Recall that in Israel’s program, their blessings were conditional under the “If/Then” principle of Deut. 28.

BUT NOW under Paul’s gospel there are no IF’s. All our blessings in this age are unconditional - after we believe. God the Father automatically accepts us “in the beloved” (cf. Eph.1:6) as full-grown sons of God seated in the heavens, intimately identified with His Son and His perfect work on the cross, whereby we are ‘spiritually dead with Him,’ buried, and risen with Christ, thereby given His eternal newness of life, as ‘new creation creatures,’ freed from sin’s dominion, complete in Him, forgiven ALL trespasses, and “blessed… with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST” (Eph. 1:3-4).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in [His] love: Ephesians 1:3-4 (KJV)

In the Gospels, forgiving others first was Jesus' stated requirement in order to receive forgiveness from God the Father.

The Lord Jesus said in Matt. 6:14-15, “For IF YE Forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

BUT NOW, Paul says we’ve already been forgiven! (cf. Eph. 4:32) Colossians 2:13 tells us, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened [enlivened] together with him, having [already] forgiven you ALL trespasses.”

Israel was promised an earthly inheritance. They were told again and again that they shall inherit the Earth. As David wrote, "I shall give Thee... the uttermost parts of the Earth for Thy possession”.

BY CONTRAST, in Paul’s post-Acts Eph. 2:6 he says of “the faithful” of “the body of Christ” that God has already “raised us up together, and Made Us Sit Together In Heavenly Places In Christ Jesus.”

The Lord obeyed the laws of Moses and told all His followers to obey the law. You remember He said in Matthew 23:2-3, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

BY CONTRAST, Paul says we are “not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14-15). In the Ten Commandments, the Jews were told to “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exo. 20:8; Deut. 5:12).

But Colossians 2:16 Paul wrote; “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” Do you think the scribes and Pharisees sitting in Moses’ seat would accept someone who did not observe the Sabbath? You know they would not! And yet Paul tells us, let no man judge you about observing Sabbath days.

In Israel’s program, many meats were forbidden such as we might find in Lev. 11:7-8. “The swine is unclean to YOU… OF THEIR FLESH YE SHALL NOT EAT AND… NOT TOUCH.”

BY CONTRAST, Paul tells us that “every creature of God is good [for food] and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4). I praise the Lord every time I can have some fried bacon with my eggs for breakfast.

The Lord Jesus also told a rich man give away all his possessions and follow Him. So, after Pentecost, they had all things common.

BY CONTRAST, Paul tells us in 1 Tim. 5:8, “if any provide not for his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

TITHING was part of the old Mosaic Law that was given to Israel only (cf. Lev. 27:30-33).

BY CONTRAST Paul tells us God took Israel’s Mosaic Law “That Was Against Us,” “Contrary To Us, And Took It Out Of The Way, Nailing It To His Cross.” (Col. 2:14)

Paul teaching about giving can be found in 2 Cor. 9:7, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

Now, how do you reconcile all these Seeming Contradictions between Israel’s Law program and Paul’s ‘grace program’?

There’s only one answer. We must acknowledge that Paul Is Our Apostle For Today (cf. Rom. 11:13). Only Paul’s post-Acts 7 epistles of Eph, Col. Phlp., Titus, 1Tim., 2 Tim, and Philemon apply to us today,

If you’ve never heard this message of pure grace before, I beg you to consider how that what the Lord revealed to us through Paul was intentionally DIFFERENT from what had been taught before Paul. This is why Paul three times talks about “my gospel” (Rom. 2:16; 16:25; 2 Tim. 2:8), because his good news gospel was different than Jesus’ good “gospel of the kingdom” being “at hand.” This is why Paul three times under inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us to “Be Ye Followers Of Me [Paul]” (1 Cor. 4:16; 1 Cor. 11:1; Php. 3:17).

We follow Paul because Paul is our apostle for today’s age of the ‘One Gentile Body of Christ.’ Note how that Paul’s conversion was unique. He was saved by simple “grace through faith”… as “the gift of God” …” “not of [religious] works” to be the “PATTERN” to all of us who “should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting” (cf. 1 Tim. 1:16).

1 Tim. 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I [Paul] 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.

Paul was the “first” saved in this way of ‘pure grace’ … totally apart from Israel’s religious program.

Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Thus Paul is the “pattern” for us because we are saved into a new GENTILE AGE called “the dispensation of the grace of God.”

Ephesians 3:1-2 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, ² If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

This age came to be with the full fall of Israel in Acts 28:28, closing the book of Acts, and Gid’s turn to the Gentiles.

Acts 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you [Israel], that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear [heed] it.

Today’s age exists as a parenthesis or interruption in or suspension of Isrrael’s ‘prophetic program.’ This is a time when God is now dispensing or administering His pure 100% grace to all man, both Jew and Gentile, who come to Him by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son as a payment for all our sins.

We are, therefore, careful to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (< This is how we are to “study.’)

To ‘rightly divide the word of truth’ means to make a straight cut in the Bible between what is spoken to us today as grace believing Gentiles and that which is what is NOT about us. That is between God's program for the Nation Israel and His grace program for us as the church, which today is “the Body of Christ.”

A RULE OF THUMB; “While all the Bible is for us, not all is written to us or about us.”

We can never understand the Bible unless we recognize that God has 2 DIFFERENT assemblies of believers being spoken to in the Bible.

There are the Jews with their calling to “reign on earth” and the Gentiles with their calling to reign in the heavenly places as “His body.”

Ephesians 1:1-4 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: ² Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH [ALREADY] BLESSED US WITH ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRISt: ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: