Hoss critiques Dr. Wayne Stewart, Mid-Acts vs Acts 28

I received a forwarded message from a friend that is and Acts 28 dispensationalist. The words in red are the forwarded message I got that Dr. Wayne Stewart of rightdivision.com wrote. Pasted is my reply to the friend that forwarded me Dr. Stewart's message.  (my words in green, Dr. Stewart's in red)

 

LOL. Are you sure he is a real "Dr."?

I hope this finds you well.

I am also making up some blogs on the mid-acts position which may be of help as well.

Now to your question with regard to the head. This whole passage is interesting to me, and is also 

challenging to interpret in places. The first thing is to note the differences to the passages in Ephesians and Colossians where “head” or “kephale” is used.

Here is a concordance of the word as used in 1 Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head  of every man is Christ; and the head  of the woman is the man; and the head  of Christ is God.

1Co 11:4  Every man praying or prophesying, having his head  covered, dishonoureth his head .

1Co 11:5  But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head  uncovered dishonoureth her head : for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

1Co 11:7  For a man indeed ought not to cover his head , forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

1Co 11:10  For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head  because of the angels.

1Co 12:21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head  to the feet, I have no need of you.

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head  over all things to the church,

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head , even Christ:

Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head  of the wife, even as Christ is the head  of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Col 1:18  And he is the head  of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Col 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head  of all principality and power:

Col 2:19  And not holding the Head , from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

Looking at the passages in 1 Corinthians it becomes fairly clear that if we were to compare the usage of the word “head” with a like usage in Ephesians and Colossians we should not take 1 Cor 11 but 1 cor 12.

 (In other words, he is going to ignore the literal usage of Christ being the head of the Corinthians members of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15, 11:3) and rather go straight to the figurative passage in 1 Corinthians 12 that likens the spiritual body of Christ with the human body and Dr. Stewart is already apologizing for it)

Notice that the metaphor of the head is in relation to the whole Corinthian assembly and the head in Ephesians 1,2 and Col 1,2 is to the universal (dare I say “catholic”) church. The members of the Corinthian assembly could be a part of the head (1 Cor 12:21) whereas the head in Ephesians and Colossians is Christ and the church is strictly the body. 

(I laugh every time I read people say this. I laughed when brother Kelson first told it to me. I was seriously considering Acts 28 until brother Kelson told me this. 

[11] But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
[12] For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
[13] For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

 

That is the point of the passage. Though these Corinthians had different gifts they are still all in the body of Christ and have all drunk of the same Spirit.

[14] For the body is not one member, but many.
[15] If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
[16] And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
[17] If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
[18] But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

Okay Mrs. Collins, I have a brain, and you have a brain. Now, do you really think these Corinthians are literally eye balls, ears, noses, etc.? Or do you believe that Paul is likening the spiritual body of Christ (that the Spirit baptized them into) to the human body? Let me know, because if you take Dr. Stewarts approach than that means some of these Corinthians were armpits....who was the armpit? Crispus and Gaius perhaps? No I bet it was ol' Stephanas, he has always seemed like a real stinker to me! Perhaps even an intestine....

Also, wouldn't they run out of body parts to be if there were too many converts?)

 

The usage of head in 1 Cor 11 is more to do with logical relationship in terms of “source” 1Cor. 11:7 not in terms of creation but origin in purpose. The woman has a purpose in relation to man (mimicking her source) and the man has an origin in relation to Christ and Christ to God.

(Well I have no idea what Dr. Stewart just said, but I know the Bible says in 1 Cor. 6:15 that they were members of Christ and that in 11:3 Paul says that Christ is their head. In fact, He is the head of the Corinthians just as the husband is the head of the wife (11:3). That is the same relationship of Ephesians (chap. 5). 

The passages in 1Cor.11 are apples and those in Eph and Colossians are oranges. The joint body of Ephesians is nowhere assumed in the Acts epistles it is created at the conclusion of Acts. If mid-Acts people are in the body of 1Cor 12 then some of them are also in the head! If the body of 1Cor 12 is extant then so are the gifts and we should ask the mid-Acts people to supply us with the gifts that enable the body of 1Cor 12 to even exist.

 (Strange. After proving nothing Dr, Stewart states "The passages in 1Cor.11 are apples and those in Eph and Colossians are oranges" as if he had just proved it. There is only ONE body (1 Cor. 12:12, Eph. 4:4) no matter what section of epistles you look at. Christ is only "one body". I irrefutably have proven that the spiritual body of Christ with Him as the head existed during Acts. That proves Paul was teaching the mystery, Eph. 3:6. 

Then Dr. Stewart just made some wild claims and based on straw man arguments. "If mid-Acts people are in the body of 1Cor 12 then some of them are also in the head!", oh really? This is the kind of claims that get made when you start making the Corinthians spiritual armpits and noses. What about Aquila and Priscilla? What if one of them was an armpit and the other was a nose? How could they live together!?!? Hey wait, what if there became so many converts during Acts that there was no more room on the body? Is an overweight convert the stomach? Hey, in 1 Corinthians 12:17 is one person the nose or is it two people? One for each nostril? By Dr. Stewarts reasoning these are all valid questions. Or just maybe that was Paul likening the spiritual body of Christ to the human body? Maybe Christ was actually the head like Paul already said in chapter eleven verse three. What do you think Mrs. Collins? 

"If the body of 1Cor 12 is extant then so are the gifts and we should ask the mid-Acts people to supply us with the gifts that enable the body of 1Cor 12 to even exist." Dr. Stewart told several mistruths. What his logic for saying that the gifts must be around today just because the spiritual body of Christ does? Why would MADs have to have gifts, not everyone in the Acts period had them. Why did Dr. Stewart say the gifts allowed the body to exist? He made that up. The first time the Corinthians are called "members of Christ" it is in the context of being joined unto the Lord as one spirit and being the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:15). The second reference to the Corinthians being "one body" is by partaking of Christ's death (1 Cor. 10:17, see Rom. 6:3-4, Gal. 2:20). But some how the gifts are the cause of the body? The body in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 is Christ and the Spirit has baptized the converts into it. Dr. Stewart made no sense the entire message. )

But I had a lot of fun responding to this!!! Thank you very much! --bro. Eli

P.S. Can I be the bicep on the body?