Paul and the New Testament in Acts

Paul in Acts. Not of men, neither by man but by revelation of Christ Jesus and that includes the New Testament.

One of the great stumbling blocks for some who rightly divide the Scriptures is that Paul is identified in the Acts period as the Apostle of the Gentiles and he received his gospel and ministry directly from the ascended Christ.
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: Rom 11:13.
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Gal. 1:11-12.

However, after Acts 28, Paul also declares he was the minister to the Gentiles and was given the Mystery, the present calling of the grace of God, by revelation from the ascended Christ.
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; Eph 3:1-3a.

Some see these similarities in Paul before Acts 28 and after, and unwisely conclude that Paul was given the present calling of grace from his conversion at Acts 9 or from his first recorded Acts period preaching found in Acts 13. Consequently, they preach Romans through Philemon. This is a dispensational disaster.

Scripture must be rightly divided and this includes Paul’s writings. When we compare spiritual with spiritual, including the words Paul uses in his letters, we find they have common redemptive doctrines, but clearly fall into two distinct, different dispensational groups. Please overlook Hebrews if you believe Paul did not write it.

Before Acts 28 Paul preached the Old Testament, after Acts 28, he wrote about things previously hid in God.

We can feature just one aspect of Paul’s Acts period ministry which throws the Romans through Philemon ideology where it belongs. Paul received his Acts period commission, ministry and Gospel from the Lord and that Acts period ministry included this;
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2Co 3:5-6.

Testament and Covenant we take as synonymous terms indicated by comparing Paul in 1Cor.11:25 with Lk.22:20, Hebs.8:6-8 and Jer.31. The New Testament or Covenant is promised in Jeremiah 31 as follows;
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jer 31:31-34.

Important things in Jeramiah are important things in Paul’s Acts period ministry and the basis of his writings during that time.

First, we notice that the New Testament is promised to the same people who were under the Old Covenant, namely Israel. Paul’s ministry during Acts was to the same people, he went to Jew first then the Gentiles who were included with Israel. Paul witnessed to both groups “saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come”, indeed, at the end of Acts, he speaks clearly that he was bound for the hope of Israel, Acts 28:20. When we look at Jeremiah, we shall see exactly what those things were that Paul expected to come during the Acts period.

Jeremiah 30 and 31 are the chapters of context in which the New Testament of prophesy is found. Those chapters give great expectation and explanation of the Kingdom of God. The New Testament prophesy is in a package of good things to come for Israel, not the church which is His Body.

Here are some snippets from Jeremiah 30 and 31 showing the good things that were the hope of Paul as a minister of the New Testament. These things are in the mind of Paul during his Acts period ministry;
For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Jer 30:3. 1Cor.15:55, Hos.13:14, :9-:10.
And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. Jer 30:22. Cp Hos.2:23 & Roms.9:25-26.
At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Jer 31:1. Acts 13:17, 23.
For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. Jer 31:11-12. Please read Ez.36, Is.51, 2Cor.12, paradise = garden.
Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Jer 31:35-36. Roms.11:1-2.

When the Lord lifted the cup and spoke the following words, the promises of Jeremiah would have been resounding in the hearts of the disciples;
For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Mat 26:28-29.

The Father’s Kingdom the Lord looked forward to when he ratified the New Testament, was the kingdom Jeremiah spoke about when he foresaw the New Covenant. Israel regathered, the land restored like a “watered garden”; like Eden, and corn, wine and oil abundant in that Kingdom. Passover, Jeremiah and the New Testament have nothing to do with the church his body in heavenly places.

Before we look at Paul and his New Testament ministry, it is plain for all to see, that the New Testament or Covenant was not initialized at the last supper, or anytime thereafter. The conditions associated with the New Testament according to the prophets were not in place, have not been in place, and the truth of history affirms this.

The original Passover in Egypt was the first step in Israel’s national deliverance, but no covenant was made with Israel at that point. Passover in the New Testament remains the first step in Israel’s national deliverance and while His blood was identified as the blood of the New Covenant, it was not brought into being at Passover, simply ratified. If the New Testament was in place, Paul had no ministry concerning it, since all Israel would know the Lord and have the Law in their hearts. The believers during Acts were a first fruit of that Kingdom, Roms.8:23, living under Pentecost, a Feast of first fruits, Lev.23:15-17. They had the gifts, a foretaste of the glory of the New Testament, but that New Testament was not in operation. Finally, Hebrews concludes the matter by first looking forward to the New Covenant, then declaring that the Old Covenant was ready to vanish away, Hebs.8:8-13.

The New Covenant was not in operation during the Gospels or Acts, and is not in operation today, we are not New Testament believers, we are members of the Church which is His Body, a calling going back before the foundation of the world, before Abraham, before Israel and any covenants made specifically with them.

Now what about Paul? During Acts his understanding of the Kingdom of God was according to the conditions of the New Testament; exactly the same as that which Moses, Jeremiah and the prophets defined as the Kingdom of God. The Lord gave Paul insight into that Passover night with its link to the New Testament as follows;
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 1Co 11:23-26.

Paul knew Jeremiah 30-31 better than you and me, and when Paul assured the Corinthians that when they ate the bread and drank the cup, they showed the Lord’s death till he come, he was thinking of Jeremiah. What coming did Paul expect when he wrote Corinthians? The coming at the Feast of Trumpets, the coming that resurrected those Acts believers to the Land as per 1Cor.15 with Is.28 and Hos.13. The coming that fulfilled those promises of restoration and unaltered purpose for Israel Jeremiah spoke about. The days of restoration and forgiveness of sins for the nation of Israel brought in at the coming of their Messiah at Trumpets. Then the New Testament and the bringing in of all those glories for Israel and the world would begin.

We cannot separate the regathering and restoration of Israel, their land like the garden of Eden (Ez.36:34-35), from the New Testament. And if Paul was a minister of the New Testament during Acts, then his Acts ministry does not proclaim Christ as Head of the Body, but proclaimed Christ as the King, the High Priest of the New Covenant as Hebrews 8-9 declares.

That coming King, the High Priest mediator of the New Testament, is a King Priest upon his throne as spoken by the Prophets;
And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. Zec 6:12-13. See Ps.110, Acts 2:34-35, Hebs.5:6.

Here are some other passages from Zechariah which underscored Paul’s ministry during Acts;
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. Zec 2:10. Gentiles with Israel.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Zec 12:10. The Coming of Christ to Israel.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Zec 14:4. Roms.11:26-27 is Zion and the New Covenant.
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. Zec 14:9. Acts 13:33-34, Ps.2, Is.55.

Paul was a minster of the New Testament during the Acts period. As such a minister, he looked for the coming High Priest King of Israel who would bring in those glorious days Jeremiah, Zechariah, Moses and the other prophets spoke about. This Acts period ministry was given not of man or by man but by revelation of Christ Jesus.

Paul was given his gospel and ministry through revelation, and that revelation included the New Testament. The New Testament has absolutely nothing to do with the Mystery, the dispensation of the grace of God revealed to Paul after Israel, and all those glorious promises given her, were put aside for a time at Acts 28.

Paul must be rightly divided. Romans through Philemon is a dispensational disaster.

Brian

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