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Scripture that the phrases, "all spiritual blessings", "in heavenly places" and "before
the foundation of the world" apply equally to the church before and after Acts 28:
We could almost venture the whole argument upon one unique fact, namely, that this
church and no other throughout the whole range of Scripture is said to be "seated" in the
heavenly places, far above all. Nowhere else is there a "joint-body"; no other company
is "far above all principality". What, then, becomes of our brother's sweeping statement?
It is incorrect, and, as criticism, it is valueless.
We also repudiate the term "so-called dispensational church"; it is a meaningless
phrase. Every church must be "dispensational". It may be the church of the Acts period,
or the mystery, or the churches of the Revelation. "So-called" suggests that this is our
own term. We hope no one will think that we have been careless enough to use so
meaningless an expression.
Our brother, moreover, speaks of the "Body" and the "Bride" as synonymous titles of
the one company. But this is not the case. The Bride is clearly associated with the New
Jerusalem, with it gates of pearl and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The church
of the mystery is far above even this sphere of blessing. We read that the standard of the
church of the mystery is the "perfect man" (Eph. 4: 13), and our brother will know that
aner (the word for "man" here) is never used except of a male. It is translated in Eph. 5:
several times by the word "husband". And we suppose our brother would not attempt to
teach that the perfect "husband" can be the "bride". Eph. 5: with its instructions to
husbands and wives is not the place in which to seek to establish a doctrine.
We are also referred to Rom. 12: 5 and I Cor. 10: 17, but these passages speak of a
church where every "member" is a "spiritual gift" (I Cor. 12: 18, 28), whereas spiritual
gifts are absent from the dispensation of the mystery.
The reference to Stephen, the first martyr, is an appeal to our sentiments. Why not
John the Baptist, or David or Moses? For all were saved by the same Christ, What we
teach, is that while salvation is common to all the Lord's people, the spheres of blessing
differ. As the church of the one body was a secret, hid in God, when Stephen died, we
cannot believe that he was a member of that church. We believe that it can be proved
from Scripture that Stephen will be amongst that company designated "the Bride", and as
these dispositions of grace are at the sovereign disposal of the Lord, we cannot discuss
them. They make no difference to our teaching and are outside our province:--
"This word `dispensation' is one that Mr. Welch does not give in the original. And
really, it is one that hardly bears the interpretation he would put upon it. For it means
really `stewardship', and in three places out of four (only four in the whole Bible) it is
said to have been given to Paul (See I Cor. 9: 17; Col. 1: 25; Eph. 3: 2). In the one
other place, viz., Eph. 1: 10, it is used of God's ordering of the course of history."
Yet the booklet under criticism, viz., "Things most surely believed", itself contains the
following passage directly bearing on the point:--
"The ways of God with men are differentiated into dispensations. This word, used by
Paul of the present dispensation of the grace of God to the Gentiles (Eph. 3: 1, 2) means