When, then, does the change to the But Now position occur?  When did the circumcision and the uncircumcision being reconciled into one body begin to take place? Ephesians 3 supplies the answer.

     "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

     "IF YE HAVE HEARD OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN ME TO YOU-WARD;

     "HOW THAT BY REVELATION HE MADE KNOWN UNTO ME THE MYSTERS...

     "WHICH IN OTHER AGES WAS NOT MADE KNOWN UNTO THE SONS OF MEN, AS IT IS NOW REVEALED UNTO HIS HOLY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS BY THE SPIRIT;

     "THAT THE GENTILES SHOULD BE FELLOW HEIRS, AND OF THE SAME BODY, AND PARTAKERS OF HIS PROMISE IN CHRIST BY THE GOSPEL" (Eph. 3:1-3.5.6).

From the record it is evident that the Apostle Paul was the instrument our ascended Lord used to initiate the program of grace for the Gentiles by way of a message he calls" the mystery"- a secret purpose which God kept "hidden" in Himself unto He revealed it to and then through the Apostle Paul.

With the raising up of Paul we move from Time Past into the But Now section and cross what in fact is the most important boundary line of the Bible-that between prophecy and the great mystery proclaimed by Paul.  It is into these two great subjects that the Bible is basically divided.

Manifestly there is a great difference between Peter's preaching of that "which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21) and Paul's proclamation of that "which was kept secret since the word began" (Rom. 16:25).

The secret message has to do with the breaking down of the middle wall of partition and the placing of Jew and Gentile into one body on an absolutely equal basis through simple faith in the cross-work of the Lord Jesus Christ  (Eph. 2:13-22).  How is it that this "mystery message can now go to the Gentiles without regard to Israel's former status?  Romans 11 answers:

     "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?  God forbid: but rather THROUGH THEIR FALL SALVATION IS COME UNTO THE GENTILES, for to provoke them to jealousy."

     "… THE CASTING AWAY OF THEM [IS] THE RECONCILING OF THE WORLD…"

     "FOR I WOULD NOT, BRETHREN, THAT YE SHOULD BE IGNORNAT OF THIS MYSTER, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits:  that BLINDNESS IN PART IS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL, UNTIL THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN" (Rom. 11:11,15, 25".

Our Lord set the nation Israel aside during the Acts period and from heaven's glory introduced a new program through a new apostle.  With the revelation of this new program we move into the But Now period and thus we read Paul now declaring:

     'FOR I SPEAK TO YOU GENTILES, INASMUCH AS I AM THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES, I MAGNIFY MINE OFFICE" (Romans 11:13).

Romans through Philemon are the books, the, that fit into the But Now division.  These are the books that detail what God is doing during the present dispensation of grace.