Arno C. Gaebelein (1861-1942) was a close friend of C.I Scofield and a member of the committee that produced the Scofield Reference Bible. In regard to the commission given by the Lord Jesus at Matthew 28:18-19 he wrote: "This is the Kingdom Commission . . . A time is coming when this great commission here will be carried out by a remnant of Jewish disciples" (Gaebelein, Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 2, p. 323).

One of the earliest influential dispensational teachers in America was William T. Pettingill (1866-1950). He was on the editorial staff of the Scofield Reference Bible and he, along with C.I.Scofield, co-founded the Philadelphia School of the Bible on October 1, 1914.

Pettingill wrote that "I have long been convinced, and have taught that the Great Commission of Matt 28:19,20 is primarily applicable to the Kingdom rather than to the Church ... The Matthew commission will come into force for the Jewish Remnant after the Church is caught away" (Pettingill, Bible Questions Answered, p.112).

James M. Gray (1852-1935) was the third president of Moody Bible Institute and he served in that capacity from 1904 until 1934. He did not believe that the commission given by the Lord Jesus at Matthew 28:18-19 is for today: "This is the Kingdom Commission, as another expresses it, not the Christian Commission . . . Its accomplishment has been interrupted, but will be taken up before the Lord comes to deliver Israel at the last" (Gray, Christian Worker's Commentary, p. 313).

Today the teaching of the Acts 2 dispensationalists is in error as to exactly what commission has been given to those in the Church, which is His Body.

"For if the trumpet shall give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to battle?" (1 Cor.14:8).

Home