David Wilson
There is so much that I disagree with in this article by Don Samdahl that I will not take the time to answer point by point but feel that it is necessary to respond.
Let me begin by noting that it was always God’s plan to bring blessing to all the nations through the Lord Jesus, Abraham’s promised seed (Gen. 12:1-3). Samdahl claims that Israel’s rejection of their Messiah meant that God had no plan to bless Israel apart from Israel. But God had promised,
Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ Isaiah 49:6
When we speak of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, it is clear that we are speaking of a national rejection of the Messiah and as a result God’s temporary rejection of Israel as a nation. Paul himself is adamant that God has not cast away His people and presents himself as clear evidence that God is still saving Jewish people (Rom. 11:1-2).
Samdahl claims that with the conversion of Paul, God began a new program and that Paul is the founder of Christianity. Paul would utterly disagree! The Lord Jesus alone is the author and finisher our faith, the founder and foundation of Christianity. He said,
I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18
It is true that there were new truths that were revealed to the apostles after the ascension of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Himself told the Eleven in the Upper Room that there were truths He could not yet tell them:
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. John 16:12-15
The revelation of this truth was not waiting for Saul’s conversion but for the sending of the Holy Spirit. And the Lord promised that these new truths would be revealed to the apostles, not just to Paul. Paul would write:
Now, therefore, you [Gentiles] are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints [Jews] and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22
In Ephesians 3, Paul will explain the mystery of the church (Eph. 3:1-7). While the Old Testament clearly revealed the blessing and salvation of Gentiles, the mystery of the church is that Jews and Gentiles form one new body in Christ (Eph. 2:15). But Paul says that the church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (2:20). And Paul says that the distinction between Jews and Gentiles in Christ was abolished in the cross (Eph. 2:16). So, clearly Paul is not the founder and foundation of the church.
“Differences Between Jesus and the Twelve and Paul”
Samdahl’s lists five main points which are summarised in a chart, and all five are problematic and are responded to below, point by point:
- Peter did not teach that water baptism was necessary for salvation. That is contrary not only to the teaching of Paul, but also to the teaching of the Lord Jesus as recorded by the apostle John. And contrary to Samdahl, repentance is necessary for salvation because it is an acknowledgement that our thinking about Christ and our sins have been fundamentally wrong and we need to believe what the Bible says about them both. Paul himself summarised the message he preached as “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21); and “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (Acts 26:19-20).
- Salvation has always been by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9). And Paul says that there is only one gospel and anathematises (curses) anyone who preaches any other gospel (Gal. 1:6-9).
- His third point is utterly irrelevant and also misleading. What difference does it matter where the Twelve and Paul were saved and commissioned?
- His fourth point is again misleading. As we noted earlier, the Lord told the Eleven in the upper room that there was truth that He would reveal later when the Holy Spirit was given, and even though we don’t have a record of that, we must take the Lord Jesus at His Word that He revealed these truths to them. The whole point of Paul’s argument in Galatians 1-2 is that even though Paul received the gospel by direct revelation (Gal. 1:11-12) but was in total harmony with the gospel the apostles preached (Gal. 2). But notice also that Paul argues that even Abraham was saved by grace through faith (Gal. 3:6-9).
- His fifth point is also misleading and wrong. It is true that in Matthew 10:5, the Lord Jesus told the disciples to only go to the house of Israel; but after His death and resurrection, He told them to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:18-20). And in Acts 8, we see Philip preaching to the Samaritans with great blessing, as well as preaching the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. Peter and John were sent to investigate this work in Samaria (Acts 8:14-15). And in Acts 10-11, Peter is divinely prepared and instructed to go and tell the Roman centurion “words by which he and his household will be saved” (Acts 11:14). Peter had to defend his actions among the Gentiles, and told the church in Jerusalem, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (v. 18). His later argument that Paul had an “argument with the Twelve at the council” is grossly inaccurate. The council was convened because “some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5). And the church in Jerusalem agreed with Paul AND Peter. Peter stated, “we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they” (Acts 15:11). Clearly there were not two gospels or two different ways of salvation. Yes, Paul went primarily (but not exclusively) to the Gentiles and Peter preached primarily to the Jews but also to the Samaritans (Acts 8:25) and to Cornelius. But we should also note that Luke is highly selective in recording the apostolic witness. We know nothing from Scripture of the work that the other apostles were involved in, but church history records that the other apostles fulfilled the command of the Lord Jesus, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
It is important to note that a major part of Luke’s account is to record not only the fulfilment of the Lord’s command to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), but it has been shown that Luke structures his record around summary statements that testify of God’s blessing upon the Word of God and the growth of the church (Acts 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:30-31). These structural markers unite the entire book and show that there is just one church that Christ is building.
The chief characteristic of this age of grace is the change in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Before His ascension, the Lord Jesus gave the disciples a command:
He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1:4-5
And not many days from then, the Holy Spirit was poured out in dramatic fashion on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). But we must be careful to distinguish the various facets of the Spirit’s ministry that began on that day: the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12-13); the indwelling of the Spirit (John 14:16-17; Rom. 8:9); the sealing of the Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14); and the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-11).
But it is the baptism of the Spirit that is of particular importance in this context. The Lord Jesus promised that they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5) and Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that act by which we are placed into the one body of Christ. On the Day of Pentecost, the initial company of praying believers received all the blessings of the Spirit mentioned above, including the baptism of the Spirit; and the Church of Christ came into existence. Then, in response to Peter’s sermon, others believed the message and 3000 were added to them, the Church (Acts 2:40-41, 47). It does not record that this second group experienced the same outward manifestations as the initial group, but nonetheless, they were added to that one body of believers. Luke later records that others believed the word and the number grew to 5000 (Acts 4:4), again with no mention of any outward manifestation such as tongues.
But when Peter brought the gospel to the household of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, we see another outward manifestation of the Spirit through speaking in tongues (Acts 10:44-48). Peter was taught by the Lord that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34), and that “whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). That outward manifestation of the giving of the Spirit convinced not only Peter but also the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who challenged him for taking the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 11:15-18).
The next time we read of such a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit is in Acts 19, when Paul came to Ephesus and discovered some disciples who had not yet been baptised nor received the Holy Spirit. Following Paul’s explanation concerning the Lord Jesus, they obeyed the Lord in baptism and then received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Paul’s hands and spoke in tongues and prophesied (Acts 19:5-6).
Why is it that these unusual manifestations of the Spirit are only recorded in these specific cases? Because the Holy Spirit through Luke wants us to know that the baptism of the Spirit is the means by which believers are added to the one body of Christ and it was crucial that in these disparate cases of Jews (Acts 2), Gentiles (Acts 10) and disciples of John (Acts 19), that it be made clear they were all being united into one body and that there not be a Jewish church, a Gentile church and a “disciples of John” church. Christ was building His church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2). Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we are all baptised into one body (1 Cor. 12:12-13); our responsibility is to maintain this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3-6).
Conclusion
Am I overreacting and making too much of Samdahl’s article? I think not. The teaching on this website shows the outcome of his ultra-dispensational teaching. He is determined to fit everything into his paradigm and ends up twisting the Scriptures. Perhaps you think this language is too strong but that is the very charge he makes against those who hold to a traditional understanding of the church beginning in Acts 2 with the descent of the Spirit.
Consider some of his views that flow from this perspective: Samdahl views the Old Testament and the four Gospels as being Jewish theology and not for the Church Age. He teaches that John 3:16 belongs to the Old Testament era and not to the Church Age. He argues that water baptism belongs to the period of the Jewish Church and not to this Age of Grace. He believes that at Pentecost, Christ baptised people with the Holy Spirit, but now the Holy Spirit baptises believers into Christ. He teaches that “Christian theology… is wholly found in the writings of Paul.”
In brief, this is not a website or theological position I could recommend.