A brief outline of the seven chapters follows:
CHAPTER 1 – GOD’S SECRET PLAN
A plan which the apostle Paul alludes to but few have comprehended – the fact that salvation as we understand it was not originally intended for the Gentile nations in the current epoch but resulted from the failure of the Jews (cf. Rom11), the providential implications of which have been quite eluded. This chapter also considers the divisions within the churches and how they were foretold in Scripture.
CHAPTER 2 – THE LOST COVENANT
Whilst most Christians will be familiar with the theological significance of Adam and Eve, less will be so with Cain and Abel, the former being the firstborn human and “type” of those ultimately rejected by God. Cain and Abel were players within an inclusive Universal Covenant (cf. Gen4:7KJV) which again has been eluded. Also explained in this chapter – the fact that the contagion of sin resulting from the Fall pertains to the procreated intellectual vessel (Paul’s “body of this death”), not the soul as a whole – another longstanding misconception with radical and wondrous providential implications.
CHAPTER 3 – FAITH AND JUSTIFICATION
What the Bible means by “justification” and the fact that the blessings of the Atonement apply at two levels: forensic and participatory. The former provides pardon for all people of good will who evince an underlying faith through their exercise of compassion (Mt25 “sheep”); the latter (sanctifying grace) is restricted to those who come to know Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord. The chapter outlines how such concepts of common grace and common faith were testified to by the earliest (pre-Augustinian) Church fathers. Far from diminishing God’s grace these particular aspects of natural law are a fruit of Christ’s Passion, availing for the many not just the proportionally few who shall become the Bride of Christ.
CHAPTER 4 – THE UNIVERSAL RESTORATION
Examines what little the Bible tells us about the Parousia, when Christ “shall be glorified in His saints and admired by those that believe on that day”
CHAPTER 5 – PROGRESSIVE REVELATION
God’s chosen method of enlightenment for the Church and world. In terms of the Church, the chapter outlines how the gospel was disseminated by the apostles and their immediate successors, observing with second century Irenaeus that the churches at that time were remarkably united in their interpretation of the gospel – an interpretation radically different from that of many Christians today.
CHAPTER 6 – CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL
The mystery of evil: “spiritual wickedness in high places”, and the role and ignominious destiny of human defaulters from the Universal Covenant. These are individuals referred to by Jesus, Paul and John as “children of the devil” – devoid of love, truth or conscience.
CHAPTER 7 – THE THEODICY
Why a God Scripture defines as Love personified permits the continuance of evil and the suffering that results from it; a key to the solution being Christ’s earthly experience (Heb2:10): a prelude to His glorious inheritance – and ours.
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