Beschrijving

The title is derived from a little observed passage of St Paul (Eph3:8-11). That forms the focal point for what is effectively a reconstituted biblical schema. Radical as it appears, it demonstrably “works” by creating an unprecedented level of scriptural coherence: the teaching of Christ in the gospels is reconciled with the writers of the epistles who in turn accord with each other. As for the disparity between Old Testament prophecy and the outworking of the gospel/church age, that has also been resolved (or rather explained), not by hyper-allegorising or “spiritualising” as at present but by grasping what Paul actually meant by “the fellowship pertaining to the secret (plan) hidden in God through the ages”. When that statement is understood so is his typically glossed references in Romans chapter 11 concerning “salvation” being brought to the Gentiles “as a result of Jewish failure” (vv11,12 15) . Thus are Israel and the Church pereived in their contexts – as redeemed communities within a vastly broader Plan of loving goodness that God has in store for the beings He has made in His own image. That will be fulfilled when “the sons of God are revealed” and all redeemable creation is “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (cf. Rom8:21-23 Greek). The author indicates that his new understanding was arrived at as a result of a \