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The Appeal to Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms
Before opening this examination, let us make one thing crystal clear. Our published writings extend over a period of more 40 years, and the consistent testimony of our works is that "All
scripture is given by inspiration of God." The first tenet of four that constitutes the basis of the Berean Forward Movement is the Inspiration of all Scripture and if one
publication be asked for, that makes this attitude of heart clear to all, we point to the booklet entitled "True from the Beginning." Our contention is not concerned with the
inspiration of the Old Testament but with its use and employment, fulfillment and application. We have NOT entitled this section "Is Moses the author of the Pentateuch?" or "Are
there two Isaiahs?" but "The APPEAL to Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms". Acts 1:3 makes no actual mention of Moses and the prophets, but every student knows that the reference
"Being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" is a reference to Luke 24, where the 40 days are accounted for, the risen Lord both seen and
handled, and demonstrated by "many infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3 and Luke 24:39-43) and the opening up of the Old Testament Scriptures emphasized here is the Risen Lord's own appeal to
the law and the prophets
"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to have entered into His glory? And beginning at MOSES and all the PROPHETS, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning Himself.'' (Luke 24:26,27).
"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of MOSES and in the PROPHETS, and in the PSALMS concerning
Me." (Luke 24:44).
This exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures most evidently led the apostles to ask the question recorded in Acts 1:6, and accounts for the presence of the word, "therefore."
"When they THEREFORE (i.e., as a result of the Lord's teaching) were come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"
We will not pause to deal with this question here, that will come in due sequence. We are considering the appeal to the Old Testament Scriptures which is evidently fundamental to the teaching of
the Acts period, and we must keep in mind that this question about the kingdom arose out of 40 days instruction, during which the Saviour opened up all the Scriptures "the things pertaining to
the kingdom of God".
The Psalms form the basis of Peter's advice as described in Acts 1:15,16,20,21 and have the testimony of the Lord as their warrant (John 13:18,19). His answer to the question concerning what
had happened on the day of Pentecost was to quote the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16-21), and the "prophet" David (Acts 2:29-31). The typical teaching of the miracle of healing recorded in
Acts 3:1-11, reflects "the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His Holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:19-21). Moses, Samuel, and
all the prophets are referred to as "foretelling these days" (Acts 3:22-24) and Stephen's speech is a resume and an application of Old Testament teaching (Acts 7). Paul followed
the same pattern in his address at Antioch (Acts 13:15-37) in which he quoted Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms; and in Acts 17:2, we learn that his manner was to reason out of the Scriptures,
summing up his teaching up to that point, saying:
"I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come" (Acts 26:22).
At Acts 28:23 we have traversed nearly the whole of the Acts, and find that the Apostle makes his appeal to the law and the prophets as completely as ever: "Persuading them concerning
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets morning till evening" (Acts 28:23).
While the reader may agree that the law and the prophets are quoted and appealed to throughout the Acts, he may not realize the significance of the fact until he begins to make comparisons.
During the Acts period the apostle Paul wrote seven epistles, Romans ,I and II Thessalonians, I and II Corinthians, Galatians and Hebrews, it will therefore contribute to our understanding if we note
how the Old Testament is employed in the epistles of this period. The Old Testament is quoted 121 times in these epistles and of this number 35 are found in Hebrews. This statement may
provoke the rejoinder "Hebrews, as its title suggests, deals with the people of the.Old Testament and has so much to say about their past history, the tabernacle and the priesthood, that it may
be considered somewhat unfair to allow the great number of Old Testament references to have any weight in this argument". Conceding this for the moment let us turn our attention to the one
epistle of Paul which by common consent is fundamental so far as the gospel and its ministry are concerned, namely the epistle to the Romans. That epistle contains 51 references to Law,
Prophets and Psalms, a number, which if taken by itself is eloquent in its assurance that the same appeal characterized by the Acts, is true of the epistles of the period. When, however, we
come to compare this evidence with the testimony of the Prison epistles, written the other side of the frontier of Acts 28, the evidence is overwhelming. Seven epistles come from the pen of
Paul which were written after Acts 28, namely, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, I and II Timothy and Titus. In these epistles there are just seven references, only one
reference on the average to an epistle. When this is put over against the 51 references of Romans, we are sure the case is sound for Acts 28 being a frontier.
We can take this matter further however. There is not a single quotation of the Old Testament in either Philippians, Colossians, Philemon or Titus, one reference
being found in I Timothy, one reference in II Timothy and five references in Ephesians. Again, the statement of these facts may bring the retort: "Ephesians, your great epistle of the
mystery, requires five quotations from the Old Testament!" so we must give heed and consider what the quotations are and what their significance may be. In order that we may be as free
from bias as possible, we took the number of quotations from Turpie's monumental work, entitled "The Old Testament and the New," but draw the reader's attention to the fact that
Turpie gives only four references in Ephesians, but that we have added the reference to Psalm 8 that is imbedded in Ephesians 1:22. The quotations in Ephesians, with the exception of the words
from Psalm 8 in chapter one, are all found in the practical section, namely Ephesians 4-6. The fact that Paul quotes one of the Ten Commandments in Ephesians 6:2,3, cannot be cited as proof
that his doctrine is founded upon the law of Moses, any more than the reference to the relationship of man and wife in the beginning, can be made to "prove" that the mystery is found in or
founded on the book of Genesis (Eph. 5:31). Ephesians 4:8 is cited from Psalm 68:18, but that Christ ascended is the testimony of the Gospels and the Acts, as well as other Scriptures, and so
the Apostle here is but enlarging upon a known fact. The truth is that not one essential revelation of the Mystery as given in Ephesians, Philippians or Colossians is based upon the Old
Testament scriptures, simply because the mystery was not a subject of revelation until it was communicated to Paul as the Prisoner of the Lord for the Gentiles. Instead of quoting scripture,
Paul, when he dealt with the Mystery, wrote scripture by revelation of God. The appeal to the Old Testament is characteristic of the territory represented by the Acts period, but is a
negligible quantity in the epistles written after Acts 28. The claim made therefore that Acts 28 is a dispensational frontier is at least strongly supported by this single piece of evidence. We
have other evidence, to which we now turn, and as we assemble all our proofs, we believe our estimate of Acts 28 will be inescapable..
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