Are there on one peop[le of God, or two peoples of God, Israel and the Church?
Did Scofield teach in 1917 notes saved by Law under OT?
Sometimes people get locked into a mindset from which they can never escape. They assume they have been given the right information and therefore they are asking the right questions. You must open your mind to the possibility that your foundational understanding needs to be tweaked
Was there always a church in the mind of God? Are there on one peop[le of God, or two peoples of God, Israel and the Church?
was the church plan B, aftre thought in mind of God, or always his primary plan?
Before we continue will you please respond to my op. I dealt with God changing his operative principle of divine dealing with Israel away from the law of Moses after the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ in AD 30 in what Jesus said clearly and unambiguously was a fulfillment of that law. I hope you understand that the book of Acts recorded the new dispensation for both Jews and gentiles and the 13 epistles of Paul the apostle explains the history of the book of Acts. The book of Acts records history of the beginning of the church for about 35 years during it's foundational years, the apostolic era. God made the gospel of Christ efficacious to gentiles ten years after he had sent his Holy Spirit from heaven to the Jews to indwell the bodies of those who would believe the gospel of Jesus Christ giving them the life of God, whom they killed and whom God the Father raised from the dead. It was AD 40 before the first gentile was saved and it would not have mattered if Cornelius had believed the gospel or whether he did not before God sent Peter to preach the gospel, and according to Acts 14, Paul said this is when the door of faith was opened to the gentiles. No gentile could have been saved before this because God had not sent his Spirit upon us until then.
God had baptized Israel with the Holy Ghost, whose chief symbol in this context is water, and he sent him in such abundance that everyone could receive him by believing the gospel and in the name of Jesus Christ because they were as a nation and a people immersed in him. In Acts 10 God poured out the Spirit on the gentiles in the same manner and whoever believed would receive the indwelling Holy Spirit from God as a gift. This is salvation. Peter, giving his defense to the Jews in Jerusalem and answering their question why he went to the home of gentiles said as much and it is where I get my information. Read it with me.
2 And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, (about going to gentiles)
3 Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
4 But Peter rehearsed [the matter] from the beginning, and expounded [it] by order unto them, saying,
5 I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:
6 Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
7 And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.
8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common.
10 And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
11 And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.
12 And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:
13 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;
14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them (gentiles), as on us (Jews) at the beginning (beginning of the church and beginning of this (world = age).
16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as [he did] unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
If I were of the persuasion that words do not mean what they say and I was not a dispensationlist, I would anticipate some questions when I read this text.
1) Why did Peter mention that the Holy Ghost was poured on the Jews in the beginning?
2) He was referring to ten years earlier when the Holy Ghost was poured out on the Jews, so what was it the beginning of?
3) If gentiles were being saved all along, what is unique about them being saved in Acts 10?
4) Why did the apostle Peter say that this baptism of the Holy Ghost on the gentiles was a fulfillment of the prophecy of John the Baptist?
5) Why is the Holy Ghost the gift of God?
6) Why is salvation equated by the text as having received the gift of the Holy Ghost from God?
7) How did Cornelius and his household receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and when did they receive him?
Continued in next post.
