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another and differing dispensation, where the conditions of divine dealing render the
practical application of such teaching quite inadmissible.
What do we mean by Doctrinal Truth? Doctrinal truth is concern with sin, salvation,
justification and the like and from one point of view it would seem that such things
remain unaltered by changes of dispensation. That this is not so, let Paul testify as he
does in the epistle to the Galatians:
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold I Paul say unto you, that if ye be
circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing . . . . . Christ is become of none effect unto
you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5: 1-4).
While Christ changes not, an undispensational view of the law, or of the imposition of
the rite of circumcision, can make the finished work of Christ PROFITLESS and of
NONE EFFECT! Who, after this, will say that dispensational truth can be ignored, or
opposed with impunity? What a dilemma those are in who have no place for
dispensational truth! If dispensational distinctions mean nothing to them, then such are in
this awful predicament. Like the Galatians, if they do not submit to the rite of
circumcision, they must be cut off from His people (Gen. 17: 14) and if they do they fall
from grace, and Christ profits them nothing. They are like the landless fugitive, having
no claim to either heaven or earth, kingdom or church. The apostle Paul had no two
thoughts about the bearing of dispensational truth in the place of the law and of the
gospel. In his epistles the old covenant is called the "letter" that "killeth", whereas the
new covenant is the "spirit" that gives "life". Yet both covenants are of God, and if
Scripture is not to be "rightly divided" we must straddle this fence and juggle with law
and grace until the day of doom. The Apostle calls the law "the administration of death"
and its glory, something that was to be "done away". He compares and contrasts the
fading glory of the "face of Moses" with the knowledge of the glory of God in the "face
of Jesus Christ". The law of Moses is as fully inspired as is the Gospel of Christ, yet
dispensational truth transfers the believer from the Truth that condemns, to the Truth that
saves, and it is sad to realize that some in their antagonism to what they do not
understand are actually assisting the god of this world, who veils the eye of the believer,
forcing him to look at Truth that has become obsolete, so that Truth for the time shall
neither be seen nor appreciated (II Cor. 4: 3, 4). Dispensational truth translates us "from
glory to glory", from the fading glory of the law to the permanent glory of the gospel.
Who then will deny its efficacy and its grace?
Let us take one special feature of the law that is strongly urged upon the believer
to-day; either from one extreme by such as the Seventh Day Adventists, or from another
by the Lord's Day Observance Society. Dispensational Truth alone puts both in their
right place, and in no other way can these contrary claims on our obedience be really set
aside. Among the explicit commands of God is the observance of the Sabbath day. It is
an integral part of the ten commandments, its observance was not left to private
judgment, and disobedience was punished by death.