intended, we find the singular graphe used as in "another scripture" (John 19: 37); "this

scripture" (Luke 4: 21). This rule does not apply when "the whole Scripture" is referred

to as in II Tim. 3: 16.

In this passage, Gal. 3: 8, the Scripture is said to have done two things. "The

Scripture foreseeing . . . . . preached." The one other occasion where proeidon "foresee"

is used is Acts 2: 30, 31:

In this passage Peter reveals that the language used in Psa. 16: was uttered by David

as a prophet who saw beforehand what should come to pass. So, the utterances recorded

in Gen. 12: 3 and 18: 18, go further than the blessings associated with the setting up

of Israel in the land of promise, they include the blessings of salvation during the gospel

period that precedes that era.

While the controversy among the Galatian Christians necessitated some insistence

upon the Gentile, as we have already seen in Gal. 1: 16, 2: 2, 8, 12, 14, the word must

not be unduly stressed in the quotation made from Gen. 12: 3 for the simple reason that

when Abraham was called, there were no Jews in existence, the word ethne then referring

to all the nations that were then occupying the surface of the earth.

We do not lose, we gain rather by remembering this all inclusiveness of the gospel--

"all nations", Gentiles as well as Jews, Jews as well as Gentiles, all were to be justified in

one way only--"by faith", no other way ever being conceived, and no other way ever

open to man whether he be Jew or Gentile, since the dawn of history. Israel had many

privileges and many advantages, but in this respect there has never been any difference,

the whole human race including all its tribes and nations standing on an equality both in

their need and in the provision of the gospel.

When the gospel was "preached before unto Abraham", the Mystery was unknown. It

is evident that any argument that does not differentiate between the gospel and the

Mystery must be fallacious; any argument that does not distinguish between "doctrinal

truth" and "dispensational truth" fails at the outset. Objectors to the revelation of the

Mystery have instanced Abraham, not realizing that Abraham could have known all the

terms of the gospel, without ever having heard of the third sphere of blessing and the

dispensation of the Mystery.

So again, the apostle has no hesitation in Gal. 3: of blending into one the grace of

salvation by faith and the gift of miraculous powers, the gospel being "doctrinal truth"

and persistent, while the gift of miracle was "dispensational truth" and passing.

In order to compel the reader to recognize that justification can only be by faith, the

apostle turns to the testimony of Scripture concerning the position of all men who are "of

the works of the law" saying of all such that they must be "under the curse". This

statement would naturally be challenged and so the apostle proceeds to prove the point.