I have another friend, I’ll call him Bob, who I have known for some years now. Bob is, by his own admission, a Dispensationalist, but just the ordinary garden variety taught first by John Darby in the 19th century. As such, he agrees with me that salvation has always been by grace through faith, since Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness. We’ve been chatting about certain passages in Romans via email.
During one of his emails to me today, Bob had this to say:
After quoting Gal 2:21 , “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (All well and good).
Then he said:
Then you have to also look at Romans 5:13 and Romans 7:7-9.
Romans 5:13 is before the law. Abraham fell under this.
Romans 7:7-9 for Jews
I replied concerning Rom 5:13,
“Adam fell before the law was given and God confronted him and let him know he had sinned. One might say that God’s commandment “do not eat……” was ‘law’ but not the Law of Moses. Adam then passed on his fallenness to the rest of the human race that followed. Then Israel was given the Law of Moses and from that point that Law has served to awaken sin in human beings.”
Concerning Rom 7:7-9,
Paul was speaking to the church in Rome, in which there were, at one time or another, both Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity. The early Roman church(s) were dominated and led by Jewish disciples of Jesus of course, but when all Jews were expelled from the city of Rome, however, only the Gentile Christians remained. Therefore, the church grew and expanded as a largely Gentile community from 49 to 54 A.D. Jews were expelled from Rome several times. In 139 BC the Jews were expelled after being accused of missionary efforts. Then in AD 19 Tiberius once again expelled Jews from the city for similar reasons. The Emperor Claudius was in office 41-54 A.D. and would have expelled Jews from Rome during that period. Historians and theologians tell us that Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome circa 57/58 A.D. What does that tell you about who Romans 7:7-9 was ‘for’? (Enter Columbo)
Bob replied with:
Adam and Eve got the knowledge of good and evil from a tree. Not from Moses.
No one else for knowledge of good and evil from a tree but Adam and Eve.
To which I replied:
You are not listening, Ed. I said:
One might say that God’s commandment “do not eat……” was ‘law’ but not the Law of Moses. Here’s a question for you: Was eating from the Tree of Good and Evil a sin? Simple “yes” or “no” answer. Did Adam know it was a sin? Simple “yes” or “no”. IF (hypothetical and nothing personal), based on your assertion that before he Law of Moses there was no sin, I think we are done. IF you say no, I emphatically conclude that you are in bondage to the form of dispensation you espouse.
I hope he let’s that sink and remains silent.
The prevailing thought among certain dispensationalists is that dispensationalism is explicitly taught in Paul’s letters. They have to make that claim because they say they only follow what is clearly written and are “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15) If you dare suggest that dispensationalism is not explicitly taught in Scripture but was formulated in the 19th century by men (Darby, Bullinger and a few others), they refuse to entertain the thought because ANYTHING outside of the KJV Bible is invalid and most, if not all of today’s Christianity is “twistianity”.
Maybe they don’t understand what “explicit” means. Maybe they have “steel trap minds” (rusted shut). Maybe 2 Cor 2:14 applies, in which case I grieve for their souls. Your guess is as good as mine.
Be Blessed!
The Battle Cry 