1. We are an independent Bible study organization.This means that we are not part of a denomination or formal association of churches. Therefore, we do not exist to support any denomination or organization, but only to provide a ministry for the teaching of the word of God for the edifying of the body of Christ.
As a Bible study organization we use a variety of means to help Christians understand and enjoy the Bible. We publish literature in the form of books and booklets, doctrinal tracts and pamphlet For more information about any or all of these items, see their separate listing on our home page.
2. Enjoy The Bible Ministries is managed by a few volunteers, who not only work their own jobs but who also give of their free time to look after this website, fill orders, respond to email, and the like. This means that there are times when we are just not available or are not able to respond to matters as quickly as we would like. Therefore if you contact us, please understand that there may be a delay in responding to you.
3. Doctrinally we recognize and stress the necessity to study the Bible dispensationally according to the command to be rightly dividing the word of truth, given to us in II Timothy 2:15. The Bible declares the fact that God is working out a two-fold plan and purpose. One aspect of His plan and purpose centers around the people of Israel and the covenant God made with Abraham and his seed. The other aspect of God’s plan and purpose concerns His “new creation,”the “one new man,” the church the body of Christ. Therefore, two programs, or dispensations, are set forth and described in the Bible and they are not the same. These two different dispensations of God need to be recognized and the distinctions between them honored. This is what “rightly dividing the word of truth” refers to. It means to recognize and correctly make the division in the Bible that needs to be made in it because of the two different programs of God that it sets forth. All too often, however, the Bible is not “rightly divided,” and the differences between God’s two programs are either ignored or confused.
4. We recognize that the present program of God is “the dispensation of the grace of God for us Gentiles.” This present dispensation was revealed to and through the apostle Paul, and was a “mystery” God kept hid in Himself in ages and generations past. (See e.g. Ephesians 3:1-12) Until God raised up Paul as a brand new apostle, God’s program with Israel was in effect. But now God has temporarily suspended His program and dealings with Israel and the dispensation of Gentile grace is in effect. The portion of God’s word that is expressly TO us and is particularly ABOUT us today is the epistles of the Apostle Paul.
5. We recognize that the present dispensation of God is greatly different from God’s program with Israel, and that God is not dealing with us today as He dealt with Israel. For example, God has not put us “under the law” in this dispensation. (See e.g. Romans 6:14; I Timothy 1:3-10) Though God used the performance system of the Law in His program and dealings with Israel, He has instituted a different system for us today. In this dispensation we are “under grace” and God deals with us solely on the basis of who He has made us to be “in Christ” by the riches of His grace. In accordance with not being “under the law” in this dispensation and being treated by God as adult “sons”and not “children,”
God is not using the “rudiments of the world” with us today. (See e. g. Galatians 4:1-11; Colossians 2:8-23) The “rudiments of the world”like observing holydays, having dietary restrictions, along with submitting to ordinances of water baptism and the like, all pertain to Israel’s program. However, in this dispensation God has made us “dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world.” Such rudiments, therefore, have no place in God’s program today.
6. Of all the different kinds of baptisms spoken about in the Bible, only one is of any importance to God, or has any application, in this present dispensation of His grace. That baptism is the one God Himself performs when the Spirit of God baptizes the believer “into Jesus Christ” at the moment of salvation, so identifying the believer with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Water baptisms in particular are “rudiments of the world” that functioned in accordance with the elementary purification, separation, and identification teachings of the Law Covenant, and as such were a natural part of God’s program and dealings with Israel. As described in I Corinthians 1, at the beginning of this dispensation of grace in connection with testifying to Israel outside of their land, the Apostle Paul used water baptisms on certain occasions as a sign to unbelieving Israel. With the exception of this limited use, water baptisms have no role or function in this present dispensation of grace.
7. In accordance with Paul’s teaching in I Corinthians 12-14, the temporary need for spiritual gifts that existed at the beginning of this dispensation has been superceded by the completion of the written word of God. The “perfect” written word of God now having come, spiritual gifts have been “done away.”
8. The preserved inerrant word of God has always existed, still exists, and is identified today as the received text of the historic protestant reformation process. The translation of the received text into the English language has produced the inerrant, infallible word of God in English. Though a multitude of English Bible translations exist at the present time, only the King James Version is translated from the received text. The King James Version is identified as the inerrant, infallible, preserved word of God in the English language.