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same period as recorded by the other writers. This was indeed consistent with their teaching of the failure of Christ’s original proposition and its postponement. But the work of slicing the New Testament did not stop there. Others proceeded to show that the book of Acts recorded a second kingdom offer to the Jews after the resurrection, and that the church referred to there could not be the Body of Christ, but must have been a Jewish “ kingdom assembly,” thus making a distinction between the Bride o f Christ and the Body o f Christ. It was asserted that not until the 28th chapter o f Acts, v. 28, when Paul turned to the Gentiles, could there be anything like present church truth. It was said that the earthly Kingdom proposition was then '. for the second time abandoned. The Epistles were, however, spared as “ the truth for the Body of Christ.” Still there are those who feel that this process o f dis section has not gone far enough. They profess to discover that no church existed until A . D. 62, when Paul wrote Ephesians, referring to the revelation of the mystery to him. In consistency with this latest idea, all epistles written before A. D. 62 are dropped from the list of writ ings, having to do with “ Body truth.” As a recent writer puts i t : “ Correct partitioning between the earlier and later writings of Paul is necessary.” Out goes the precious Epistle to the Romans, good-bye to the Thessalonian epistles; 1st and 2nd Corinthians are gone; Galatians is no more. The writings of Peter, Janies and. John and the book of Hebrews are all Jewish. Jude and Revelation have to do with the future Jewish proposition. What have we left? Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, Titus and Second Timothy, all written in A. D. 62 or later. Now it only remains for some one else to pick out the verses in these epistles that do not belong to us, and the work ¡will be done better than the critic’s pen-knife ever could have done it. It is' strange indeed that 2 Tim. 2 :15 should be made the authority for these new distinctions. “Holding a straight course in the word o f truth” is the evident meaning of the Greek. The revised version gives i t : “ rightly hand ling the word o f truth.” What Paul here-pleads for is straightforward, fair handling of Scripture, as opposed to endless distinctions and by-plays of ingenuity. May God help us to hold a straight course in the Scriptures, seeing the harmonious development of the Gospel truth. v Seed Pickers “ Certain philosophers encountered him [Paul] and some said, What will this babbler say ?”—Acts 17:18. T HE Epicureans were materialists. The Stoics were moralists. In the one, the sensual nature resisted the claims of the Gospel; in the other, self-righteousness and pride of intellect rebelled. It was not strange that these gentlemen branded Paul, the preacher o f the cross of Christ, as a mere “ babbler” (the word means, “ seed- picker” ). Although Athens was called the brain o f the world, Paul was fearless of its sophistries, gave no heed to the browbeating, and jumped into the arena with the message of “ Jesus and the resurrection.” The term “ seed-picker” was taken from birds that picked up stray seeds. It was applied to men who were looked upon as having picked up only the crumbs of learning. Modern philosophers and scientists could scarcely invent a more sarcastic phrase to apply to the Gospel preacher. We are apt to think that abuse of this kind has been reserved for us in these so-called “ days of enlightenment.”
short of funds at the time, saw a good chance to pay his hospital bill, even though he had to stretch his morals a few points. Is this a good thing to advertise? Our correspondent says: “ When an advertiser advo- catés the breaking of rules intended to safeguard the health of people who are sick, and attempts by cleverly worded suggestions, to put daredevil ideas into children’s minds, the advertiser not only wins a host of very able enemies, but he lowers the standard and the prestige of all advertising. “ Do not let us drag medical or ethical morality down to such inky depths of hypocritical cant. If we are not careful, morality will soon be made the deceiving slave of all deceit.” And may' we add— that while our correspondent has taken a step in the right direction in opposing such unprin cipled advertising, how much greater would be his influence over the .young, if he could himself sáy: “ I do not use the stuff!” Dr. Gaebelein Lets Loose on “ Bullingerism” A MOST timely editorial has appeared in Dr. A . C. Gaebelein’s splendid magazine Our Hope. It is headed “ Mis-leading Teaching” and characterizes a certain system of interpretation which has been- in vogue among sane Fundamentalists in recent years as " fanciful and far fetched ISM .” This line of teaching is traced by Dr. Gaebelein, back to Dr. Bullinger, a Church o f England clergyman. His “ hair splitting theories,” Dr. Gaebelein rightly says are “ now being circulated by a number o f Fundamentalist Bible teachers, evangelists and pastors.” To quote Dr. Gaebelein: “ According to Bullingerism, one’s.Bible reading should be confined to the prison epistles o f Paul. The Old Testament, these teachers say, is Jewish, so are the Gospels, and a Christian should have nothing to do with them. The book of Revelation is like wise Judaized. . . . They teach that the church did not begin on the day o f Pentecost and the entire book of Acts is Jewish also. The church came into existence in the last chapter o f Acts . . . . Bullingerism denies that the church is the Bride of Christ . . . . and declares that Israel is the Bride. Then baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not ordinances of the church but belong to the kingdom.” We can heartily endorse the position taken by Dr. Gaebelein against this subtle, unscriptural and divisive line of teaching. He declares that he is grieved to see these recently invented theories creeping into Bible conferences and even Bible Institutes. We also have been grieved over the same thing and can say that these teachings have gained no foothold in the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Dr. R. A. Torrey, the first dean o f our Institute, always stood opposed to these views, and the present dean has been backed by his entire faculty in warning against the errors of Bullingerism which have been so widely propagated in certain popular Christian magazines. We have been watching for several years the growth o f this system of error, which was based upon a wrong understanding o f 2 Tim. 2:15. In the name of “ rightly dividing the word o f truth,” a company o f the brethren in England attempted to show the necessity of dissecting the New Testament, dividing off Matthew, Mark and Luke as having to do only with a Jewish kingdom offer, therefore not being directly related to the church. John’s Gospel, which presents Christ as the Son o f God, for some reason was spared to Christians. As time went on, some saw the inconsistency of leaving John in this category, since this Gospel is a record of the
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