of His nature when we are regenerated in our spirit and Christ becomes our life (Col 3:4; Gal 2:20). As regenerated sons of God, His divine seed remains in us as John says: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1John 3:9)
Contrary to common Christian theories of origin, God did not create us ex nihilo “out of nothing,” but rather ex Deo “out of God.” As Paul says:
“Now all things are of God (ek theos), who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2Cor 5:18) [i]
Creation is much more personal than God simply making us out of thin air. All creation is ex Deo (ek theos) out of God as to source rather than out of nothing. Additionally, in a literal reading of Colossians 1:16 we see that we were not only created out of God, but we were originally created in Christ:
“because in (en) him were the all things created, those in the heavens, and those upon the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things through (dia) him, and for (eis) him, have been created.” (Col 1:16 Young’s Literal Translation)
I cover this with more detail in my book: “The Triumph of Mercy (The Reconciliation of All through Jesus Christ)” and also in my article, Created out of Nothing or out of God? Here I would just like to emphasize that we had our beginning in Christ and came out of God as to source, rather than out of nothing. In the final restoration of all, in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, absolutely all will be reunited in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, as Paul says:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together (anakephalaiomai) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10)
The phrase: “gather together in one” is a composite word made up of ana which normally means “again” and kephalaioo, which means “to head up or sum up,” and is best translated as “to reunite or unite again under one head,” since only this rendering retains the meaning of the prefix ana. [ii] In the coming ages, in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, all will have been reunited in Christ in whom and out of whom they were originally created.
Christ’s prayer in the upper room at the Last Supper will finally have been fully realized. His prayer was that, not only His disciples, but all would be reunited in Him just as He Himself is one with the Father:
“that they all may be one (hen), as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one (hen) in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one (hen) just as We are one (hen): 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one (hen).” (John 17:21-23)
It is worth noting that the word hen, or “one” which is repeatedly used here means “one” in the numeric sense rather than simply meaning “united.” It is the same word Jesus used earlier to refer to Himself and the Father as being one (Jn 10:30). When all have been reunited in Christ, all who came out of God as to source – ex Deo or ek theos, which includes absolutely all, will be in God (eis theos), as Paul says:
“For of (ek, “out of as to source”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis, “in,” “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)
While a distinction is maintained in Scripture between us, as God’s creation, and God Himself, we as believers are already joined to Christ, having become one spirit with Him, and ultimately all will have become one with God in a manner presently incomprehensible to us. When the last knee has bowed in subjection to Christ, then Christ Himself will subject Himself to the Father, at which time God will be all in all as Paul says:
“Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:28)
The reality that all will be “reunited in Christ” resulting in God being “all in all” is what the Early Church Fathers were referring to when they spoke of the theosis or the divinization of all. [iii] It is not a New Age pantheism, nor is it saying that we are all gods, but rather that we have been reconciled unto God, becoming partakers of His divine nature as His sons, being one spirit with Him (Col 1:16,20; 2Pet 1:4; 1Cor 6:17). It means that we have the mind of Christ, and if we walk in union with Him, being spiritual rather than carnal, we can know and discern all things because of the anointing (chrisma) which is in us (1Cor 2:15-16;1Jn 2:27).
[i] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs.
[ii] Other examples of composite words with ana prefixed where ana clearly means “again or re…” are as follows: anagennao, “to be born again”; anaginosko, lit. “to know again,” or “to read”; anagnosis, “(the act of) reading”; anazao, “to live again”; anazopureo, to re-enkindle; anathallo, “to revive”; anakainoo, “to renew”; anamnesis, “to remember”; ananeoo, “to reform”; anastauroo, to recrucify, crucify again”; anapsuxis, “a recovery of breath, (figuratively) revival” anapsucho, “to relieve.”
[iii] A few more examples of Church Fathers who spoke of the theosis are: Origin, based upon 1 John 3:2 “We shall be like God, and see God as God is.” Gregory of Nyssa: “The human being surpasses its nature by becoming, from mortal, immortal, from corruptible, incorruptible, from ephemeral, absolutely eternal [aïdios]; in a word, from human being becoming God. For one who has received the honor of becoming Son of God will surely possess the dignity of the Father and inherits all the goods of the Father.” Thomas Aquinas, emphasizing that divinity is imparted purely by grace says: “Now the gift of grace surpasses every capability of created nature, since it is nothing short of a partaking of the Divine Nature, which exceeds every other nature. And thus it is impossible that any creature should cause grace. For it is as necessary that God alone should deify, bestowing a partaking of the Divine Nature by a participated likeness, as it is impossible that anything save fire should enkindle.”
by George Sidney Hurd
Few believers have even begun to fathom the riches of our inheritance in Christ. We are complete in Him who is seated above all principality and power (Col 2:10). Even as He is the head, so we are His body in a real organic sense (Eph 5:30; Col 2:19). We have become one spirit with the Lord, and He is our very life (1Cor 6:17; Col 3:4). We are called to manifest His life in our mortal bodies, to be one with Him as He is one with the Father and exercise all His authority as joint heirs with Him (2Cor 4:10-11; Jn 17:21). We need divine revelation in order to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of His love, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:16-19). He is able and willing to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what we are able to comprehend (Eph 3:20-21).
Some have gone a step further and affirm that we are not only born of God and therefore one with Him, being partakers of the divine nature, but that we ourselves are gods. Until recent years, the doctrine was almost unknown in Evangelical Charismatic circles, being held primarily by the Gnostics, the New Age Movement and a few different sects such as the Mormons and Witness Lee’s “The Local Church”. Now there is a major shift taking place where many prominent evangelists, pastors and teachers are promoting the belief that we are gods. What arguments do they present?
Arguments of Those who affirm that we are Gods
Their first argument is that Jesus, when accused of blasphemy for saying that He was one with the Father, responded by citing Psalms 82 where men are called gods:
“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, ‘You are gods’?” If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (John 10:34-36)
Clearly, when Jesus cited this passage to silence his opponents and further said “the Scripture cannot be broken,” He establishes that certain individuals are indeed called gods by God Himself. However, while it is true that God designates certain individuals with God given authority as “gods” (more will be said about this later), nowhere in Scripture does it say that all God’s children are “gods”.
The second argument is based upon our having been created in His image and likeness:
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen 1:26,27)
It is argued from this passage that we were created as gods - just like God. However, it is best to understand this to refer to our likeness to God in the sense of our creative intellect, our emotions and free will. Also, man was originally created predominately as spirit, enabling us to have communion with God who is Spirit. All of these qualities enabled us to exercise dominion over creation, reigning with Him in the sphere of authority which He delegated to us. Comparing our nature to the rest of creation, we can see that we are unique in this sense. Even in our fallen condition, no other creature is comparable to us in our emotional sensibilities and our creative capacity. No other creature has had dominion over the earth as man has. In spite of the fact that man in his fallen condition has used his power for selfish means and is in danger of destroying the earth’s delicate balance, no other creature is comparable to man in his ability to creatively control and manipulate his environment and make it subservient to him. No other creature is capable of making such a difference when motivated by love and compassion as man is. While no man seeks God in his fallen state, no other creature is inclined towards spiritual matters in the way man is.
However, it should be clear that man is not a sovereign with the prerogatives of Godhood. Our relationship to God by creation is designed to be a dependent one. From the very beginning God warned that death would be the result of acting independently in disobedience to Him. The lie of Satan was and still is, “you shall be as gods (or God)” if you act independently of your Creator. The very Psalm that Jesus quoted emphasizes the consequences of one who has been delegated authority as a “god,” disobeying Him. It reads: “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.’” (Ps 82:6-7) They had been called gods by God Himself. Nevertheless, God pronounces judgment upon them for their disobedience. Our relationship to God as the crowning jewel of His creation must be understood as a dependent one:
“for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” (Acts 17:28)
In Isaiah 43:10 we can see clearly that, though we were created in God’s image and likeness, we were not created as “gods”:
“‘You are My witnesses,’ says the Lord, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.’” (Isa 43:10)
How are we to be His witnesses declaring that Jehovah is the only God while at the same time claiming that we were created as gods? Any explanation of the passages where God calls certain individuals gods must take into account the fact that God did not create us as gods.
The third argument presented is based upon our new birth into the family of God. We have been born of God and are called the children of God. Therefore, we are gods. To illustrate this, they say: “Horses give birth to horses; dogs give birth to dogs; cats give birth to cats. Therefore, God gives birth to gods.”
While it is true that we have now been made partakers of the divine nature and possessors of eternal life, we do not possess this life independently. “Christ is our life” (Col 3:4). “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1John 5:11,12). To be a partaker of the divine nature means that we have received God’s nature; it does not constitute us gods but rather recipients of His nature. As members of the body of Christ, we are collectively called ho Christos “the Christ” (1Cor 12:12). But separate from Him who is the head, we are nothing. We can do all things through Him who strengthens us, but Jesus clearly said, “Without me you can do nothing” (Php 4:13; Jn 15:5).
Another argument that is presented to demonstrate that we are gods is to quote orthodox theologians of past centuries. Irenaeus (130 to 202 A.D.) said that God had “become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.” Athanasius (293 to 373 A.D.), wrote concerning the Incarnation of Christ that He “was made a human being, that we might be deified (theopoiēthōmen).” Martin Luther wrote: “For the Word becomes flesh precisely so that the flesh may become Word. In other words: God becomes man so that man may become God.”
These references to the theosis or the divinization of man will be examined later in their contexts. However, for the moment I would just like to emphasize that they were referring to an impartation of the divine nature in union with God, and not that we ourselves are gods as is often claimed today. Whether or not certain theologians taught or teach that we are gods, however, is not determinative in itself. We must draw our conclusions solely from the Scriptures.
In conclusion, we have seen that some have argued that we are gods based on the fact that we were created in the image and likeness of God. Others say that we are gods based upon the new birth, while others affirm our divinity is based upon both creation and the new birth. However, looking at Scriptures, there is only one who can rightfully lay claim to be God.
There is Only One God who is Worthy of Adoration
Although there is record of many gods being worshiped in the Bible, only one is worthy of being worshipped. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he offered Him all the kingdoms of this world if He would bow down and worship him. Jesus responded: "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Matt 4:10). In like manner, Peter, instead of accepting worship as a god, rebuked Cornelius:
“As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, ‘Stand up; I myself am also a man.’” (Acts 10:25-26)
It is worthy of note that he neither accepted worship as a man, nor as a “little ‘g’ god.” Neither is there any indication that other apostles considered themselves to be gods. Paul said:
“Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” (1Cor 8:4-6)
On one occasion, Paul and Barnabas were taken to be gods by the inhabitants of Lystra when Paul healed a man who had been crippled from birth. The multitudes were about to worship them as gods and make sacrifices in honor of them. Paul and Barnabas’ reaction makes it clear beyond any doubt that they did not consider themselves to be gods:
“But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.’” (Acts 14:14-15)
It is very apparent that Paul and Barnabas, even though they were born-again believers, did not consider themselves to be divine. Is it possible that they simply had not as yet received this revelation as to who they really were? Just a short time prior to the incident in Lystra, God revealed what he thought of a man accepting the glory as if he were a god:
“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.” (Acts 12:21-23)
Could God, who struck a man dead for not correcting the people when they called him a god, approve of those who say that they are gods today? Even angels who are called gods (elohim) in Psalm 8:5, did not permit man to address them as being more than servants of God. John, overwhelmed by the glory of God which was upon the angel, fell down to worship him and the angel replied:
“See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’” (Rev 22:9,10)
If neither the disciples nor the angels accepted worship; if Herod was struck dead for not giving God the glory when the people called him a god; if Paul says that for us there is only one God, then how can we be justified in declaring ourselves to be gods? Having said that, let us now turn our attention to the passages where God Himself calls certain individuals gods.
God Calls Certain Men Gods
While it is clear that men are not to call themselves gods or receive adoration as gods, some men are actually called gods by God Himself. At first glance, it seems to be a contradiction, and has resulted in some opting for one extreme or the other without attempting to harmonize these apparently conflicting statements of Scripture.
Nowhere do we find in the Bible that we are called gods for having been created in His image and likeness. Nor are we called gods by virtue of the new birth although we do at that time become partakers of the divine nature. Jesus Himself, in quoting Psalm 82 showed that the title was restricted to certain individuals:
“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, You are gods’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken)...” (John 10:34-35)
First, we can see that they are not intrinsically gods, but were called or anointed as gods at a certain point in time, referred to as “when the word of the Lord came” to them. In other words, they were not created gods nor born gods. They were designated as gods by God at a certain point in their adult life when the Spirit of God came upon them. This is well illustrated in the life of Moses. When he was eighty years old, the word of the Lord came to him: “So the Lord said to Moses: ‘See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.’” (Ex 7:1) “So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.” (Ex 4:16) In Exodus 7:1 it literally states, “I have made you a god to Pharaoh.”
When did the word of the Lord come to Moses? As a child? At forty years of age when he felt ready? No. The word of the Lord came to him only after forty years of preparation in the wilderness had done its work and converted him into the meekest man in all the earth. If the Lord had anointed him as a god to Pharaoh when Moses felt he was ready at forty years of age when he killed the slave master, it no doubt would have been his downfall. It wasn’t until Moses no longer felt worthy that God determined that he was ready. It was only then that the word of the Lord came to him at the burning bush and God placed His power and authority upon him, designating him a god or a representative of God to Pharaoh.
It is important to note that Moses never referred to himself as a god or accepted glory for himself. Even when his face shone with the glory of God, he put a veil over his face to cover it. When it was God’s timing for him to be anointed with power and authority to save His chosen people, Moses had become so meek and humble that his only desire was to do the will of God and glorify Him.
The only other mention of men as gods are the judges that God vested with authority and power in order to govern His people (Ex 21:6; 22:8,9). The word here translated “judges” is the Hebrew word elohim meaning “mighty ones.” Their only power and authority was delegated to them by God in order to govern His people.
Another example of a man of God who remained in the wilderness until the word of God came to him, is John the Baptist. It says of him: “So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” (Luke 1:80) In the solitude of the desert, John grew strong in spirit in preparation for the day of his manifestation. Many now who have been growing strong in spirit in the desert are about to enter into the day of their manifestation to all of creation. Those who have submitted themselves under the mighty hand of God will be exalted in due season. Those who wait upon Him in the desert will not be put to shame. When the day of John’s manifestation came - the time appointed by the Father, the word of the Lord came to him:
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” (Luke 3:1-3)
John had a mighty calling upon his life from his mother’s womb, but in order for that calling to be fulfilled, he had to await the Father’s timing in the desert. Those who have a high calling on their lives must also be prepared in the desert until they are strong enough in spirit – sufficiently mature to be able to carry the anointing God has for them without being lifted up with pride. God gave them a promise, a vision for what He was going to do through them, and then led them into the desert to prepare them until a precise point in time, known only to the Father. The desert may seem unending, but as we wait upon the Lord and learn of Him there, in His perfect timing He will bring us into our inheritance. Though the desert must have seemed unending to John, we can see that the timing of his manifestation was very precise and specific: “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests…”
The honor of being called by Him “a god,” or a representative of Him to the nations, walking in His power and authority, is reserved for those who like Moses have learned meekness – those who have matured in the desert so as to be able to walk in that level of anointing which God delegates only to the mature sons of God. Only those who have learned of Him and grown downward in meekness and humility of spirit will be able to walk in that level of anointing without taking glory to themselves. We must purpose in our hearts to remain in the desert until the word of the Lord comes to us. When His kairos time comes for us, may He find us there, patiently awaiting His perfect timing, no matter how long He seems to delay His coming.
Partakers of the Divine Nature
Participation in the divine nature is primarily what the Church Fathers were referring to when they spoke of God becoming man in the incarnation in order that man may become God. While I feel that it was an unfortunate way of expressing it since it is foreign to the language of Scripture and gives place to erroneous conclusions, what they seemed to be referring to was that we become one spirit with the Lord in the new birth and thus become partakers of the divine nature (1Cor 6:17; 2Peter 1:4). In this sense we undergo a theosis, becoming one with divinity as partakers of His nature when we are regenerated in our spirit and Christ becomes our life (Col 3:4; Gal 2:20). As regenerated sons of God, His divine seed remains in us as John says: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1John 3:9)
Contrary to common Christian theories of origin, God did not create us ex nihilo “out of nothing,” but rather ex Deo “out of God.” As Paul says:
“Now all things are of God (ek theos), who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2Cor 5:18) [i]
Creation is much more personal than God simply making us out of thin air. All creation is ex Deo (ek theos) out of God as to source rather than out of nothing. Additionally, in a literal reading of Colossians 1:16 we see that we were not only created out of God, but we were originally created in Christ:
“because in (en) him were the all things created, those in the heavens, and those upon the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things through (dia) him, and for (eis) him, have been created.” (Col 1:16 Young’s Literal Translation)
I cover this with more detail in my book: “The Triumph of Mercy (The Reconciliation of All through Jesus Christ)” and also in my article, Created out of Nothing or out of God? Here I would just like to emphasize that we had our beginning in Christ and came out of God as to source, rather than out of nothing. In the final restoration of all, in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, absolutely all will be reunited in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, as Paul says:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together (anakephalaiomai) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10)
The phrase: “gather together in one” is a composite word made up of ana which normally means “again” and kephalaioo, which means “to head up or sum up,” and is best translated as “to reunite or unite again under one head,” since only this rendering retains the meaning of the prefix ana. [ii] In the coming ages, in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, all will have been reunited in Christ in whom and out of whom they were originally created.
Christ’s prayer in the upper room at the Last Supper will finally have been fully realized. His prayer was that, not only His disciples, but all would be reunited in Him just as He Himself is one with the Father:
“that they all may be one (hen), as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one (hen) in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one (hen) just as We are one (hen): 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one (hen).” (John 17:21-23)
It is worth noting that the word hen, or “one” which is repeatedly used here means “one” in the numeric sense rather than simply meaning “united.” It is the same word Jesus used earlier to refer to Himself and the Father as being one (Jn 10:30). When all have been reunited in Christ, all who came out of God as to source – ex Deo or ek theos, which includes absolutely all, will be in God (eis theos), as Paul says:
“For of (ek, “out of as to source”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis, “in,” “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)
While a distinction is maintained in Scripture between us, as God’s creation, and God Himself, we as believers are already joined to Christ, having become one spirit with Him, and ultimately all will have become one with God in a manner presently incomprehensible to us. When the last knee has bowed in subjection to Christ, then Christ Himself will subject Himself to the Father, at which time God will be all in all as Paul says:
“Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:28)
The reality that all will be “reunited in Christ” resulting in God being “all in all” is what the Early Church Fathers were referring to when they spoke of the theosis or the divinization of all. [iii] It is not a New Age pantheism, nor is it saying that we are all gods, but rather that we have been reconciled unto God, becoming partakers of His divine nature as His sons, being one spirit with Him (Col 1:16,20; 2Pet 1:4; 1Cor 6:17). It means that we have the mind of Christ, and if we walk in union with Him, being spiritual rather than carnal, we can know and discern all things because of the anointing (chrisma) which is in us (1Cor 2:15-16;1Jn 2:27).
[i] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs.
[ii] Other examples of composite words with ana prefixed where ana clearly means “again or re…” are as follows: anagennao, “to be born again”; anaginosko, lit. “to know again,” or “to read”; anagnosis, “(the act of) reading”; anazao, “to live again”; anazopureo, to re-enkindle; anathallo, “to revive”; anakainoo, “to renew”; anamnesis, “to remember”; ananeoo, “to reform”; anastauroo, to recrucify, crucify again”; anapsuxis, “a recovery of breath, (figuratively) revival” anapsucho, “to relieve.”
[iii] A few more examples of Church Fathers who spoke of the theosis are: Origin, based upon 1 John 3:2 “We shall be like God, and see God as God is.” Gregory of Nyssa: “The human being surpasses its nature by becoming, from mortal, immortal, from corruptible, incorruptible, from ephemeral, absolutely eternal [aïdios]; in a word, from human being becoming God. For one who has received the honor of becoming Son of God will surely possess the dignity of the Father and inherits all the goods of the Father.” Thomas Aquinas, emphasizing that divinity is imparted purely by grace says: “Now the gift of grace surpasses every capability of created nature, since it is nothing short of a partaking of the Divine Nature, which exceeds every other nature. And thus it is impossible that any creature should cause grace. For it is as necessary that God alone should deify, bestowing a partaking of the Divine Nature by a participated likeness, as it is impossible that anything save fire should enkindle.”
- Published on
by George Sidney Hurd
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“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by (the) faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.”
(Rom 3:21-22 KJV)
The correct translation of an important phrase, repeated eight times[1] in the Greek New Testament, has long been the subject of debate. It is the phrase, πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ , which is rendered “the faith of Jesus” in the King James Version. Many later translations have rendered it as “faith in Jesus,” while a couple of more recent translations render it “the faithfulness of Jesus.” [2]
Grammatically speaking, it could be rendered in any one of these three ways. The ending of the nouns here are in the genitive case, but in Greek the same ending is used for both the subjective genitive (or genitive of possession) and the objective genitive. If we render it as an objective genitive it would read, “faith in Jesus,” referring to our faith in Jesus. On the other hand, if we render it as a subjective genitive or genitive of possession, as many older translations do, it would refer to Jesus’ faith or “the faith of Jesus.” There is a third possible rendering of the phrase. It could also be rendered as “the faithfulness of Jesus” since there are occasions in which the word πίστις, which normally means “faith,” instead carries the idea of “faithfulness.”
However, although the grammatical construction is not determinative, that doesn’t give us the liberty to simply choose which reading we prefer. The Arminians who believe that our salvation is received by our own independent faith prefer the reading “faith in Jesus.” The Calvinists prefer the reading “the faith of Jesus,” whereas the Inclusionists, who deny that faith is even necessary for salvation, prefer the reading “the faithfulness of Jesus.”
Obviously, only one reading is the correct one, and due to the fact that each reading presents salvation as being appropriated in a distinct manner, it is imperative that we determine exactly what was being expressed by the author of the inspired text. Some argue that the correct reading cannot be determined with certainty. However, while it is true that it cannot be determined grammatically, I believe that it can and must be determined based upon the context in which the expression is used and the overall teaching of Scripture concerning the subject of salvation.
In this blog I will briefly examine the three different renderings, arguing from the Scriptures in favor of the rendering, “the faith of Jesus” as found in the older translations such as the Tyndale Bible of 1526 and the King James Version of 1611. While I present my arguments dogmatically as one who is convinced that the truths of Scripture can be known with certainty, I do so with a spirit of Christian charity, knowing that men more devout and learned than I would disagree with me.
1. “The Faithfulness of Jesus”
The rendering of πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ as “the faithfulness of Jesus” has gained popularity since the NET Bible was published in 2005 containing this reading. Also N.T. Wright, who greatly influences contemporary thought, favors this reading. Additionally, in 2007 Carlton Pearson authored his book, “The Gospel of Inclusion” which has had a great influence upon the more Liberal and Progressive Universalists and non-Universalist Inclusionists.
The Inclusionists argue that all of mankind has already been saved by the finished work of Christ upon the cross. All are already in Christ and justified – they just don’t know it yet. According to this view, all were saved 2,000 years ago by the faithfulness of Jesus and therefore do not need to repent and believe the gospel in order to be saved.
I confront the errors of this doctrine in my blog, “The Blurring of Biblical Distinctions” so I will not give much attention to it here. Suffice it to say here that, although Christ reconciled all mankind unto Himself by the blood of His cross, and all will finally be saved and restored based upon His finished work, throughout the New Testament we see the need to personally repent of our sins and appropriate the righteousness of God in Christ through faith in the gospel in order to be saved (Mark 16:16; Jn 3:16,18; 6:40; 6:29; Acts 16:31; Rom 4:5; 1Cor 1:21, etc.).
The argument for rendering πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ as “the faithfulness of Jesus” has a grammatical strong point and also a grammatical weakness. The strong point is that when πίστις is used in the New Testament with a personal genitive it is almost always a subjective genitive - “the faith of,” rather than objective, “faith in.” (cf. Matt 9:2,22,29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25,48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8,12; 3:3; 4:5,12,16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14,17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1Thess 1:8; 3:2,5,10; 2Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Philemon 6; 1Peter 1:9,21; 2Peter 1:5). This however, also favors the reading “the faith of Jesus” which I believe is the correct rendering.
The weakness is that, while πίστις can mean “faithfulness” rather than “faith,” it rarely carries that meaning. The King James Version never renders πίστις as “faithfulness.” The one instance where it clearly should read “faithfulness” is Romans 3:3 which refers to the “faithfulness of God” (τὴν πίστιν τοῦ Θεοῦ). Two other possible instances where “faithfulness” rather than “faith” may be the better rendering are Matthew 23:23 and Galatians 5:22. The remainder of the 243 occurrences of πίστις obviously mean “faith” and not “faithfulness” and are rendered as such in all translations.
Also, it is noteworthy that the translators of the LXX, or the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, rarely ever used πίστις to convey the idea of “faithfulness.” Instead they used the word altheía which means “truth,” or subjectively, “truthfulness, integrity of character.” [3] The idea expressed by our English word “faithfulness” is not so much related to “faith” (πίστις) as it is to “trustworthiness or integrity of character” (altheía).
It is true that Jesus was faithful unto death and that His faithfulness is the basis for the salvation of all mankind (Php 2:8-11; Isa 53:7,10-11; Heb 12:2; 1Tim 2:6; 4:10). However, there are at least two instances where the genitive of πίστις cannot refer to the faithfulness of Jesus but rather to the faith of Jesus:
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev 14:12)
“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” (James 2:1)
Not even the NET translation attempts to force the meaning of “faithfulness” upon πίστις in these instances. Therefore, if we are going to be consistent, we should understand πίστις as “faith” in these contexts rather than “faithfulness.” It wouldn’t be of any real consequence except that some Inclusionists, ignoring all the passages indicating that faith is necessary for salvation, latch on to this rendering and argue from it that it is His faithfulness that saved us 2,000 years ago and therefore it is not necessary to believe the gospel in order to be saved.
2. “Faith in Jesus”
As we have already seen, grammatically speaking, πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ can either be understood subjectively as “the faith of Jesus” or objectively as “faith in Jesus.” The rendering “faith in Jesus” is the favored rendering of the Arminians since they believe that the sinner has the potential to understand the gospel and independently respond in faith without the need of divine assistance.
I address this issue in more detail in my book: “The Universal Solution” (Presenting Biblical Universalism as the Solution to the Debate between Calvinists and Arminians). I would just like to point out that, until God made us alive through the new birth, we were all spiritually stillborn – dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1,5). Since we were spiritually dead, Jesus said that unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3). How can one believe that which he cannot even see or perceive? It is not that we were unwilling to see, but rather, being spiritually dead towards God, we could not see and believe until we were born again. All appeals to believe the gospel are vain until we are regenerated and our eyes are opened to see and believe.
The carnal believer may become dull of hearing, but the unregenerate cannot hear because they do not have spiritual ears to hear. That is why Jesus said of the unregenerate: “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” (Jn 8:43) Not only were we unable to see prior to being regenerated but we were also not able to listen – not merely unwilling. In a similar manner, we were not simply unwilling to come to Christ, but we were unable to come to Him, as Jesus says:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me… 65 And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.’” (Jn 6:44-45,65)
Jesus likewise said that those in the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth because they neither see Him nor do they know Him (Jn 14:16-17). It is impossible to respond in faith to that which one does not first perceive nor comprehend. First they must be drawn to Him and the veil removed from their eyes (2Cor 4:3-4, cf. Rom 8:7-8; 1Cor 2:14).
Taking all of this into account, I cannot agree with the Arminians when they say that we independently believe as a personal free-will decision, and then God follows up on our faith by regenerating us. We exercise the faith that is granted to us when the Lord opens our heart for the first time, thereby enabling us to perceive and receive the gospel (Acts 16:14). Perceiving, which is necessary in order to believe and receive Christ, requires regeneration (Jn 3:3). Many have confused the order as set forth in John 1:12,13:
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn 1:12-13)
Since “receiving” and “believing” are mentioned in the sentence before regeneration, many think that faith chronologically precedes regeneration. However, upon closer examination, we see that regeneration takes place because of God’s will – not because of our faith and receiving. God brings about regeneration as an act of His sovereign will – not in response to a decision of our own will. This is further confirmed by James who says:
“Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18 WEBA)
If it were our own free-will act of faith that brought about regeneration, then it would be regeneration by the will of the flesh. We were born of God or regenerated because God first willed it. Those who were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world to be the firstfruits of His new creation, in the time preordained by God, will exercise their God-given faith, believing and receiving Christ.
We see the same sequence in 1John 5:1, where John says: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Although the New King James Version conceals it, this verse clearly indicates that regeneration precedes faith. “Is born” is not in present tense as the translators rendered it. It is in the perfect tense and the passive voice. The verb translated “believes” is in the present, active. Therefore, it should read “Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” In other words, if one is believing that Jesus is the Christ, it is because he has already been born again prior to believing.
However, while there may be a logical sense in which regeneration precedes our willing response of faith, I don’t see a discernible separation in time between them. To argue about which came first is comparable to asking what came first in creation - the chicken or the egg. The obvious answer is neither. The chicken was created together with the eggs in one creative act, just as the plants were created already bearing seeds. The same can be said concerning the new creation. We were re-created, with faith being as much a part of the miracle of the new creation as regeneration itself. Faith is just as integral and spontaneous in the new birth process as is the first breath of a new-born after coming out of the birth canal.
In Adam all die – we are born separated from God and dead in sin. However, the good news which was proclaimed in the Early Church but was suppressed upon entering the Dark Ages, and even to this day continues to be overlooked both by Calvinists and Arminians, is that, in God’s own time all who die in Adam will be made alive or regenerated through the gift of faith in Christ at the time ordained of the Father from before the foundation of the world.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order…. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him that God may be all in all.” (1Cor 15:22,23a, 28)
Likewise, although Jesus said that no one comes to Him unless the Father effectually draws Him, He also said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (Jn 12:32 KJV) [4] In the Father’s time each individual will have been divinely visited and effectually drawn unto Christ, becoming reunited in Him, resulting in God being all in all in eternity (1Peter 2:12; Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:28).
Both our initial faith which appropriates our salvation and the faith that perseveres are granted to us by grace. When Paul said, “what do you have that you did not receive?” no one can truthfully reply saying, “My faith” (1 Cor 4:7). Paul in Ephesians 2, after saying that we were spiritually dead prior to being made alive by God, goes on to explain that it was all entirely of grace – including the faith we were given in order to receive salvation:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:8-10)
Those who would boast that their faith is what saved them and produced a life of good works, do not comprehend that the faith that saves and transforms us is not our own. Saving faith is not of ourselves - it is a gift of God. Any subsequent good works are in reality not ours, but His, since we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. He deliberately chooses the foolish, the weak, the base and despised in order that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace – not so we can boast as to how great our faith is.
Arminians would argue that in Ephesians 2:8 it is salvation which is a gift of God – not faith. However, we see that, grammatically speaking, the pronoun “that” refers back both to salvation and faith. The participle translated “have been saved” is masculine gender and “faith” is a feminine noun, whereas “that” is in the neuter. That would indicate that the declaration “that not of yourselves” is referring back to both the masculine participle “have been saved” and also the feminine noun “faith.” If he was referring exclusively to salvation as the grace-gift of God, without also including “faith,” he would have used the masculine form of “that not of yourselves” to correspond with the masculine gender of the participle “have been saved,” instead of the neuter. Paul’s selection of the neuter to refer to the gift indicates that he considered both salvation and faith as being part of God’s grace-gift.
Not only is saving faith seen to be a gift of God but we also see that persevering faith is also a gift of God’s grace. A literal translation of Philippians 1:29 emphasizes that the grace-gift of faith is ongoing and not simply the faith by which we initially appropriated salvation. The Concordant Literal Version reads:
“for to you it is graciously granted, for Christ's sake, not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also.” (Phil 1:29 CLV)
The word translated “graciously granted” is the Greek word χαρίζομαι “to give as a grace-gift” and is in the aorist tense. The aorist indicates that the grace-gift of faith was given at a point of time in the past. However, it was given to us not just to initially believe on Him but to continue believing on Him, as we see expressed in the present active infinitive “believing.” Therefore, this verse implies that the faith we have received from God will not fail but will persevere to the end.
3. “The Faith of Jesus"
If saving and persevering faith is not ours but comes from above as a grace-gift from God, then whose faith is it? To me, the answer to this question clarifies that the correct rendering of πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ is “the faith of Jesus.” The faith imparted to us at the moment of regeneration is nothing less than the faith of Jesus. Jesus Christ is both the author and finisher of faith:
“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….” (Heb 12:2)
“looking to the author and perfecter of faith—Jesus….” (Heb 12:2 Youngs Literal Translation)
We see here that Jesus is the author of faith and also the finisher or perfecter of faith. Some translations add “our.” However, while it is true that Jesus’ faith becomes ours, the author is here emphasizing that genuine faith originates in Christ and finishes in Christ, rather than in us. For that reason, I feel that the addition of “our” by the translators detracts from the emphasis of the passage – that we should look unto Him and not into ourselves if we want faith that saves and perseveres to the finish line. The text actually says, “the faith,” not “our faith.” In the correct rendering of πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ we see revealed the fact that “the faith” is the faith of Jesus and not our own (Gal 3:22-25 KJV).
If indeed we have been crucified and raised to new life with Christ, then it is no longer we who live but it is He who lives in us. Our only righteousness is His righteousness in us. Our only wisdom is the mind of Christ within us, and our only faith is the faith of Jesus who now lives in us and imparts His faith to us, just as Galatians 2:12 states in the King James Version and other older translations:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20 KJV)
While the reading “faith in Jesus” would favor the Arminian view which sees salvation as depending upon our faith, it does not harmonize with the passages which clearly indicate that effectual faith is a gift from God and does not originate in us. Making salvation dependent upon our faith, rather than the grace-gift of His own vicarious faith, makes salvation ultimately dependent upon the will of the flesh or the will of man, rather than upon the grace of God.
God has chosen His elect Church, made up of the least likely candidates, in order to be displayed in the coming ages as His workmanship, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in a way that will unequivocally exclude any grounds for boasting on our part (1Cor 1:26-29; Rom 3:27; Eph 2:6,7). Any taint of human merit in His workmanship would detract from the praise of the glory of His grace when we are put on display to the world. I see many of the recent renderings of texts referring to the faith of Jesus as being our faith in Jesus to be more based upon modern humanistic influences than upon a sound exegesis of the particular texts, as I believe a brief examination of the texts will show:
“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by (ek – not dia) faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe (those that are believing). 23 But before (the) faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that (the) faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Gal 3:22-25 KJV)
“But the scripture locks up all together under sin, that the promise out of Jesus Christ's faith may be given to those who are believing.” (Gal 3:22 Concordant Literal Version)
While many modern translations have changed “the faith of Jesus” making it read instead “faith in Jesus,” we see that a literal rendering of this verse militates against their interpretive rendering of the text. The promise, which comes out of the faith of Jesus as to its source (ἐκ), is given to those who are believing. In other words, if you are a believer and an heir of the promise, it is because the faith of Jesus has been given to you. If you are living by faith, it is not really yours but that of Christ who is now your life, and the life we are now living in the flesh is by His faith – the flesh in and of itself profits nothing.
However, according to the New King James Version and many other modern versions, it reads: “But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” By mistranslating the Greek preposition ἐκ as “by,” instead of “out of,” and making it read “faith in Jesus” instead of “faith of Jesus,” they make salvation seem as though it ultimately depended upon man, rather than the grace of God and for His glory.
That the faith in view is Christ’s faith and not man’s, is even more evident in the context. In verses 23 and 25, it speaks of the time before Christ and after Christ as “before the faith came” and “after the faith came.” In what sense can we say that faith didn’t come until Christ? Hebrews 11 contains a long list of Old Testament saints who exercised faith before Christ. Obviously “the faith” referred to in the New Covenant is not our faith but the faith of Jesus Christ which comes to all and upon all who believe, as we see in the literal rendering of Romans 3:22:
“Even the righteousness of God which is by (διά) faith of Jesus Christ unto (εἰς) all and upon (ἐπί) all them that believe (that are believing): for there is no difference.” (Rom 3:22 KJV)
“even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, toward all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference.” (Rom 3:22 MKJV)
Believe me, if you are believing in a saving persevering way, it is through the faith of Jesus Christ imparted to you by His grace. It is His faith which is in you and upon you. You did not receive the righteousness of God because of your faith in Jesus which you had in and of yourself and exercised as an independent act of your own will, as some modern versions would have us believe, but on the contrary, it was granted to us to believe (Phil 1:29).
[1] (Rom 3:22; Gal 2:16; 2:20; 3:22; Eph 3:12; Php 3:9; Jas 2:1; Rev 14:12).
[2] Complete Jewish Bible, 1998, and The New English Translation (NET), 2005.
[3] Abbott-Smith Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament.
[4] The Word “draw” in both John 6:44 and here is the Greek word helkô, which expresses something much stronger that a simple attraction. Strong’s Dictionary defines it: “drag (literally or figuratively).” It appears eight times in the New Testament and in each case, it expresses the idea of being drawn by a force greater than the resistance of the one being drawn.
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“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by (the) faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.”
(Rom 3:21-22 KJV)
The correct translation of an important phrase, repeated eight times[1] in the Greek New Testament, has long been the subject of debate. It is the phrase, πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ , which is rendered “the faith of Jesus” in the King James Version. Many later translations have rendered it as “faith in Jesus,” while a couple of more recent translations render it “the faithfulness of Jesus.” [2]
Grammatically speaking, it could be rendered in any one of these three ways. The ending of the nouns here are in the genitive case, but in Greek the same ending is used for both the subjective genitive (or genitive of possession) and the objective genitive. If we render it as an objective genitive it would read, “faith in Jesus,” referring to our faith in Jesus. On the other hand, if we render it as a subjective genitive or genitive of possession, as many older translations do, it would refer to Jesus’ faith or “the faith of Jesus.” There is a third possible rendering of the phrase. It could also be rendered as “the faithfulness of Jesus” since there are occasions in which the word πίστις, which normally means “faith,” instead carries the idea of “faithfulness.”
However, although the grammatical construction is not determinative, that doesn’t give us the liberty to simply choose which reading we prefer. The Arminians who believe that our salvation is received by our own independent faith prefer the reading “faith in Jesus.” The Calvinists prefer the reading “the faith of Jesus,” whereas the Inclusionists, who deny that faith is even necessary for salvation, prefer the reading “the faithfulness of Jesus.”
Obviously, only one reading is the correct one, and due to the fact that each reading presents salvation as being appropriated in a distinct manner, it is imperative that we determine exactly what was being expressed by the author of the inspired text. Some argue that the correct reading cannot be determined with certainty. However, while it is true that it cannot be determined grammatically, I believe that it can and must be determined based upon the context in which the expression is used and the overall teaching of Scripture concerning the subject of salvation.
In this blog I will briefly examine the three different renderings, arguing from the Scriptures in favor of the rendering, “the faith of Jesus” as found in the older translations such as the Tyndale Bible of 1526 and the King James Version of 1611. While I present my arguments dogmatically as one who is convinced that the truths of Scripture can be known with certainty, I do so with a spirit of Christian charity, knowing that men more devout and learned than I would disagree with me.
1. “The Faithfulness of Jesus”
The rendering of πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ as “the faithfulness of Jesus” has gained popularity since the NET Bible was published in 2005 containing this reading. Also N.T. Wright, who greatly influences contemporary thought, favors this reading. Additionally, in 2007 Carlton Pearson authored his book, “The Gospel of Inclusion” which has had a great influence upon the more Liberal and Progressive Universalists and non-Universalist Inclusionists.
The Inclusionists argue that all of mankind has already been saved by the finished work of Christ upon the cross. All are already in Christ and justified – they just don’t know it yet. According to this view, all were saved 2,000 years ago by the faithfulness of Jesus and therefore do not need to repent and believe the gospel in order to be saved.
I confront the errors of this doctrine in my blog, “The Blurring of Biblical Distinctions” so I will not give much attention to it here. Suffice it to say here that, although Christ reconciled all mankind unto Himself by the blood of His cross, and all will finally be saved and restored based upon His finished work, throughout the New Testament we see the need to personally repent of our sins and appropriate the righteousness of God in Christ through faith in the gospel in order to be saved (Mark 16:16; Jn 3:16,18; 6:40; 6:29; Acts 16:31; Rom 4:5; 1Cor 1:21, etc.).
The argument for rendering πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ as “the faithfulness of Jesus” has a grammatical strong point and also a grammatical weakness. The strong point is that when πίστις is used in the New Testament with a personal genitive it is almost always a subjective genitive - “the faith of,” rather than objective, “faith in.” (cf. Matt 9:2,22,29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25,48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8,12; 3:3; 4:5,12,16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14,17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1Thess 1:8; 3:2,5,10; 2Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Philemon 6; 1Peter 1:9,21; 2Peter 1:5). This however, also favors the reading “the faith of Jesus” which I believe is the correct rendering.
The weakness is that, while πίστις can mean “faithfulness” rather than “faith,” it rarely carries that meaning. The King James Version never renders πίστις as “faithfulness.” The one instance where it clearly should read “faithfulness” is Romans 3:3 which refers to the “faithfulness of God” (τὴν πίστιν τοῦ Θεοῦ). Two other possible instances where “faithfulness” rather than “faith” may be the better rendering are Matthew 23:23 and Galatians 5:22. The remainder of the 243 occurrences of πίστις obviously mean “faith” and not “faithfulness” and are rendered as such in all translations.
Also, it is noteworthy that the translators of the LXX, or the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, rarely ever used πίστις to convey the idea of “faithfulness.” Instead they used the word altheía which means “truth,” or subjectively, “truthfulness, integrity of character.” [3] The idea expressed by our English word “faithfulness” is not so much related to “faith” (πίστις) as it is to “trustworthiness or integrity of character” (altheía).
It is true that Jesus was faithful unto death and that His faithfulness is the basis for the salvation of all mankind (Php 2:8-11; Isa 53:7,10-11; Heb 12:2; 1Tim 2:6; 4:10). However, there are at least two instances where the genitive of πίστις cannot refer to the faithfulness of Jesus but rather to the faith of Jesus:
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev 14:12)
“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” (James 2:1)
Not even the NET translation attempts to force the meaning of “faithfulness” upon πίστις in these instances. Therefore, if we are going to be consistent, we should understand πίστις as “faith” in these contexts rather than “faithfulness.” It wouldn’t be of any real consequence except that some Inclusionists, ignoring all the passages indicating that faith is necessary for salvation, latch on to this rendering and argue from it that it is His faithfulness that saved us 2,000 years ago and therefore it is not necessary to believe the gospel in order to be saved.
2. “Faith in Jesus”
As we have already seen, grammatically speaking, πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ can either be understood subjectively as “the faith of Jesus” or objectively as “faith in Jesus.” The rendering “faith in Jesus” is the favored rendering of the Arminians since they believe that the sinner has the potential to understand the gospel and independently respond in faith without the need of divine assistance.
I address this issue in more detail in my book: “The Universal Solution” (Presenting Biblical Universalism as the Solution to the Debate between Calvinists and Arminians). I would just like to point out that, until God made us alive through the new birth, we were all spiritually stillborn – dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1,5). Since we were spiritually dead, Jesus said that unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3). How can one believe that which he cannot even see or perceive? It is not that we were unwilling to see, but rather, being spiritually dead towards God, we could not see and believe until we were born again. All appeals to believe the gospel are vain until we are regenerated and our eyes are opened to see and believe.
The carnal believer may become dull of hearing, but the unregenerate cannot hear because they do not have spiritual ears to hear. That is why Jesus said of the unregenerate: “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” (Jn 8:43) Not only were we unable to see prior to being regenerated but we were also not able to listen – not merely unwilling. In a similar manner, we were not simply unwilling to come to Christ, but we were unable to come to Him, as Jesus says:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me… 65 And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.’” (Jn 6:44-45,65)
Jesus likewise said that those in the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth because they neither see Him nor do they know Him (Jn 14:16-17). It is impossible to respond in faith to that which one does not first perceive nor comprehend. First they must be drawn to Him and the veil removed from their eyes (2Cor 4:3-4, cf. Rom 8:7-8; 1Cor 2:14).
Taking all of this into account, I cannot agree with the Arminians when they say that we independently believe as a personal free-will decision, and then God follows up on our faith by regenerating us. We exercise the faith that is granted to us when the Lord opens our heart for the first time, thereby enabling us to perceive and receive the gospel (Acts 16:14). Perceiving, which is necessary in order to believe and receive Christ, requires regeneration (Jn 3:3). Many have confused the order as set forth in John 1:12,13:
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (Jn 1:12-13)
Since “receiving” and “believing” are mentioned in the sentence before regeneration, many think that faith chronologically precedes regeneration. However, upon closer examination, we see that regeneration takes place because of God’s will – not because of our faith and receiving. God brings about regeneration as an act of His sovereign will – not in response to a decision of our own will. This is further confirmed by James who says:
“Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18 WEBA)
If it were our own free-will act of faith that brought about regeneration, then it would be regeneration by the will of the flesh. We were born of God or regenerated because God first willed it. Those who were chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world to be the firstfruits of His new creation, in the time preordained by God, will exercise their God-given faith, believing and receiving Christ.
We see the same sequence in 1John 5:1, where John says: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” Although the New King James Version conceals it, this verse clearly indicates that regeneration precedes faith. “Is born” is not in present tense as the translators rendered it. It is in the perfect tense and the passive voice. The verb translated “believes” is in the present, active. Therefore, it should read “Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” In other words, if one is believing that Jesus is the Christ, it is because he has already been born again prior to believing.
However, while there may be a logical sense in which regeneration precedes our willing response of faith, I don’t see a discernible separation in time between them. To argue about which came first is comparable to asking what came first in creation - the chicken or the egg. The obvious answer is neither. The chicken was created together with the eggs in one creative act, just as the plants were created already bearing seeds. The same can be said concerning the new creation. We were re-created, with faith being as much a part of the miracle of the new creation as regeneration itself. Faith is just as integral and spontaneous in the new birth process as is the first breath of a new-born after coming out of the birth canal.
In Adam all die – we are born separated from God and dead in sin. However, the good news which was proclaimed in the Early Church but was suppressed upon entering the Dark Ages, and even to this day continues to be overlooked both by Calvinists and Arminians, is that, in God’s own time all who die in Adam will be made alive or regenerated through the gift of faith in Christ at the time ordained of the Father from before the foundation of the world.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order…. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him that God may be all in all.” (1Cor 15:22,23a, 28)
Likewise, although Jesus said that no one comes to Him unless the Father effectually draws Him, He also said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (Jn 12:32 KJV) [4] In the Father’s time each individual will have been divinely visited and effectually drawn unto Christ, becoming reunited in Him, resulting in God being all in all in eternity (1Peter 2:12; Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:28).
Both our initial faith which appropriates our salvation and the faith that perseveres are granted to us by grace. When Paul said, “what do you have that you did not receive?” no one can truthfully reply saying, “My faith” (1 Cor 4:7). Paul in Ephesians 2, after saying that we were spiritually dead prior to being made alive by God, goes on to explain that it was all entirely of grace – including the faith we were given in order to receive salvation:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:8-10)
Those who would boast that their faith is what saved them and produced a life of good works, do not comprehend that the faith that saves and transforms us is not our own. Saving faith is not of ourselves - it is a gift of God. Any subsequent good works are in reality not ours, but His, since we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. He deliberately chooses the foolish, the weak, the base and despised in order that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace – not so we can boast as to how great our faith is.
Arminians would argue that in Ephesians 2:8 it is salvation which is a gift of God – not faith. However, we see that, grammatically speaking, the pronoun “that” refers back both to salvation and faith. The participle translated “have been saved” is masculine gender and “faith” is a feminine noun, whereas “that” is in the neuter. That would indicate that the declaration “that not of yourselves” is referring back to both the masculine participle “have been saved” and also the feminine noun “faith.” If he was referring exclusively to salvation as the grace-gift of God, without also including “faith,” he would have used the masculine form of “that not of yourselves” to correspond with the masculine gender of the participle “have been saved,” instead of the neuter. Paul’s selection of the neuter to refer to the gift indicates that he considered both salvation and faith as being part of God’s grace-gift.
Not only is saving faith seen to be a gift of God but we also see that persevering faith is also a gift of God’s grace. A literal translation of Philippians 1:29 emphasizes that the grace-gift of faith is ongoing and not simply the faith by which we initially appropriated salvation. The Concordant Literal Version reads:
“for to you it is graciously granted, for Christ's sake, not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also.” (Phil 1:29 CLV)
The word translated “graciously granted” is the Greek word χαρίζομαι “to give as a grace-gift” and is in the aorist tense. The aorist indicates that the grace-gift of faith was given at a point of time in the past. However, it was given to us not just to initially believe on Him but to continue believing on Him, as we see expressed in the present active infinitive “believing.” Therefore, this verse implies that the faith we have received from God will not fail but will persevere to the end.
3. “The Faith of Jesus"
If saving and persevering faith is not ours but comes from above as a grace-gift from God, then whose faith is it? To me, the answer to this question clarifies that the correct rendering of πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ is “the faith of Jesus.” The faith imparted to us at the moment of regeneration is nothing less than the faith of Jesus. Jesus Christ is both the author and finisher of faith:
“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….” (Heb 12:2)
“looking to the author and perfecter of faith—Jesus….” (Heb 12:2 Youngs Literal Translation)
We see here that Jesus is the author of faith and also the finisher or perfecter of faith. Some translations add “our.” However, while it is true that Jesus’ faith becomes ours, the author is here emphasizing that genuine faith originates in Christ and finishes in Christ, rather than in us. For that reason, I feel that the addition of “our” by the translators detracts from the emphasis of the passage – that we should look unto Him and not into ourselves if we want faith that saves and perseveres to the finish line. The text actually says, “the faith,” not “our faith.” In the correct rendering of πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ we see revealed the fact that “the faith” is the faith of Jesus and not our own (Gal 3:22-25 KJV).
If indeed we have been crucified and raised to new life with Christ, then it is no longer we who live but it is He who lives in us. Our only righteousness is His righteousness in us. Our only wisdom is the mind of Christ within us, and our only faith is the faith of Jesus who now lives in us and imparts His faith to us, just as Galatians 2:12 states in the King James Version and other older translations:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20 KJV)
While the reading “faith in Jesus” would favor the Arminian view which sees salvation as depending upon our faith, it does not harmonize with the passages which clearly indicate that effectual faith is a gift from God and does not originate in us. Making salvation dependent upon our faith, rather than the grace-gift of His own vicarious faith, makes salvation ultimately dependent upon the will of the flesh or the will of man, rather than upon the grace of God.
God has chosen His elect Church, made up of the least likely candidates, in order to be displayed in the coming ages as His workmanship, to the praise of the glory of His grace, in a way that will unequivocally exclude any grounds for boasting on our part (1Cor 1:26-29; Rom 3:27; Eph 2:6,7). Any taint of human merit in His workmanship would detract from the praise of the glory of His grace when we are put on display to the world. I see many of the recent renderings of texts referring to the faith of Jesus as being our faith in Jesus to be more based upon modern humanistic influences than upon a sound exegesis of the particular texts, as I believe a brief examination of the texts will show:
“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by (ek – not dia) faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe (those that are believing). 23 But before (the) faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that (the) faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” (Gal 3:22-25 KJV)
“But the scripture locks up all together under sin, that the promise out of Jesus Christ's faith may be given to those who are believing.” (Gal 3:22 Concordant Literal Version)
While many modern translations have changed “the faith of Jesus” making it read instead “faith in Jesus,” we see that a literal rendering of this verse militates against their interpretive rendering of the text. The promise, which comes out of the faith of Jesus as to its source (ἐκ), is given to those who are believing. In other words, if you are a believer and an heir of the promise, it is because the faith of Jesus has been given to you. If you are living by faith, it is not really yours but that of Christ who is now your life, and the life we are now living in the flesh is by His faith – the flesh in and of itself profits nothing.
However, according to the New King James Version and many other modern versions, it reads: “But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” By mistranslating the Greek preposition ἐκ as “by,” instead of “out of,” and making it read “faith in Jesus” instead of “faith of Jesus,” they make salvation seem as though it ultimately depended upon man, rather than the grace of God and for His glory.
That the faith in view is Christ’s faith and not man’s, is even more evident in the context. In verses 23 and 25, it speaks of the time before Christ and after Christ as “before the faith came” and “after the faith came.” In what sense can we say that faith didn’t come until Christ? Hebrews 11 contains a long list of Old Testament saints who exercised faith before Christ. Obviously “the faith” referred to in the New Covenant is not our faith but the faith of Jesus Christ which comes to all and upon all who believe, as we see in the literal rendering of Romans 3:22:
“Even the righteousness of God which is by (διά) faith of Jesus Christ unto (εἰς) all and upon (ἐπί) all them that believe (that are believing): for there is no difference.” (Rom 3:22 KJV)
“even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, toward all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference.” (Rom 3:22 MKJV)
Believe me, if you are believing in a saving persevering way, it is through the faith of Jesus Christ imparted to you by His grace. It is His faith which is in you and upon you. You did not receive the righteousness of God because of your faith in Jesus which you had in and of yourself and exercised as an independent act of your own will, as some modern versions would have us believe, but on the contrary, it was granted to us to believe (Phil 1:29).
[1] (Rom 3:22; Gal 2:16; 2:20; 3:22; Eph 3:12; Php 3:9; Jas 2:1; Rev 14:12).
[2] Complete Jewish Bible, 1998, and The New English Translation (NET), 2005.
[3] Abbott-Smith Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament.
[4] The Word “draw” in both John 6:44 and here is the Greek word helkô, which expresses something much stronger that a simple attraction. Strong’s Dictionary defines it: “drag (literally or figuratively).” It appears eight times in the New Testament and in each case, it expresses the idea of being drawn by a force greater than the resistance of the one being drawn.
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Chapter 0
by George Sidney Hurd
“The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory
shining in the face of Christ,
…who is the exact likeness of God.”
(2 Cor 4:6,4b)
In the appointed time of the Father, God became flesh in the person of the Son and dwelt among us. The invisible God became visible in Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God in such a manner that Jesus could say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 1:14,18;14:9).
In prior generations God had spoken through the intermediate agency of the prophets, but in Jesus Christ He spoke to us in person (Heb 1:1-2). For this reason, when Jesus was transfigured upon the mount and was speaking with Moses and Elijah in the presence of His disciples Peter James and John, when Peter interrupted, suggesting that they make three tabernacles, one where they could gather and listen to Moses, another where they could listen to Elijah and another where they could listen to Jesus, the Father spoke from heaven saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5).
That is not to depreciate what He had previously spoken through others, as some have mistakenly assumed, but rather that we are now to look to Jesus and learn from Him. In Him all previous truths concealed in Scripture are now revealed to our understanding in a new and fresh way. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev 19:10). In order to rightly understand Moses and the Prophets we need to hear Him and learn of Him.
This way of seeing Scriptures through the lens of Jesus Christ has been referred to as the Christocentric hermeneutic since the early days of the Church. Martin Luther emphasized the need for the centrality of the cross, or a crucicentric hermeneutic, in order to rightly understand and apply the Scriptures.
However, there is a modern trend away from the historic faith of the Fathers. While still speaking of the centrality of Christ, their presentation of Christ and His teachings is selective, failing to take into account the totality of His life and teachings. Likewise, while using terms such as “cruciformity,” they have redefined the cross and what Christ accomplished in His atoning death on our behalf.
They approach the Scriptures with the presupposition that, since God is love, He is entirely non-violent. Using this presupposition as a filter, they proceed to reject or reinterpret all portrayals of the Father and even Jesus Himself found in the Scriptures when they present them as intolerant towards sinful human behavior or acting in violence to correct or punish it.
Based upon this presupposition they must also redefine the cross. Since the cross involved violence, and God is totally nonviolent (according to them), it cannot be true that it was God’s hand and eternal purpose that predetermined that His crucifixion should occur in order to bring about our redemption through His blood, as the Scriptures state (Acts 4:27-29; 2:23; Isa 53:5-6,10-11; Eph 1:6-7). These and other passages are either ignored or rejected by them in order to present the cross as nothing more than an act of wicked men against Jesus with no redemptive value in God’s eyes. I consider the implications of the atonement in my blog: “Did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?” and also in my book: “The Ways of God (As seen through the eyes of a Conservative Restorationist).”
Having stripped the cross of all redemptive value before God for the remission of sins, saying that it was nothing more than Jesus passively absorbing the collective violence of mankind into Himself as He unconditionally forgave them, they then apply what they call the “cruciform hermeneutic” to the Scriptures. What that means is that any portrayal of God in Scripture that is not passive and nonviolent is deemed contrary to the love of God shown on the cross – it is not cruciform, and therefore is to be rejected as nothing more than primitive Near-Eastern misconceptions of God imposed upon the Scriptures by depraved human authors such as Moses, David and the prophets (cf. 2Peter 1:21).
This “cruciform hermeneutic” is not only applied by them to the Old Testament authors but also to the New Testament. Some even question the very words of Jesus if they do not fit into their cruciform mold, reasoning that since we already know that God is cruciform (non-violent and tolerant towards sin), any human author saying otherwise must have falsely attributed such words or actions to Jesus.
However, once we bring into question the very words and deeds of Christ recorded for us in the New Testament Scriptures, then every concrete basis for the knowledge of Him is lost in a sea of relativity. In this blog I will argue from the presupposition that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and that it is therefore an accurate revelation of who Jesus Christ is and therefore who the Father is, since Jesus said that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father and that He and the Father are one (Jn 14:9; 10:30).
Jesus validated the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures
The infallibility of the Scriptures is not an arbitrary starting point since Jesus Himself affirmed it (Jn 17:17, cf. Ps 119:160; Matt 5:18; 4:4; Jn 10:35). In these circles it is common to hear someone say something like: “I am a follower of Jesus – not a follower of the Scriptures.” However, it is impossible to be a true follower of Jesus and not have the same regard for the Scriptures as He did.
Jesus validated the writings of Moses and the Prophets
Far from depreciating Moses and the Prophets or deauthorizing them, Jesus said that not one jot nor tittle could pass from the Law or the Prophets without them first being fulfilled. (Matt 5:17-18). This is based upon the fact that all Scripture is inspired of God, having proceeded from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4; 2Tim 3:16). Since every word of it proceeded from the mouth of God, it cannot return unto Him void but must be fulfilled (Isa 55:11).
After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, He explained to them that all that which was written in the Law and the Prophets had to be fulfilled. He said, “it is written, and thus it was necessary” (Luke 24:44-46). What was necessary due to it having been written? That He should suffer. It happened to Him just as God’s hand and purpose had previously determined should be done to Him (Acts 4:27-28). According to Jesus, if it was written it had to occur.
Jesus equated the words of Moses with the very commands of God Himself, including the non-cruciform punishments prescribed in the Law for disobedience:
“All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’” (Mark 7:9-10)
According to the “cruciform hermeneutic,” all violent depictions attributed to God must be filtered out of the Scriptures. Yet here we see Christ Himself including the death penalty as part of the commandment of God rather than considering it to be merely Moses’ projection of his mistaken vision of Ancient Near-Eastern deities upon Jehovah.
Jesus said that those who truly believed Moses would also believe Him, since Moses wrote about Him (Jn 5:45-46). He said of the brothers of the rich man in hades that if they didn’t believe Moses, then nothing could persuade them to believe – not even someone raising from the dead (Luke 16:31). Sadly, this same refusal to believe Moses is still characteristic of many so-called Progressive thinkers today.
Jesus repeatedly endorsed Moses and the Prophets. He said that the people were to observe and do whatever the scribes and Pharisees told them to do since they sat in Moses’ seat (Matt 23:2-3, cf. Matt 8:4). Nowhere does Jesus give place for us to question or sit in judgment concerning the validity of any portions of the writings of Moses or the Prophets as many so lightly do today. On the contrary, He equates the commands of Moses with the commands of God Himself and warns that those who invalidate the least of them and influence others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19).
Some erroneously insist that Jesus Himself does just that in His very next breath. Just two verses later in Matthew 5:19 through to the end of the chapter, five times Jesus repeats the phrases: “You have heard it said… But I say…” They misconstrue this as meaning that Jesus was setting aside the Law and presenting something new.
However, it should be obvious that Jesus isn’t contradicting what He just said concerning the writings of Moses. When Jesus referred to the writings of Moses, as He did when tempted by Satan in the previous chapter, He always said, “it is written,” referring to Scripture as final incontrovertible truth (Matt 4:4,6-7). In contrast, in each of these instances in Matthew 5, Jesus is confronting, not the Law, but the misapplications of the Law of Moses made by the Rabbis of that day. Rather than saying: “It is written… But I say…” He instead says, “You have heard… But I say…”
While space doesn’t allow me to cover each instance in detail, the careful reader will notice that nowhere does Jesus teach contrary to the Law of Moses. Rather, He confronts the Rabbi’s misapplication of the Law. In the first four instances – that of murder (5:21-22), adultery (5:27-28), divorce (5:31-32) and oaths (5:33-37), Jesus raises the bar which the Rabbis had lowered, using loopholes in order to get around fully fulfilling the Law.
Then in the fifth one Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matt 5:43). The command to love your neighbor is in the Law (Lev 19:18), but the rabbinical loophole “and hate your enemy” is not. On the contrary, the Law told them to show kindness towards their enemies (Ex 23:4).
So we see that, rather than Jesus invalidating the Law and teaching others to do the same (something He forbade them from doing in verse 19), He elevated the Law back to its rightful place. The Law was given to reveal our sin and need for grace, but the Pharisees had lowered the standard and created loopholes in order to make it appear as though they were fulfilling the Law when in reality they were breaking it. In elevating the Law to its rightful place, we all become convicted as transgressors and must look to Him for grace and mercy.
Jesus validated the Psalms
In order to demonstrate to the Pharisees that He was not only a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also the Son of God, Jesus appealed to the Psalms as the final authority. When the Pharisees said that the Messiah would be the son of David He replied:
“How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” (Matt 22:43-45)
Here Jesus appeals to the Psalms as authoritative, being what the psalmist said in the Spirit. Just as He confronted Satan with the authoritative written word saying, “It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” thereby authenticating Moses’ writings as having proceeded from God, so also here He authenticates the Psalms, saying that they were spoken in the Spirit (Matt 4:4, cf. Dt 8:3). Also He referenced the Psalms referring to the manner of His death, saying that what was written in the Psalms concerning Him had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44).
In the same manner, Peter also referred to the imprecatory Psalms as having to be fulfilled, even within New Covenant contexts. In reference to Judas, Peter said concerning his punishment for having betrayed Jesus:
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it'; and, ‘Let another take his office.’” (Acts 1:20 cf. Ps 69:25; 109:8).
Most of those who say that they are followers of Jesus rather than the Bible throw out the imprecatory Psalms. But both of the Psalms here cited by Peter as authoritative are non-cruciform imprecatory Psalms. The immediate followers of Jesus still considered the written Word to be authoritative – including the imprecatory Psalms. Who are most likely to be followers of the true Jesus, the original Apostles themselves, or modern Progressive scholars who reject all the writings of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms that don’t fit their cruciform model?
Likewise Paul cited the imprecatory Psalms as being authoritative and fulfilled in our times. Concerning Israel’s temporary judgment, he cites Psalm 69:22-23 in the following manner:
“And David says: ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.’” (Rom 11:9-10)
Jesus and vengeance
On the surface we would all agree that Jesus accurately revealed the Father in all that He said and did. Yet those who insist that Jesus revealed a God who always acts in a cruciform manner must ignore or reject many sayings of Jesus which present God as actively punishing evil. Jesus presents God as the Avenger of evil and injustice. He says of the Father:
“And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:7-8)
Jesus Himself says that God will avenge those who oppress His elect. This is why He said that it would be better for one to hang a millstone around their neck and drown in the depth of the sea than to cause one of those who believe in Him to stumble (Matt 18:6). This is why the martyrs under the heavenly alter were not out of line when they cried out to God saying: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10).
The word “vengeance” at first seems to be incompatible with God’s revealed nature which is love. Vengeance as we commonly understand it is a personal vendetta where an individual becomes obsessed with getting back at someone for an offense suffered. However, the Greek word often rendered “vengeance” is ekdikesis which is a composite of dikeo, meaning “justice.” The word ekdikesis would be better translated, “to fully execute justice.”
It is not for the offended individual to avenge himself, but rather he is told to leave vengeance (the full execution of justice) to God the Judge of all (Rom 12:19). God has also established governing authorities who are appointed to avenge evil (Rom 13:4; 1Pet 2:13-14). However, we as individuals are not to act as vigilantes.
Those who think that God’s wrath and vengeance against evil and injustice is incompatible with His love, fail to adequately contemplate what our fallen world would be like if God’s love were merely a passive tolerant “cruciform” love that simply says “peace be unto you” to a terrorist as he proceeds to blow up a building full of innocent victims. Paul poses the question: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5-6).
Most of us know intuitively that a father who says that he loves his little daughter and yet would stand by passively while she is being raped in front of him doesn’t really love her at all. True love is angered by evil and takes appropriate action against the evildoer.
Jesus repeatedly presents God as avenging evil (Luke 13:3-5; 12:46-48, etc.). In the parable of the ungrateful servant who was forgiven a debt he couldn’t pay, only to turn around and refuse to forgive his neighbor a lesser debt, we see that God fully executes justice against those who refuse to forgive the offenses of others against them:
“And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:34-35)
So, when we say that Jesus reveals the Father we must be careful to give attention to all that Jesus says and does, rather than looking at Him through rose colored glasses or what Gregory Boyd refers to as the “magic eye” or the “cruciform hermeneutic,” which they use to justify filtering out all parts of the Bible that do not fit the passive nonviolent form of love demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.
Jesus in His Second Coming
Jesus said that immediately after the Great Tribulation He will come again and gather His elect unto Himself, and then He will sit upon His throne and separate the sheep of the nations from the workers of iniquity (Matt 24:29,31; 25:31-32; 7:23). The sheep will be granted entrance into the life of the Millennial age (zoen aionion), but He will send the goats into eonian fire (pur aionion) or the correction of the age (kolasin aionion) (Matt 25:41,46)[1] When Christ returns the nations will realize that their time of judgment has come and they will flee from Him:
“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Rev 6:15-17)
I realize that many reading this blog may be Preterists and therefore believe that this was fulfilled in the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. I present my arguments in favor of a Futurist understanding of the book of Revelation in my book, “Last Days – Past or Present.” However, for the subject at hand, one’s eschatology does not change the fact that both God the Father and God the Son are here presented in a non-cruciform manner, since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. They are no different now than they were in 70 A.D. Those who present a filtered incomplete image of Jesus and hence of the Father, will be in for a rude awakening in the day of reckoning, as will be their followers. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also presents both the Father and the Son in a manner which could not be defined as cruciform by any stretch of the imagination. He said:
“it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 IN FLAMING FIRE TAKING VENGEANCE on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished (tino, “pay the penalty of”) with everlasting destruction (olethron aionion, “eonian destruction”) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” (2Thess 1:6-10)
When Christ comes in the Day of the Lord, He will not appear a second time as the suffering Servant. He will come with power and great glory as Judge to execute justice, and as King to reign with a rod of iron (Matt 16:27; Rev 11:15; Rev 19:11,15-16). Many, failing to see the distinction between His first coming as the suffering Servant to give Himself a ransom for sin, and His final coming to judge and reign upon the earth with a rod of iron, think that His Second Coming (third for the Partial Preterist) will be similar in nature to His first coming.
When Jesus began His ministry, He went into the Synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath and read the portion in Isaiah 61 which described His ministry. However, He intentionally read only the part that referred to His earthly ministry in His first coming. He stood up to read. Then Luke says:
“And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.” (Luke 4:17-20)
It is not without significance that Jesus stopped mid-sentence and closed the scroll in Isaiah 61:2. In Isaiah the verse reads, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” Why did Jesus close the scroll mid-sentence? It was obviously intentional, but what was His intention? Those who would apply a “cruciform hermeneutic” must say that Jesus was invalidating the second part of the verse since it presents Him as violent and judgmental. However, such reasoning is inconsistent with His statements such as “your word is truth,” and “the Scriptures cannot be broken” (Jn 10:35; 17:17). Also, just a few chapters earlier, in Isaiah 55:11, God said, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Therefore, it is unreasonable to argue that Jesus Himself was here setting aside or making void the very Scriptures that He said could not be broken.
The obvious reason that He stopped reading mid-sentence is because the first half of the verse referred to His first coming as the suffering Servant, whereas the second half referred to His Second Coming as Judge of the living and the dead and as King of kings and Lord of lords to execute justice and reign upon the earth (2Tim 4:1; Rev 11:15-18). The separation between His first and second comings was a mystery hidden until Israel had formally rejected Christ’s offer of the kingdom (Matt 23:37-39).
Even now, during this present Dispensation of Grace, we see Christ intervening in a non-cruciform manner, correcting and judging unrepentant sin within the churches. To the church of Thyatira Jesus said:
“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” (Rev 2:20-23)
Here we see Jesus warning a prophetess and false teacher within the church whom He calls by the name of Jezebel, telling her that if she doesn’t repent of her false teaching and sexual immorality that He will afflict her with sickness and punish those who partake with her with great tribulation. He even warns He will kill her children if she obstinately persists in that lifestyle. Many who have given themselves over to sexual immorality fail to take into consideration the fact that the sicknesses that comes upon them as a result of their immorality can also end up taking the lives of their own children.
To the careful student of the Word it is evident that there is no discontinuity between the God of the Old Testament and the God revealed in the person and teachings of Jesus or in the New Testament, including the book of Revelation.
I realize that the Jesus of the Bible is offensive to many in this present generation, but we must not for that reason shun from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-30). The true Jesus will always be a rock of offense to those who are unwilling to repent and submit to the Word. As Peter said:
“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected as become the chief cornerstone, 8 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:7-8)
Paul spoke of our time when he said:
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim 4:2-5 cf. 2Thess 2:10-12)
Especially we as teachers of the Word of God have a tremendous responsibility to proclaim the whole counsel of God, rather than trying to accommodate those who are unwilling to repent of their sins and obey God (Jas 3:1). We must avoid catering to those who are not receptive to the truth but simply heap to themselves teachers who will tickle their ears with convoluted nuances of truth and vain philosophy designed to take the edge off of the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit. As Paul said:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Col 2:8-10)
Today, perhaps more than ever before, we are seeing a generation that cannot endure sound biblical doctrine. Our generation has become one in which there is more knowledge than ever before, but it is a learning without ever coming to a knowledge of the truth (2Tim 3:7,8). Instead of becoming proficient in the Word of God, they live on a steady diet of philosophy and the teachings of men who offer them new and novel twists which subvert the plain and obvious meaning of Scripture. They are more interested in traditions of men or what the Church Fathers had to say than what the Scriptures themselves say. The Emergent Church Movement actually adapts their beliefs to the changing cultural climate in order to accommodate the world, rather than confronting the changing culture with the timeless truths of God’s Word, calling men to repentance.
I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but at 74 years of age, after 54 years of being involved in church and ministry, just within that last few years I have witnessed a departure from the Bible – the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, on a scale I could have never imagined just 24 years ago when I left the civilized world to be a missionary in the Amazon jungle. We as followers of Jesus need to return to the Jesus of the Bible. We need to put aside all the inflated convoluted rhetoric of philosophers and the empty deceit of teachers with their fancy nuances on words which deprive men of the truth. We should instead endeavor to become proficient in the Word of God. As the writer of Hebrews says, some of us have become dull of hearing,
“Concerning this subject we have much to say but it is hard to explain, since you have become sluggish in your hearing. 12 For now you ought to be teachers by this time, but you again need someone to teach you the fundamental principles of the words of God from the beginning and you have become needy of milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who shares milk is inexperienced in the teaching about righteousness, for he is a baby: 14 but solid food is for the mature saints, those who have exercised for themselves the senses that are trained by practice for distinguishing both good and evil.” (Heb 5:11-14)
Sadly, we now have a generation of giants in rhetoric and philosophy who are spiritual babes, due to their neglect of the Bible and their lack of hunger for every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What this generation needs is not more philosophy or more novel convoluted deconstructions of truth, but a renewed love of the truth and a renewed appetite for sound doctrine based upon a thoughtful and prayerful exegesis of the sacred text (2Tim 3:15).
[1] For a more detailed treatment of this subject see my book “The Triumph of Mercy.”
“The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory
shining in the face of Christ,
…who is the exact likeness of God.”
(2 Cor 4:6,4b)
In the appointed time of the Father, God became flesh in the person of the Son and dwelt among us. The invisible God became visible in Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God in such a manner that Jesus could say, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 1:14,18;14:9).
In prior generations God had spoken through the intermediate agency of the prophets, but in Jesus Christ He spoke to us in person (Heb 1:1-2). For this reason, when Jesus was transfigured upon the mount and was speaking with Moses and Elijah in the presence of His disciples Peter James and John, when Peter interrupted, suggesting that they make three tabernacles, one where they could gather and listen to Moses, another where they could listen to Elijah and another where they could listen to Jesus, the Father spoke from heaven saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5).
That is not to depreciate what He had previously spoken through others, as some have mistakenly assumed, but rather that we are now to look to Jesus and learn from Him. In Him all previous truths concealed in Scripture are now revealed to our understanding in a new and fresh way. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev 19:10). In order to rightly understand Moses and the Prophets we need to hear Him and learn of Him.
This way of seeing Scriptures through the lens of Jesus Christ has been referred to as the Christocentric hermeneutic since the early days of the Church. Martin Luther emphasized the need for the centrality of the cross, or a crucicentric hermeneutic, in order to rightly understand and apply the Scriptures.
However, there is a modern trend away from the historic faith of the Fathers. While still speaking of the centrality of Christ, their presentation of Christ and His teachings is selective, failing to take into account the totality of His life and teachings. Likewise, while using terms such as “cruciformity,” they have redefined the cross and what Christ accomplished in His atoning death on our behalf.
They approach the Scriptures with the presupposition that, since God is love, He is entirely non-violent. Using this presupposition as a filter, they proceed to reject or reinterpret all portrayals of the Father and even Jesus Himself found in the Scriptures when they present them as intolerant towards sinful human behavior or acting in violence to correct or punish it.
Based upon this presupposition they must also redefine the cross. Since the cross involved violence, and God is totally nonviolent (according to them), it cannot be true that it was God’s hand and eternal purpose that predetermined that His crucifixion should occur in order to bring about our redemption through His blood, as the Scriptures state (Acts 4:27-29; 2:23; Isa 53:5-6,10-11; Eph 1:6-7). These and other passages are either ignored or rejected by them in order to present the cross as nothing more than an act of wicked men against Jesus with no redemptive value in God’s eyes. I consider the implications of the atonement in my blog: “Did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?” and also in my book: “The Ways of God (As seen through the eyes of a Conservative Restorationist).”
Having stripped the cross of all redemptive value before God for the remission of sins, saying that it was nothing more than Jesus passively absorbing the collective violence of mankind into Himself as He unconditionally forgave them, they then apply what they call the “cruciform hermeneutic” to the Scriptures. What that means is that any portrayal of God in Scripture that is not passive and nonviolent is deemed contrary to the love of God shown on the cross – it is not cruciform, and therefore is to be rejected as nothing more than primitive Near-Eastern misconceptions of God imposed upon the Scriptures by depraved human authors such as Moses, David and the prophets (cf. 2Peter 1:21).
This “cruciform hermeneutic” is not only applied by them to the Old Testament authors but also to the New Testament. Some even question the very words of Jesus if they do not fit into their cruciform mold, reasoning that since we already know that God is cruciform (non-violent and tolerant towards sin), any human author saying otherwise must have falsely attributed such words or actions to Jesus.
However, once we bring into question the very words and deeds of Christ recorded for us in the New Testament Scriptures, then every concrete basis for the knowledge of Him is lost in a sea of relativity. In this blog I will argue from the presupposition that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and that it is therefore an accurate revelation of who Jesus Christ is and therefore who the Father is, since Jesus said that if we have seen Him we have seen the Father and that He and the Father are one (Jn 14:9; 10:30).
Jesus validated the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures
The infallibility of the Scriptures is not an arbitrary starting point since Jesus Himself affirmed it (Jn 17:17, cf. Ps 119:160; Matt 5:18; 4:4; Jn 10:35). In these circles it is common to hear someone say something like: “I am a follower of Jesus – not a follower of the Scriptures.” However, it is impossible to be a true follower of Jesus and not have the same regard for the Scriptures as He did.
Jesus validated the writings of Moses and the Prophets
Far from depreciating Moses and the Prophets or deauthorizing them, Jesus said that not one jot nor tittle could pass from the Law or the Prophets without them first being fulfilled. (Matt 5:17-18). This is based upon the fact that all Scripture is inspired of God, having proceeded from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4; 2Tim 3:16). Since every word of it proceeded from the mouth of God, it cannot return unto Him void but must be fulfilled (Isa 55:11).
After Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples, He explained to them that all that which was written in the Law and the Prophets had to be fulfilled. He said, “it is written, and thus it was necessary” (Luke 24:44-46). What was necessary due to it having been written? That He should suffer. It happened to Him just as God’s hand and purpose had previously determined should be done to Him (Acts 4:27-28). According to Jesus, if it was written it had to occur.
Jesus equated the words of Moses with the very commands of God Himself, including the non-cruciform punishments prescribed in the Law for disobedience:
“All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’” (Mark 7:9-10)
According to the “cruciform hermeneutic,” all violent depictions attributed to God must be filtered out of the Scriptures. Yet here we see Christ Himself including the death penalty as part of the commandment of God rather than considering it to be merely Moses’ projection of his mistaken vision of Ancient Near-Eastern deities upon Jehovah.
Jesus said that those who truly believed Moses would also believe Him, since Moses wrote about Him (Jn 5:45-46). He said of the brothers of the rich man in hades that if they didn’t believe Moses, then nothing could persuade them to believe – not even someone raising from the dead (Luke 16:31). Sadly, this same refusal to believe Moses is still characteristic of many so-called Progressive thinkers today.
Jesus repeatedly endorsed Moses and the Prophets. He said that the people were to observe and do whatever the scribes and Pharisees told them to do since they sat in Moses’ seat (Matt 23:2-3, cf. Matt 8:4). Nowhere does Jesus give place for us to question or sit in judgment concerning the validity of any portions of the writings of Moses or the Prophets as many so lightly do today. On the contrary, He equates the commands of Moses with the commands of God Himself and warns that those who invalidate the least of them and influence others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:19).
Some erroneously insist that Jesus Himself does just that in His very next breath. Just two verses later in Matthew 5:19 through to the end of the chapter, five times Jesus repeats the phrases: “You have heard it said… But I say…” They misconstrue this as meaning that Jesus was setting aside the Law and presenting something new.
However, it should be obvious that Jesus isn’t contradicting what He just said concerning the writings of Moses. When Jesus referred to the writings of Moses, as He did when tempted by Satan in the previous chapter, He always said, “it is written,” referring to Scripture as final incontrovertible truth (Matt 4:4,6-7). In contrast, in each of these instances in Matthew 5, Jesus is confronting, not the Law, but the misapplications of the Law of Moses made by the Rabbis of that day. Rather than saying: “It is written… But I say…” He instead says, “You have heard… But I say…”
While space doesn’t allow me to cover each instance in detail, the careful reader will notice that nowhere does Jesus teach contrary to the Law of Moses. Rather, He confronts the Rabbi’s misapplication of the Law. In the first four instances – that of murder (5:21-22), adultery (5:27-28), divorce (5:31-32) and oaths (5:33-37), Jesus raises the bar which the Rabbis had lowered, using loopholes in order to get around fully fulfilling the Law.
Then in the fifth one Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matt 5:43). The command to love your neighbor is in the Law (Lev 19:18), but the rabbinical loophole “and hate your enemy” is not. On the contrary, the Law told them to show kindness towards their enemies (Ex 23:4).
So we see that, rather than Jesus invalidating the Law and teaching others to do the same (something He forbade them from doing in verse 19), He elevated the Law back to its rightful place. The Law was given to reveal our sin and need for grace, but the Pharisees had lowered the standard and created loopholes in order to make it appear as though they were fulfilling the Law when in reality they were breaking it. In elevating the Law to its rightful place, we all become convicted as transgressors and must look to Him for grace and mercy.
Jesus validated the Psalms
In order to demonstrate to the Pharisees that He was not only a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also the Son of God, Jesus appealed to the Psalms as the final authority. When the Pharisees said that the Messiah would be the son of David He replied:
“How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” (Matt 22:43-45)
Here Jesus appeals to the Psalms as authoritative, being what the psalmist said in the Spirit. Just as He confronted Satan with the authoritative written word saying, “It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” thereby authenticating Moses’ writings as having proceeded from God, so also here He authenticates the Psalms, saying that they were spoken in the Spirit (Matt 4:4, cf. Dt 8:3). Also He referenced the Psalms referring to the manner of His death, saying that what was written in the Psalms concerning Him had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44).
In the same manner, Peter also referred to the imprecatory Psalms as having to be fulfilled, even within New Covenant contexts. In reference to Judas, Peter said concerning his punishment for having betrayed Jesus:
“For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it'; and, ‘Let another take his office.’” (Acts 1:20 cf. Ps 69:25; 109:8).
Most of those who say that they are followers of Jesus rather than the Bible throw out the imprecatory Psalms. But both of the Psalms here cited by Peter as authoritative are non-cruciform imprecatory Psalms. The immediate followers of Jesus still considered the written Word to be authoritative – including the imprecatory Psalms. Who are most likely to be followers of the true Jesus, the original Apostles themselves, or modern Progressive scholars who reject all the writings of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms that don’t fit their cruciform model?
Likewise Paul cited the imprecatory Psalms as being authoritative and fulfilled in our times. Concerning Israel’s temporary judgment, he cites Psalm 69:22-23 in the following manner:
“And David says: ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.’” (Rom 11:9-10)
Jesus and vengeance
On the surface we would all agree that Jesus accurately revealed the Father in all that He said and did. Yet those who insist that Jesus revealed a God who always acts in a cruciform manner must ignore or reject many sayings of Jesus which present God as actively punishing evil. Jesus presents God as the Avenger of evil and injustice. He says of the Father:
“And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:7-8)
Jesus Himself says that God will avenge those who oppress His elect. This is why He said that it would be better for one to hang a millstone around their neck and drown in the depth of the sea than to cause one of those who believe in Him to stumble (Matt 18:6). This is why the martyrs under the heavenly alter were not out of line when they cried out to God saying: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:10).
The word “vengeance” at first seems to be incompatible with God’s revealed nature which is love. Vengeance as we commonly understand it is a personal vendetta where an individual becomes obsessed with getting back at someone for an offense suffered. However, the Greek word often rendered “vengeance” is ekdikesis which is a composite of dikeo, meaning “justice.” The word ekdikesis would be better translated, “to fully execute justice.”
It is not for the offended individual to avenge himself, but rather he is told to leave vengeance (the full execution of justice) to God the Judge of all (Rom 12:19). God has also established governing authorities who are appointed to avenge evil (Rom 13:4; 1Pet 2:13-14). However, we as individuals are not to act as vigilantes.
Those who think that God’s wrath and vengeance against evil and injustice is incompatible with His love, fail to adequately contemplate what our fallen world would be like if God’s love were merely a passive tolerant “cruciform” love that simply says “peace be unto you” to a terrorist as he proceeds to blow up a building full of innocent victims. Paul poses the question: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5-6).
Most of us know intuitively that a father who says that he loves his little daughter and yet would stand by passively while she is being raped in front of him doesn’t really love her at all. True love is angered by evil and takes appropriate action against the evildoer.
Jesus repeatedly presents God as avenging evil (Luke 13:3-5; 12:46-48, etc.). In the parable of the ungrateful servant who was forgiven a debt he couldn’t pay, only to turn around and refuse to forgive his neighbor a lesser debt, we see that God fully executes justice against those who refuse to forgive the offenses of others against them:
“And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:34-35)
So, when we say that Jesus reveals the Father we must be careful to give attention to all that Jesus says and does, rather than looking at Him through rose colored glasses or what Gregory Boyd refers to as the “magic eye” or the “cruciform hermeneutic,” which they use to justify filtering out all parts of the Bible that do not fit the passive nonviolent form of love demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.
Jesus in His Second Coming
Jesus said that immediately after the Great Tribulation He will come again and gather His elect unto Himself, and then He will sit upon His throne and separate the sheep of the nations from the workers of iniquity (Matt 24:29,31; 25:31-32; 7:23). The sheep will be granted entrance into the life of the Millennial age (zoen aionion), but He will send the goats into eonian fire (pur aionion) or the correction of the age (kolasin aionion) (Matt 25:41,46)[1] When Christ returns the nations will realize that their time of judgment has come and they will flee from Him:
“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Rev 6:15-17)
I realize that many reading this blog may be Preterists and therefore believe that this was fulfilled in the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. I present my arguments in favor of a Futurist understanding of the book of Revelation in my book, “Last Days – Past or Present.” However, for the subject at hand, one’s eschatology does not change the fact that both God the Father and God the Son are here presented in a non-cruciform manner, since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. They are no different now than they were in 70 A.D. Those who present a filtered incomplete image of Jesus and hence of the Father, will be in for a rude awakening in the day of reckoning, as will be their followers. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also presents both the Father and the Son in a manner which could not be defined as cruciform by any stretch of the imagination. He said:
“it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 IN FLAMING FIRE TAKING VENGEANCE on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished (tino, “pay the penalty of”) with everlasting destruction (olethron aionion, “eonian destruction”) from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” (2Thess 1:6-10)
When Christ comes in the Day of the Lord, He will not appear a second time as the suffering Servant. He will come with power and great glory as Judge to execute justice, and as King to reign with a rod of iron (Matt 16:27; Rev 11:15; Rev 19:11,15-16). Many, failing to see the distinction between His first coming as the suffering Servant to give Himself a ransom for sin, and His final coming to judge and reign upon the earth with a rod of iron, think that His Second Coming (third for the Partial Preterist) will be similar in nature to His first coming.
When Jesus began His ministry, He went into the Synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath and read the portion in Isaiah 61 which described His ministry. However, He intentionally read only the part that referred to His earthly ministry in His first coming. He stood up to read. Then Luke says:
“And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.” (Luke 4:17-20)
It is not without significance that Jesus stopped mid-sentence and closed the scroll in Isaiah 61:2. In Isaiah the verse reads, “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” Why did Jesus close the scroll mid-sentence? It was obviously intentional, but what was His intention? Those who would apply a “cruciform hermeneutic” must say that Jesus was invalidating the second part of the verse since it presents Him as violent and judgmental. However, such reasoning is inconsistent with His statements such as “your word is truth,” and “the Scriptures cannot be broken” (Jn 10:35; 17:17). Also, just a few chapters earlier, in Isaiah 55:11, God said, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Therefore, it is unreasonable to argue that Jesus Himself was here setting aside or making void the very Scriptures that He said could not be broken.
The obvious reason that He stopped reading mid-sentence is because the first half of the verse referred to His first coming as the suffering Servant, whereas the second half referred to His Second Coming as Judge of the living and the dead and as King of kings and Lord of lords to execute justice and reign upon the earth (2Tim 4:1; Rev 11:15-18). The separation between His first and second comings was a mystery hidden until Israel had formally rejected Christ’s offer of the kingdom (Matt 23:37-39).
Even now, during this present Dispensation of Grace, we see Christ intervening in a non-cruciform manner, correcting and judging unrepentant sin within the churches. To the church of Thyatira Jesus said:
“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” (Rev 2:20-23)
Here we see Jesus warning a prophetess and false teacher within the church whom He calls by the name of Jezebel, telling her that if she doesn’t repent of her false teaching and sexual immorality that He will afflict her with sickness and punish those who partake with her with great tribulation. He even warns He will kill her children if she obstinately persists in that lifestyle. Many who have given themselves over to sexual immorality fail to take into consideration the fact that the sicknesses that comes upon them as a result of their immorality can also end up taking the lives of their own children.
To the careful student of the Word it is evident that there is no discontinuity between the God of the Old Testament and the God revealed in the person and teachings of Jesus or in the New Testament, including the book of Revelation.
I realize that the Jesus of the Bible is offensive to many in this present generation, but we must not for that reason shun from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-30). The true Jesus will always be a rock of offense to those who are unwilling to repent and submit to the Word. As Peter said:
“Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected as become the chief cornerstone, 8 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:7-8)
Paul spoke of our time when he said:
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim 4:2-5 cf. 2Thess 2:10-12)
Especially we as teachers of the Word of God have a tremendous responsibility to proclaim the whole counsel of God, rather than trying to accommodate those who are unwilling to repent of their sins and obey God (Jas 3:1). We must avoid catering to those who are not receptive to the truth but simply heap to themselves teachers who will tickle their ears with convoluted nuances of truth and vain philosophy designed to take the edge off of the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit. As Paul said:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Col 2:8-10)
Today, perhaps more than ever before, we are seeing a generation that cannot endure sound biblical doctrine. Our generation has become one in which there is more knowledge than ever before, but it is a learning without ever coming to a knowledge of the truth (2Tim 3:7,8). Instead of becoming proficient in the Word of God, they live on a steady diet of philosophy and the teachings of men who offer them new and novel twists which subvert the plain and obvious meaning of Scripture. They are more interested in traditions of men or what the Church Fathers had to say than what the Scriptures themselves say. The Emergent Church Movement actually adapts their beliefs to the changing cultural climate in order to accommodate the world, rather than confronting the changing culture with the timeless truths of God’s Word, calling men to repentance.
I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but at 74 years of age, after 54 years of being involved in church and ministry, just within that last few years I have witnessed a departure from the Bible – the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, on a scale I could have never imagined just 24 years ago when I left the civilized world to be a missionary in the Amazon jungle. We as followers of Jesus need to return to the Jesus of the Bible. We need to put aside all the inflated convoluted rhetoric of philosophers and the empty deceit of teachers with their fancy nuances on words which deprive men of the truth. We should instead endeavor to become proficient in the Word of God. As the writer of Hebrews says, some of us have become dull of hearing,
“Concerning this subject we have much to say but it is hard to explain, since you have become sluggish in your hearing. 12 For now you ought to be teachers by this time, but you again need someone to teach you the fundamental principles of the words of God from the beginning and you have become needy of milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who shares milk is inexperienced in the teaching about righteousness, for he is a baby: 14 but solid food is for the mature saints, those who have exercised for themselves the senses that are trained by practice for distinguishing both good and evil.” (Heb 5:11-14)
Sadly, we now have a generation of giants in rhetoric and philosophy who are spiritual babes, due to their neglect of the Bible and their lack of hunger for every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What this generation needs is not more philosophy or more novel convoluted deconstructions of truth, but a renewed love of the truth and a renewed appetite for sound doctrine based upon a thoughtful and prayerful exegesis of the sacred text (2Tim 3:15).
[1] For a more detailed treatment of this subject see my book “The Triumph of Mercy.”
- Published on
as seen from the perspective of a
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
by George Sidney Hurd
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I realize that the subtitle for this blog, combined with the above dispensational chart, puts me at a great disadvantage with most readers, since Dispensationalism has been so greatly criticized in recent years, not to mention the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. However, I believe that a balanced dispensational perspective reveals God’s plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all, in a manner much more glorious, logical and consistent with the nature of divine revelation, than that of Covenant Theology or any other interpretive scheme developed thus far.
Covenant Theologians seek to discredit Dispensationalism based upon its recent origins. A fully developed dispensational interpretive system did not exist prior to 1830 when John Nelson Darby first developed it (perhaps overdeveloped it). However, Covenant Theology as we now know it wasn’t fully developed prior to the mid-17th century, less than two hundred years prior to Darby. Both schools of interpretation are of relatively recent development. New isn’t always bad. Often a more recent interpretive framework comes into existence because of the inadequacy of previous interpretive methods.
Most would acknowledge that the Reformation is still in progress and that we haven’t fully recovered all the truths lost to the Church during the Dark Ages. While a systematic theology wasn’t developed by the Early Church Fathers, Justin Martyr (110 – 165 A.D.), Irenaeus (130 – 200 A.D.) Clement of Alexandria (150 – 420 A.D.) and Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 A.D.) made some distinctions between different dispensations within the Scriptures. Early Post-Reformation scholars such as Jonathan Edwards (1637 – 1716), Pierre Poirot (1646 – 1710) and Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) also made dispensational distinctions.
Also, we easily forget that Dispensational Theology, Covenant Theology (or Replacement Theology) and New Covenant Theology, along with all their nuanced variations, are not infallible but simply interpretive frameworks formulated in order to assist us in rightly understanding the overall revelation of Scripture. Dispensationalists see the ages as being characterized by distinguishable dispensations or divine administrations, whereas Covenant Theologians deny dispensational distinctions, seeing God as relating to man based solely upon covenants. Their covenants are usually three in number: the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
Covenant Theologians would say that dispensations are not explicitly delineated in the Bible and therefore were imposed upon the Scriptures by Dispensationalists. However, in reality it is the covenants of redemption, works and grace which are not named in Scripture. Nevertheless, they would counter, saying that, while not mentioned by name, they are nonetheless implicit in the Scriptures.
However, it is not true that dispensations are not mentioned in the Scriptures. The word oikonomía, which is translated “dispensation” four times in the King James Version, appears in the New Testament nine times, and its cognates oikonomos and oikonoméo are used eleven times. The word oikonomos is a compound of oikos, “house,” and nomos “law or rule.” Strongs defines oikonomía as: “administration (of a household or estate); specifically, a (religious) ‘economy.’” What is confusing to some is that “dispensation,” being an old English word, is rendered “administration” or some other similar word. What Dispensationalists seek to emphasize by the use of the term is that God has been progressively revealing Himself to us through distinct administrations or dispensations in which God governs and relates to His people, or those of His household, in distinct manners through distinct progressive stages of development and revelation.
The dispensations of God are comparable to a father who has a different relationship and household rules for each of his children at distinct stages of their development. A parent does not relate to his adult son in the same manner as he did when he was a toddler, nor does he have the same house-rules for his son as a teenager that he did when he was eight years old. In the same manner, God’s dispensational government of humanity has been progressively changing according to our development from infancy in Eden to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13).
I believe that even Covenant Theologians would acknowledge that God’s relationship with His people is distinct now from what it was, for example, in the days of Noah or in the days of Moses. However, they fail to recognize that God brought them from there to here in progressive stages or dispensations, as they incrementally learned and developed in revelational knowledge of Him and an understanding of the futility of a life lived independently from Him.
While it is true that not all dispensations are specifically named in the Bible, the two most significant ones are – the present Dispensation of Grace and the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. We will be examining these with more detail later, but here I would just like to point them out. Paul says concerning the great and final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10)
To Paul the mystery was revealed that in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, God is going to reunite all in Christ, both which are in heaven and on the earth. While this will be looked at in more detail later, the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times is the greatest dispensation of all, since it is the culmination of all dispensations. The truth of this mystery remains hidden even to most dispensationalists who tend to mistake the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times for the the Millennium.
However, the Millennium, just as with all previous dispensations, ends in human failure and judgment. The mystery that was revealed to Paul is that it has always been God’s intention to reunite all in Christ – including all in heaven, on earth and even under the earth (cf. Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28; Php 2:10; Rev 5:13). I present the scriptural basis for the final restoration of all in my book, “The Triumph of Mercy.” This mystery remains hidden even to the Traditional Dispensationalist who teaches that the final dispensation will end with the vast majority of mankind eternally separated from Christ, rather than all being reunited under the headship of Christ.
In Ephesians we see concerning the present Dispensation of Grace that it was primarily Paul who was entrusted with its stewardship (oikonomía). He said:
“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation (oikonomía) of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship (oikonomía, “dispensation”) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.” (Eph 3:2-9)
So, we see that Paul was entrusted with the new economy or Dispensation of Grace, also referred to as “the mystery of Christ” which was something unknown in prior ages. There was a change in the dispensation or economy of God. The previous Dispensation of the Law was given through Moses. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but now that we are in Christ we are no longer under the old schoolmaster or Dispensation of the Law (Gal 3:24-26; Rom 7:4,6). The Dispensation of the Law was administered through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and Paul was entrusted with the stewardship of the Dispensation of Grace, which is nothing less than the life of Jesus, who is now our life, being lived out in and through us. The newly revealed mystery of this dispensation is “Christ in us,” and the stewardship of this mystery was given to Paul. He said:
“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship (oikonomía) from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of THIS MYSTERY among the Gentiles: which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:24-27)
There is a great contrast between the prior administration or Dispensation of the Law and the Dispensation of Grace. The former brought death, whereas the latter gave life. The former ministered death to all hopes of self-salvation through the works of its Law, being called “the ministration of death” (2Cor 3:6-8). The latter Dispensation of Grace gives us the very life of Christ as our life (Gal 2:20-21; Col 3:4).
So, we have already seen that there are at least three distinct dispensations with each one progressively building upon the other until we finally all obtain to the fullness of Christ in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. Without discounting the fact that God also relates to His people through covenants, we can see that dispensations have an essential role to play in bringing to full fruition God’s glorious plan for the ages which culminates in Him being all in all in eternity (1 Cor 15:28).
The question remains as to how many dispensations or distinct administrations can be found in the Scriptures, and also what we can learn from them. Basically, a new dispensation is introduced when God establishes a distinct administration or new set of household rules in relationship to His people. Based upon this definition of oikonomía, Dispensationalists have generally seen seven dispensations from creation to the consummation. However, taking into account the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, which is the culmination of all dispensations – the first day of the new creation, I see eight distinguishable administrations in God’s plan for the ages. In the next blog we will seek to understand the eternal lessons which can be gleaned from each one of them.
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I realize that the subtitle for this blog, combined with the above dispensational chart, puts me at a great disadvantage with most readers, since Dispensationalism has been so greatly criticized in recent years, not to mention the doctrine of a Universal Restoration. However, I believe that a balanced dispensational perspective reveals God’s plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all, in a manner much more glorious, logical and consistent with the nature of divine revelation, than that of Covenant Theology or any other interpretive scheme developed thus far.
Covenant Theologians seek to discredit Dispensationalism based upon its recent origins. A fully developed dispensational interpretive system did not exist prior to 1830 when John Nelson Darby first developed it (perhaps overdeveloped it). However, Covenant Theology as we now know it wasn’t fully developed prior to the mid-17th century, less than two hundred years prior to Darby. Both schools of interpretation are of relatively recent development. New isn’t always bad. Often a more recent interpretive framework comes into existence because of the inadequacy of previous interpretive methods.
Most would acknowledge that the Reformation is still in progress and that we haven’t fully recovered all the truths lost to the Church during the Dark Ages. While a systematic theology wasn’t developed by the Early Church Fathers, Justin Martyr (110 – 165 A.D.), Irenaeus (130 – 200 A.D.) Clement of Alexandria (150 – 420 A.D.) and Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 A.D.) made some distinctions between different dispensations within the Scriptures. Early Post-Reformation scholars such as Jonathan Edwards (1637 – 1716), Pierre Poirot (1646 – 1710) and Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) also made dispensational distinctions.
Also, we easily forget that Dispensational Theology, Covenant Theology (or Replacement Theology) and New Covenant Theology, along with all their nuanced variations, are not infallible but simply interpretive frameworks formulated in order to assist us in rightly understanding the overall revelation of Scripture. Dispensationalists see the ages as being characterized by distinguishable dispensations or divine administrations, whereas Covenant Theologians deny dispensational distinctions, seeing God as relating to man based solely upon covenants. Their covenants are usually three in number: the covenant of redemption, the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.
Covenant Theologians would say that dispensations are not explicitly delineated in the Bible and therefore were imposed upon the Scriptures by Dispensationalists. However, in reality it is the covenants of redemption, works and grace which are not named in Scripture. Nevertheless, they would counter, saying that, while not mentioned by name, they are nonetheless implicit in the Scriptures.
However, it is not true that dispensations are not mentioned in the Scriptures. The word oikonomía, which is translated “dispensation” four times in the King James Version, appears in the New Testament nine times, and its cognates oikonomos and oikonoméo are used eleven times. The word oikonomos is a compound of oikos, “house,” and nomos “law or rule.” Strongs defines oikonomía as: “administration (of a household or estate); specifically, a (religious) ‘economy.’” What is confusing to some is that “dispensation,” being an old English word, is rendered “administration” or some other similar word. What Dispensationalists seek to emphasize by the use of the term is that God has been progressively revealing Himself to us through distinct administrations or dispensations in which God governs and relates to His people, or those of His household, in distinct manners through distinct progressive stages of development and revelation.
The dispensations of God are comparable to a father who has a different relationship and household rules for each of his children at distinct stages of their development. A parent does not relate to his adult son in the same manner as he did when he was a toddler, nor does he have the same house-rules for his son as a teenager that he did when he was eight years old. In the same manner, God’s dispensational government of humanity has been progressively changing according to our development from infancy in Eden to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13).
I believe that even Covenant Theologians would acknowledge that God’s relationship with His people is distinct now from what it was, for example, in the days of Noah or in the days of Moses. However, they fail to recognize that God brought them from there to here in progressive stages or dispensations, as they incrementally learned and developed in revelational knowledge of Him and an understanding of the futility of a life lived independently from Him.
While it is true that not all dispensations are specifically named in the Bible, the two most significant ones are – the present Dispensation of Grace and the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. We will be examining these with more detail later, but here I would just like to point them out. Paul says concerning the great and final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10)
To Paul the mystery was revealed that in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, God is going to reunite all in Christ, both which are in heaven and on the earth. While this will be looked at in more detail later, the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times is the greatest dispensation of all, since it is the culmination of all dispensations. The truth of this mystery remains hidden even to most dispensationalists who tend to mistake the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times for the the Millennium.
However, the Millennium, just as with all previous dispensations, ends in human failure and judgment. The mystery that was revealed to Paul is that it has always been God’s intention to reunite all in Christ – including all in heaven, on earth and even under the earth (cf. Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28; Php 2:10; Rev 5:13). I present the scriptural basis for the final restoration of all in my book, “The Triumph of Mercy.” This mystery remains hidden even to the Traditional Dispensationalist who teaches that the final dispensation will end with the vast majority of mankind eternally separated from Christ, rather than all being reunited under the headship of Christ.
In Ephesians we see concerning the present Dispensation of Grace that it was primarily Paul who was entrusted with its stewardship (oikonomía). He said:
“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation (oikonomía) of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship (oikonomía, “dispensation”) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.” (Eph 3:2-9)
So, we see that Paul was entrusted with the new economy or Dispensation of Grace, also referred to as “the mystery of Christ” which was something unknown in prior ages. There was a change in the dispensation or economy of God. The previous Dispensation of the Law was given through Moses. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but now that we are in Christ we are no longer under the old schoolmaster or Dispensation of the Law (Gal 3:24-26; Rom 7:4,6). The Dispensation of the Law was administered through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and Paul was entrusted with the stewardship of the Dispensation of Grace, which is nothing less than the life of Jesus, who is now our life, being lived out in and through us. The newly revealed mystery of this dispensation is “Christ in us,” and the stewardship of this mystery was given to Paul. He said:
“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship (oikonomía) from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of THIS MYSTERY among the Gentiles: which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:24-27)
There is a great contrast between the prior administration or Dispensation of the Law and the Dispensation of Grace. The former brought death, whereas the latter gave life. The former ministered death to all hopes of self-salvation through the works of its Law, being called “the ministration of death” (2Cor 3:6-8). The latter Dispensation of Grace gives us the very life of Christ as our life (Gal 2:20-21; Col 3:4).
So, we have already seen that there are at least three distinct dispensations with each one progressively building upon the other until we finally all obtain to the fullness of Christ in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times. Without discounting the fact that God also relates to His people through covenants, we can see that dispensations have an essential role to play in bringing to full fruition God’s glorious plan for the ages which culminates in Him being all in all in eternity (1 Cor 15:28).
The question remains as to how many dispensations or distinct administrations can be found in the Scriptures, and also what we can learn from them. Basically, a new dispensation is introduced when God establishes a distinct administration or new set of household rules in relationship to His people. Based upon this definition of oikonomía, Dispensationalists have generally seen seven dispensations from creation to the consummation. However, taking into account the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, which is the culmination of all dispensations – the first day of the new creation, I see eight distinguishable administrations in God’s plan for the ages. In the next blog we will seek to understand the eternal lessons which can be gleaned from each one of them.
- Published on
as seen from the perspective of a
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
Conservative Dispensational
Restorationist
by George Sidney Hurd
In the previous blog, while not giving a detailed defense of Dispensationalism, I sought to encourage those who may have a predisposition against Dispensationalism to reconsider the viability of a dispensational understanding of God’s plan for the ages. To me, it is not only an interpretational framework which is justifiable from the Scriptures, but also, rightly understood, it captures the progressive nature of God’s all-wise plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all in a manner consistent with His revealed nature which is love (1Jn 4:8).
To me, dispensations throughout the ages are a glorious learning experience of eternal value to all generations. When we arrive at the end of the ages and pass into eternity, the whole panorama of the ages will ever be in our view. They contain a progressive revelation of the heart of God not possible without the fall and failure of man. Each stage or dispensation reveals something about man and about God which we could have never known apart from the fall and subsequent redemption.
Some mistakenly think that God will reformat our minds, erasing our memory once we are glorified. They say that it couldn’t be said that there will be no more sorrow or crying if we were able to remember all our departed loved ones who will be eternally lost. If in fact our loved ones were to be lost forever, then God would indeed have to either erase our memories or else somehow remove all natural affection from us.
However, as I point out in “The Triumph of Mercy,” God’s glorious plan for the ages ends well, rather than ending in an unending disaster for the majority of those whom He created in His own image and likeness. God doesn’t induce permanent amnesia in order to make eternity bearable for us. Neither does He deprive us of natural affection so as to be forever beyond feeling. Our weeping will be exchanged for perpetual joy when all are restored and reunited in Christ in the consummation of the ages (Acts 3:21; Eph 1:10; Isa 60:4-5).
The Greek word oikonomía, often translated “dispensation” in the King James Version, speaks of the economy, administration or house rules of a government, institution or household. As with any administration, God’s administrations involve rules and responsibilities, often administered by a steward or administrator, along with consequences or judgments for failure to be subject to the particular administration or household rules.
Some Liberal and Progressive teachers have sought to remove all human responsibility from the equation. Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack” argues against any human responsibility towards God, arguing from the fact that the actual word “responsibility” does not appear in the Scriptures.[1] However, the fact that the word “responsibility,” being a later word from the French language, does not appear in the Scriptures in no way leaves us without responsibility before God for what we say and do. The word “responsibility” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as: “The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable.” The concept of human responsibility is everywhere present in the Scriptures. How can anyone with even a basic understanding of the Bible say that we are not accountable nor answerable to God for our words and deeds?
Quite to the contrary, Jesus said, “for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:36-37). Paul Young says that, rather than speaking of responsibility, the Lord speaks of our ability to respond. However, that is just a semantical play on words. In the Scriptures our ability to respond also carries with it the responsibility to respond and we will have to give an account in the day of judgment for having acted irresponsibly in life.
So, the main thing we should look for in determining distinct dispensations in Scripture are new administrative rules or some change in the manner in which God relates to His people. Each dispensation is designed to give us a progressive revelation in our knowledge of Him and also of the limitations of our own finite human condition, ultimately leading us from infancy in Eden into a life of perfect union in intimate relationship with Him as His huioi or “mature adult sons” (Gal 4:1-7).
1. The Dispensation of Innocence
Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God without flaw. They were perfect at their stage of development, much as a baby who is born without defects. Yet, as with an infant, that was only the first stage in their development. They were innocent and sinless, yet they did not yet possess a positive righteousness since positive righteousness is choosing that which is right, as opposed to that which is wrong or evil, and as yet they had no concept of good and evil.
They knew that God had told them not to eat of the tree of good and evil and that if they did it would result in their death. But not having ever seen or experienced death, it is doubtful that they had any real comprehension of what it meant to die. I visualize them as being comparable to a toddler who is told to not touch the hot woodstove lest he be burned. Not until they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did they experience spiritual death, or death towards God. The first physical death by bloodshed they witnessed was the shed blood of animals to cover their nakedness, but they never fully knew the pain of physical death until Cain slew Abel.
Some view God as one who had a wonderful plan for mankind, but then the serpent came along and deceived Eve and she ate of the tree. And then Adam followed suit, totally foiling God’s original plan. Then, in order to salvage as much of mankind as possible, God came up with plan B, sending His Son.
However, the Scriptures reveal to us that there is no such thing as a plan B with God. God inhabits eternity and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11). God does nothing ad lib. Neither is He learning as He goes, just as Acts 15:18 says: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” [2] Before the creation and the fall, God had predetermined every detail of our redemption and final restoration (Acts 4:27-28; 3:21). Jesus was the Lamb slain from before creation according to the predetermined will of God (Rev 13:8).
The fall of man, as well as every other detail of history up until the final consummation of His creation story, is perfectly known and ordained to occur according to His eternal plan for the ages. Some things He causes while other things He allows, but He is sovereign Lord of all, and interweaves all things together, whether good or bad, in such a manner that they all ultimately work together for our greater good and to His glory.
His glorious masterplan for the ages was conceived out of His infinite wisdom and essential nature which is love. It is an incremental plan, going from glory to glory, culminating in the consummation when all will have been saved, purified and restored, resulting in all having been reunited in Christ and God being all in all (Jn 4:42; 1Jn 2:2; 1Tim 4:10; Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28).
God’s plan for the ages is incremental and progressive. Rather than creation being plan A and the fall requiring plan B, the fall is more like A-1, followed by A-2, etc. The major incremental stages in the outworking of God’s eternal plan can be seen as the different dispensations or administrations.
Adam and Eve were given the responsibility of tending the garden, multiplying and filling the earth and exercising dominion over it. The only prohibition was against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As with all subsequent dispensations, it ends with human failure and judgment – that is, all dispensations except for the final eighth dispensation - the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times which culminates in all being restored and reunited in Christ, by whom and for whom all things were created in the beginning (Col 1:16; Eph 1:10).
The Dispensation of Innocence ended with man’s failure and the entrance of sin and death to the human race – something previously unknown to Adam and Eve. For the first time they knew what it was to be spiritually dead – separated from God. Their God-consciousness was replaced with self-consciousness and for the first time they were naked and felt ashamed and afraid.
In judgment they were expelled from the garden, but God in His mercy set a guard to keep them from partaking from the tree of life in their fallen state which would have made them immortal in their sinful condition. The ground was cursed for Adam’s sake, introducing hard labor to the human race, and because Eve ate of the fruit of the tree, physical pain would be experienced for the first time. The woman’s pain in childbirth was multiplied, but we see God’s mercy in judgment when He afterwards promised that her seed would gain the victory over the serpent on the behalf of mankind.
We know that God didn’t place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden and allow the serpent to tempt Eve in order to discover what decision they would make. God already knew that they would fall into temptation and eat of the tree before He even began creation. So, what was God’s purpose in allowing them to fall and bring sin and death to the human race?
There are many things about God and ourselves that we would have never known apart from the fall. We love and long for His presence because we have experienced what it is like to be without Him. We would have never known what true joy was without experiencing sorrow and pain. We would never know to love righteousness without first coming to hate evil. We would have never known the multifaceted love of God in the form of grace and mercy if we had never been in need of His grace and mercy. I believe that Paul in part refers to this when he says: “For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:32). Jesus said that those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:41-47). So while God did not cause man’s fall, we can see His wisdom and good purpose in including it in His eternal plan for the ages.
2. The Dispensation of Conscience
Due to man’s failure under the Dispensation of Innocence, a spiritual death or separation from God occurred and man’s spirit died in the sense of being separated from God. It would not be until after the cross and Pentecost that those who come to God through Christ are regenerated, becoming one spirit with the Lord (Jn 17:21;1Cor 6:17; 1Cor 12:13; Eph 5:30).
After becoming separated and independent from God and losing their innocence, God then introduced the next stage of mankind’s learning process – the Dispensation of Conscience in which He left man to govern themselves according to their own conscience, doing that which they deemed to be right in their own eyes.
This dispensation was obviously intended to teach us that the way of man is not in himself, and that it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps (Jer 10:23), and that the heart of man separate from God is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, to such a degree that only God can truly know one’s thoughts and intentions (Jer 17:9,10). With this understanding we come to see our need for God who alone knows our hearts and is able to correct us and direct our steps (Ps 139:23-24).
Once again, we see man’s failure under the Dispensation of Conscience. The first man to die was murdered by his own brother when Cain slew Abel, following the inclination of his own heart. Left to themselves, man became so wicked and degenerate that every thought and intention of their hearts was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). Also, during this time some of the angels left their proper abode as angels in order to take to themselves wives of the daughters of men and engendered a race of Nephilim or giants upon the earth (Gen 6:4; Jude 6). The situation degenerated to the point that only Noah and his family hadn’t corrupted themselves, making it necessary for God to intervene with the judgment of the flood.
So, we can learn from this dispensation that man, left to the dictates of his own conscience, will go astray, being inclined to evil. Man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in man to direct his steps. We need communion with God who by His Spirit illuminates our path through His Word. While our conscience is God-given, it can become seared and callused by repeatedly violating it. Some have violated their conscience so many times that they are beyond feeling (1Tim 4:2; 2Tim 3:8; Rom 1:28). The lowest points in Israel’s history was when they did that which was right in their own eyes (Dt 12:8; Jdg 17:6; Pr 16:2).
It is common to hear someone say something like, “let your conscience be your guide,” or “just follow your heart.” However, the Dispensation of Conscience demonstrates that the heart of man is deceitful and therefore we need to take heed to the Word of God rather than simply doing what seems right in our own eyes (Ps 119:9,105).
3. The Dispensation of Human Government
Having demonstrated through the Dispensation of Conscience what man is capable of left to himself with each one simply doing what seems right in their own eyes, God then establishes the next dispensation or administration – the Dispensation of Human Government. One of the distinctives of this new dispensation is that they may eat of every living thing that moves, but they were not permitted to shed man’s blood. If anyone took another’s life, they were to receive the death penalty:
“Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Gen 9:6)
This is distinct from what we saw under the Dispensation of Conscience where God actually set a mark on Cain lest anyone finding him should kill him, avenging Abel’s blood. Remember, in that time everyone on the planet was either Abel’s child, grandchild, niece or nephew, and no doubt many would have been seeking justice – life for life.
The reason God gives for requiring capital punishment for taking a human life is that man was made in the image of God and therefore each one of us is of great value to Him. Prior to the flood there were Nephilim on the earth, and human life was genetically altered and devalued to the point of being regarded as mere animals. The Book of Enoch, which, although not in the Canon, is quoted in Scripture [3] and tells of how the Angels who cohabited with women prior to the flood engendered giants who treated human life as common livestock:
“Who (the giants) consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.” (Enoch 7:3-6).
Originally in Eden there was no death, and Adam and Eve were vegetarians (Gen 1:29). Left to govern themselves in the Dispensation of Conscience, they degenerated to the point of wholesale cannibalism. Now, under the Dispensation of Human Government, mankind was permitted to eat of all flesh save that of human flesh. This regulation required human government in order to enforce the law against manslaughter.
Also, God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth. However, instead of filling the earth they settled in the plain of Shinar and sought to build a tower that would reach unto heaven (Gen 11:2-4). As a result, God in judgment confounded their languages, resulting in them being dispersed throughout the earth as He had originally commanded.
By the time of Abraham, when the Dispensation of Human Government gave way to the Dispensation of Promise, men were worshipping the spirits of the Nephilim or demons who were regarded by them as demigods and they offered up human sacrifices to placate them. As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Human Government ended in man’s failure and resulting judgment.
4. The Dispensation of Promise
The Dispensation of Promise does not encompass all of humanity as did the previous ones. It seems that Paul was referring to this turn in history when he said of mankind in general: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Rom 1:28). From this point forward until the Millennial reign of Christ during which time the saints will reign with Christ over the nations, God enters into a covenant relationship with the elect only, and the dispensational economies or household rules only apply to His elect people.
The Dispensation of Promise began with the call of Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees to a land which the Lord would show Him (Gen 12:1). The administrative change becomes evident in Genesis 12 where the Lord promised Abraham, saying:
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
Being a stranger in a strange land, advanced in years with a sterile wife, the fulfillment of this promise was clearly impossible, humanly speaking. When Abraham asked God how he could know that the promise would be fulfilled, the Lord told him to prepare for a ceremony common to the Chaldeans when they were going to make a solemn oath (Gen 15). In this ceremony they cut animals in half and laid the halves on the ground with a path between them. Then the two individuals who were making the solemn oath would pass together between the halves, saying: “May the same be done to me if I break this covenant.”
However, when the moment came to walk between the animals, God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep and He walked alone between them, indicating that the fulfillment of the promise wasn’t contingent upon Abraham nor his descendants – that God Himself would bring it to pass. It was an unconditional promise because He by Himself had sworn that Abraham would be a great nation, that he would inherit the land, and that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
This dispensation was distinct from the previous ones in that the administrative mandate for God’s household was simply to continue believing in God’s unconditional promises, even when their fulfillment seemed humanly impossible. While the key word for man’s responsibility under the Dispensation of the Law, which would come 430 years later at Sinai, was “do,” the key word for man under the Dispensation of Promise was simply “believe.”
At this stage in God’s progressive, incremental plan for the ages, God is developing faith in His people, giving them unconditional covenant promises which were so far beyond man’s possibility to accomplish that all they could do was continue calling those things that were not as though they were until God brought them to pass (Rom 4:18; Heb 11:8-10, 17-19). Many of the promises given to Abraham and his descendants have yet to be fully fulfilled but they are sure promises which will come to pass whether we believe them or not since they are based upon His faithfulness rather than man’s.
Many of God’s people have ceased believing that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham and his descendants will be fulfilled due to Israel’s unfaithfulness. But Paul responds to this saying: “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” (Rom 3:3-4). Abraham’s descendants, Israel, will indeed yet become a great nation and will finally possess the entirety of the land which God promised them because the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant depends upon the faithfulness of God and not on the faithfulness of Israel.
Another aspect of the promise to Abraham which many of God’s people have failed to believe – in part because it is so great and all-inclusive in its implications, is the promise that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This promise requires a universal restoration of all mankind for its fulfillment. God didn’t say that “some” families of the earth would be blessed, but “all” the families of the earth. That cannot merely refer to all families living on the earth in Abraham’s time, or all families living on the earth when Jesus returns, but all families of all time, from Adam and Eve’s family to the family of the last child born to mankind. Otherwise, not all the families of the earth could be said to be blessed.
Those who fail to see that in the final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, absolutely all will be reunited in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, cannot say that in Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed. They must postulate that God will instead somehow induce amnesia or else desensitize from all natural affection those few privileged to hear the gospel and positively respond to it before the Second Coming of Christ, since there is no entire family line in which all will have been saved in life, and therefore some family members will be tormented forever or exterminated, according to their belief. A family cannot truly be said to be blessed if they have the knowledge that one of them is in unending torments or had been exterminated.
However, those who believe in the final restoration of all can understand and wait in hopeful expectation for the full literal fulfillment of God’s promise that in Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth will be blessed. Even their most wayward sons or daughters will be finally restored after a time in the purifying Lake of Fire in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 3:15; Isa 60:4-5). Every knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, including those presently under the earth or in hades. And when the last enemy has become subject to Christ, then Christ will subject Himself to the Father and God will be all in all (Php 2:10-11; 1Cor 15:28).
As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Promise ends in human failure. Israel ultimately failed to trust in God’s unconditional commitment to fulfill His covenant promises to them as a nation. Even after seeing God’s mighty hand through the ten plagues against Pharaoh, as soon as they faced the Red Sea, they accused God of taking them into the desert only to die there (Ex 14:10-12). Three days after rejoicing over God’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s armies at the Red Sea, instead of looking to the Lord to provide water for them they complained against Him, and God in His grace miraculously provided water for them. Then a month and a half after leaving Egypt their food supply ran out, and again they accused God rather than looking to Him for provision. They complained to Moses saying:
“Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Ex 16:3)
Just a couple days later they were out of water and again accused Moses of leading them into the desert only to die there of thirst (Ex 17:3). Rather than resting by faith in the unconditional promises made to their fathers concerning them, remembering all of His mighty works bringing them out of Egypt, they time and time again accused God of plotting with Moses for their destruction. The desert was their final exam under the Dispensation of Promise, and they failed miserably. But rather than leaving them to repeat the fourth grade He passed them on to the next dispensation – the Dispensation of the Law.
5. The Dispensation of the Law
The children of Israel failed to trust in the unconditional promises of God under the Dispensation of Promise, even as man had failed under every previous dispensation. Now, under the following Dispensation of the Law, God is going to teach mankind something more about Himself and also about the limitations of their own sinful nature. Through the Dispensation of the Law He teaches us how holy He is and how incapable we are of living a life of holiness independently from Him.
It is not that the promise under the Abrahamic Covenant ceased with the introduction of the Law. The Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional and perpetual covenant, whereas the Covenant of the Law was a conditional covenant which was added alongside of the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Paul makes this clear when he said:
“And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later (after the promise), cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect… 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of (charin “for the sake of”) transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” (Gal 3:17,19)
It says in the New King James Version that the Law was added “because of transgressions.” However, the word translated “because of” is charin from the word charis or “grace.” The idea expressed is, “for the benefit of or for the sake of.” The New American Standard Updated Version captures the idea in their margin where they add, “or for the sake of defining.” The Darby Version renders it, “for the sake of transgressions.” God’s Word Version says, “to identify what wrongdoing is” and Weymouth reads, “for the sake of defining sin.”
Sin is always sin, but sin is not a “transgression” in the absence of a law to transgress. Paul said that sin was not imputed as a transgression between Adam and Moses since there was no law to transgress (Rom 5:13). He said that he would not have known covetousness if the Law hadn’t said “you shall not covet” (Rom 7:7).
In the giving of the Law at Sinai they passed from being governed by God’s unconditional covenant of promise to a conditional “if you…then I…” covenant. Prior to the Law, the children of Israel were blessed by pure grace, but under the law, although they were still saved by grace, they were blessed or conversely cursed based upon their fulfillment of the works of the Law. We can see this major transition enacted at Sinai. The Lord told Moses to present this new conditional covenant to the people saying:
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Ex 19:4-6)
God first reminds them how that, up to that moment, He had dealt with them purely by grace. He said, “you have seen how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.” In spite of their murmuring against Him at the Red Sea, God graciously opened up the sea so they could pass through on dry ground and destroyed Pharaoh’s army behind them. When they complained about the water and the food God graciously provided for them without any reproaches. Time and time again, they were unconditionally blessed in spite of their unbelief and lack of gratitude. Not once did He respond in severe judgments as we see later under the Covenant of the Law.
After Moses presented the conditions of the covenant to the people, they all answered with one voice: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (verse 8). In contrast with the Abrahamic Covenant, the Law was a conditional covenant which required the consent of both parties. The Children of Israel, without any further reflection upon their sinful condition, lightly responded: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” A little self-reflection would have led them to plead with God to remain under the Dispensation of Promise, but they had yet to learn the limitations of their own fallen sinful nature and their need for grace.
Immediately after agreeing to the conditions of the Covenant of the Law there was a drastic change in relationship. The relationship was no longer as that of a mother eagle bearing her young on her wings, but with thundering and lightning and a thick cloud so that the people trembled for fear. God said that whoever touched the mountain would surely be put to death.
Moses went up the mountain to receive the ten commandments written on stone, which were a sign of the Covenant of the Law made between God and the Children of Israel, but even before he came down from the mountain with the tables of stone, they had already broken the first two commandments, making a golden calf and worshipping it. Now being under the Law, 3,000 of them died that same day as a consequence of having transgressed it (Ex 32:28).
Israel chose to put themselves under the Dispensation of the Law when they accepted the terms of the Law saying: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” But they were never able to fulfill their covenant promise to obey all the things contained in the Law to do them. Before giving them the Law, God knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it. The Dispensation of the Law was designed to reveal the sinful nature of man so that in the next dispensation – the Dispensation of Grace, they would have already comprehended the depths of their own depravity and need for His grace provided through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.
The Dispensation of the Law was given by God to reveal our own sinfulness so that when the appointed time came for the grace of God to be revealed through Jesus Christ, they would have come to despair of all hopes of attaining to the righteous requirements of the Law, eagerly receiving the free gift of the righteousness of God in Christ. Paul clearly states God’s purpose in giving the Law from its inception. He said:
“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Rom 5:20)
The Law was added for the sake of revealing our sins as transgressions, but only until Christ the promised Seed should come (Gal 3:19). Paul next compares the Law to a schoolmaster who is charged with teaching children until they reach adulthood:
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons (huios “adult sons”) of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:21-26)
The Law cannot give life. On the contrary, it was the ministration of death (2Cor 3:7). It confined all under sin so that we would then look to Christ and receive His righteousness as a gift of grace. In Romans, before presenting the gift of the righteousness of God in Christ, Paul makes it clear that we cannot attain to the righteous demands of the Law. Its purpose was simply to reveal our sin:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 BUT NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:20-24)
So, what was the purpose of the Law? To reveal our sin. The Law is like a mirror that reveals our true condition but cannot change it. The Law could not give life, but only condemn since it required perfect obedience (Gal 3:21; Jas 2:10). It is called “the ministry of condemnation” since its purpose was to make sin become an infraction or transgression of the Law, resulting in the condemnation of every transgressor in order that the condemned might look to Christ as their only means of justification (2Cor 3:9).
To this very day many still think that the Law was given for us to live by, but it was not given to live by, but to die by. Paul called it the “ministration of death, written and engraved in stones.” (2Cor 3:7). He said that when the commandment “you shall not covet” came to his attention, sin revived and him and he died (Rom 7:9). The only place where the words, “you shall not covet” appear is on the two tables of stone, so one cannot reasonably argue that it is only referring to the ceremonial law as that which passed with the introduction of the New Covenant. In God’s infinite wisdom He placed Israel under the Dispensation of the Law in order to reveal the depravity of man in preparation for the subsequent revelation of the grace of God in Christ.
6. The Dispensation of Grace
Israel miserably failed under the Dispensation of the Law, continually breaking the covenant that they had made with God at Sinai. After the northern 10 tribes of Israel had been conquered and dispersed in judgment for their abominations and idolatries at a time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were also being taken into captivity for continually breaking covenant with the Lord, Jeremiah prophesied of a new covenant which would usher in an entirely new and different administration or dispensation based upon promises. He said:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 32 NOT ACCORDING TO the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)
Contrary to what Covenant Theologians would have us believe, the Covenant of the Law is not merely a continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant, nor does the Law carry over into the New Covenant as a rule of life. It is specifically said of the New Covenant that it is “not according to” the Old Covenant of the Law. The Old Covenant said, “If you… then I….” However, when He introduced the New Covenant He said, “They did not… therefore I disregarded them” (Heb 8:9).
The Old Covenant was composed of external rules given to a people of a wicked and deceitful heart. It was added to the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Under the New Covenant God regenerates our spirit, giving us a new heart that is according to godliness, as Paul said:
“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom 7:6)
While the Law still serves its original purpose of convicting sinners of their sins, it is explicitly said to not be applicable to the believer in this dispensation. The New Testament clearly states that we are no longer under the Law but under grace (Rom 6:14-15). Paul exposed false teachers who misapplied the Law, trying to put believers under it in this Dispensation of Grace. He said of them:
“desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” (1Tim 1:6-11)
While the Law still convicts the sinner of his need for Christ, we as believers are not under the Law but under Grace as a rule of life (dispensationally speaking). The righteousness of the Law is now fulfilled in the believer by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:4). The new life principal for the believer under this Dispensation of Grace is the very resurrection life of Jesus being lived out in and through us (Gal 2:20; 2Cor 4:10-11; Php 1:21).
In the Gospel of John, we see this marked contrast between the old Dispensation of the Law and the new Dispensation of Grace in the person of Jesus Christ:
“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
The contrast between these two distinct life principles – Law and Grace, is very marked. It says of the Law that it “was given,” whereas grace and truth “came.” The Law was given “through angels by the hand of a mediator” in order to “bring us to Christ.” (Gal 3:19,24). But Grace and Truth came to us personified in Jesus Christ. It is interesting how John 1:17 is constructed. Normally the double subject “grace and truth” would require that the verb “came” be in plural - “they came.” However it is in the singular, making it say, “Grace and Truth He came through the person of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is Grace and Truth personified. Grace in the new Dispensation of Grace is nothing other than Christ in us (Col 1:27). He is the Truth that makes us free indeed (Jn 8:32; 14:6). I treat this subject in more depth in my book “The True Grace of God.”
Even the Dispensation of Grace ends in failure on the part of the Church in general. Very few believers in this age have availed themselves of the grace available to them through the life of Christ within them, walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Instead, many within the Church have fallen from the grace-walk in Jesus, continuing instead in the oldness of the letter, trying to observe the Old Covenant Law through external religious observance.
Many more, burned out on religion, have converted the grace of God into licentiousness, calling it Christian liberty. Paul said that in the latter days many who profess Christ will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons (1Tim 4:1). Jesus posed the question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The conditions upon the earth at the close of this dispensation will reach the point where, if Christ were to delay His coming, no flesh would be saved, and yet at the same time God will have purified His elect Church (Matt 24:22, c.f. Eph 5:27; Mark 13:27).
While most earlier Dispensationalists believed that the Church had to be raptured at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week 7 years prior to the Second Coming of Christ, there is no reference in Scripture to a rapture of the Church 7 years separated from Christ’s Second Coming.
They often insist that God cannot deal with Israel at the same time as the Church. If it could be demonstrated that God does not, or will not, deal with the Church and Israel at the same time, then this argument might carry some weight. But the fact is that God has been dealing with both groups concurrently since the beginning of the Church. The kingdom was still being offered to Israel in the early days of the Church (Acts 3:19-21). If the nation as a whole had repented, the kingdom would have been set up. Yet the Church was already in existence. God was dealing with national Israel in 70 A.D. when Titus and his armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, God has been dealing with Israel in judgment through their dispersion as predicted in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ (Hosea 3:4; Lk.21:24).
Even today we are witnessing Israel being re-gathered as predicted in Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel 38:8; Jeremiah 23:1-8 and many other passages. When they are re-gathered to the land in unbelief God's judgment of Israel will reach its climax (Ezek. 20:33-38). This is the judgment of the tribulation — the time of Jacob’s trouble. So, it can be seen that God has never ceased to deal with Israel as a nation. Since God has been carrying on two programs at the same time – one of blessing for the Church and the other in judgment upon Israel, it is not correct to say that God must remove the Church before He can resume His program with Israel.
It should also be pointed out that God will not be dealing with national Israel as a saved people in the tribulation. He will continue dealing with them in judgment. It is not until the Second Advent that national Israel will be saved. In Romans 11:25—27 Paul says that Israel's blindness will continue until the Second Advent. It will be the Deliverer coming out of Zion who will turn away ungodliness from Israel. He will establish the new covenant with them and take away their sins. This all takes place when Christ comes and sets up His kingdom and not before.
While the Great Tribulation is referred to as “Jacob’s Trouble” (Jer 30:7), and will be a time of unprecedented persecution of the Jews, it will also be a time of tribulation for those believers within the Church in need of purification (Rev 12:17; 7:14). I cover the subject of the rapture and other eschatological events in relation to the Second Coming of Christ in my book “Focusing in on End-Time Events.”
7. The Millennial Dispensation
The final lesson for mankind before the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will be learned during the Dispensation of the Millennium – a thousand year period in which Christ will be reigning with the glorified saints upon the earth and Satan will be bound in the abyss.
It is common to hear the excuse “the devil made me do it,” but during this dispensation that excuse for sinning will be removed, for Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:2-3). Men often justify their lack of submission to authority, saying that those in authority are corrupt. but in that day, rebellion against authority will be shown to be a condition of the heart rather than something external since Christ Himself will be reigning along with His glorified saints (Rev 20:4; 2Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17).
Many today justify stealing, saying that it is the only way they can survive, but in the Millennium the conditions will be so ideal that the plowman will overtake the harvester, meaning that crops are planted and harvested continually rather than seasonally (Amos 9:13). While animals, just as mortal men, will continue to live and die as now, their lives will be greatly extended, and the animals will no longer prey on man nor upon each other as Isaiah prophecies of that time:
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa 11:6-9)
The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters of the sea and the earth’s conditions will be restored to such a degree that the lifespan of the mortals inhabiting the earth will be as it was prior to the flood. Even the animals will cease to devour flesh just as it was in Eden and they will no longer be aggressive:
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed… 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.” (Isa 65:20,25)
At Christ’s Second Coming, the Jews will look upon Him whom they pierced; God will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication, and a nation will be born in a day (Zec 12:10; Isa 66:8; Rom 11:26). Christ will at that time separate those of the nations who remain upon the earth after the Church has been glorified and caught up to meet the Lord in the air at His coming. The sheep will be granted entrance into the Millennial kingdom as mortals to repopulate the earth, whereas the goats will be sent into eonian correction.
The Dispensation of the Millennial reign of Christ demonstrates that even under the most ideal external conditions, man is depraved beyond reformation. The only answer is a new creation, since the former creation – the old man which we were in the first Adam, is unreformable. The only answer is a new creation in Christ (Gal 6:15; 2Cor 5:17).
In order to demonstrate this for all generations to see, Satan will be loosed from his prison for a short time and will manage to deceive the nations and make war against Christ and His kingdom (Rev 20:2,7,8). Even after 1,000 years under the most ideal conditions, we see that the flesh profits nothing. Doubtlessly, many will receive Christ in the Millennium and their names will therefore be found written in the book of life at the White Throne Judgment, which judgment will close the Dispensation of the Millennium. However, those still outside of Christ will be judged according to their works and will receive their part in the purifying Lake of Fire (Rev 20:12-15). In the new Dispensation all will eventually be reunited in Christ and then God will be all in all in the eternal state.
8. The Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times
Once the Dispensation of the Millennium closes with human failure followed by the White Throne Judgment, the heavenly city or the Church – the New Jerusalem, will descend upon the new earth (Rev 21:1). In contrast with the previous dispensations, this dispensation culminates in absolutely all being reunited in Christ – both those in heaven as well as those on earth:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together (anakephalaiomai) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10) [4]
The phrase: “gather together in one” is a composite word made up of ana which normally means “again” and kephalaioo, which means “to head up or sum up,” and is best translated as “to reunite or unite again under one head,” since only this rendering retains the meaning of the prefix ana. [5] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon actually comments as to the meaning of the word in this context, saying:
“God is said…to bring together again for himself (note the middle) all things and beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into one combined state of fellowship in Christ.” [6]
The terms “gather together” or “bring together again” when referring to those formerly at enmity, as is the case with mankind towards God, is relational and inseparable from reconciliation. Therefore, this passage, just as Colossians 1:16-20, clearly speaks of a universal reconciliation. The mystery of His will which is being revealed here in Ephesians 1:9,10 is the final restoration of all when all creation will be eternally reunited in Christ, and God will then be all in all (1Cor 15:28).
This is also what Paul declared in summary form in Romans 11:36 saying: “For of (ek “out of”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” As Colossians 1:16 says, everything and everyone was created by Him. Then in verse 20 it says that this same “all” was reconciled to (eis “into”) Him through the cross (Col 1:16,20). In Ephesians 1:9,10 it says that all will be finally reunited in Him in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. “For of Him and through Him and TO (eis “into”) Him are all things.” Paul could not have made it any clearer.
In the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times we see that the gates of the New Jerusalem are never shut, but no one is permitted to enter unless their names are first written in the book of life (Rev 21:25-26). Those outside who cannot enter through the gates are said to be those who defile or those who cause an abomination or lie. Within the New Jerusalem is the river of the water of life and the tree of life with its leaves which are “for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:1-2).
Why would there still be those of the nations still in need of healing if indeed it is referring to the eternal state when all have either been perfected and glorified or are eternally in the Lake of Fire as traditionally believed? The nations are not the Bride, the Church, but the rest of mankind who will have repopulated the earth during the Millennium, as well as those consigned to the Lake of Fire at the White Throne Judgment.
During the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, in the coming ages, the Church, which became the Bride of Christ at His Second Coming, will be put on display to the rest of mankind to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 2:7). They will be extending the invitation to those outside in the Lake of Fire, calling upon them to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, eating of the tree of life and drinking freely of the water of life:
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood… 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev 22:14-15,17 RSV)
Here in the new earth, after the Great White Throne Judgment, we see the Spirit and the Bride extending the invitation to those outside to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the New Jerusalem, freely drinking from the water of life. We know it isn’t referring to the Church extending the invitation now in this age, since the Church is never called “the Bride” until the wedding feast at Christ’s return. The term “bride” (numphe) refers to the bride at the marriage ceremony in the bridechamber (numphon), or to the subsequent young wife, and is never used of the Church before the wedding feast. Before the wedding feast we are said to be “betrothed” or “espoused” (2Cor 11:2 Gr. harmoso), but not yet the Bride.
Here in Revelation 22:17 we see the Bride, who at this time inhabits the New Jerusalem, inviting those outside its gates to wash their robes so as to be able to enter into the heavenly city where she abides, and drink freely of the water of life that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb within the city. This invitation to “come” inside the city must have application to the post White Throne era since the New Jerusalem had not yet descended upon the new earth prior to this. And those outside can be none other than those who were consigned to the outer darkness in the purifying Lake of Fire.
The Lake of Fire has been traditionally thought to last forever since the days of Augustine in the 4th century. However, rightly understood it is a figurative purifying fire which extends into the “ages of the ages” or for the duration of the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, culminating in all being restored and reunited in Christ, at which time God shall be all in all (Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22-28). The Lake of Fire extends through the ages of the ages and not “forever and ever” as the Greek phrase eis tous aionos ton aiónon (lit. “into the ages of the ages”) has been mistranslated to say. Its purpose is purification and not unending vindictive torture, as traditionally taught (see my blog: Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner’s Fire for an explanation of the Lake of Fire).
Those who are judged at the White Throne Judgment will be judged “according to their works,” receiving “their part” or “portion” (meros) in the Lake of Fire. Such terminology does not correspond to unending torments. Additionally, Jesus said of post-mortem judgments that they will not get out of there “until” (Matt 5:26;18:34). “Until” requires an end. He also said that some would receive “many stripes,” while others will receive “few” (Luke 12:47). “Few” as opposed to “many” speaks of limited duration and is incompatible with the Traditional doctrine of endless stripes.
And most significantly, it could not be said that all will be restored (Acts 3:21); that all will be saved (1Tim 4:10; Jn 4:42); that all will be reconciled (Col 1:16,20; 2Cor 5:19); and that all will be reunited in Christ in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, resulting in all being made alive and God being all in all (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:22-28), if in fact some are forever lost. Jesus said that He would effectually draw (helcuo) all men unto Himself and that He came to seek and save the lost until the last lost sheep has been found and saved (Luke 19:10; 15:4). The great and final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will culminate in every knee bowing and every tongue confessing Jesus as Lord, to the glory of God the Father, and not under duress as some present it (Php 2:10; Isa 45:22-24).
While this has not been an exhaustive treatment of the dispensations, I hope that it has served to demonstrate that God’s eternal plan for the ages is characterized by distinguishable stages which incrementally take mankind from infancy in Eden to full maturity in the consummation at the end of the ages in preparation for eternity when God shall be all in all. God’s creation story truly ends well, rather than devolving into an eternal dualism resulting in unending tragedy for most of mankind. God’s plan for the ages goes from glory to glory rather than from bad to worse. What God begins, He perfects.
[1] http://wmpaulyoung.com/a-word-that-is-not-in-the-bible/
[2] The NKJV rendering is according to the reading of the Greek Majority Text.
[3] Jude 14 cf. Enoch 1:9
[4] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs.
[5] Other examples of composite words with ana prefixed where ana clearly means “again or re…” are as follows: anagennao, “to be born again”; anaginosko, lit. “to know again,” or “to read”; anagnosis, “(the act of) reading”; anazao, “to live again”; anazopureo, to re-enkindle; anathallo, “to revive”; anakainoo, “to renew”; anamnesis, “to remember”; ananeoo, “to reform”; anastauroo, to recrucify, crucify again”; anapsuxis, “a recovery of breath, (figuratively) revival” anapsucho, “to relieve.”
[6] Thayer's Greek Lexicon: NT. 346
In the previous blog, while not giving a detailed defense of Dispensationalism, I sought to encourage those who may have a predisposition against Dispensationalism to reconsider the viability of a dispensational understanding of God’s plan for the ages. To me, it is not only an interpretational framework which is justifiable from the Scriptures, but also, rightly understood, it captures the progressive nature of God’s all-wise plan for the ages, culminating in the final restoration of all in a manner consistent with His revealed nature which is love (1Jn 4:8).
To me, dispensations throughout the ages are a glorious learning experience of eternal value to all generations. When we arrive at the end of the ages and pass into eternity, the whole panorama of the ages will ever be in our view. They contain a progressive revelation of the heart of God not possible without the fall and failure of man. Each stage or dispensation reveals something about man and about God which we could have never known apart from the fall and subsequent redemption.
Some mistakenly think that God will reformat our minds, erasing our memory once we are glorified. They say that it couldn’t be said that there will be no more sorrow or crying if we were able to remember all our departed loved ones who will be eternally lost. If in fact our loved ones were to be lost forever, then God would indeed have to either erase our memories or else somehow remove all natural affection from us.
However, as I point out in “The Triumph of Mercy,” God’s glorious plan for the ages ends well, rather than ending in an unending disaster for the majority of those whom He created in His own image and likeness. God doesn’t induce permanent amnesia in order to make eternity bearable for us. Neither does He deprive us of natural affection so as to be forever beyond feeling. Our weeping will be exchanged for perpetual joy when all are restored and reunited in Christ in the consummation of the ages (Acts 3:21; Eph 1:10; Isa 60:4-5).
The Greek word oikonomía, often translated “dispensation” in the King James Version, speaks of the economy, administration or house rules of a government, institution or household. As with any administration, God’s administrations involve rules and responsibilities, often administered by a steward or administrator, along with consequences or judgments for failure to be subject to the particular administration or household rules.
Some Liberal and Progressive teachers have sought to remove all human responsibility from the equation. Wm. Paul Young, author of “The Shack” argues against any human responsibility towards God, arguing from the fact that the actual word “responsibility” does not appear in the Scriptures.[1] However, the fact that the word “responsibility,” being a later word from the French language, does not appear in the Scriptures in no way leaves us without responsibility before God for what we say and do. The word “responsibility” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as: “The state of being responsible, accountable, or answerable.” The concept of human responsibility is everywhere present in the Scriptures. How can anyone with even a basic understanding of the Bible say that we are not accountable nor answerable to God for our words and deeds?
Quite to the contrary, Jesus said, “for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matt 12:36-37). Paul Young says that, rather than speaking of responsibility, the Lord speaks of our ability to respond. However, that is just a semantical play on words. In the Scriptures our ability to respond also carries with it the responsibility to respond and we will have to give an account in the day of judgment for having acted irresponsibly in life.
So, the main thing we should look for in determining distinct dispensations in Scripture are new administrative rules or some change in the manner in which God relates to His people. Each dispensation is designed to give us a progressive revelation in our knowledge of Him and also of the limitations of our own finite human condition, ultimately leading us from infancy in Eden into a life of perfect union in intimate relationship with Him as His huioi or “mature adult sons” (Gal 4:1-7).
1. The Dispensation of Innocence
Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God without flaw. They were perfect at their stage of development, much as a baby who is born without defects. Yet, as with an infant, that was only the first stage in their development. They were innocent and sinless, yet they did not yet possess a positive righteousness since positive righteousness is choosing that which is right, as opposed to that which is wrong or evil, and as yet they had no concept of good and evil.
They knew that God had told them not to eat of the tree of good and evil and that if they did it would result in their death. But not having ever seen or experienced death, it is doubtful that they had any real comprehension of what it meant to die. I visualize them as being comparable to a toddler who is told to not touch the hot woodstove lest he be burned. Not until they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did they experience spiritual death, or death towards God. The first physical death by bloodshed they witnessed was the shed blood of animals to cover their nakedness, but they never fully knew the pain of physical death until Cain slew Abel.
Some view God as one who had a wonderful plan for mankind, but then the serpent came along and deceived Eve and she ate of the tree. And then Adam followed suit, totally foiling God’s original plan. Then, in order to salvage as much of mankind as possible, God came up with plan B, sending His Son.
However, the Scriptures reveal to us that there is no such thing as a plan B with God. God inhabits eternity and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11). God does nothing ad lib. Neither is He learning as He goes, just as Acts 15:18 says: “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” [2] Before the creation and the fall, God had predetermined every detail of our redemption and final restoration (Acts 4:27-28; 3:21). Jesus was the Lamb slain from before creation according to the predetermined will of God (Rev 13:8).
The fall of man, as well as every other detail of history up until the final consummation of His creation story, is perfectly known and ordained to occur according to His eternal plan for the ages. Some things He causes while other things He allows, but He is sovereign Lord of all, and interweaves all things together, whether good or bad, in such a manner that they all ultimately work together for our greater good and to His glory.
His glorious masterplan for the ages was conceived out of His infinite wisdom and essential nature which is love. It is an incremental plan, going from glory to glory, culminating in the consummation when all will have been saved, purified and restored, resulting in all having been reunited in Christ and God being all in all (Jn 4:42; 1Jn 2:2; 1Tim 4:10; Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22,28).
God’s plan for the ages is incremental and progressive. Rather than creation being plan A and the fall requiring plan B, the fall is more like A-1, followed by A-2, etc. The major incremental stages in the outworking of God’s eternal plan can be seen as the different dispensations or administrations.
Adam and Eve were given the responsibility of tending the garden, multiplying and filling the earth and exercising dominion over it. The only prohibition was against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As with all subsequent dispensations, it ends with human failure and judgment – that is, all dispensations except for the final eighth dispensation - the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times which culminates in all being restored and reunited in Christ, by whom and for whom all things were created in the beginning (Col 1:16; Eph 1:10).
The Dispensation of Innocence ended with man’s failure and the entrance of sin and death to the human race – something previously unknown to Adam and Eve. For the first time they knew what it was to be spiritually dead – separated from God. Their God-consciousness was replaced with self-consciousness and for the first time they were naked and felt ashamed and afraid.
In judgment they were expelled from the garden, but God in His mercy set a guard to keep them from partaking from the tree of life in their fallen state which would have made them immortal in their sinful condition. The ground was cursed for Adam’s sake, introducing hard labor to the human race, and because Eve ate of the fruit of the tree, physical pain would be experienced for the first time. The woman’s pain in childbirth was multiplied, but we see God’s mercy in judgment when He afterwards promised that her seed would gain the victory over the serpent on the behalf of mankind.
We know that God didn’t place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden and allow the serpent to tempt Eve in order to discover what decision they would make. God already knew that they would fall into temptation and eat of the tree before He even began creation. So, what was God’s purpose in allowing them to fall and bring sin and death to the human race?
There are many things about God and ourselves that we would have never known apart from the fall. We love and long for His presence because we have experienced what it is like to be without Him. We would have never known what true joy was without experiencing sorrow and pain. We would never know to love righteousness without first coming to hate evil. We would have never known the multifaceted love of God in the form of grace and mercy if we had never been in need of His grace and mercy. I believe that Paul in part refers to this when he says: “For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.” (Rom 11:32). Jesus said that those who are forgiven much love much (Luke 7:41-47). So while God did not cause man’s fall, we can see His wisdom and good purpose in including it in His eternal plan for the ages.
2. The Dispensation of Conscience
Due to man’s failure under the Dispensation of Innocence, a spiritual death or separation from God occurred and man’s spirit died in the sense of being separated from God. It would not be until after the cross and Pentecost that those who come to God through Christ are regenerated, becoming one spirit with the Lord (Jn 17:21;1Cor 6:17; 1Cor 12:13; Eph 5:30).
After becoming separated and independent from God and losing their innocence, God then introduced the next stage of mankind’s learning process – the Dispensation of Conscience in which He left man to govern themselves according to their own conscience, doing that which they deemed to be right in their own eyes.
This dispensation was obviously intended to teach us that the way of man is not in himself, and that it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps (Jer 10:23), and that the heart of man separate from God is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, to such a degree that only God can truly know one’s thoughts and intentions (Jer 17:9,10). With this understanding we come to see our need for God who alone knows our hearts and is able to correct us and direct our steps (Ps 139:23-24).
Once again, we see man’s failure under the Dispensation of Conscience. The first man to die was murdered by his own brother when Cain slew Abel, following the inclination of his own heart. Left to themselves, man became so wicked and degenerate that every thought and intention of their hearts was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). Also, during this time some of the angels left their proper abode as angels in order to take to themselves wives of the daughters of men and engendered a race of Nephilim or giants upon the earth (Gen 6:4; Jude 6). The situation degenerated to the point that only Noah and his family hadn’t corrupted themselves, making it necessary for God to intervene with the judgment of the flood.
So, we can learn from this dispensation that man, left to the dictates of his own conscience, will go astray, being inclined to evil. Man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in man to direct his steps. We need communion with God who by His Spirit illuminates our path through His Word. While our conscience is God-given, it can become seared and callused by repeatedly violating it. Some have violated their conscience so many times that they are beyond feeling (1Tim 4:2; 2Tim 3:8; Rom 1:28). The lowest points in Israel’s history was when they did that which was right in their own eyes (Dt 12:8; Jdg 17:6; Pr 16:2).
It is common to hear someone say something like, “let your conscience be your guide,” or “just follow your heart.” However, the Dispensation of Conscience demonstrates that the heart of man is deceitful and therefore we need to take heed to the Word of God rather than simply doing what seems right in our own eyes (Ps 119:9,105).
3. The Dispensation of Human Government
Having demonstrated through the Dispensation of Conscience what man is capable of left to himself with each one simply doing what seems right in their own eyes, God then establishes the next dispensation or administration – the Dispensation of Human Government. One of the distinctives of this new dispensation is that they may eat of every living thing that moves, but they were not permitted to shed man’s blood. If anyone took another’s life, they were to receive the death penalty:
“Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Gen 9:6)
This is distinct from what we saw under the Dispensation of Conscience where God actually set a mark on Cain lest anyone finding him should kill him, avenging Abel’s blood. Remember, in that time everyone on the planet was either Abel’s child, grandchild, niece or nephew, and no doubt many would have been seeking justice – life for life.
The reason God gives for requiring capital punishment for taking a human life is that man was made in the image of God and therefore each one of us is of great value to Him. Prior to the flood there were Nephilim on the earth, and human life was genetically altered and devalued to the point of being regarded as mere animals. The Book of Enoch, which, although not in the Canon, is quoted in Scripture [3] and tells of how the Angels who cohabited with women prior to the flood engendered giants who treated human life as common livestock:
“Who (the giants) consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.” (Enoch 7:3-6).
Originally in Eden there was no death, and Adam and Eve were vegetarians (Gen 1:29). Left to govern themselves in the Dispensation of Conscience, they degenerated to the point of wholesale cannibalism. Now, under the Dispensation of Human Government, mankind was permitted to eat of all flesh save that of human flesh. This regulation required human government in order to enforce the law against manslaughter.
Also, God commanded Noah and his sons to multiply and fill the earth. However, instead of filling the earth they settled in the plain of Shinar and sought to build a tower that would reach unto heaven (Gen 11:2-4). As a result, God in judgment confounded their languages, resulting in them being dispersed throughout the earth as He had originally commanded.
By the time of Abraham, when the Dispensation of Human Government gave way to the Dispensation of Promise, men were worshipping the spirits of the Nephilim or demons who were regarded by them as demigods and they offered up human sacrifices to placate them. As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Human Government ended in man’s failure and resulting judgment.
4. The Dispensation of Promise
The Dispensation of Promise does not encompass all of humanity as did the previous ones. It seems that Paul was referring to this turn in history when he said of mankind in general: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Rom 1:28). From this point forward until the Millennial reign of Christ during which time the saints will reign with Christ over the nations, God enters into a covenant relationship with the elect only, and the dispensational economies or household rules only apply to His elect people.
The Dispensation of Promise began with the call of Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees to a land which the Lord would show Him (Gen 12:1). The administrative change becomes evident in Genesis 12 where the Lord promised Abraham, saying:
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:2-3)
Being a stranger in a strange land, advanced in years with a sterile wife, the fulfillment of this promise was clearly impossible, humanly speaking. When Abraham asked God how he could know that the promise would be fulfilled, the Lord told him to prepare for a ceremony common to the Chaldeans when they were going to make a solemn oath (Gen 15). In this ceremony they cut animals in half and laid the halves on the ground with a path between them. Then the two individuals who were making the solemn oath would pass together between the halves, saying: “May the same be done to me if I break this covenant.”
However, when the moment came to walk between the animals, God caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep and He walked alone between them, indicating that the fulfillment of the promise wasn’t contingent upon Abraham nor his descendants – that God Himself would bring it to pass. It was an unconditional promise because He by Himself had sworn that Abraham would be a great nation, that he would inherit the land, and that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
This dispensation was distinct from the previous ones in that the administrative mandate for God’s household was simply to continue believing in God’s unconditional promises, even when their fulfillment seemed humanly impossible. While the key word for man’s responsibility under the Dispensation of the Law, which would come 430 years later at Sinai, was “do,” the key word for man under the Dispensation of Promise was simply “believe.”
At this stage in God’s progressive, incremental plan for the ages, God is developing faith in His people, giving them unconditional covenant promises which were so far beyond man’s possibility to accomplish that all they could do was continue calling those things that were not as though they were until God brought them to pass (Rom 4:18; Heb 11:8-10, 17-19). Many of the promises given to Abraham and his descendants have yet to be fully fulfilled but they are sure promises which will come to pass whether we believe them or not since they are based upon His faithfulness rather than man’s.
Many of God’s people have ceased believing that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham and his descendants will be fulfilled due to Israel’s unfaithfulness. But Paul responds to this saying: “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.” (Rom 3:3-4). Abraham’s descendants, Israel, will indeed yet become a great nation and will finally possess the entirety of the land which God promised them because the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant depends upon the faithfulness of God and not on the faithfulness of Israel.
Another aspect of the promise to Abraham which many of God’s people have failed to believe – in part because it is so great and all-inclusive in its implications, is the promise that in him “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This promise requires a universal restoration of all mankind for its fulfillment. God didn’t say that “some” families of the earth would be blessed, but “all” the families of the earth. That cannot merely refer to all families living on the earth in Abraham’s time, or all families living on the earth when Jesus returns, but all families of all time, from Adam and Eve’s family to the family of the last child born to mankind. Otherwise, not all the families of the earth could be said to be blessed.
Those who fail to see that in the final dispensation – the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, absolutely all will be reunited in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, cannot say that in Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed. They must postulate that God will instead somehow induce amnesia or else desensitize from all natural affection those few privileged to hear the gospel and positively respond to it before the Second Coming of Christ, since there is no entire family line in which all will have been saved in life, and therefore some family members will be tormented forever or exterminated, according to their belief. A family cannot truly be said to be blessed if they have the knowledge that one of them is in unending torments or had been exterminated.
However, those who believe in the final restoration of all can understand and wait in hopeful expectation for the full literal fulfillment of God’s promise that in Abraham’s seed all the families of the earth will be blessed. Even their most wayward sons or daughters will be finally restored after a time in the purifying Lake of Fire in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 3:15; Isa 60:4-5). Every knee will bow, and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, including those presently under the earth or in hades. And when the last enemy has become subject to Christ, then Christ will subject Himself to the Father and God will be all in all (Php 2:10-11; 1Cor 15:28).
As with all prior dispensations, the Dispensation of Promise ends in human failure. Israel ultimately failed to trust in God’s unconditional commitment to fulfill His covenant promises to them as a nation. Even after seeing God’s mighty hand through the ten plagues against Pharaoh, as soon as they faced the Red Sea, they accused God of taking them into the desert only to die there (Ex 14:10-12). Three days after rejoicing over God’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s armies at the Red Sea, instead of looking to the Lord to provide water for them they complained against Him, and God in His grace miraculously provided water for them. Then a month and a half after leaving Egypt their food supply ran out, and again they accused God rather than looking to Him for provision. They complained to Moses saying:
“Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Ex 16:3)
Just a couple days later they were out of water and again accused Moses of leading them into the desert only to die there of thirst (Ex 17:3). Rather than resting by faith in the unconditional promises made to their fathers concerning them, remembering all of His mighty works bringing them out of Egypt, they time and time again accused God of plotting with Moses for their destruction. The desert was their final exam under the Dispensation of Promise, and they failed miserably. But rather than leaving them to repeat the fourth grade He passed them on to the next dispensation – the Dispensation of the Law.
5. The Dispensation of the Law
The children of Israel failed to trust in the unconditional promises of God under the Dispensation of Promise, even as man had failed under every previous dispensation. Now, under the following Dispensation of the Law, God is going to teach mankind something more about Himself and also about the limitations of their own sinful nature. Through the Dispensation of the Law He teaches us how holy He is and how incapable we are of living a life of holiness independently from Him.
It is not that the promise under the Abrahamic Covenant ceased with the introduction of the Law. The Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional and perpetual covenant, whereas the Covenant of the Law was a conditional covenant which was added alongside of the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Paul makes this clear when he said:
“And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later (after the promise), cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect… 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of (charin “for the sake of”) transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” (Gal 3:17,19)
It says in the New King James Version that the Law was added “because of transgressions.” However, the word translated “because of” is charin from the word charis or “grace.” The idea expressed is, “for the benefit of or for the sake of.” The New American Standard Updated Version captures the idea in their margin where they add, “or for the sake of defining.” The Darby Version renders it, “for the sake of transgressions.” God’s Word Version says, “to identify what wrongdoing is” and Weymouth reads, “for the sake of defining sin.”
Sin is always sin, but sin is not a “transgression” in the absence of a law to transgress. Paul said that sin was not imputed as a transgression between Adam and Moses since there was no law to transgress (Rom 5:13). He said that he would not have known covetousness if the Law hadn’t said “you shall not covet” (Rom 7:7).
In the giving of the Law at Sinai they passed from being governed by God’s unconditional covenant of promise to a conditional “if you…then I…” covenant. Prior to the Law, the children of Israel were blessed by pure grace, but under the law, although they were still saved by grace, they were blessed or conversely cursed based upon their fulfillment of the works of the Law. We can see this major transition enacted at Sinai. The Lord told Moses to present this new conditional covenant to the people saying:
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” (Ex 19:4-6)
God first reminds them how that, up to that moment, He had dealt with them purely by grace. He said, “you have seen how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.” In spite of their murmuring against Him at the Red Sea, God graciously opened up the sea so they could pass through on dry ground and destroyed Pharaoh’s army behind them. When they complained about the water and the food God graciously provided for them without any reproaches. Time and time again, they were unconditionally blessed in spite of their unbelief and lack of gratitude. Not once did He respond in severe judgments as we see later under the Covenant of the Law.
After Moses presented the conditions of the covenant to the people, they all answered with one voice: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (verse 8). In contrast with the Abrahamic Covenant, the Law was a conditional covenant which required the consent of both parties. The Children of Israel, without any further reflection upon their sinful condition, lightly responded: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” A little self-reflection would have led them to plead with God to remain under the Dispensation of Promise, but they had yet to learn the limitations of their own fallen sinful nature and their need for grace.
Immediately after agreeing to the conditions of the Covenant of the Law there was a drastic change in relationship. The relationship was no longer as that of a mother eagle bearing her young on her wings, but with thundering and lightning and a thick cloud so that the people trembled for fear. God said that whoever touched the mountain would surely be put to death.
Moses went up the mountain to receive the ten commandments written on stone, which were a sign of the Covenant of the Law made between God and the Children of Israel, but even before he came down from the mountain with the tables of stone, they had already broken the first two commandments, making a golden calf and worshipping it. Now being under the Law, 3,000 of them died that same day as a consequence of having transgressed it (Ex 32:28).
Israel chose to put themselves under the Dispensation of the Law when they accepted the terms of the Law saying: “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” But they were never able to fulfill their covenant promise to obey all the things contained in the Law to do them. Before giving them the Law, God knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it. The Dispensation of the Law was designed to reveal the sinful nature of man so that in the next dispensation – the Dispensation of Grace, they would have already comprehended the depths of their own depravity and need for His grace provided through Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.
The Dispensation of the Law was given by God to reveal our own sinfulness so that when the appointed time came for the grace of God to be revealed through Jesus Christ, they would have come to despair of all hopes of attaining to the righteous requirements of the Law, eagerly receiving the free gift of the righteousness of God in Christ. Paul clearly states God’s purpose in giving the Law from its inception. He said:
“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Rom 5:20)
The Law was added for the sake of revealing our sins as transgressions, but only until Christ the promised Seed should come (Gal 3:19). Paul next compares the Law to a schoolmaster who is charged with teaching children until they reach adulthood:
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons (huios “adult sons”) of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:21-26)
The Law cannot give life. On the contrary, it was the ministration of death (2Cor 3:7). It confined all under sin so that we would then look to Christ and receive His righteousness as a gift of grace. In Romans, before presenting the gift of the righteousness of God in Christ, Paul makes it clear that we cannot attain to the righteous demands of the Law. Its purpose was simply to reveal our sin:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 BUT NOW the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:20-24)
So, what was the purpose of the Law? To reveal our sin. The Law is like a mirror that reveals our true condition but cannot change it. The Law could not give life, but only condemn since it required perfect obedience (Gal 3:21; Jas 2:10). It is called “the ministry of condemnation” since its purpose was to make sin become an infraction or transgression of the Law, resulting in the condemnation of every transgressor in order that the condemned might look to Christ as their only means of justification (2Cor 3:9).
To this very day many still think that the Law was given for us to live by, but it was not given to live by, but to die by. Paul called it the “ministration of death, written and engraved in stones.” (2Cor 3:7). He said that when the commandment “you shall not covet” came to his attention, sin revived and him and he died (Rom 7:9). The only place where the words, “you shall not covet” appear is on the two tables of stone, so one cannot reasonably argue that it is only referring to the ceremonial law as that which passed with the introduction of the New Covenant. In God’s infinite wisdom He placed Israel under the Dispensation of the Law in order to reveal the depravity of man in preparation for the subsequent revelation of the grace of God in Christ.
6. The Dispensation of Grace
Israel miserably failed under the Dispensation of the Law, continually breaking the covenant that they had made with God at Sinai. After the northern 10 tribes of Israel had been conquered and dispersed in judgment for their abominations and idolatries at a time when the inhabitants of Jerusalem were also being taken into captivity for continually breaking covenant with the Lord, Jeremiah prophesied of a new covenant which would usher in an entirely new and different administration or dispensation based upon promises. He said:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 32 NOT ACCORDING TO the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)
Contrary to what Covenant Theologians would have us believe, the Covenant of the Law is not merely a continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant, nor does the Law carry over into the New Covenant as a rule of life. It is specifically said of the New Covenant that it is “not according to” the Old Covenant of the Law. The Old Covenant said, “If you… then I….” However, when He introduced the New Covenant He said, “They did not… therefore I disregarded them” (Heb 8:9).
The Old Covenant was composed of external rules given to a people of a wicked and deceitful heart. It was added to the Abrahamic Covenant until Christ, the promised Seed, should come. Under the New Covenant God regenerates our spirit, giving us a new heart that is according to godliness, as Paul said:
“But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom 7:6)
While the Law still serves its original purpose of convicting sinners of their sins, it is explicitly said to not be applicable to the believer in this dispensation. The New Testament clearly states that we are no longer under the Law but under grace (Rom 6:14-15). Paul exposed false teachers who misapplied the Law, trying to put believers under it in this Dispensation of Grace. He said of them:
“desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.” (1Tim 1:6-11)
While the Law still convicts the sinner of his need for Christ, we as believers are not under the Law but under Grace as a rule of life (dispensationally speaking). The righteousness of the Law is now fulfilled in the believer by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:4). The new life principal for the believer under this Dispensation of Grace is the very resurrection life of Jesus being lived out in and through us (Gal 2:20; 2Cor 4:10-11; Php 1:21).
In the Gospel of John, we see this marked contrast between the old Dispensation of the Law and the new Dispensation of Grace in the person of Jesus Christ:
“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)
The contrast between these two distinct life principles – Law and Grace, is very marked. It says of the Law that it “was given,” whereas grace and truth “came.” The Law was given “through angels by the hand of a mediator” in order to “bring us to Christ.” (Gal 3:19,24). But Grace and Truth came to us personified in Jesus Christ. It is interesting how John 1:17 is constructed. Normally the double subject “grace and truth” would require that the verb “came” be in plural - “they came.” However it is in the singular, making it say, “Grace and Truth He came through the person of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is Grace and Truth personified. Grace in the new Dispensation of Grace is nothing other than Christ in us (Col 1:27). He is the Truth that makes us free indeed (Jn 8:32; 14:6). I treat this subject in more depth in my book “The True Grace of God.”
Even the Dispensation of Grace ends in failure on the part of the Church in general. Very few believers in this age have availed themselves of the grace available to them through the life of Christ within them, walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Instead, many within the Church have fallen from the grace-walk in Jesus, continuing instead in the oldness of the letter, trying to observe the Old Covenant Law through external religious observance.
Many more, burned out on religion, have converted the grace of God into licentiousness, calling it Christian liberty. Paul said that in the latter days many who profess Christ will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons (1Tim 4:1). Jesus posed the question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The conditions upon the earth at the close of this dispensation will reach the point where, if Christ were to delay His coming, no flesh would be saved, and yet at the same time God will have purified His elect Church (Matt 24:22, c.f. Eph 5:27; Mark 13:27).
While most earlier Dispensationalists believed that the Church had to be raptured at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week 7 years prior to the Second Coming of Christ, there is no reference in Scripture to a rapture of the Church 7 years separated from Christ’s Second Coming.
They often insist that God cannot deal with Israel at the same time as the Church. If it could be demonstrated that God does not, or will not, deal with the Church and Israel at the same time, then this argument might carry some weight. But the fact is that God has been dealing with both groups concurrently since the beginning of the Church. The kingdom was still being offered to Israel in the early days of the Church (Acts 3:19-21). If the nation as a whole had repented, the kingdom would have been set up. Yet the Church was already in existence. God was dealing with national Israel in 70 A.D. when Titus and his armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, God has been dealing with Israel in judgment through their dispersion as predicted in the Old Testament and by Jesus Christ (Hosea 3:4; Lk.21:24).
Even today we are witnessing Israel being re-gathered as predicted in Ezekiel 37; Ezekiel 38:8; Jeremiah 23:1-8 and many other passages. When they are re-gathered to the land in unbelief God's judgment of Israel will reach its climax (Ezek. 20:33-38). This is the judgment of the tribulation — the time of Jacob’s trouble. So, it can be seen that God has never ceased to deal with Israel as a nation. Since God has been carrying on two programs at the same time – one of blessing for the Church and the other in judgment upon Israel, it is not correct to say that God must remove the Church before He can resume His program with Israel.
It should also be pointed out that God will not be dealing with national Israel as a saved people in the tribulation. He will continue dealing with them in judgment. It is not until the Second Advent that national Israel will be saved. In Romans 11:25—27 Paul says that Israel's blindness will continue until the Second Advent. It will be the Deliverer coming out of Zion who will turn away ungodliness from Israel. He will establish the new covenant with them and take away their sins. This all takes place when Christ comes and sets up His kingdom and not before.
While the Great Tribulation is referred to as “Jacob’s Trouble” (Jer 30:7), and will be a time of unprecedented persecution of the Jews, it will also be a time of tribulation for those believers within the Church in need of purification (Rev 12:17; 7:14). I cover the subject of the rapture and other eschatological events in relation to the Second Coming of Christ in my book “Focusing in on End-Time Events.”
7. The Millennial Dispensation
The final lesson for mankind before the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will be learned during the Dispensation of the Millennium – a thousand year period in which Christ will be reigning with the glorified saints upon the earth and Satan will be bound in the abyss.
It is common to hear the excuse “the devil made me do it,” but during this dispensation that excuse for sinning will be removed, for Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:2-3). Men often justify their lack of submission to authority, saying that those in authority are corrupt. but in that day, rebellion against authority will be shown to be a condition of the heart rather than something external since Christ Himself will be reigning along with His glorified saints (Rev 20:4; 2Tim 2:12; Rom 8:17).
Many today justify stealing, saying that it is the only way they can survive, but in the Millennium the conditions will be so ideal that the plowman will overtake the harvester, meaning that crops are planted and harvested continually rather than seasonally (Amos 9:13). While animals, just as mortal men, will continue to live and die as now, their lives will be greatly extended, and the animals will no longer prey on man nor upon each other as Isaiah prophecies of that time:
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa 11:6-9)
The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters of the sea and the earth’s conditions will be restored to such a degree that the lifespan of the mortals inhabiting the earth will be as it was prior to the flood. Even the animals will cease to devour flesh just as it was in Eden and they will no longer be aggressive:
“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed… 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord.” (Isa 65:20,25)
At Christ’s Second Coming, the Jews will look upon Him whom they pierced; God will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication, and a nation will be born in a day (Zec 12:10; Isa 66:8; Rom 11:26). Christ will at that time separate those of the nations who remain upon the earth after the Church has been glorified and caught up to meet the Lord in the air at His coming. The sheep will be granted entrance into the Millennial kingdom as mortals to repopulate the earth, whereas the goats will be sent into eonian correction.
The Dispensation of the Millennial reign of Christ demonstrates that even under the most ideal external conditions, man is depraved beyond reformation. The only answer is a new creation, since the former creation – the old man which we were in the first Adam, is unreformable. The only answer is a new creation in Christ (Gal 6:15; 2Cor 5:17).
In order to demonstrate this for all generations to see, Satan will be loosed from his prison for a short time and will manage to deceive the nations and make war against Christ and His kingdom (Rev 20:2,7,8). Even after 1,000 years under the most ideal conditions, we see that the flesh profits nothing. Doubtlessly, many will receive Christ in the Millennium and their names will therefore be found written in the book of life at the White Throne Judgment, which judgment will close the Dispensation of the Millennium. However, those still outside of Christ will be judged according to their works and will receive their part in the purifying Lake of Fire (Rev 20:12-15). In the new Dispensation all will eventually be reunited in Christ and then God will be all in all in the eternal state.
8. The Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times
Once the Dispensation of the Millennium closes with human failure followed by the White Throne Judgment, the heavenly city or the Church – the New Jerusalem, will descend upon the new earth (Rev 21:1). In contrast with the previous dispensations, this dispensation culminates in absolutely all being reunited in Christ – both those in heaven as well as those on earth:
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together (anakephalaiomai) in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Eph 1:9-10) [4]
The phrase: “gather together in one” is a composite word made up of ana which normally means “again” and kephalaioo, which means “to head up or sum up,” and is best translated as “to reunite or unite again under one head,” since only this rendering retains the meaning of the prefix ana. [5] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon actually comments as to the meaning of the word in this context, saying:
“God is said…to bring together again for himself (note the middle) all things and beings (hitherto disunited by sin) into one combined state of fellowship in Christ.” [6]
The terms “gather together” or “bring together again” when referring to those formerly at enmity, as is the case with mankind towards God, is relational and inseparable from reconciliation. Therefore, this passage, just as Colossians 1:16-20, clearly speaks of a universal reconciliation. The mystery of His will which is being revealed here in Ephesians 1:9,10 is the final restoration of all when all creation will be eternally reunited in Christ, and God will then be all in all (1Cor 15:28).
This is also what Paul declared in summary form in Romans 11:36 saying: “For of (ek “out of”) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis “into”) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” As Colossians 1:16 says, everything and everyone was created by Him. Then in verse 20 it says that this same “all” was reconciled to (eis “into”) Him through the cross (Col 1:16,20). In Ephesians 1:9,10 it says that all will be finally reunited in Him in the dispensation of the fullness of the times. “For of Him and through Him and TO (eis “into”) Him are all things.” Paul could not have made it any clearer.
In the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times we see that the gates of the New Jerusalem are never shut, but no one is permitted to enter unless their names are first written in the book of life (Rev 21:25-26). Those outside who cannot enter through the gates are said to be those who defile or those who cause an abomination or lie. Within the New Jerusalem is the river of the water of life and the tree of life with its leaves which are “for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:1-2).
Why would there still be those of the nations still in need of healing if indeed it is referring to the eternal state when all have either been perfected and glorified or are eternally in the Lake of Fire as traditionally believed? The nations are not the Bride, the Church, but the rest of mankind who will have repopulated the earth during the Millennium, as well as those consigned to the Lake of Fire at the White Throne Judgment.
During the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, in the coming ages, the Church, which became the Bride of Christ at His Second Coming, will be put on display to the rest of mankind to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 2:7). They will be extending the invitation to those outside in the Lake of Fire, calling upon them to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem, eating of the tree of life and drinking freely of the water of life:
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood… 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev 22:14-15,17 RSV)
Here in the new earth, after the Great White Throne Judgment, we see the Spirit and the Bride extending the invitation to those outside to wash their robes so as to be able to enter the New Jerusalem, freely drinking from the water of life. We know it isn’t referring to the Church extending the invitation now in this age, since the Church is never called “the Bride” until the wedding feast at Christ’s return. The term “bride” (numphe) refers to the bride at the marriage ceremony in the bridechamber (numphon), or to the subsequent young wife, and is never used of the Church before the wedding feast. Before the wedding feast we are said to be “betrothed” or “espoused” (2Cor 11:2 Gr. harmoso), but not yet the Bride.
Here in Revelation 22:17 we see the Bride, who at this time inhabits the New Jerusalem, inviting those outside its gates to wash their robes so as to be able to enter into the heavenly city where she abides, and drink freely of the water of life that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb within the city. This invitation to “come” inside the city must have application to the post White Throne era since the New Jerusalem had not yet descended upon the new earth prior to this. And those outside can be none other than those who were consigned to the outer darkness in the purifying Lake of Fire.
The Lake of Fire has been traditionally thought to last forever since the days of Augustine in the 4th century. However, rightly understood it is a figurative purifying fire which extends into the “ages of the ages” or for the duration of the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, culminating in all being restored and reunited in Christ, at which time God shall be all in all (Acts 3:21; 1Cor 15:22-28). The Lake of Fire extends through the ages of the ages and not “forever and ever” as the Greek phrase eis tous aionos ton aiónon (lit. “into the ages of the ages”) has been mistranslated to say. Its purpose is purification and not unending vindictive torture, as traditionally taught (see my blog: Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner’s Fire for an explanation of the Lake of Fire).
Those who are judged at the White Throne Judgment will be judged “according to their works,” receiving “their part” or “portion” (meros) in the Lake of Fire. Such terminology does not correspond to unending torments. Additionally, Jesus said of post-mortem judgments that they will not get out of there “until” (Matt 5:26;18:34). “Until” requires an end. He also said that some would receive “many stripes,” while others will receive “few” (Luke 12:47). “Few” as opposed to “many” speaks of limited duration and is incompatible with the Traditional doctrine of endless stripes.
And most significantly, it could not be said that all will be restored (Acts 3:21); that all will be saved (1Tim 4:10; Jn 4:42); that all will be reconciled (Col 1:16,20; 2Cor 5:19); and that all will be reunited in Christ in the Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times, resulting in all being made alive and God being all in all (Eph 1:10; 1Cor 15:22-28), if in fact some are forever lost. Jesus said that He would effectually draw (helcuo) all men unto Himself and that He came to seek and save the lost until the last lost sheep has been found and saved (Luke 19:10; 15:4). The great and final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times will culminate in every knee bowing and every tongue confessing Jesus as Lord, to the glory of God the Father, and not under duress as some present it (Php 2:10; Isa 45:22-24).
While this has not been an exhaustive treatment of the dispensations, I hope that it has served to demonstrate that God’s eternal plan for the ages is characterized by distinguishable stages which incrementally take mankind from infancy in Eden to full maturity in the consummation at the end of the ages in preparation for eternity when God shall be all in all. God’s creation story truly ends well, rather than devolving into an eternal dualism resulting in unending tragedy for most of mankind. God’s plan for the ages goes from glory to glory rather than from bad to worse. What God begins, He perfects.
[1] http://wmpaulyoung.com/a-word-that-is-not-in-the-bible/
[2] The NKJV rendering is according to the reading of the Greek Majority Text.
[3] Jude 14 cf. Enoch 1:9
[4] Our English word “things” does not have an equivalent in Greek. Neither does the neuter form in Greek always indicate objects as in English. When the translators insert “things” in contexts that are evidently referring primarily to persons and not inanimate objects I take the liberty to cross it out in order to keep the focus where it belongs.
[5] Other examples of composite words with ana prefixed where ana clearly means “again or re…” are as follows: anagennao, “to be born again”; anaginosko, lit. “to know again,” or “to read”; anagnosis, “(the act of) reading”; anazao, “to live again”; anazopureo, to re-enkindle; anathallo, “to revive”; anakainoo, “to renew”; anamnesis, “to remember”; ananeoo, “to reform”; anastauroo, to recrucify, crucify again”; anapsuxis, “a recovery of breath, (figuratively) revival” anapsucho, “to relieve.”
[6] Thayer's Greek Lexicon: NT. 346