I N D E X
So also in Galatians 6:1:
`Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one'.
To mend as one would a broken net, to be perfectly joined together as
contrasted with division, to restore as one would a dislocated limb (the medical
use of the word), this sense seems uppermost in Ephesians 4.
The apostles and prophets of the earlier order were not necessarily fitted
to mend the rupture that had been caused by Israel's rejection.  A special set
of apostles and prophets was given by the Lord, whose primary business it was to
bridge the gulf, and to reset the saints into their new position.  These laid
the foundation (Eph. 2:20).  Their work was accompanied and also followed by the
evangelist and the teacher, and all united together in the one great work of re-
adjustment, for the very gospel took on new aspects such as the `gospel of
peace' and the `gospel of glory'.  At such times some old things pass away and
others are brought over into the new setting, and some new things are revealed.
It is only through the writings of the later ministry of Paul that we can learn
these differences.
Take an example well-known to most students of Scripture.
In 1
Corinthians 11 are two important items of church practice:
(1)
The position of women in the ministry.
(2)
The Lord's supper.
Apart from teaching given by the specially equipped ministers whose work
it was to re-adjust the saints, we should not know whether both the above were
carried over into the new dispensation, whether both were left behind, whether
the Lord's supper only was retained, or whether the relationship of the man and
woman only was carried over.  Who could possibly decide this but the Lord
Himself?  In Paul's first epistle to Timothy (2:8-15) the relation of the sexes
in ministry is repeated and re-adjusted.  Here we stand upon positive teaching.
The second item, the Lord's supper, is not repeated, either in this chapter,
this epistle, or in any epistle written by Paul for the instruction of the
Church and its ministry after
Acts 28.
Let those who feel that they must continue this remembrance of the Lord's
death, do so as unto the Lord; we have no right to judge them, but let them also
acknowledge that we too, who no longer partake of a typical feast which is
vitally connected with the New Covenant and so with Israel's future restoration
and earthly kingdom, and closely linked with the parousia phase of the Lord's
coming; let them acknowledge when we eat not, to the Lord we `eat not', and are
`fully persuaded in our own mind' (Rom. 14:3-6).
We have already seen in the sevenfold unity of the Spirit that the apostle
has likewise decided for us whether we observe the baptism of John, or Peter and
Paul during the Acts, of the Spirit in His manifest gifts, or of that silent,
unseen, yet vital union with the risen Christ, which after all is the meaning
underlying all the varied baptisms of other dispensations, and which alone gives
the typical ordinance its value and power.
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