As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Dan Wallace: Since we began our work in 2002, a core part of our mission has been to make it possible to view and study New Testament manuscripts from anywhere in the world. Today, we are taking another step forward by making it easier than ever for you to access manuscripts. We’re launching the new CSNTM.org.
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Considering the justice of God in Romans 9, Paul corrected the presupposition error that people deserve a relationship with God. He addressed the approach error of placing God across from men in an equal relationship. In Romans 9:22-29, he also corrected the limitation of error of seeing God’s agenda as limited to a single people.
But the apostle didn’t think the issue of watching his people slip into darkness was fully explored. He asked and answered two questions:
Paul asked: “Are we saying that the Jewish people, whom I deeply love, have fallen out of a vibrant relationship with the God of Abraham while those who were reached by missionaries (but weren’t looking for God to meet them) are now the recipients of a great and intimate walk with that same God?” Then Paul followed up with another question: “Why is that the case?”
In the first few chapters of I Samuel we learn about Eli and his ungodly sons, Hopni and Phineas. Eli is rebuked and cut off from the priesthood because he failed to restrain his two boys from sinning in several different ways. Here’s my question: Was Eli wrong in not restraining them with fatherly authority or priestly/judgely authority?
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Dispensational theology rests upon a premise that is widely acknowledged, even by non-dispensationalists—namely, that God deals with people in different ways at different times in history.
There are many instances in Scripture that could be used to illustrate this point. Perhaps one of the clearest is found in Matthew 16. Here the Apostle Peter, having just been blessed by Christ for his magnificent testimony of faith in which he proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God (Matt. 16:13-20), immediately receives Christ’s admonishment for his disastrous efforts to reprove the Lord Jesus after His first major proclamation of His coming death and resurrection.
“Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:23) was Christ’s startling rejoinder to Peter at that moment.
“Dispensational Publishing House, Inc. opened its website this week at DispensationalPublishing.com—beginning a new era in the promotion of classical dispensational theology.”
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