Glossary
Terms of Right Division
Short definitions of the words you will meet across these articles, with the key verses and where to read more. Each entry is a summary; the linked articles give the full teaching from Scripture.
The Acts transition · The apostle of the Gentiles · The Body of Christ · Born again · The bride · Dispensation · The dispensation of the grace of God · The gospel of the grace of God · The gospel of the kingdom · The Great Commission · The kingdom of God · The little flock · Mid-Acts · The mystery · The new creature · Not under the law, but under grace · Present truth · Prophecy · The rapture · The remnant epistles · Rightly dividing · Sign gifts
The Acts transition
During the Acts period, two of God’s programs ran side by side. Israel’s kingdom program, under the twelve, was passing away, and the Body of Christ, under Paul, was beginning.
Read more: Where Does Acts End and the Mystery Begin?; Not Everything Paul Did Is What We Do
The apostle of the Gentiles
Paul, called by the risen Lord as “a chosen vessel” and given his gospel “by the revelation of Jesus Christ”, not from the twelve. To follow Paul is to follow the Christ who appointed him.
Scripture: Acts 9:15; Romans 11:13; Galatians 1:11-12; 1 Corinthians 11:1
Read more: Following Paul Is Following Christ
The Body of Christ
The people God is forming in this present age, Jew and Gentile alike, baptized by one Spirit into one body, with Christ as its head.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:13, 27; Colossians 1:18
Read more: Begun Together; Not Sheep: Members of the Body of Christ
Born again
Kingdom language that Christ spoke to a ruler of Israel about entering the earthly kingdom. Paul’s word for the Body of Christ is the new creature.
Scripture: John 3:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Read more: Born Again, Born of the Spirit, and Born After the Spirit
The bride
The church is called the Body of Christ, never the bride. “The bride, the Lamb’s wife” is the holy Jerusalem, and the wife is Israel. The Body is nearer to Christ than a bride: “members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones”.
Scripture: Revelation 21:9-10; Ephesians 5:30, 32
Read more: The Lamb's Wife: Why the Body of Christ Is Not the Bride
Dispensation
A stewardship, an administration: the divine order under which God deals with men at a given time.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25
Read more: Present Truth, Dispensational Truth, and Universal Truth
The dispensation of the grace of God
The present administration, committed by the risen Christ to the Apostle Paul, under which God forms the Body of Christ and saves by grace through faith, apart from works.
Scripture: Ephesians 3:2
Read more: Begun Together: The Body of Christ and the Dispensation of Grace; When the Church Began — When Grace Was Given
The gospel of the grace of God
Paul’s gospel: that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. It is received by faith alone, apart from works.
Scripture: Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Read more: The Gospel of Grace; The Blood of Christ and the Preaching of the Cross
The gospel of the kingdom
The good news that John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus and the twelve preached to Israel, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”. It was sent to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, not to the Gentiles, and it is not the gospel Paul preached.
Scripture: Matthew 4:23; Matthew 10:5-7
Read more: Kingdom Salvation: The Conditions, the Covenant, and the Coming King; When Did Paul's Gospel Begin?
The Great Commission
The kingdom commission the risen Lord gave the eleven, to teach all nations and baptize them, rooted in Israel’s prophetic program. The Body of Christ is not under it. Paul’s commission is the ministry of reconciliation: “we are ambassadors for Christ”.
Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; 2 Corinthians 5:20
Read more: Borrowed Words, Borrowed Doctrine; Let's Go Soul Winning or Let's Go Witnessing
The kingdom of God
God’s rule, which embraces two realms: an earthly realm with Israel’s hope, and a heavenly realm with the Body of Christ’s. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” in the heavenly realm, yet flesh and blood does inherit the kingdom promised to Israel.
Scripture: John 3:3; 1 Corinthians 15:50; 2 Timothy 4:18
Read more: The Kingdom of God: Two Realms, Two Hopes, Two Inheritances
The little flock
The believing remnant of Israel who followed the twelve and looked for the kingdom to be restored to Israel. In early Acts it was the church at Jerusalem.
Scripture: Luke 12:32; Acts 1:6
Read more: Peter's Audience: The Little Flock of Israel
Mid-Acts
The understanding that the Body of Christ began with Paul, after his conversion in Acts 9, not at Pentecost in Acts 2 and not after Acts 28. The term is not in Scripture; it names a position on what Scripture says.
Read more: Prove All Things: Answering the Objections to Mid-Acts
The mystery
The truth “kept secret since the world began” and revealed to Paul by the risen Christ: Jew and Gentile reconciled to God “in one body by the cross”, the Body of Christ.
Scripture: Romans 16:25; Ephesians 2:16; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:26
Read more: When Did Paul's Gospel Begin?; The Holy Apostles of Ephesians 3:5
The new creature
Paul’s word for what a member of the Body of Christ is: in Christ, accepted in the beloved, complete in Him, and seated in heavenly places.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15
Read more: Born Again, Born of the Spirit, and Born After the Spirit; Seated Together in Heavenly Places
Not under the law, but under grace
The believer in the Body of Christ does not live under the law given to Israel, with its sabbaths, holy days and tithes. His walk flows from the grace of God that teaches him.
Scripture: Romans 6:14
Read more: Fallen from Grace: A Fall Toward Law, Not Into Sin; No Such Thing as a Christian Sabbath or Holy Day
Present truth
The truth of the administration that is ours now. Peter’s “present truth” was Israel’s; for the Body of Christ, present truth is what the risen Christ revealed through Paul.
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:12
Read more: Present Truth, Dispensational Truth, and Universal Truth
Prophecy
What God “hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began”: His program for Israel, with its covenants, its King and its earthly kingdom.
Scripture: Acts 3:21; Romans 15:8
Read more: Where Does Acts End and the Mystery Begin?; the topic page Prophecy & Mystery
The rapture
The catching up of the Body of Christ “to meet the Lord in the air”, before the Tribulation. It is a mystery revealed to Paul, not a subject of prophecy.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:17
Read more: The Rapture: The Blessed Hope Revealed to Paul Alone
The remnant epistles
Hebrews through Revelation, addressed to Israel’s remnant, not to the Body of Christ. They are for our learning, but they were not written to us.
Read more: What Are the Remnant Epistles?; Who Was the Book of Hebrews Written To?
Rightly dividing
Reading each passage by asking to whom it was written and under which of God’s programs, so that what God said to Israel is not taken as written to the Body of Christ. All Scripture is for you, but not all Scripture is written to you.
Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:15
Read more: Rightly Dividing Bible Application; When There Was No Rightly Dividing
Sign gifts
Tongues, healings and miracles that confirmed the word to Israel, “for the Jews require a sign”. They were never given to the Body of Christ as a permanent possession, and they ceased once Israel’s national program was set aside.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 13:8; Acts 28:28
Read more: Tongues, Signs, and Healing
Also read: The Gospel of Grace · Statement of Faith · Church Covenant · Start Here
