Glossary

The Acts 28 position

The view that the Body of Christ began at the close of Acts. It sets aside the Lord’s Supper for the Body, and it treats Paul’s earlier epistles as something less than full doctrine for us. It is not the Mid-Acts position.

Read more: Where Does Acts End and the Mystery Begin?; Accuracy and Precision Is Not Excess

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

Ambassadors for Christ

Paul’s word for those who carry the gospel of grace. God “hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation”, and the ambassador pleads, “be ye reconciled to God”.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Read more: Let's Go Soul Winning or Let's Go Witnessing; God Is Not Counting Your Trespasses

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

The circumcision and the uncircumcision

Scripture’s names for Israel and for the Gentiles. “The gospel of the circumcision”, the gospel of the kingdom, was committed to Peter. “The gospel of the uncircumcision”, the gospel of the grace of God, was committed to Paul.

Scripture: Galatians 2:7-9

Read more: Paul Was Right — The Antioch Incident of Galatians 2:11-14

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

Heavenly places

Where the Body of Christ is blessed and seated: “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. The believer’s position is a finished, shared, permanent place in the risen Christ, and his hope is heavenly, not earthly.

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6

Read more: Seated Together in Heavenly Places

Imputation

To impute is to reckon to someone’s account. God “imputeth righteousness without works” to the one who believes, and in this dispensation He is “not imputing their trespasses unto them”.

Scripture: Romans 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:19

Read more: God Is Not Counting Your Trespasses

The judgment seat of Christ

Where the Lord rewards His servants. It weighs service, never salvation: a man’s work may be burned, “but he himself shall be saved”.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15

Read more: The Judgment Seat of Christ: Rewards, Not Condemnation; Salvation and Rewards: Two Different Things

Justification

God’s declaration that the believing sinner is righteous: “justified freely by his grace”, by faith, apart from works. It is a completed declaration, not a process.

Scripture: Romans 3:24; Romans 4:5; Romans 5:1

Read more: Fallen from Grace: A Fall Toward Law, Not Into Sin

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 covenant

The covenant God promised to make “with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah”, writing His law in their hearts. It belongs to Israel’s program; the Body of Christ is not under it.

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:8-10

Read more: The New Covenant Was Not Made with Gentiles or the Body of Christ

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

The old man and the new man

The old man is the man we were in Adam, and he is “crucified with him”. The new man is “created in righteousness and true holiness”. The believer is not trying to put the old man to death, because God has already done it. He walks by putting on the new man.

Scripture: Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9-10

Read more: Sanctification Under Grace: How the New Creature Actually Grows

One baptism

The one baptism for the Body of Christ: the Spirit’s placing of the believer into the one Body at the moment of faith, “by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body”. It is not water.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Corinthians 1:17

Read more: One Means One: The Baptism of Ephesians 4:5; Why Water Baptism Is Not for Today

Pentecost

The day the risen Lord poured out the Holy Ghost on the believing remnant at Jerusalem: “this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel”. Pentecost fulfilled prophecy. It belongs to Israel’s program, not to the beginning of the Body of Christ.

Scripture: Acts 2:16-17; Acts 2:33; Joel 2:28

Read more: When the Church Began — When Grace Was Given; Prove All Things: Answering the Objections to Mid-Acts

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

The believing part of Israel, “a remnant according to the election of grace”, who looked for the kingdom promised to the nation. The remnant epistles, Hebrews through Revelation, were written to them.

Scripture: Romans 11:5; James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1

Read more: What Are the Remnant Epistles?; Did Any Remnant Believer Cross Into the Body of Christ?

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

Sealed with the Spirit

The believer is “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” the moment he believes, unto the day of redemption.

Scripture: Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30

Read more: The Seal of the Holy Spirit: Sealed Unto the Day of Redemption

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

The Tribulation

“The time of Jacob’s trouble”: the coming day of wrath on the earth, which belongs to Israel’s program and through which her remnant is purified. The Body of Christ is caught up before it, for “God hath not appointed us to wrath”.

Scripture: Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:21; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9

Read more: The Rapture: Comfort in Sorrow and Deliverance from Wrath; They Shall Never Perish

The twelve

The apostles the Lord chose for Israel, promised that they would “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”. They are a fixed company belonging to Israel’s kingdom program; Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, was never a thirteenth.

Scripture: Matthew 10:5-7; Matthew 19:28; Acts 1:21-22

Read more: The Holy Apostles of Ephesians 3:5; Did Any Remnant Believer Cross Into the Body of Christ?