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A -- I am afraid I am not clear as to the real results of our
conversation on the equal authority and inspiration of both the Gospels and
Epistles.
B -- What is your particular trouble?
A -- Well, seeing that I had agreed that the Epistles were of equal
authority with the Gospels, I felt that I must obey them all, and practise
them all, but this I find to be impossible.
B -- Why?
A -- They do not speak alike. For instance, just one or two features
at random -- there are so many that I am bewildered. The Sermon on the Mount
says, `The meek shall inherit the earth', yet Ephesians 1:3 tells me that I
am blessed in `heavenly places'. Mark 16:17 says that `these signs shall
follow' the preaching of the gospel, yet I find Paul saddened because
Epaphroditus was sick; why did he not heal him as he did others? Then this
made me say, `Why have we not all the miraculous gifts which the church at
Corinth had?'
Then I find during the period of the Acts of the Apostles that there
were two baptisms, one in water and one in spirit, whereas in Ephesians 4:5 I
find that `there is one baptism'. Which one is it? and why only one? Then I
used to believe that the church was the Bride, Peter speaks of the redeemed
as being a holy nation and a royal priesthood, while Paul in Ephesians and
Colossians says the church is the Body.
Then again I used to believe that we ought to keep the sabbath day, yet
I find in Colossians 2:16, `Let no man judge you with regard to the sabbath
day', and in Galatians 4:10,11, `Ye observe days ... I am afraid of you'.
Matthew 19:16 -20 (the very words of Christ Himself mark you) teaches that
eternal life may be had by keeping the ten commandments, yet Galatians 3:21
teaches that life cannot come by works, but only by faith.
B -- What is the solution, do you think? Shall we conclude that the
four Gospels are truth and the Epistles untrue?
A -- No, for we have seen that John 16:12 -14 looks forward to the
Epistles (see pp. 43,44), and that the Epistles are inspired equally with the
Gospels (see p. 47).
B -- The solution then must be found in some other feature. Let us
look once more at John 16:12 -14. It is evident that in the Epistles we must
expect something deeper and more advanced than we find in the Gospels, for
the Lord said, `I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now'. It is also evident that whatever the difference may be, it will
not take away, but rather add to, the glory of Christ, for concerning that
added revelation the Lord said of the Spirit, `He shall glorify Me'.
A -- But what puzzles me is, how can both Gospels and Epistles be true
when they say such opposite things?
B -- The answer is fairly simple.
It is a matter of recognizing
different dispensations.
A -- What do you mean by dispensations?