Question
When did the dispensation of grace begin?
Response
First of all, I can set before you the gist of my understanding and that of Enjoy The Bible Ministries.
Simply and briefly put, I am persuaded from the testimony of Scripture that God began this present dispensation of His grace, and hence began forming His new creature, the church the body of Christ, when He raised up Paul as a brand new apostle, (as recorded in Acts 9), and made it evident that His program and dealings with Israel up until this time were now no longer continuing on as had been expected. I’ll briefly cite a few of the issues that persuade me that this is so.
1) Through Paul’s epistles I understand that we are taught to recognize that this present dispensation of God’s grace involves, among other things, at least three highly and very distinctive identifying issues;
a) the longsuffering of God being in effect instead of the prophesied, expected, and deserved day of the Lord’s wrath (e.g., Romans 1:18ff; 2:4-5; 9:22-24; 13:12);
b) the clear temporary suspension of Israel’s program, with them having stumbled and fallen (e.g., Romans 11:1-25); and
c) the raising up of Paul as a brand new apostle, “the apostle of the Gentiles,” with the function of his new and different apostleship, gospel, and doctrine (e.g., Romans 1:1-5; 11:11-13; 15:8ff; Galatians 1-2).
Each of these three issues is put on display by God at the historical time associated with Paul’s encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus.
Regarding “a”: Stephen’s testimony to Israel’s rulership in Acts 7 testified to the fact that God’s extension of mercy and forbearance to Israel following their rejection of Christ was over, and that with the Lord now standing at the Father’s right hand the time had come for His enemies to be made His footstool. The time had arrived for the Lord to begin to have His prophesied day of wrath and righteous judgment. It was the very next thing to be declared in accordance with the outworking of God’s program with Israel and the world, just as Peter, Stephen, and the rest of the remnant of Israel knew from such places as Joel 2, Psalm 2 and 110, from which they quoted in connection with the arrival of the prophesied “last days.” But as Acts 8-9 and following go on to show, the prophesied Lord’s day of wrath did not begin as had been expected. Instead the Lord began doing things completely unexpected, as Acts 8, 9, 10, and 11 specifically testify to, with one of them being God ‘enduring with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.’ Hence, I am persuaded that with the beginning of God’s longsuffering in the face of the expected and deserved wrath of the Lord’s day of wrath, this dispensation of His longsuffering and grace was getting underway.
Regarding “b”: In connection with the evidence of God’s longsuffering, God also gave immediate evidence that His program with Israel was no longer being conducted according to the prophesied program. Instead, as the Holy Spirit’s use of Philip in Acts 8 testifies, the program’s stipulations, instructions, and expectations were suspended, and God began to do things with the remnant of Israel and show things to them that were in accordance with that fact. With this too, I am persuaded that this dispensation of grace was therefore getting itself underway at that time.
Regarding “c”: It is at this time with God now being longsuffering and having suspended the prophesied progress of Israel’s program that, (as Acts 9 historically records), the Lord Jesus Christ unexpectedly came back from heaven and raised up Paul as a brand new apostle; to be “the apostle of the Gentiles” in accordance with the dispensational change He was now making. Hence with these three particular distinctive and identifying issues occurring, I am persuaded that this dispensation of grace commenced at that time.
2) In addition to these three particular identifying issues that testify to the existence of this dispensation of grace, there are other issues such as: Paul’s repeated hearkening back to the Acts 9 time when dealing with the reality of his special apostleship and this dispensation of God’s grace (e.g., Acts 22 and 26; I Corinthians 15:8-10; Galatians 1:15-17; Ephesians 2:17; I Timothy 1:11-16).
3) Also, there is the testimony of Acts 11:19ff which, after chapters 8:1-11:18 have set forth the reality of God doing something different from continuing on with Israel’s program as had been expected, takes us back again to the time and to the events immediately after Stephen was stoned. And as 11:19-21 relate, back at that time was when “the hand of the Lord” directed those who were preaching the Lord Jesus to preach Him to the Grecians and no longer to the Jews only. Hence, Acts 11:19-21 confirms the fact that as soon as God became longsuffering following Stephen’s stoning; and as He was giving evidence that Israel’s program was not continuing on as had been expected; and in connection with having raised up Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles; back at that time He began having the Lord Jesus preached to the Gentiles. And as Acts 11:22-26 go on to show, it was to those Gentiles whom God dealt with at that time that God had Paul go following his personal edification.
All of these issues, including further details about them, along with some other issues, persuade me that God brought in this dispensation of His grace at the time when He raised up Paul as His brand new apostle, as historically recorded in Acts 9.
Among ones who recognize the apostle Paul’s distinctive apostleship, gospel, and doctrine for and about this present dispensation of God’s grace, there are ones who point to events recorded in Acts 11, or 13, or even 28 and after, as the time at which they think God began historically forming the church the body of Christ. However, I am persuaded otherwise, as I have briefly set forth.
Regarding Acts 11; as I’ve already commented on, to me it clearly hearkens back to the events immediately following Stephen’s stoning as the time when the Lord’s “hand” moved from being with Israel to being with the Gentiles.
Regarding Acts 13; I am persuaded that the “work” whereunto the Holy Ghost called Barnabas and Paul cannot be a reference to the beginning of this dispensation of grace. For as Acts 14:26 testifies, when the two of them returned to Antioch they did so having “fulfilled” the “work” which God gave them to do. The “work” of Acts 13:2 had a beginning and an end; and it was “fulfilled” when Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch. Hence, I am persuaded that the “work” is a reference to the particular geographical way in which God designed for the gospel of the uncircumcision to spread, not either to the beginning of the dispensation of grace or to the beginning of the formation of the body of Christ. God designed the gospel of the uncircumcision to spread in segments and installments, so to speak, which is exactly what it did, as both the rest of the Acts account and Paul’s epistles testify.
Regarding Acts 28; I am persuaded that it is not a reference to the beginning of anything, but rather the end of Israel’s “diminishing,” during which time God through Paul gave testimony of His displeasure to those of Israel in the Jewish population centers outside the land, and that this particular testimony concluded in Rome.
As I have said, these are some of the things that persuade me.
Regarding consequences: To me the overriding consequence of the Acts 28 position is the negative consequence of needing to be dishonest and even deceitful with Romans through Galatians, where the simple, natural reading of what Paul says makes it plain and clear that the dispensation of grace is in effect when Paul wrote those epistles and those saints knew it; and the church the body of Christ was being formed when Paul wrote those epistles, and the saints addressed in those epistles are members of it and they knew it as well. But when someone says that this present dispensation didn’t actually begin until at or after the event of Acts 28, and that therefore the church the body of Christ of today was not being formed previous to that time, then he is forced to abandon the simple, natural reading and meaning of Paul’s statements to the contrary in Romans through Galatians, and through dishonest and manipulative handling of Romans through Galatians he is forced to change the meaning of such statements to make them fit the Acts 28 position.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
20011126 B17 IP DG