17- EPHESIANS 1:4 AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD

In a small tract titled, THE BIBLE IN OUTLINE, by the late Keith McDonald of Toronto, Canada, there is a note of explanation concerning the Church of this present era as contrasted with the kingdom of heaven.

I had heard Keith McDonald teach/preach many times. Hardly a message would be finished without a statement, comment or a 'saying' being attributed to Dr. Henry Grube of Mobile, Alabama. Dr. Grube was a popular preacher and invited to many Bible conferences. He often was invited to The People's Church in Toronto, where Keith heard him on such major subjects as Dispensationalism, Mid-Acts style. Keith McDonald went on his journey in life and taught Dispensationalism from the Acts 28 perspective.

The note in this tract reads :

"The Church of the present era is not the same as the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Church, His Body was chosen in Christ "before" the foundation of
the world" (Eph. 1, 4), whereas the expression used concerning the King-
dom is "From the foundation." ( Matt.25, 34 )"

We should all be aware of the value and importance of the jots and tittles. Matt. 5:18

There is value and importance to prepositions like before and since or from. We must not be weary in this pursuit but we should also be wary of teachings that slip into a seeming respectability and acceptability before making a test of soundness. Such is the claims of this note.

The foundation of the world is a time line. After this time line comes the creation and existence of man. Before this time line, there is no existence of the world of creation.

In Ephesians 1:4, Paul is declaring that God's spiritual good words(Eph. 1:3) began before man was created. God elected/selected/chose the Ephesians and Paul, the 'us', in him (Christ) before there was a creation with the emphasis that it was all of God, and the glory goes only to God. The purpose of this election was that the unholy should be holy, that the blamable would become without blame before God, wrapped in the everlasting blanket of God's love.The just God could justify the Unjust and remain JUST.

There is a list of references dealing with the foundation of the world. A list with the preposition since and from are Matt. 13:35, 25:34; Luke 11:50 ; Hebrews 4:3, 9:26; Revelation 13:8, 17:8. Well, so far, so good. All of these references look to be related to Israel and teachings related to their future and kingdom.

But the note fails to ring true in its claims and teachings.. In the list of references which deal with the phrase, before the foundation of the world, we find three references and two of them are found in the writings of the circumcision Apostles, John and Peter. John 17:24; Eph. 1:4 and I Peter 1:20.

We see here that there is no special Body of Christ vocabulary. Without taking away something special or distinctive from the Body of Christ, we are only taking, accepting what God has revealed and given to the Church, which is Christ's Body.

The references, John 17:24 and I Peter 1:20, relate to Israel and their King/Messiah and Kingdom. The Apostle John records the Lord's Prayer in John 17. There, the Lord Jesus as their Messiah prays about a love the Father had for the beloved , even himself. Cf. Matt. 3:17, 17:5. This love had an existence before the world was made. Cf. 17:5

Peter uses the foundation language to describe God's program for Israel's redemption. Israel was redeemed by the precious blood as a lamb without blemish or spot, having been foreknown before the foundation of the workd but was manifest in these last times for you. Peter is actually saying that the lamb was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but this truth was manifest since the foundation of the world.

John in Revelation 13:8, states that the lamb has been slain since the foundation of the world. There is complete harmony of Peter and John in their teachings.

All that has unfolded in revelation and history concerning Israel since the foundation of the world, was known by God before the foundation of the world, or he is not God and he certainly then is not my God. How about you and your position ?

All that was involved in that election/selection/choosing concerning the Body of Christ before the foundation of world, has now been revealed to and through Paul since the foundation of the world. Yes, you need to be upon one's 'p's and 'q' s to be able to handle the jots, tittles, befores, froms and sinces.

Though there are many contrasts between Israel and the Church, which is Christ's Body, it does not seem to be scriptural to use an argument like the prepositional contrasts between 'before' and 'since' or 'from'.


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