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"What are we to make of that inspired word `Till He come', written to the Corinthians,
a Church of mixed Jews and Greeks till our Lord's second coming: to whom do these
words refer?"
We are to make no more or less of the words "Till He come" than the hope revealed in
the Acts and epistles of that period will allow. If we discover that the hope before the
Church at that period is called "the hope of Israel", and if we further discover that Israel
were set aside, and still further, if the new dispensation, that came in consequent upon the
setting aside, speaks of the "one hope" of the calling, and uses a new set of terms to speak
of it, we shall have to conclude that "Till He come", and any commandment connected
with it, is binding until a change of dispensation come in, just as the law of Moses carries
statements to the effect that certain ceremonies like Passover, etc., were "statutes for
ever". The same reason which our brother would rightly give, namely, a change of
dispensation, to exempt himself from any necessity to abide by these commands of the
law, is the selfsame reason that we give for our own exemption from anything that
belonged to the Pentecostal dispensation.
Two passages of Scripture suffice to indicate the hope that was before the Corinthian
Church, and all the Churches of that period. One is in the Acts itself, and one is in the
epistle to the Romans. The Acts of the Apostles gives clear testimony that but one hope
runs throughout the period covered, namely, "the hope of Israel". The apostles' question
in Acts 1: 6, arising, let it be noted, out of our Lord's opening up of the O.T. Scriptures,
makes that clear at the beginning. Paul's reference in Acts 26: 6, 7 to "the hope of
the promise made of God unto the fathers" is equally clear, while his statement in
Acts 28: 20, that he was bound "for the hope of Israel" needs no explanation. This is
most certainly the one hope of the Acts.
What of the epistles of the period? We propose taking the testimony of Romans for
two reasons:--
(1) It was the last epistle written before Paul's imprisonment, and will give the final
aspect of the hope entertained by the then Church.
(2) Romans is considered by all students to be the most basic of all the epistles written
during the Acts, and therefore should be given most attentive hearing.
In Rom. 15: 8 we learn that the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus was limited to "the
circumcision", and that He came to "confirm the promises made unto the fathers", while
in Rom. 15: 12, 13 the hope is that:--
"There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in
Him shall the Gentiles hope. Now the God of that hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing."
Our brother will not need proof that "trust" (elpizo) and "hope" (elpis) must both be
translated "hope", as we have done, or that the article before elpis marks it out as "that"
hope which is in view. The hope then before the Church was associated with the reign of
Christ over the Gentiles, the passage quoted being from Isa. 11:, where the reference to
the lion and the lamb makes it clear that the Millennium is the subject. The hope before