Darryl,
Yes, when two people disagree on an issue, Scriptural evidence is required. The fact that you don't want to do that speaks volumes.
You have stated two reasons for disagreeing with my opinion on two mysteries of Eph. 3.
1) "I believe you are in error"
2) the word in verse 9 is not "dispensation" but "fellowship".
Your first reason is not really a reason, so I will go on to the second. The note in the CB on the word "fellowship" in verse 9 of Eph. 3 reads, "The texts read oikonomia (vs.2) instead of koinonia". Here's the point. Since the KJV was printed many older texts have been found and the older texts, which are, of course, more accurate, have the same Greek word as is used in vs. 2. And that is why neither the NASB or the NIV have "fellowship", they have "administration". So maybe you should have considered this paper a little more carefully rather than dismissing it without cause. It looks to me that you used the excuse of "fellowship" to not even read the message. That, of course, is your perogative, but then you cannot, in all honesty, say that I am "in error" because you haven't read what you think I am "in error" about.
If you have read the message, what can you say about the fact that the dispensation of the mystery COMPLETED the Word of God but that the Word was certainly not completed when the mystery of Christ was revealed after His resurrection? Doesn't that prove that there are two mysteries? You can't have one mystery that both completes the Word and doesn't complete the Word.
As for God not being a respecter of persons, you suggest that this was not true until the dispensation of grace. That means that God BECAME no respecter of persons. But Peter said in Acts 10:34, "....Of a truth I perceive that God IS no respecter of persons". You seem to want to change what was intended to say "God BECAME ....." but what Peter actually said which was, God IS....". There is absolutely nothing in this verse to indicate that God changed from being a respecter of persons in the OT to not being a respecter of persons. And are you saying that the present dispensation began before Paul went to the Gentiles? Because Peter said that God is no respecter of persons before Paul went to the Gentiles. I'm really curious about that, so I hope you will not sidestep this question.
And please bear in mind that "God so love the world....". Not just Israel, the world. That includes Gentiles. God sent His Son to the world that He loved at the beginning of the Gospel period. Surley you're not suggesting that God became a non-respecter of persons at the beginning of the Gospel period, are you?
And by the way, you never said anything about the fact that John quoted Christ in saying that when He is lifted up He would draw all men to Himself. Are you going to say that the phrase "all men" does not include Gentiles? I don't see how you can. If God draws all men to Himself, doesn't that tell you that He is no respecrer of person?
The crux of the difficulty is that while it is true that God had a favored NATION and blessed them with dispensational promises, salvation is an INDIVIDUAL matter.
The reason Paul went to the Jews first was because, as Peter said in Acts 3, Israel had to repent before the Lord would return to set up His kingdom. And the setting up of that kingdom would be a great blessing for the world. It had nothing to do with God favoring Jews over Gentiles in terms of Him wanting Jews to be saved, rather than Him wanting Gentile to be saved. Don't you find the entire concept of God wanting some to be saved simply because they had Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their fathers, and He doesn't care one iota about the rest of humanity a very un-Godlike concept? The very idea says things about God that are simply not borne out in Scripture. It says that God cares nothing at all about Mr. Lee in China or any of the hundreds of millions of those who lived in China, but He cares only for Israelties. I'm sorry, but that is just not the God I know from His word.
God had a favored NATION, but God would have all men (i.e. individuals) to be saved.
In Christ,
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