Table of Contents
- Editorial
- Message From The Previous Minister
- Attested Truth
- The Twofold Purpose of the Ages
- Men God Called
Editorial
By: Archie Falisi
We express our deep gratitude to Michael and Ping for their dedicated service to the Lord at the Chapel of the Opened Book from 2007 to 2024. Our love and prayers accompany them as they embark on their retirement journey, cherishing the shared hope we have in Christ our Lord and Head. Despite the escalating global challenges, by God’s grace, we continue to share the truth of His rightly divided Word (2 Timothy 2:15) and the abundant spiritual riches found in Christ and the Scriptures.
The Berean truth and its four foundational tenets remain the same, while the Berean Expositor undergoes a new layout transformation, featuring new articles in the future. Our aim is to continue to expound Biblical truths to new friends and readers throughout this age of grace.
As the new minister, I impart words of encouragement: “praying you grow in His grace and knowledge, bringing glory to our God and Saviour, who loved us before the world’s foundation and chose us to be seated with Christ in the heavenly realms far above all.” Amen.
Message From The Previous Minister
From: Michael Garstang
The book of Proverbs warns, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28). To the observer, these landmarks were but a row of stones marking where the alloted field was, which was rotated between ownerships year by year. David makes application of this very earthly truth in Psalm 15:5-6.
Let us ever regard the writings of this month’s contributors as “pleasant places”, as token of our “goodly heritage”. Their mortal lives may be spent, but their writings must surely cause us to thank God for their industry and clarity regarding “our hope”, ie matters dispensational.
On a personal note, Michael and Ping wish to say “thank you” and “thank you” again for the kind gifts marking our farewell from London and from our work at the chapel. It has of course been an immeasurable privilege to serve Our Great God and Saviour in this way.
“All scenes alike engaging prove, to souls impressed with sacred love …” (Hymn by Madame Guyon)
Attested Truth
By: Charles H. Welch
(Being the substance of an address given by the Principal, on Foundation Day, May 28th, 1949 at the Chapel of the Opened Book)
To the believer, brought up in orthodoxy, accustomed to the phrase “the Church began at Pentecost”, taking to himself as a matter of course the words “we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:7), the results of the application of “right division” and the somewhat startling claims of “dispensational truth”, may seem after all to rest upon the somewhat uncertain basis of human deduction and inference. It may be that if we can discover that dispensational changes that subdivide the purpose of the ages, have always been announced, and that spiritual deduction only finds its place after, and not before, the announcement has been made public, the recognition of the differences that claim attention and which are vital to the full acknowledgement of our calling may be simplified.
The Threefold Division Of All Truth.
The revelation given in the Scriptures comes to us in three forms:
- Doctrinal Truth;
- Dispensational Truth;
- Practical Truth.
What do we mean by Doctrinal Truth? Doctrinal truth embraces all that has been revealed concerning the Being and Attributes of God, and all that God has done, commanded, promised or foretold in Creation, Law and Grace. “All have sinned” is true under grace as it was under law. “To the Jew first” was true during the period covered by the Acts, but cannot be put into practice since the dismissal of the Jew in Acts 28. This latter statement therefore comes rather under the next heading.
What do we mean by Dispensational Truth? Dispensational Truth takes note of the purpose of the ages, the changes that have been introduced since Creation, such as may be denominated the dispensations of Innocence, Law, Kingdom, Grace, Church, Mystery, etc., and the office of dispensational truth is to decide whether any particular doctrine – be it command, promise, calling or prophecy – does or does not pertain to any particular individual. Dispensational truth would lead the believer to distinguish between the blessing which says, “the meek shall inherit the earth”, and those blessings which are described as “all spiritual” and to be enjoyed in “heavenly places”.
What do we mean by Practical Truth? Not until doctrine has passed the mesh of dispensational truth, can practical truth put in its claim. It is obvious that the people of Israel, called to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation, with its sphere of influence in the earth, could not be called upon to put into practice the injunctions of Ephesians 4-6. In like manner, the Church of the One Body has no guarantee that obedience to the special truth attaching to that calling will result in blessing in “basket and in store”. Those who are under the law must have a very different form of practice from those who are under grace.
Only by loyally preaching and teaching the truth of God as related to these three aspects can we hope to become workmen who need not to be ashamed, for only by so doing shall we “rightly divide” the Word of truth. We believe this threefold division will command the assent of all who honour the Scriptures as the revelation of the mind and will of God.
In the endeavour to discern the changing dispensations, we may collect together “things that differ”, we may observe that one calling is associated with the period “before the foundation of the world” and another with a period “from (or since) the foundation of the world”. We may observe that in one calling Christ is “King”; in another He is represented as “Priest after the order of Melchizedek”, in another He is denominated “Head over all things to the church which is His body”. We observe that some are “to inherit the earth”, but that others find their place in the “New Jerusalem”, and yet others are blessed with all spiritual blessings “in heavenly places”; and that this sphere of blessing is “where Christ sits at the right hand of God”. We might moreover bring forward the prevalence of miraculous gifts and the persistence of the hope of Israel, right through the Acts of the Apostles to the last chapter, and compare and contrast this state of affairs with the teaching of the “Prison Epistles”. These, and many other studies are a legitimate approach to the Scriptures, and fulfil the injunction “comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. In this present study the key word is the word “Witness”, and our contention is that every dispensational change is accompanied by an accredited witness. We are not left to our own searchings or deductions, we find witnesses at intervals along the way, who declare in the name of Him that sent them that this or that change has taken place. If this be so, then we should spare no pains to become acquainted with so important a feature in the unfolding of the divine purpose. We have called this address “Attested Truth”, for dispensational truth is inseparable from “witnesses” specially raised up at the crises of spiritual history.
The word “witness” (Anglo-Saxon) and the words “testimony”, “testify” (Latin) together with “record” and “report” (Latin) and the English word “martyr” which is from Greek, are employed in the New Testament to translate the various verbal forms of the word “μάρτυς” (martus), and together present a fairly comprehensive idea of the meaning of the original.
Testimony or witness is that which is affirmed as something seen, heard or experienced, or that has been made known by divine revelation, and for which the testifier would be prepared, if need be, to confirm by a martyr’s death. The words, ό μάρτυς ό πιστός, (ho martus ho pistos) are translated “faithful witness” in Revelation 1:5, and “faithful martyr” in Revelation 2:13.
The words that will be employed, or have a bearing on the subject, are:
- Μαρτυρέω (Martureo) – “to bear witness, to testify”.
- Μαρτυρίαν (Marturian) – “That which is testified”.
- Προμαρτύρομαι (Promarturomai) – “To bear witness beforehand”.
- Επιμαρτυρέω (Epimartureo) – “To bear witness, to make a deposition”.
- Διαμαρτύρομαι (Diamarturomai) – “To affirm with solemn protestation”.
- συνεπιμαρτυρέω (Sunepimartureo) – “To bear witness together, to concur in testimony”.
The first thing that we must do is to discover who, and what, are called “witnesses” in the New Testament and, in order to avoid cumbering ourselves with unwanted material, we shall ignore references to “false witnesses” or those witnesses referred to who have no bearing upon the subject in hand.
- John The Baptist. “The same came for a witness” (John 1:7)
- The Lord Jesus Christ. “I am one that bear witness of Myself”
(John 8:18)
- The Father bears witness of Christ. “The Father that sent me beareth witness” (John 8:18)
- The Holy Spirit’s witness of Christ. “He shall testify of Me” (John 15:26)
- The Scriptures bear witness of Christ. “They are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39)
- Supernatural Gifts and Signs
- To Christ. “The works that I do, bear witness of Me” (John 5:36)
- To apostles. “God also bearing them witness . . . with signs” (Hebrew 2:4)
- Peter And The Twelfth. “Ye shall be witness unto Me” (Acts 1:8)
- The Apostle Paul.
- Paul, before Acts 28. “His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard” (Acts 22:15)
- Paul, both before and after Acts 28. “A witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear” (Acts 26:16)
- Paul after Acts 28. “The testimony of our Lord nor of me His prisoner,” (2 Tim. 1:8).
It is written of John the Baptist, “John did no miracle” (John 10:41), and there is neither sign, wonder nor miracle recorded of the apostle Paul after the change of dispensation which took place at Acts 28. We therefore distribute the witnesses in the New Testament as follows:
A | John the Baptist. No Miracle.
B | Christ, and His apostles until Acts 28. Sign, wonder, and
miracle
A’ | Paul the Prisoner. No Miracle.
It should be noticed with heart searching seriousness that each one of the “witnesses” enumerated in the list above, were actually “martyrs”. John the Baptist was beheaded, the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, Peter was forewarned by the Lord as to the death he should die and spoke of the near approach of his “decease” in his second epistle, and Paul wrote his second epistle to Timothy in view of his approaching death which tradition says, as well as the evidence of the epistle, was by execution. They were witnesses in the double sense of the word. It cannot be too strongly emphasised therefore that only in a secondary sense can any one of us today be called “witness”.
A “witness” must have had first hand evidence. He must be able to say “I was there”, “I saw with my own eyes”, “I heard with my own ears”, and we only spoil the incisive character of New Testament testimony by appropriating so intensely personal a term to ourselves. Let us put this to the test.
John The Baptist. – How far was he an “eye-witness”?
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record (Μαρτυρέω, Martureo, same word “bear witness” in John 1:7), saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” (John 1:29-33)
The Twelve – How far were these “eye-witnesses”?
“Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.” (Acts 1:21-22)
Peter – “He was seen of Cephas” (1 Corinthians 15:5)
Paul – “Chosen … see that Just One and … hear His voice” (Acts 22:14)
As we trace the unfolding purpose in the New Testament we observe that at each central epoch, a witness is raised up. This witness will either have extraordinary confirmation of his calling by the “signs and wonders” and the “divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost” (Hebrews 2:4) or if he be like John the Baptist who did no miracle, the prophecies that went before and at his birth (Luke 1:5-20, 57-80), were a sufficient attestation. With most of these assertions we shall find general agreement among believers, and as our chief interest is related to the special witness of Paul, and as it is in connection with this witness that the greatest difference of opinion is found, we will devote the remainder of our time to his particular ministry.
Witnesses for Pentecost and its message are abundant in the early Acts. Even the number “twelve” had to be made up. For had not the Lord spoken of “twelve thrones” that must be occupied by the “twelve apostles”?
With the call and commission of Paul,however, a new witness appears and his advent indicates another dispensational change. He is given a number of titles, “A chosen vessel” being the earliest recorded. Paul was to bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles, and Kings and the children of Israel. “Gentiles” occupying the first place even as they do in the prophetic utterance of old Simeon (Luke 2:32). The emphasis upon the Gentiles in these passages, cannot be disassociated from the withdrawal of favour from Israel.
“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” (Acts 13:46)
From Acts 22:6-15 we learn more fully the commission given to Paul following his conversion on the road to Damascus:
“For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.” (Acts 22:15)
and referring to this first ministry which ends with the shadow of prison in Acts 20, he summed it up as:
“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)
In his defence, the Apostle more than once linked the two sections of his ministry by the word that is translated either “witness” or “testify”.
“And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” (Acts 23:11)
In like manner, Paul’s prison ministry, the ministry that unfolded the new dispensation of the mystery, the ministry that finds its exposition in the “Prison Epistles”, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and 2 Timothy, this too is a “witness” or a “testimony”. The first ministry comes to an end in Acts 20, and the new ministry is envisaged. Referring to the prophecies that spoke of “bonds and afflictions” Paul said:
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)
This implies something more than preaching the gospel as an “Evangelist”, it includes this, but it gives meaning to the emphasis which is laid on “the grace of God”, for in the Prison Epistles we read that “the dispensation” which had been given to the apostle as “the Prisoner of, Christ Jesus for you Gentiles” was “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-2).
Again, in his defence before Agrippa the apostle spoke of his twofold ministry, again using the word translated either “witness” or “testimony”.
“But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,” (Acts 26:16-17)
Some of these words were uttered by the Lord on the Damascus Road but in Acts 9 Paul was not delivered from “the people”, neither was he “sent unto the Gentiles” at that time. “Now I send thee”, with these words the apostle intimates that the second appearing to him of the Lord had taken place, according to the promise originally made, and “Now”, that is at the time of his defence, he was being “sent unto the Gentiles”, the Roman powers undertaking his transport as a prisoner.
The apostle’s prison ministry is called “the testimony (or witness) of our Lord” and of Paul “His prisoner” (2 Timothy 1:8). The special teaching which Timothy was enjoined to commit to faithful men, was a teaching which he had heard of Paul “among many witnesses” (2 Tim 2:2). So, in his first epistle to Timothy, Paul speaks of the great message concerning “One God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all”, he adds (our translation):
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6)
Then immediately following this most discriminating claim, he adds:
“Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:7)
The words translated “in due time” in 1 Timothy 2:6, which we have rendered “in its own peculiar seasons”, are the Greek words ιδιος (idios) and καιρος (kairos) in the plural dative. Ιδιος (Idios) means something peculiarly one’s “own”, and is so translated in 1 Timothy 3:4-5,12. A similar phrase, similarly translated in the Authorised Version is found in Titus 1:2-3:
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;” (Titus 1:2-3)
Here we find it is a “God that cannot lie” which strikes the same note as the interjected words of 1 Timothy 2:7, “I speak the truth in Christ I lie not”, and suggests that this peculiar dispensational claim here “attested” would be strongly “contested”, a fact that most of those associated with The Berean Expositor will endorse. Here also we have a message “committed” to Paul in harmony with a “commandment of God”, which is but another way of saying “whereunto I am ordained” (1 Timothy 2:7).
The revelation of the mystery and the dispensation of the grace of God, especially committed to Paul the Prisoner with its accompanying Gospel of the grace of God, and its teaching concerning the one Mediator Who gave Himself a ransom for all, as distinct from the more limited reference in Matthew 20:28, which was “for many”, this new ministry was a testimony or a witness that had its own peculiar season for its manifestation and announcement. Therefore every fresh unfolding of the dispensations has been accompanied at its inception, with a specially equipped and commissioned witness. Dispensational truth, like all other aspects of truth, can be supported, illustrated and enforced, by comparison, by study and by every other legitimate means, but it is an occasion for thanksgiving to have seen, that its discovery does not depend upon the wit of man, but stands solidly and unassailable upon the witness of God. From the days of John the Baptist until the end of time, each and every dispensational change could be heralded with the words employed by Paul “A testimony in its own peculiar season”.
Dispensational Truth is “Attested Truth”
The Twofold Purpose of the Ages
By: Stuart Allen
The epistle to the Romans not only deals with the evils of sin and death that affect all mankind, but reveals that the whole creation has become involved, bringing problems that are beyond the ability of man to solve:
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” (Romans 8:22-24)
It is hardly possible for any sensitive or thinking person to contemplate the centuries of sin, death, pain and perplexities that have characterised the history of man in general, and the believer in particular, without at times asking the question “why?”. True, the context of Romans eight speaks of incomparable glory that will outweigh the sufferings and difficulties, and links the pain with salvation by hope and final deliverance, and, by subsequent reference to the “groanings” of the interceding Spirit gives us the assurance that we are not left to face our sorrows and problems alone. But in spite of this, the question remains, “why was it necessary that God’s plan for creation should take the course it has done?”. We know from the teaching of Ephesians that the Body of Christ was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world with the object that it should enjoy all spiritual blessings in heavenly places where Christ is now enthroned in glory. Why then did we not at creation pass straight into heavenly places with spiritual bodies fitted to experience this wealth of spiritual blessing, instead of coming into a world marred by sin and death necessitating redemption by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and also the stupendous miracle, namely that of resurrection, before the original purpose of electing love could be realised? Even though we quote, “Shall not the Judge of all the world do right?”, the problem still remains.
It is true to say that, with our present limitations, we shall never fully resolve this perplexity. Nevertheless the Word of God does shed a certain amount of light on this and we wish to search the Scriptures and obtain what help we can get from them. If the first two chapters of the book of Job were hidden from us, as they were from Job and his three well-meaning friends, we should be as baffled as they were in their attempt to find a reason for Job’s sufferings. Those opening chapters reveal the presence of a spiteful spiritual enemy, Satan, and a challenge which the Almighty One accepted with one important reservation (Job 1:9-12).
We also possess the concluding chapter, which the three friends did not know until after the event, where Job receives “double”. Again, we ask, “why?”. A gleam of light is found on enquiring into the meaning of the word “Job”. C. H. Welch pointed out in his study of Job that in an appendix found in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT which was used by the Lord Jesus, the apostles and the believers of this period) we have a statement that tells us his name was originally “Jobab”. Consequently the change to Job may be intentional because of its significance.
The word Job in Scripture is found first of all in the Hebrew of Genesis 3:15 where it is translated “enmity”. Job’s story is an exhibition of the enmity that exists between Satan and the seed of the woman. God said to the serpent:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
These two opposing seeds are clearly seen in the parable of the wheat and the tares. The Lord disclaims responsibility for the tares. He declares that “an enemy (Satan) hath done this” and that the tares are the children of Satan (Matt 13:27,28,38). Here is a suggestion that the problem of the ages, set forth in the experience of Job, derives from the Satanic antagonism and enmity to the purpose of God in creating mankind. There are other reasons of course, such as the moral being with the power of obedience or disobedience, of going right or going wrong and thus spoiling God’s intentions. It may be too that there are certain lessons and experiences that could only be realised by passing through human nature and that, in this present life, we are learning valuable and necessary lessons as a prelude to the eternal life to come in glory. However, we have not finished with the consideration of Satan’s malignant activity against God and His people.
“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;” (Genesis 15:13)
This enmity is further shown in the story of Abraham and the revelation of God’s purpose through him and his posterity. When Abram responded to the call of God, he was assured by the repeated unconditional promises of God that the land to which he had come would be given to him and his seed (Gen 12:7; 13:14-17; 17:8). In Genesis 15, Abram is again assured:
“And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.” (Genesis 15:7)
Upon hearing this promise, Abram replied:
“And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8)
Then follows a strange transaction with an unexpected prophecy. Abram is told to arrange for the making of a covenant which involved offerings, and then, instead of being one of the parties to the making of this covenant, he is purposely put into a deep sleep so that he himself could promise nothing. The divine answer to his question is the extraordinary revelation that his posterity, instead of occupying the land of promise, would become strangers in another land not theirs, that they would become servants or slaves and be grievously afflicted. After a long gap of 400 years, in the fourth generation, they would return “hither again”, while Abraham, to whom the promise was made would die and be buried in a good old age, without inheriting this land! (Gen 15:13-15). This extraordinary prophecy is borne out by the history of this people in the book of Exodus, and not till the 400 years were nearly fulfilled do we read “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:24)
The people of Israel who had been given the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, could only return to it after 215 years of bondage and misery in Egypt, by way of the typical redeeming blood of the passover lamb! However, the above quotation is partial and the reason given by God to Abraham for this strange and protracted interlude is:
“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” (Genesis 15:16)
The Amorites were Satan’s counterfeit seed, represented later in the parable of the tares to which we have already alluded. In this parable there is not immediate divine judgement on these “tares”. They are not to be rooted up straight away, but left till the harvest. Then they will be gathered out by God’s agents, the angels, blotted out by being burnt up and destroyed. We say “destroyed” advisedly, because the Universalist somehow must bring them back into being if his creed is true. Any gardener understands the illustration used here. He uproots the weeds and burns them up in a bonfire, not to preserve them but to destroy them, and this would be a most unsuitable picture of the purpose of God if His final plan is to save them for eternity. Just as the tares are left till the harvest before they are destroyed, so the Amorites’ destruction is not immediate, for not until a certain quantity of evil is “filled up” does God judge them and blot them out. In this we have a principle throughout Scripture that God often waits before judging for sin. In His righteousness He does not punish until sin has reached a certain level that deserves this, and then He acts. This must be remembered because we may sometimes fail to understand why God does not judge sin and sinners quickly and remove them from hindering His great purposes. His righteousness and His infinite grace and long-suffering have to be reckoned with here.
The Second Time
It is understandable that we should think that if God be God almighty, He could not take second place in His dealings with man, yet the whole record of His purpose for heaven and earth seems to point to “the second time”. Without being irreverent, we may liken the conflict of the ages to a great game of chess where the opposing players are God and Satan with the powers of darkness under his control. In this conflict, God, since creation, sometimes seems to allow Satan to make the first move. But however many moves there are and however protracted the game may be, we know for certain that it will finally be “check-mate” with God as the Victor and Satan and his hosts defeated and annihilated. God will finally be “all in all” and at last the wondrous plan, conceived by Him in past eternity, can go on unhindered to a glorious completion.
This principle of “the second time” can be seen in Stephen’s address recorded in Acts 7. He points out that Joseph was made known to his brethren “the second time” and Moses was accepted by Israel, but only after his primary rejection (Acts 7:13,35). Again in Hebrews 9:28, even though “once at the consummation of the ages” (end of the world A.V.), Christ had already “appeared”, it will not be until He appears “the second time” that salvation will be received or attained (Hebrews 9:28). In the same way, Hebrews 8:7 sets aside the first covenant in favour of the second, the first covenant becoming “old and vanishing away”, while the second is established (Hebrews 10:9). Hebrews also speaks of a “better hope”, a “better covenant”, “better promises” and an infinitely “better sacrifice”, even though the rejected hope, covenant, promises and sacrifices were all ordained by God Himself originally.
We cannot help noticing too the place that pairs occupy in the early types of the Old Testament – Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, and so on. This two-foldness goes right throughout Scripture. Without going into details here we list the following:
- The whole Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
- The book of Genesis as a whole and in a variety of pairs.
- The book of the Revelation, the complement of the book of Genesis.
- The book of the Revelation, the complement of the book of Exodus.
- The book of the Revelation, the complement of the Gospel of Matthew.
- The twofold nature of the book of Exodus.
- The twofold nature of the book of Isaiah.
- The twofold nature of the Gospel of Matthew.
- The twofold nature of the Acts of the Apostles.
- The twofold nature of the epistle to the Ephesians.
- The twofold character of prophetic truth.
There are other considerations like the twofold witness of the Apostle Paul, during the Acts period and afterwards, but this list gives us a beginning, illustrating this twofoldness which is found right throughout the Scriptures.
The twofoldness of the Word of God
The Bible comes to us in its complete form as a twofold composition commonly referred to as (1) the Old Testament and (2) the New Testament. These titles are too ingrained for them to be exchanged for the Old and New Covenant, but that, strictly speaking, is what these books should be called.
The Greek word διαθήκη (diatheke) occurs seventeen times in the epistle to the Hebrews, eleven times the word is rendered in the Authorised Version “covenant” and six times “testament”. The choice of these two terms seems arbitrary, for in Hebrews 7:22 we read that “by so much” Jesus was made a surety of “a better testament”, whereas in Hebrews 8:6 we read “by how much also He is the Mediator of a covenant“. In Hebrews 8:8 we read “I will make a new covenant“, but in 9:15 we have “He is the Mediator of the new testament“. In chapter 12 verse 24 He is once more the Mediator of “the New Covenant“.
Bloomfield writes on this in his Greek Testament:
“The same properly assigned to it, testament, is now generally rejected, from its involving something like an absurdity. For how, it is asked, can anyone be called the mediator of a testament? How can a testament need a mediator How can anyone be called the mediator of his own testament? How can it be said that the testator died to make it valid?” (p. 514)
The following literal translation of Hebrews 9:16-17 is found in Dr. E. W. Bullinger’s Greek Lexicon:
“For where a covenant (is) a death (is) necessary to be brought in, of him or that which makes the covenant, for a covenant over dead ones, or victims (is) sure, since at no time has it force when he is living, the one who is making the covenant”.
The last lines of this translation, if they were speaking of a covenant where the victim was an animal, such as bulls or goats, would read “when it (ie the sacrificial victim) is living”. But as the victim and the One Who makes the covenant is the Lord Jesus Himself, we read, “when He is living” which probably influenced the translators to think in terms of will-making rather than the making of a covenant.
Men God Called
By: C.J. Holdway
(1) Noah
Throughout the centuries there have been men and women “subject to like passions as we are”, who have been raised by God for His purposes. The records of their exploits are “written for our learning”, and as examples for us.
Noah was such a man. The background to his calling is outlined in Genesis 6:1-7. In verses 1,2,3 and 4 the word “men” (or “man”) represents in the original “the Adam”. This is translated by J. N. Darby as “mankind” in verse 1, and draws attention to the fact that it is true human beings who are in mind in contrast to “the giants” or nephilim who were the off-spring of the illicit union between the “sons of God” (ie angelic beings) and the daughters of Adam. It is a sombre and sobering thought that even as early as the daughters of Adam, Satan was not only at work, but found ready response in the human race.
As a result of this state of affairs “the wickedness of man was great in the earth”. The word “wickedness” has the significance of lewdness, and moral depravity, and draws attention to a significance of the Lord’s words in Matthew 24:37-38, which is often overlooked:
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,” (Matthew 24:37-38)
In the light of the account in Genesis 6 “marrying and giving in marriage” takes on a more sinister meaning. It can hardly be the fact that they were “marrying and giving in marriage” that is so significant, for throughout the history of mankind this has been going on. Moreover Paul specifically state in Hebrews 13:4 :
“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4″)
It is the abuse of the married state that comes under the judgement of God. This is found in the state of affairs recorded in the passage before us: there was a combination of “super-naturalism” and moral depravity. Today there is a similar situation of increasing interest in super-naturalism, in the occult, spiritism, and even Satanism.
The description of the world wide situation in Genesis 6:11-13 has a familiar ring today. “All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Gen 6:12), “the earth was filled with violence” (Gen 6:11). Such was the situation that “The Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth” (Gen 6:7). The events in the world today, in the light of Scripture, are leading up to God’s judgement upon mankind. It was against the background of a world situation not so dissimilar from that today that Noah was called.
In the midst of all the corruption and violence there was one notable exception:
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8)
Noah only was acceptable to God, and when this is so, acceptance by God brings responsibility, and so it was with Noah:
“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.” (Genesis 6:13-14)
Could anything be more ridiculous? Here was a man who was not merely holding to old fashioned, outmoded ideas, but was stupid enough to try to build a ship on land, far from any sea. But was the subject to any more ridicule than before? He had always been the “odd man out” among his contemporaries.
Genesis 6:9 could be rendered:
“This is the family history of Noah: Noah was a just man and without blemish among his contemporaries, and Noah walked habitually with the Creator”
“These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9)
All his past life had been a preparation for the work he was now to undertake for God. He had been “faithful a little”, now he was to be given the opportunity to be faithful in much.
Paul summarises Noah’s call in these words:
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7)
Noah was “warned of God”. The word “warned” is one which is always used of divine communications, and in Luke 2:26 a corresponding word is translated “it was revealed”. In the response to this revelation “moved him with fear”. It was not fear in the sense of terror, but of caution, being circumspect or discreet, even to wait quietly for. Arndt and Gingrich put it “Noah took care and built an ark”. The cautious man builds a ship on dry land! Then quietly waits for all that God has revealed. It was through faith Noah did this. He trusted God, trusted in the revelation given to him, taking heed to do all that God had said, taking care to do what God had told him, quietly waiting God’s time. The truly cautious thing to do at all times is to trust in God, and to do His Will.
In this way Noah became “a preacher of righteousness”.
“And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;” (2 Peter 2:5)
The context of this statement is instructive: “The angels that sinned”: “Sodom and Gomorrah”. In a time of moral and spiritual corruption Noah became a preacher, or better, a herald. He proclaimed righteousness, and proclaimed it whether his hearers took heed or not. Surely the “righteousness” he proclaimed was that the coming judgement was just. The chapter also begins with a reference to “false prophets”, and there are many such in the world today; it continues (verse 10 on) with walking “after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness”, it makes reference to those who “despise government”, it makes reference also to “the way of Balaam:”: immorality, rebellion and corruption. In such a situation Noah became a herald of righteousness.
Like many another of those called of God, Noah was called to what someone has called “a ministry of failure”. For all his faithful proclamation of righteousness, not one took heed to his message. Only Noah and his immediate family were saved from the judgement of the deluge. Because he was called to “a ministry of failure”, he was called to a ministry of faithfulness. As a result he “became heir of the righteousness which is by faith”. “through faith Noah … became heir of the righteousness which is by faith”. Should not those who by faith have inherited righteousness be faithful?
Seldom, if ever before, has there been a time like the present to parallel the days of Noah. Yet the time was foreseen by the Lord, “As it was in the days of Noah …”. So also Paul spoke of the days leading up to those of which our Lord spoke.
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” (1 Timothy 4:1-3)
Some shall depart from, stand aloof or withdraw from the faith; some will not remain faithful in the difficult “latter times”. They will give heed to seducing spirits: seducing is the Greek word πλάνος (planos), wandering, straying. Perhaps this gives greater significance to the Authorised Version “seducing” in the light of “the angels which kept not their first estate”, but wandered, or strayed from it, taking wives from among the daughters of men.1
Similarly in 2 Timothy 3 Paul emphases the dangers of “the last days”, for they shall be “perilous times” of great apostasy. Verse 8 has salutary warning in the reference to “Jannes and Jambres” who withstood Moses. These are the names of the magicians who counterfeited the signs performed by Moses before Pharaoh. Just so these apostates will resist the truth. There will be counterfeit signs and wonders performed by some (at least) of those who stand aloof from the faith. They do not necessarily deny the faith; the situation is more perilous than that, for they have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”. This is reinforced by Paul’s statement to the Thessalonians concerning the coming of “that day” and the presence “παρουσία” (parousia) of the man of sin “whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
Noah’s calling, with his faithfulness in days of great moral laxity and spiritual corruption, with his faithfulness in heralding righteousness, and in his faithful obedience to the will of God for him, speaks to us, living, as we do, in days of great similarity to those in which Noah lived. Should not we, in our great calling, seek to be spiritually without blemish among our contemporary believers, habitually walking worthily before God, remaining faithful in what might appear to some to be God’s delay, being heralds of the righteousness which is to be found in Christ alone? There may be little response to the truth we proclaim, but following the faithful example set us by Noah let us continue to seek to enlighten all men what is the stewardship of the secret which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
1 The “Textus Receptus” was the Greek text most followed to translate the 1611 KJV. Πλάνοις (planois), a dative plural grammatical form of the word πλάνος (planos), was translated “seducing” in 1611. Today’s lexical reference of πλάνοις (planois) avoids the sensual connotations of seduce, and is “leading astray” (transitive) or “going astray” (intransitive), according to the context. 1 Timothy 4:1 is better understood as: Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to misleading spirits, and doctrines of devils;.