`But the Anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you,

and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same Anointing

teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it

hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him' (1 John 2:20,27).

By honouring `the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth' and by comparing

spiritual things with spiritual, we do not confuse the two callings

represented by Corinthians and Ephesians, but gather positive evidence of

their distinctive characteristics.  These signs Do Not Follow them that

believe in the dispensation of the Mystery.  We walk by faith, not by sight.

We can just glimpse at these concluding words of the Acts of the

Apostles and surmise that, for a time at least, the apostle had a spell of

quietness and peace.  We can, however, recognize that here we have `words

which the Holy Ghost teacheth' and seek the light which a comparison of

passages will give.  The Greek word translated `No man forbidding' is

akolutos a negative.  If we turn to the usage of the positive koluo we

discover Peter saying, concerning Cornelius, a Gentile convert `Can any man

Forbid water?' (Acts 10:47), and in his subsequent defence before those of

the circumcision that believed, `What was I, that I could Withstand God?'

(Acts 11:17).  Peter described himself (we have not to do it for him) that he

was `a man that is a Jew', who, although Pentecost was a piece of past

history, still left him the apostle of the circumcision (Gal. 2:8), and who

would have, even after Pentecost, `forbidden' and `withstood' the acceptance

of a Gentile into the Church of that period.  Not only so, this attitude was

characteristic of the Jew at the time, but it proved the climax sin for which

they are still suffering in the dispersion.

`The Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus,

And their own prophets,

And have persecuted us;

And they please not God,

And are contrary to all men:

Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to

fill up their sins alway:

For the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost'

(1 Thess. 2:14-16).

Here we have, should we need it, a confirmation of the truth that Acts

28 constitutes a dispensational boundary.  The Jew could no longer `forbid'

for he had `departed' or better still had been `dismissed' (Acts 28:25).  We

trust that the interested reader who has a tender conscience in the matter of

the Scriptures and their interpretation, will agree that every example that

we have given so far emphasizes and enhances the value of the great principle

enumerated in 1 Corinthians 2:13.

If moreover such comparisons confirm the truth already discerned by the

application of that other principle of interpretation, namely Right Division,

so much the better.

How many times do we hear the words of Ephesians 4:3 cited, to justify

the unfaithful example of the unjust steward, who said `Write fifty' (Luke

16:6).  How many times have not the words `The unity of the Spirit' been