THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND

THE BODY OF CHRIST

MATTHEW AND EPHESIANS

A COMPARATIVE BIBLE STUDY

Perhaps you have heard of the Jewish rabbi in London who said to one of the leading evangelical pastors of that city, “Doctor, it was not your Jesus who gave to you the evangelical Christianity which you preach and practice; it was the apostle Paul.” “Your Jesus was a religious Jew, born as a Jew, who lived among the Jews and taught the Jews.” The rabbi was not altogether in error, though he was not altogether correct in his statement. He undoubtedly was more familiar with the synoptic Records, Matthew, Mark and Luke than he was with John’s Gospel which teems with evangelical truth. However, even in John’s Record, Christ said, “we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews.” John 4:22.

While that rabbi was apparently ignorant of the fact that Paul received his messages from Christ in heaven he knew from reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the truth that every Christian should know, the truth of Romans 15:8: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” He had read the plain statement of Jesus Christ in Matthew 15:24: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Millions of Christians, who have read this plain statement of the Lord Jesus, obviously do not believe it. They have read Acts 13:23 and Acts 5:29 to 32, but the very large majority of them have paid little or no attention to the most important facts stated in these Scriptures. Note them: “Of this man’s (David’s) seed hath God, according to His promise, raised unto ISRAEL a Saviour, Jesus.” “Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to ISRAEL, and forgiveness of sins.” Where did the Gentiles come in? They came in when Israel was set aside. Romans 11:15. But is not the Divine Record clear in its dogmatic statements that Jesus Christ was raised up in incarnation to be ISRAEL’S Saviour and that He was raised up in resurrection to be ISRAEL’S Saviour? Only as we understand these plain and important Bible statements can we understand what is meant by the statement that “He (Christ) came unto His own and His own received Him not.” John 1:11. His own did receive Him; for many, many Jews received Jesus as Saviour before His death and many more after His death and resurrection. Yet it is true that His own received Him not. This last statement is contrary to fact unless we are led by the Holy Spirit to understand from the study of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts, that God was carrying on a twofold program until after the nation Israel was set aside, or during the years that the gospel of the kingdom was proclaimed. Jesus Christ was offered as Saviour to individual Jews, but He was born to sit on David’s throne, to reign over the house of Jacob and deliver the nation Israel from Gentile subjugation. Luke 1:27 to 33 and Luke 1:67 to 77. This was just as true after the resurrection of Jesus Christ during the years when the twelve apostles were the principal human actors.

Undoubtedly all Christians, who have diligently studied the Book of Acts, have learned that beginning with the thirteenth chapter and on to the close of the Book we find the record of the sayings and doings of one man and only such other men as had dealings with that one man, Paul. After thetwelfth chapter of Acts we find in that Book no mention of the spiritual activities of any of the twelve apostles except as they had dealings with the apostle Paul. Moreover we learn in Acts 15:7 that one mouth of the twelve mouths was chosen by God to speak to Gentiles, but at the time that Peter thus referred to himself he agreed that he and his fellowapostles would go to the Jews and turn over to Paul the responsibility of evangelizing the Gentiles. Galatians 2:9. As we search the Scriptures and learn that God sent salvation to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy, as stated in Romans 11:11, we know that Jesus Christ did not do this while He was here on earth, as the Minister of the circumcision. And as to the twelve apostles, as we diligently search the Four Records, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we learn that while Christ was on earth the only opportunity that they had to preach to a Gentile, so far as there is any written account, they said, “send her away.” Matthew 15:23. In the light of the plain command of Jesus Christ, should they not have said this? Note this command, “go not into the way of the Gentiles.” Matthew 10:5 to 8.

As we go into our study it will perhaps help us to keep in mind that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Galatians 4:4. And note this important truth, so far as there is any written record in detail in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus Christ on earth gave a blessing to only one Gentile man, and that man was a Roman centurion who loved the Jews and built them a synagogue and sought the Lord’s blessing through Jewish intercessors. Luke 7:1 to 12 and Matthew 8:1 to 12. As we keep this in mind, let us also remember that while Jesus Christ was here on earth He did not interfere with the ceremonies, feasts and sacrifices that were conducted by Israel’s religious rulers. In this statement the reference is especially to the offering of animals to the Lord at the time the Jews observed their Passover and other holy-days. So we know that if a Gentile was saved while Jesus Christ was here on earth, under the law, a minister of the circumcision, that Gentile became an Old Testament Jew or proselyte. Most assuredly no one had Divine authority, while Christ was in the land of the Jews, to proclaim the truth of Romans 10:12, “There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.” There was a great difference between the Greek dog and the Jewish children. Matthew 15:21 to 27. Mark 7:24 to 30. There was a great difference between the Jew and the Gentile after the resurrection of Jesus Christ up to Acts 10:28 and Acts 11:18.

With these simple but important statements in mind we shall give ourselves more intelligently to the comparative study of Matthew and Ephesians.

DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS

Now and then we hear of some Christian leader or teacher who carelessly makes the statement, “The Gospel of Matthew is not for members of the Body of Christ”; “Members of the Body of Christ have nothing to do with the Sermon on the Mount.” These men are not only reckless and unwise, but if they mean by this that all of the instructions of the Lord Jesus as recorded in Matthew, are to be ignored by members of the Body of Christ as having no place in God’s present “grace” program, they are as ignorant as they are careless. But more frequently men are falsely accused of making such statements by religious people who are opposed to dispensational Bible divisions.

Nearly one hundred percent of all intelligent and spiritual students of the Scriptures are agreed that very many of Christ’s messages and commands in the Book of Matthew are neither taught nor practiced by members of the Body of Christ during this age of grace and that they could not be brought over into this dispensation for the obedience and practice of members of the Body of Christ without frustrating the grace of God.

Therefore, Christians are presented with a real problem, and that problem is to know what part of the program of Jesus on earth should be brought over and made a part of the program of the Church of the Mystery, described in Ephesians 2:15 to Ephesians 3:11, and what part should be relegated to that “kingdom of heaven” program presented by Jesus of Nazareth and His twelve apostles to Israel, but was never intended for the Church.

We take it for granted that the great majority of Christians know that during this age of grace, in the program and purpose of God, there is one and only one Church, which is called the JOINTBODY in Ephesians 3:6, the ONE BODY in Ephesians 4:4 and 5, the FULLNESS OF CHRIST in Ephesians 1:19 to 22. God is building ONE NEW MAN. Ephesians 2:15. The ONE BODY is, with Christ, ONE FLESH. Ephesians 5:30 to 32. We learn in Colossians 1:23 to 28 and in Ephesians 3:1 to 11, that this ONE BODY was “THE CHURCH OF THE MYSTERY”, concerning which Israel’s Old Testament prophets were both silent and ignorant.

The great majority of sectarian and nonsectarian Christians teach that the New Testament Church, as they call it, began either when the resurrected Christ breathed upon the apostles, according to John 20:22, when they received the Holy Spirit, or some days later when the day of Pentecost was fully come. Acts 2:1. While the writer believes that “the dispensation of the mystery”, mentioned in Ephesians 3:9, began with Paul and the settingaside of Israel some years after the Pentecost of Acts Two, yet the general agreement is that the Body of Christ, described in Ephesians, did not have its historic beginning until after all of the events recorded in the Book of Matthew had taken place.

If then we agree that the words of Jesus Christ, recorded in Matthew, were not spoken to members of the Body of Christ, which had not been formed at that time, then of course we ask the question, was the Lord Jesus during the years of His incarnation on earth giving instructions in one dispensation that were to be carried over into a future dispensation? Did the Lord Jesus have in mind the program of “grace” for the members of the Body of Christ when He taught His disciples the messages and parables and lessons recorded in Matthew? By what Divine authority or Scriptural rule have the great majority of all church pastors, elders, rulers and teachers eliminated from their church creeds and programs more than fifty percent of the orders and ceremonies given to the apostles for their obedience and practice while Jesus Christ was here on earth?

When the Lord Jesus said to the Jews, in Matthew 21:43, “the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”, what did He mean? If He meant that the same program and message which He presented to the Jews would be presented to the Gentiles, then we are unanimously agreed that there is not one group of Christians in the world carrying on the Lord’s program. If we have arbitrarily revised that program without explanation or apology, and without Divine authority, we had better cry with the modernist, “back to Jesus”, and decide that Paul was a self-appointed, deluded apostle, who claimed to have special revelations from the resurrected Christ with a message, commission and program which was given Him from heaven concerning the gospel of the grace of God, the dispensation of the mystery, and the Body of Christ, but was in fact either an impostor or a man very much deceived.

Well, let us agree that we shall not be guilty of any wholesale discard of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth on earth, that we will agree that we live this side of Calvary in a new and different dispensation, and we shall diligently search the Scriptures and make a sincere effort to find in God’s Word His Divine principle for the interpretation, appropriation and application of all Scripture which is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” II Timothy 3:16 and 17. Surely God wants all of His children to be workmen who need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. II Timothy 2:15.

TEST THINGS THAT DIFFER

Let us carefully note some very important instructions in Philippians 1:9 and 10:

“And this I (Paul) pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. That ye may test things that differ; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.”

“That ye may test things that differ.” The translation from the Greek in most Bibles is, “that ye may approve things that are excellent.” But the Greek word should be translated “differ.”

Christians should be sincere. They should be without offense. They cannot be unless their love abounds more and more in knowledge and in judgment and unless they test things that differ.

As an example, would any servant of the Lord have had Divine authority, during the days of Jesus Christ on earth, to preach, “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek?” This is the message of Romans 10:12. The answer is found in Mark 7:24 to 30 and Matthew 15:21 to 27. A great difference. “Test things that differ.”

What would have happened, had the twelve apostles preached Colossians 2:16 and 17 while Jesus of Nazareth was a Man approved of God in the midst of Israel? Acts2:22. Note carefully Colossians2:16 and 17:

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, orin respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath, Which are a shadow of things to come: but the Body is of Christ.”

This command was the Lord’s command to the members of Christ’s Body some years after the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. But the servant of the Lord would have been wholly out of the will of God, had he proclaimed that message before the death and resurrection of the Saviour. “Test things that differ.”

In this connection let us compare Matthew5:17 and 18 with Colossians2:13 and 14 and with Ephesians 2:13 to 17:

Note the words of Jesus of Nazareth in Matthew 5:17 and 18:

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

Now note Colossians 2:13 and 14:

“And you Gentiles being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross,”

Now note Ephesians 2:13 to 17:

“But now, in Christ Jesus, ye (Gentiles) who sometime were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both (Gentile and Jew) one, and hath broken down the middlewall of partition; Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments in ordinance, for to make in Himself of twain One New Man, making peace; And that He might reconcile both unto God in one Body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; And came and preached peace to you (Gentiles) which were afar off, and to them (Israel) that were nigh.”

While Jesus of Nazareth was a Man in the midst of Israel He was under the law. Galatians 4:4. What the religious leaders of Israel did for the Holy Child Jesus, as recorded in Luke 2:21 to 39, was according to the law of Moses. They fulfilled all the law. Luke 2:39! From babyhood until His death, the Lord Jesus was under the law with His own nation. Right before His death He respected, with His apostles, a Jewish holyday: “Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, go and prepare us the Passover.” Luke 22:8. When Christ was before Pilate the Jews said, “we have a law, and by our law, He ought to die.” John 19:7. Christ was born under the law. Christ was circumcised under the law. When Christ was thirty years old we read concerning Him, in Luke 4:16: “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” Christ had been trained in childhood to be a religious lawkeeping, Sabbathkeeping Jew. How inconsistent He would have been, had he preached Colossians 2:12 to others during those years. Note carefully His words in Matthew 23:2 and 3: “The scribes and Pharisees SIT IN MOSES’ SEAT; THEREFORE.” Note the “THEREFORE.” Because they sit in Moses’ seat, “all whatsoever they bid you observe; that observe and do: but do not ye after their works: for they say and do not.”

So we see that Christ was born under the law, that He lived and ministered under the law and that He died under the law.

When the Holy Spirit led Paul to write the second chapters of Ephesians and Colossians what had become of Moses’ seat and Moses’ law? II Corinthians 3:5 to 17 answers this question. Abolished. Done away. So we see that Christ was born under the law, that He lived and ministered under the law and that He died under the law. Even the babe in Christ should be able to test these things that differ: the fact that the middlewall of partition was standing between the Jew and the Gentile while Jesus of Nazareth on earth was doing the things and saying the words that are recorded in Matthew, whereas at the time the truth of Ephesians was made known that middlewall of partition had been taken out of the way, broken down by the Father and the Son. Therefore, many of the Divine rules that governed the people of God while Jesus of Nazareth was on earth cannot be applied to members of the Body of Christ, with God’s sanction.