I would like to check out Larkin, Carol. .../QUOTE]
Hi Cara and all,
Clarence Larkin wrote : "While the bible was written
for all classes of people and
for our learning, [I]
it is not addressed to all people in general.[/I. Part of it is addressed to
the JEWS, part of it to
the GENTILES and part of it to
the CHURCH. The Jews, the gentiles and the church constitute the 'three classes' into which humanity is divided." He cites 1 Corinthians 10:32
Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
"It follows therefore that while the whole Bible was
for the instruction of the church, it is
not all written about the church.
"
Larkin continues to write: "The church is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is mostly taken up with the history of one nation, that of Israel."
To prove that the bible is not all about the church, including the New Testament, he gives an example about the book of James.
He writes "The epistle of James is not addressed to the church but rather to the 12 tribes of Israel scattered abroad (James 1:1)."
He continues to write: "In the epistle to the Hebrews many Christians stumble at the words "
fall away" (Hebrews 6:4-6) and "
if we sin willfully" (Hebrews 10:26. But these words do not apply to Christians.
They were spoken to the apostate Jewish professors of Christianity who had never been born again and who IF THEY did not accept Jesus as their Messiah were practically crucifying Him again, and were as bad as their brethren who did crucify Jesus".
*****
******Where I tend to differ a tad on his commentary on the apostate Jewish professors is I think HEBREWS was written to the saved Jewish people who were learning to walk and follow the Holy Spirit in their spirit as opposed to leaning on the Law of Moses as they did for soo many years.
For in Hebrews 9 (Paul) is reviewing the Old Covenant, the First Covenant with them. Then comes verse 14 and He tells them that the Blood of Christ, Who THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT, ...purges their conscience (and ours) from dead works to serve the Living God. Something that the blood of bulls and goats never did, and never will.
******
He died in 1924 before Israel was 'reborn' in 1948 so in his comments about Israel, he refers it to Palestine, not to confuse it with the 'Palestinian nation' of today.
There is much, much more in his book 'Rightly Dividing the Word' but I was not going to write the entire book here!
You can download many of his books for free. I have a couple of the hardback ones, Rightly Dividing the Word, The Spirit world, The book of Daniel and the book of Revelation.
Here's one I don't have anymore. "Dispensational Truth" I gave it away.. but will read it again on line:
BY CLARENCE LARKIN I hope the link below works.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...OGJlNjFmMTE3OQ
He may not have everything right but his books have helped me understand the bible a lot better.