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The Main Point of Mid Acts Doctrine

Justin Johnson

It is not unusual to receive messages from site visitors who would like to oppose Mid Acts doctrine since evidently it sounds very different. It is a pleasure to receive one of these messages since I am able to learn what is being communicated by what is published.

After reading many of these emails, it is amazing how often people miss the main point of the Mid Acts perspective. By not correctly identifying what it is they are attacking, their volleys fail to hit the mark.

This short post is intended to help direct those who are looking for the heart of Mid Acts so that you can aim your attacks (or your sincere consideration) more accurately.

It’s Not about Baptism

It seems some doctrines attract a larger crowd than others. Baptism is one of those doctrines that will always be surrounded in controversy.

While it is clearly understood through a Mid Acts perspective that water baptism has no import in this dispensation it is not the primary point of Mid Acts dispensational right division.

You Can’t Find It in Acts

The book of Acts does not clearly identify what is taught as Mid Acts doctrine. The nomenclature “Mid Acts” refers to at what time Paul was saved.

The book of Acts is about Israel’s rejection of the Apostles: all of them. First they rejected Christ, the Apostle (Heb 3:1), then the twelve apostles, then Paul the apostle of the Gentiles.

Christ was rejected in Jerusalem, his disciples all throughout Israel, and Paul was stoned in Gentile countries. It is a description of old things (Israel’s position) passing away but only a vague description of the new things (the new creature).

The Main Point

Here it is: the main point. Mid Acts doctrine does not rest on baptism, the book of Acts, or 2 Timothy 2:15.

Our Apostle Paul was uniquely given mercy by God while he was killing the faithful in Christ. Jesus commissioned him with a unique ministry. Paul taught a message of the Lord Jesus that no one hitherto had known.

“Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” – 1 Tim 1:16

Jesus gave to Paul a new ministry to be the pattern to everyone after him. God’s nature has not changed, but his ministry to man has changed. God’s present ministry to man through Christ was first revealed in its fullness to our Apostle Paul.

The Painted Target

If Paul did not teach anything significantly different than Peter, John the Baptist, or the prophets, then Mid Acts doctrine falls apart.

However, if you can see that there is new doctrine about Jesus revealed first to Paul that is of primary significance to the members of the body of Christ today, then you are closer to identifying the main point of Mid Acts doctrine.

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Published: January 9, 2010
Last Modified: August 4, 2016
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