47. CUF: Administration of God's Grace : By Grace

The Administration of The Grace of God

The supreme importance of the momentous change which took place at Paul's meeting with the Jews in Rome, is ignored, or at the best misunderstood, by standard Evangelical and Orthodox teaching. Up to the time of this meeting, the activities of the Jews dominated the New Testament history. The promised Kingdom of God in Israel had been initiated, many groups of Jews, from Rome to Babylon, had been formed and positioned out of Jesus Christ. Because of the lethargy of the remaining unbelieving Jews in response to this calling, a sprinkling of Gentiles had been included to provoke them to jealousy. Unfortunately, the response of the Jews had remained lethargic, causing God to first remind them, and subsequently condemn them.

"The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' [Acts 28:25-27. Isaiah 6:9-10]

Prior to this meeting in Rome, his commission, as the other apostles, had been involved with the building up of the Kingdom in Israel: Salvation could be found only amongst the Jews [John 4:22]. No other peoples had received God's commission for this purpose,

Paul is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Nations, and kings, and the children of Israel [Acts 9:15] .......Unto the Nations now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me [Acts 26:18].

but now because of this condemnation, God commissioned the message Itself, making it freely available amongst all Nations:

"Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been commissioned to the Nations, and they will listen!" [Acts 28: 28]
This resulted in a number of changes. The plans for the Kingdom of God in Israel were halted, no longer proclaimed [Gk: kErusO]. The gifts of The Holy Spirit, given for the specific purpose of the building up of the Jewish Churches during that period described by the apostle Luke in his record of The Acts of the Apostles, were now no longer required by new believers. At that time, in order to fulfil His promise to the Nations, God initiated through the Apostle John, the writing and distribution of a document describing the purposes and activities of The Lord Jesus Christ which specifically provided for their needs. This, the Gospel of John, explains who Christ is. It opens to all, the understanding of this Messianic Mystery

And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. [John 20:26]

The distribution of this Godly document resulted in the forming of many groups of Gentile Christians who had no relationship with the previous groups of Jewish Christians. A few years later, the Apostle Paul, writing to these groups refers to this Gospel of John when he says:

you also were included in Christ when you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. [Ephesians 1:13]

God postponed the introduction of His Kingdom in Israel and caused Paul to regard as waste all that he held dear regarding his own position and place in that nation [Philippians 3:5-9] Having done this, He must therefore have initiated a new Administration and given corresponding details regarding its character.

Where do we find this important information? Was it prophesied in the Old or New Testament up to this point in 62ad? It seems not, because the Jews to whom the change was announced were not at all clear as to its meaning, 'having great disputation among themselves'. We need to examine Paul's letters which record events before and after this date. After the great change in 62ad, Paul wrote his letters to Timothy and Titus.

He instructed them concerning the setting up of churches for those new Christians who had accepted the Gospel written by John. This completed Paul’s first commission when he wrote to Timothy: ’I have finished my course’. [2Tim 4:7]

Later, when he writes to his beloved Philippians, he tells them about changes to his own mind concerning humility and his place as an Judahite. Following this, at the time of The Temple's destruction around 69/70ad, God reveals to Paul the details of a new 'hidden' Administration of His Grace.[Eph ch.3] Paul describes this when writing to: the Colossians and 'Ephesians’. [Eph ch.3. Col 1:24-29]

Subsequently, in these letters he again calls himself an apostle. Here we find these statements which describe his second commission:

The Administration of The Grace of God, which is given to me for you, For, by revelation the secret is made known to me,......... To, me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace granted: to herald among the nations the good message of the untraceable wealth of Christ, Even, to enlighten all as to God’s secret administration, which has been concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all these, That, now to the sovereignties and the authorities among the most elevated may be made known, through the out called One, the manifold wisdom of God. In accord, with the purpose of the eons, which He makes in Christ Jesus our Lord, [Eph 3:1-9] See also By Grace No.8ML

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the Administration of God which is given to me for you, to complete the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man mature in Christ Jesus: [Colossians 1:24-28]

Paul tells us in both these letters, that up to the time of writing them, this Administration of this Mystery had been hidden from the angelic hierarchy [the eons], the sovereignties and the authorities among the most elevated.

Since therefore his commission had changed by the time he came to write to these new Christians, his previous seven letters and those to Timothy and Titus, were written and authorised under his first commission which ended shortly after 62ad. It is known that Paul's three letters to the 'Ephesian' and Colossian Christians, including that to his friends in the household of Philemon, were written much later....68 to 71ad.
Summarising: In 62ad, after Paul's announcement in Rome during his first commission, he wrote his letters to Timothy and Titus instructing them in the revised order of new and existing Churches caused by God's commissioned message passing from the Jew to the Nations. After his new mind described in Philippians, he received his second commission. The order of these Pauline letters therefore, is as follows:

First letter to Timothy
Letter to Titus
Second letter to Timothy
Letter to Philippians
Letter to the 'Ephesians'
Letter to Philemon
Letter to the Colossians

The letter to the Colossian Christians is placed last because of Paul's statement:

Wherefore I am made a minister according to the Administration of God which is given to me for you to complete the Word of God. [Col 1:25]

The Second letter to Timothy is placed before his letter to the Philippian Christians because it was his last under the course [Acts 20:24] of his first commission:

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 2Timothy 4:7

The letter to the new 'Ephesian' Christians, whom Paul had never met, was probably written after the destruction of the Temple in 69-70ad because of his references:

Consequently, you are……….built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. [Ephesians 2:19]
But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition. [Eph 2:14]

Following the recognition of all these changes in my understanding, the reader might well ask: What then was the purpose of this newly revealed Administration of God's Grace?

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. [Eph 2:6-7]

As trophies of God's Grace, we will be displayed in the eons to come.

So, this new Administration began when God revealed it to His apostle Paul at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and The Temple. Prior to this the church order was described in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. This church order continues to-day despite the revelation given to Paul. Their hope continues to be that which Paul described to the Thessalonian and Corinthian churches….the Hope of the Second Advent. .

The majority of the Christians living to-day during this Administration of God's Grace, follow the order of 'churches' described by Paul in those letters to Timothy and Titus, some even attempting to impose the order of those Jewish churches defined by Paul's earlier letters concerning The Kingdom in Israel, the Corinthian, Thessalonian, Galation and Roman. They do not recognise the character of this Administration which is based upon family circumstances [Philemon, Colossians 3:17-21, 'Ephesians' 5:21 to 6:4] and not upon 'church' gatherings. Neither do they recognise the new hope of their calling. Paul's prayers supplicate for all Christians to recognise:this Administration:

that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God [Colossians 1:9] that The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance among in the saints. [Ephesians 1:17]

The Kingdom of Heaven in Israel

Because of this increase in my understanding it was impossible for me to continue to believe that the prophecies and parables relating to The Kingdom of God applied to the present World Church. This Kingdom was and will be determined only for the Twelve Tribes of Israel until such time as God applies His Power to Govern over all the earth:
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying "The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever" [Rev. 11:15]

The questions we would now ask would be: [1] When then will the Kingdom of Heaven recommence? and: [2] When does this Administration of God’s Grace end?

At His choosing, God will reverse the condition of Spiritual blindness and deafness imposed upon the Jews:

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. [Isaiah 35:4-5]

When God ceases to show His 'unmerited favour' to all mankind, without the consequences of judgement despite their evil activity, Christ will be made known with all those that are His, in glorious light:

all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. [Ephesians 5:13-14]
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. [Col 3:3-4]

The chart shown in the previous study [BG 46]must now be changed to include the present Administration of God’s Grace