Since Acts 15 deals with the salvation of Gentiles, many assume that these Gentiles are becoming part of the mystery program/dispensation which is written about in Ephesians and Colossians. There is some debate among right dividers as to Cornelius's position as a saved Gentile. The Dr Peter Ruckman camp of right dividers include Cornelius in the "mystery body of Christ" along with the Gentile converts of Paul mentioned in Acts 14:27. Most of the Mid Acts Right Dividers exclude Cornelius from the mystery body of Christ, because he was converted under the preaching of Peter in Acts 10, and their position is Cornelius is a saved Gentile under the Kingdom Program. My argument is that all Gentiles mentioned in Acts 15 are saved under the "Kingdom Program Offer," the only difference being that Paul preached to them the gospel of the un-circumcision which was a grace message of believing on Christ (with no observance of the Law required). Paul even says in Romans 11 that saved Gentiles in the Acts period were graffed into Israel (i.e. the olive tree, compare Jer 11:16 with Romans 11:13-17). I am aware that many Right Dividers object by saying that Romans 11 just refers to Gentiles receiving the blessings of Israel. I agree that the Gentiles partake of Israel's "root and fatness," but you can not choose to ignore the same part of this verse that says these Gentiles are graffed in among them (the "them" is Israel)! In Acts 15 there is no distinction given between the Gentiles saved under Paul and the Gentiles saved under Peter (Cornelius and his household). Nowhere in Acts 15 does Paul say that Gentiles saved under his ministry are part of a different group or body than Cornelius and his household. The collective salvation of all these Gentiles mentioned in Acts 15 is said to be in agreement with the prophecy program (Acts 15:14-18). Paul even says his preaching to the Gentiles in Acts was a command according to prophecy (see Acts 13:47 and Isaiah 49:6). Acts 13:47 states, "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." Many right dividers get around Paul quoting Isaiah 49:6 by saying Paul is just making spiritual application in his quotation. For those that say this, I think the burden of proof is on them to prove that this passage should not be taken literally. If the Gentiles saved under Paul in Acts 15 were under the mystery dispensation, then Paul would have objected to the statement that their salvation was in agreement with the prophecy program, since the mystery program is not revealed in prophecy. Paul's actions further prove that these saved Gentiles are under the "Kingdom Program Offer" when he does not object to the "necessary things" (Acts 15:28-29) as decrees for the saved Gentiles to follow. Acts 16:1-4 states the following:
[1] Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain
disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which
was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
[2] Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
[3]
Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him
because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that
his father was a Greek.
[4] And as they went through the
cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained
of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
There is no way this observing of ceremonial decrees as "necessary things" can be part of the mystery dispensation of Colossians. Paul states in Colossians 2:16, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink..." One of the necessary things in Acts 15:29 had to do with restrictions on diet. Acts 15:29 is a direct contradiction of Colossians 2:16. Although the Gentiles in Acts 15 were saved under a grace message (gospel of the un-circumcision), there were ceremonial decrees they had to follow not for salvation but for testimony sake. If right dividers would ever accept the fact that the Kingdom Offer to Israel extends all the way to the end of Acts, then many "problem passages" in Acts and Paul's early Epistles would clear themselves up.
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