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Did not Christ come to found the church?
No! He came to save His people from their sins, and to proclaim the near advent
of the kingdom, the kingdom promise to David. In Rom. 15: 8 we read, "Jesus Christ
was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made
unto the fathers," which is in harmony with Matt. 10: 5, 6 and 15: 24, "I am not sent but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." His first ministerial words were, "Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4: 17).
Is there any distinctive teaching in Paul's epistles written after the period you
believe terminated the past dispensation?
In Eph. 3: 9 Paul speaks of "The dispensation of the mystery, which from all the
ages had been hid in God." The reader should consider Eph. 3: 2-9, Col. 1: 25, 26 (R.V.).
Does Paul claim to be the special and exclusive apostle of this present dispensation?
Associated with Paul were others who were called apostles, an Order distinct
from the Twelve (see I Cor. xv.5-8 and I Thess. ii.6), which includes Timothy and
Silvannus.
Space forbids quotations, but a reference to Titus 1: 1-3; II Tim. 1: 1; 2: 7;
II Tim. 1: 9, 10, 11-13; 2: 2-8; 4: 17 and Rom. 16: 25 will show by the recurrence of
such expressions as "my gospel," &100:, that the apostle does claim in a peculiar manner the
dispensation of the grace of God to the Gentiles (see Eph. 3: 2).