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the calling of the mystery. The covenant with Abraham is fundamental to the
calling during the Acts, but it finds no place in the epistles of the mystery. In the
epistles of the mystery we are taken back to a time before the "foundation
(overthrow) of the world", and to a promise made before the age times.
We therefore set aside the traditional teaching that the church began at
Pentecost, believing that the church of the body of Christ came into being when
Israel were set aside, and Isa. 6: quoted for the last time.
The reader who desires proofs of the above assertions is directed to the following
articles:
Volumes 1: 28 (1: 25); 18: 49, 72, 73, 81; 13: 98; 14: 19.
The structure of the passage . . . . .
Vol. 18: 75.
Abraham and the Acts . . . . .
Vol. 1: 14, 17 (1: 14, 19).
Miracles and dispensational truth . . . . .
Vol. 10: 173.
The Mystery and Acts 28: . . . . .
Vol. 18: 72.
Paul's twofold ministry . . . . .
Vol. 1: 4; 2: 65 (2:/3: 50).
We believe that the reader who consults the above articles will not fail to understand
the importance we have attached to Acts 28: as a dispensational boundary, and to
appreciate the many proofs that justify such a belief.
[NOTE.--A double reference thus: 1: 28 (1: 25) or 2: 65 (2:/3: 50)
indicates that these Volumes have been re-printed. The italic figures
within brackets refer to the re-printed Volume.]
#2.
The Covenant with Abraham and Paul's early Ministry.
pp. 223, 224
Acts 28: being the dispensational boundary, marking off the revelation of the
Mystery from all earlier revelations, it follows that all that was written either by Paul or
by any other writer before that dispensational boundary, must necessarily conform to the
particular phase of the purpose of the ages that was then in operation. That phase, which
is dealt with in Paul's early ministry, revolves round two covenants, the one made with
Abraham, and the other the New Covenant made with the house of Israel and the house
of Judah. The statement that "Ye are all one in Christ Jesus" found in Gal. 3: 28 is not
written with any reference to the constitution of the then-unrevealed dispensation of the
Mystery, but to show that all such were "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise" (Gal. 3: 29).
The constitution of the Church during the Acts is likened to an olive tree, with some of
its branches removed and replaced by grafts from the wild olive, a constitution far