"the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are synonymous"

I was going to say the same thing when I saw this thread started but I didn't want to appear contentious and I still don't.

The first thing I thought of when reading the original posting is that many years ago someone came forward and started teaching that there was a distinct difference between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost. It's just the translators use of different words that mean the same thing.

The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God means the same thing.

God said, Acts 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool.

We sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Where is that kingdom? Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

It's an interesting teaching, but it's just information, it does nothing in relation to growth or the salvation of sinners and repenting men.

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Jimmy H

1 Corinthians 9:17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

Ephesians 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

Colossians 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

"The fulfilment of the Word of God"

Colossians 1:26-29 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

This is the only dispensation I am concerned about, all the others fall short and on this fulfilment dispensation, the final gospel which Paul call "MY Gospel" of Christ in the believer, is our new life making us son's of God.

1 John 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Christ not only is come in the body prepared for Him through Mary by His Father, but He is come in the flesh temple of the spirit of man, The Spirit of Christ in you the hope of glory. "Yet I live"; Galatians 2:16-20 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This is my dispensation that I cling to and will never let it go to waste, I love Him because He first loved me.

In Christ: Phillip

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Phillip

AMEN!

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David R. Grider

Our word “Dispensation” comes from the Greek word “οἰκονομία,” the word we get “economy” from. It literally means “the laws by which a household is operated, or the way the master of a house arranges his household.”

For many years, “Dispensation” has been used to denote a period of time. This is because our understanding of history and the Bible, and therefore God’s dealings with mankind, is linear, based on time.

However, outside of the constraint of time, we see that God’s dealings are not specific “chunks of time,” but are instead based on God’s Covenants with different people. As we look through history as presented in the Bible, we will understand how God dealt differently with different people at different times.

A “Dispensation” always takes place within an “age” or a time period, but as we will see, some aspects of the Covenants span many “ages,” and some behave even more peculiarly, skipping 2,000+ years, only to show up once again!

We will study each of the Covenants or “Dispensations” in detail, but for now we will simply give an overview of history, from God’s perspective, in a linear timeline.

First, we must understand, according to 2 Timothy 2:15, that the way to study the Bible is to divide it. It is a NEGATIVE action, not a positive one. Thus, we must find the divisions in the Scriptures, so we can begin our study.

The first and most obvious division is between the books of Malachi and Matthew: the Old and New Testaments. Being that a “Testament” is a “covenant,” or set of rules (i.e. “last will and testament”), we must understand that something in changing!! After all, “Things that are different are not the same!”

Hebrews 9:16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

There is obviously a change between the Old and New Testaments: to deny this is to deny the very clear words of Scripture. For the majority of the Old Testament, the Jews were required to keep the Law of Moses (Deut. 6:25), but in the New Testament, through the writings of Paul, we see that we are no longer under the bondage of the Law (Gal. 5:1).

So we see that there is one very obvious division: the difference between the Law and the Grace of God under the new covenant.

More divisions in “house rules” occur in Genesis 3, Genesis 9, Genesis 12, Exodus 20, 2 Chronicles 21:7, Matthew 3, Acts 9, Acts 15, Revelation 4, and Revelation 21.

Let’s quickly go over the different time periods that we will be dealing with in our study of the Covenants

We’ve made a basic division between the “Law” and God’s “Grace.” However, that isn’t exactly right. We have to understand the following:

•Adam was innocent and sinless, and God dealt with him according to a WORK, Genesis 2:15-17
•After Adam’s sin, man possessed a conscience, which he was expected to live by, trying to please God (i.e. Abel’s accepted blood offering), Gen. 3:22, 4:4, Cain’s punishment (not death), 4:9-15
•After the Flood, God instituted human government in capital punishment, Gen. 9:5-6
•God called Abram (Abraham) our of Haran and began dealing with him as an individual, and then his sons and his descendants, the nation of Israel. Abraham and his sons are called “Patriarchs,” Gen. 12:1-3
•God called Israel out of Egypt and gave them the Law to live by, which included sacrifices for when they broke the law and sinned. The Law was later called a “schoolmaster” by Paul, because it could never be lived up to perfectly, Exodus 20
•When Christ, and John before Him, preached to Israel, they offered The Kingdom, the literal, physical reign of Christ on earth. The Jews ultimately rejected this offer, and God allowed the Gentiles to experience His grace and to be grafted into the Body of Christ, the Church, Matthew 3:1-2, 4:17, Matthew chaps. 5 and 7
•With the rejection of Christ by Israel, there occurred a “Transitional Period,” a time when things were switching over from Israel to the Gentiles, because “blindness in part is happened unto Israel.” The first two Gentiles to be saved were the Eunuch (Acts 8:26-38) and Cornelius (Acts 10).
•After Acts 15, when the Apostles figured out that Salvation was by Grace through Faith alone, we understand that we are now in the “Church Age,” a time when God deals with all men (Acts 17:30) according to His Grace alone.
•After the Rapture of the Church, The Kingdom will once again be offered to a remnant of Israel during the seven-year Tribulation, and they will ultimately turn to Christ and accept Him as their Messiah (Rom. 11:26)
•The Millennium follows the seven-year Tribulation period, where Christ literally sits on a throne in the city of Jerusalem and rules with a rod of iron (Rev. 12:5, 19:15), Isaiah 9:7

This is a very brief overview, and we will go into much more detail as we go along, but hopefully this illustrates the need to STUDY in order to not “be ashamed.” See, the reverse is also true: if we do not study, we WILL be ashamed.

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David R. Grider

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". 2 Timothy 2:15.

So what does it mean to "rightly divide the word"?

Greek word use is "orthotomeō" and according to strongs has these meanings:

1) to cut straight, to cut straight ways

a) to proceed on straight paths, hold a straight course, equiv. to doing right

2) to make straight and smooth, to handle aright, to teach the truth directly and correctly

And Vine says this..
lit., "to cut straight" (orthos, "straight," temno, "to cut"), is found in 2Ti 2:15, AV, "rightly dividing," RV, "handling aright" (the word of truth); the meaning passed from the idea of cutting or "dividing," to the more general sense of "rightly dealing with a thing." What is intended here is not "dividing" Scripture from Scripture, but teaching Scripture accurately. In the Sept., of directing one's paths, Pro 3:6; 11:5 ("righteousness traces out blameless paths").

So rather than the way it is often used to support dividing up portions of scripture to apply to diffrent periods, it seems to mean 'correctly and accurately teaching the word of truth. Nothing to do with cutting up into different time periods.

Now I do believe there are different dispensations (periods of time) in God's dealing with mankind, but this cutting up the word of God so that 'this or that portion does not speak to us' is very dangerous. It makes the word of no effect and the tendancy I have seen is that any scripture teaching that one does not like or does not fit in with ones doctrinal position can be dismissed as "not for us". Where as "All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness..2 Timothy 3:16 (interesting it is in the same letter as previous quote to Timothy!).

Now I am pre-millenial in my views, in case you wondered.

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Dave

Heydave that was very nice exposition of that verse.

So it could be read as,

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly cutting a path to the truth, or through the truth, or through the word of truth". 2 Timothy 2:15.

Thanks Approved.

I would have said more like,

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, accurately teaching the word of truth".

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Dave