The Two Gospels

THE TWO GOSPELS

REVEALING THE DANGERS OF SUBTRA-DISPENSATIONAL TEACHING

R. DAWSON BARLOW

Copyright ©2015 by R. Dawson Barlow

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(ALL SCRIPTURE REFERENCES ARE FROM THE AUTHORIZED KING JAMES VERSION UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. ANY REFERENCES WITH PHRASES OR WORDS IN CAPTITAL LETTERS, BOLD OR UNDERLINED, OR COMMENTS IN BRACKETS ARE MADE BY THE AUTHOR FOR EMPHASIS.)

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to the loving memory of Jim and Chris Healan and Pastor Otis Wasson, who first planted the seeds of the message of infinite grace into my stubborn, proud and resistant heart.

FOREWORD

I have known R. Dawson Barlow for more than 35 years, Over this, time I have gone from being a student under his challenging teaching, to a co-seeker with him, for a clearer explanation of the differences between Christ’s earthly Kingdom Gospel, and the Gospel of Grace of the Grace of God, hidden in the mind of God, until revealed to his divinely chosen (Acts 9:15) Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.

Every serious student of the Scriptures should read, and study carefully the insights of this book. Read with all readiness of mind as did those early saints of Berea. Then, search the Scriptures daily, whether these things are so (Acts 17:11). I have personally done so, and found them to be true. In all my years of sharing these same truths, I have heard many denominational, and personal reasons why the truths presented herein are not so. However, I can honestly say, I have yet to have a brother/sister in Christ, or others, provide a sufficient scriptural basis to justify their doubts.

Robert W. Hatch

Col. (Ret.) EN

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks for help with editing and proofing, a labor of love - to: R. Bauschard, D. Collins, S. Kennedy, and S. Powell. And a special thank you also to P. Wilkerson for the graphic presentations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword

Introduction

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Other Books

Introduction

Have you ever driven on a highway on a peaceful, beautiful day when traffic was almost non-existent? Have you, on any of those occasions, abruptly discovered that you were in unfamiliar territory and that you were lost? That has happened to me more times than I will readily admit. Once I was lost for just over an hour before I came to the realization that the state highway department had done a detestable job of marking the highway with clear directions. It had not adequately informed travelers where to exit in order to get to the city of their (my) desired destination. Aggravated, I turned back, fuming and fussing over the inconvenience the highway department had caused me in lost time and money. Finally I came to the junction where I had missed my turnoff. There I discovered, to my chagrin, that there was, in fact, a large clear sign, big as life, with all the correct information on it, right where it was supposed to be. So, it wasn’t the fault of the highway people after all. I was to blame because I had been negligent and inattentive to the information provided for me.

Many sincere people express a heart-felt desire to understand the Bible. They promise themselves that they will read the Bible through, study it and master its contents. But, after a while, the Bible is returned to its place of prominence on the bookshelf or coffee table, and the noble quest to learn its contents is forgotten. How well I remember this happening repeatedly in my own life. I would resolve that I should and would learn the message and content of the Bible, but in spite of good intentions, I kept losing my way.

As I look back it is not difficult to discern the reason I kept losing my way. It was the same reason I was lost on the highway:

I had missed some God-ordained turn-offs in the Scripture narrative. Just as navigating the roads can be very confusing if you miss the clearly marked exits, even so, navigating through the word of God can be just as exasperating an ordeal if the reader does not note the clearly marked signs that announce that a highly significant change has taken place whereby we must travel on a new and different road.

When believers hear teaching that plainly asserts there are some changes in the way God deals with mankind throughout the biblical record, they bristle and are resistant to such notions. A common response for many is to quote such biblical references as:

For I am the LORD, I change not; (Mal 3:6)

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. (Heb 13:8)

It is true that God’s nature has and will forever remain unchanged for all eternity. It is, however, equally true that the way he deals with mankind has changed because of man’s response to God.

PREFACE

THE DANGERS OF SUBTRA-DISPENSATIONAL TEACHING

A thorough knowledge of the book of Acts is imperative to an understanding of New Testament theology that was revealed after the ascension of Christ. What divides many Christians is how they view the book of Acts. This book is the historical account of a great transition in the dealings of God with mankind. The first part of Acts speaks of the ministry of Peter and the apostles as they preached to Israel the gospel they were given. The last part of the book of Acts speaks of the ministry of the Apostle Paul as he proclaimed a different gospel that was given to him, by the Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. The key to a clear understanding of Acts is to discern exactly where that transition from Jew to Gentile took place. A basic statement of the views on this matter will help readers to distinguish the terms and what they mean.

The SUBTRA–Dispensational view states that the Body of Christ began in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost.

The Dispensational view states the Body of Christ began with the calling out of the Apostle Paul. Acts 9-13

The ULTRA-Dispensational view states the Body of Christ began AFTER Acts 28.

Subtra is a new word. In fact this writer coined this word. I have for many years shared this blessed gospel with many of my ‘kin’ in the Lord and many hearts have been opened to it. For those who adamantly reject the consistent dispensational position, there has never been one person who has ventured to answer the argument. Rather, their common tactic has been to label the argument but never answer it. I have heard many say, "Oh, I see what you are saying. You are an Ultra-dispensationalist."

Having said that, they were willing to walk away from the discussion thinking they had accomplished the ultimate coup de grace in labeling me, and the arguments I proffered. I set out in a search to find an appropriate label that would describe their position. Since I did not find a suitable word after searching far and wide I composed and settled on subtra. It is designed to express an opposite meaning of ultra. The opposite of hyper is hypo, but there is no such suitable, corresponding, antonym for ultra. Therefore subtra means not going far enough and ultra means that one has gone too far - beyond what is acceptable. When the line of demarcation from Jew to Gentile is placed in Acts 2, it is subtra, for it does not go far enough. When that line is placed at the end of the Acts narrative with its boast of ‘another’ gospel, it is placing that line too far out. So for years now, when some well meaning believer feels compelled to label me an Ultra-dispensationalist, I sometimes shock them by saying: "Oh, no my brother, I am not Ultra-dispensational! You need to be warned that you are engulfed in the jeopardous error of Subtra-dispensationalism!"

Of course I realize that this is just a matter of semantics. The real ammunition of any debate is not labeling an argument but in demonstrating whether the argument can be substantiated from the witness of the Scripture. That cannot be more richly demonstrated than in the context of a study of THE TWO GOSPELS that are so conspicuously delineated in Scripture. This small volume will vividly demonstrate the existence of two gospels of which we speak. It will be further demonstrated that the confusion between those two gospels is THE single greatest source of the pitiful pandemonium that characterizes Christendom.

Some pastors will read these lines and be disturbed by such ‘heresy,’ just like I was when I was first exposed to these truths. I only hope they will be sufficiently discombobulated so that they will attempt to honestly attempt to answer the consistent dispensational viewpoint, rather than to settle for being held captive in subtra dispensational heresy. I do not mean the position itself is heresy. It is incorrect but not a heresy. However it is this very viewpoint that has opened the floodgates to welcome damnable heresy into the theological dialogues and diatribes of our day. If a student of the Word possesses an intellectual grasp of the existence and reality of the two Gospels they will have taken a giant step in understanding how enjoyable the study of the rightly divided Scripture can be.

This book was written in The People’s Republic of China where I enjoyed no resources from which to expand my ideas. All my tools were confiscated by the ‘powers that be.’ I outlined the lessons in less than an hour, but due to a joyously full schedule, it has taken a year to write. These lessons were translated into Chinese and have found a warm, joyful welcome and acceptance among so many of the bishops of the house churches where we have labored in this land. My prayer is that, flawed though this work may be, it will prove to be useful to introduce some believers to a fresh understanding of the message of Christ and a new enjoyment in their study of the Holy Scriptures.

In the bonds of the Gospel and the love of Christ is this study sent out.

R. Dawson Barlow

CHAPTER 1

CLEAR SIGNS A CHANGE HAS OCCURRED

1. ADAM AND EVE – BEFORE AND AFTER THE FALL

There are some important, highly significant turning points in the Bible whereby God announces that he must now deal with mankind in a different way than he did before. This is so simple to discern when the Scripture is read and accepted at face value. Look, for instance, at the way God dealt with Adam and Eve before they plunged their posterity into sin. They had sweet fellowship with God and walked together with him in the cool of the day. (Gen. 3:8) But after our first parents sinned, they ran and hid from God (or at least they tried to hide). Instead of joy and fellowship with God, the Lord pronounced an awful curse on Adam, all his posterity and upon the earth itself.

Genesis 3 is the record of that great turning point in human history. Thereafter, nothing was ever the same between God and man. This is a major turning-off sign people often miss. We frequently complain about the painful plight of millions of people and of human suffering and disease, and wonder why God ‘allows’ it. If we are made in the image of God, why is there so much agony and death? A close examination of the sacred text reveals that we are NOT made in the image of God. Yes, Adam was made in the image of God, but we, Adam’s descendents, are made in the image of fallen Adam. The Apostle Paul comments on this:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Rom 5:12)

2. GOD’S CHOICE TO CHOOSE ABRAHAM AND HIS POSTERITY THROUGH ISAAC AND JACOB.

Another great turning point in the Bible is found in Genesis 12 concerning the calling out of Abraham, who was to become the father of the Hebrew nation. God singled out one man, Abraham, to be the father of a great nation and made a monumental, unconditional covenant with him and all his posterity through the lineage of Isaac and Jacob.

Many devotional Bible readers genuinely love the Bible but never seem to ‘catch’ the fact that way back in the beginning of the Bible, God made a covenant with Abraham. God made it clear that throughout the Old Testament, he would be dealing with Israel (the Jewish people, the Hebrews, i.e., the physical descendants of Abraham) on the basis of that great Abrahamic Covenant. I can honestly confess that growing up in church I never heard a sermon or a lesson expounding the content and meaning of the Abrahamic Covenant. I dare to say that as long as believers remain ignorant of the message, the merit and the unconditional nature of the promises of God to Abraham and his posterity, they will never be clear in their understanding of the Bible.

We should be stalwart in our love for all the Word of God, but must be fully instructed that when we read the Old Testament, AFTER GENESIS 12, we are learning how God dealt with the Hebrew people within the context of that Abrahamic Covenant. If we