No reader of The Berean Expositor needs reminding that the keystone of the truth for

which it stands is the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. With this contention the

first number of the publication opened, and all the light that has subsequently been

received on the great dispensational teaching of the New Testament has radiated from

this epoch-making chapter of the Acts.

In perfect symmetry on either side of this keystone, are ranged the fourteen epistles of

Paul, and across the arch can be written the three statements, "The Jew Prominent",

which is true of the early ministry of the Apostle, "The Jew Absent", which is most

obviously true of his later ministry, and "The Jew Dismissed", which is the truth of

Acts 28: itself. These features we have visualized in the following diagram, which

also indicates further features of the two ministries associated with the two sets of

The primary reason for reopening this question is the necessity which has arisen to

deal with an objection that has been made by a reader and fellow-student of the Word.

The dispensational importance of Acts 28: has been challenged, and the statement

has been made, that the dismissal of the Jew in Acts 28: is "local" and neither

"national nor final".

By a "local" dismissal we understand such a turning from the Jew as is recorded in

Acts 13: 44-48, for in the opening verse of the next chapter we find the same apostle

again entering a synagogue, with the result that "a great multitude both of the Jews and

also of the Greeks believed" (Acts 14: 1).  Acts 13: and 14: have a dispensational

importance in that they,