Comments on: The Administration of The Fullness of The Seasons.  Mystery of The Christ / Mystery of the Administration of Grace.  The last days.   'The Second Coming of the Holy Spirit'.  The Kingdom

aiOn and olam, basileia, metanoia, hupeikO.

Dear T,

I hope you will find this form of address acceptable, seeing that I am on first name terms with many of those you have contact with.

I had learned from Michael that you were taking over the agency for Sellers, and now I have received a Bulletin confirming this. 1 have' written a. letter of condolence to Mrs Sellers including a gift, and asked if I might receive if available one copy of the small booklet "God's Present Purpose", as I seemed to have passed on my copy. This was not sent me: but I have been sent "One a Day" which. indicates the former is still, in print. So can you please send me a copy and let me know the price.

I regard this booklet as a complement to my own "God's purpose To-Day" which was titled so as not to be confused with that of Sellers.

You may recall that in early correspondence I raised the identity of T.M, whom it turned out was neither you nor known to you. I had myself known him when I lived at Marston Green and he at Great Barr in the 1960s. Recently I read of his death in the Berean Joints and Bands.

Because I was about to write you I turned up your letters and reread your circular letter dated 12th July 1991. It seems 1 replied briefly then to you but did not make a copy, and I wonder if I did justice to your enquiry as I perceive that you have more fully grasped the import of my Chart to which you refer than most other folk have.

I do not know whether you see Open Forum. Leslie used to take it, and Leah still does. If you do you will know that I have engaged in discussion over the Seventy Weeks as relating to Eph.1:10; and thus you will perhaps like to read my last response enclosed (this will not be appearing as I am not willing to alter it in the major way that the editor has requested).

In case you are not acquainted with these ideas I also enclose drafts of what appeared in two earlier issues. All three items are for you to read and return to me, please, You are free to make photo copies if you wish.

Except for his very early writing's, C.H.Welch always maintained that the "administration of the fulness of the seasons" in Eph.1:10. refers to the present administration of grace. I agree with him; but Stuart Allen does not, and when producing the book "In Heavenly Places" removed the original reference without any editorial note.

As far as I know I am the only one to see Eph.1:10 as explaining how the intermission in the flow of the "seasons" (which I identify as the 70 weeks) is to be 'filled out' by an "Administration". This being the first mention it here has no article, though subsequent mention in ch.3 v.2 of course has the article. I had written to Sellers on this point, but he preferred to confuse things with "when the times are ripe", (quoting Weymouth).

Sellers was wrong in rejecting the distinction between the Mystery of the Christ and the Mystery of the Administration of Grace, though at one time he acknowledged it in his O/P "Do we wrongly divide the Word of Truth?". In his S & B. No.60 he claimed it was "true to the Greek"; but it is not, and I told him so and why

In the 1960s Sellers made an analysis of the words aiOn and olam and came to the conclusion that the basic idea of 'flowing' was always there. This was helpful and correct. But he overlooked that eis ton aiOna is an idioiin for a lifetime duration, not always hunan, and cannot be literally translated. He also seems to have discarded the established meaning of an Age, as an indefinite spell of time with certain characteristics. It is to me clear that one Age consummated with the flood, that the present Age runs from then until Christ's parousia and that thereafter is the "Age to come".

I see the premillenial kingdom as the closing phase of the present Age, whereas Sellers applies to it "the eon to come". This distinction is not evident from passages like Matthew 24 relating to the end of the age. So the "last days" of Acts 2:17, 2 Pet.3:3., Jas.5:3 and Heb.1:2 all refer to the 'end of this present age. These last days are when God has spoken 'in Son', as from Luke 3:22 restated in ch.9 v.35. The 62 Weeks have run their course and the 70 Weeks here begin, which 1 take to be identical to the "last days". They correspond with the last days of the previous age when Noah was building the ark, in both instances a matter of several hundred years.

Peter, of course, then knew nothing of a parenthetical administration, the last days of which are described in 2Tim 3 and rightly assessed by Sellers in various publications. We are surely now living in these days !

I have mentioned these points as your aforementioned circular letter sets out two apparent problems. I hope this clears it up for you.

The idea of The Second Coming of the Holy Spirit (p.77 One A Day) is attractive and one would like to accept it. But can the Spirit return unless He has previously returned to heaven, or to the Father ?   Enlightenment and truth always at all times is by the Holy Spirit.  Just a thought to consider.

It is during the days of the enlightehment of mankind that both houses of Israel and Judah will become known to themselves and emerge as identified bodies prepared to "seek Jehovah their God and David their king" Hosea 3:5.. Only after this can the two become a unified 12 tribed nation under the terms of the New Covenant.

Sellers and his devotees make far too much of the word government to replace Kingdom. A kingdom is more than a government though it includes it. A king reigns and governs, but may delegate government to governors, see 1Peter 2:14. In 27ad Caesar Augustus reigned, Tiberius had taken over the governing and Pilate was a. dedicated governor. There is nothing wrong with the word Kingdom to represent basileia.

The word epiphaneia is not well rendered by "blazing forth", though the, "great light" of Matt.4:16. would be so. It means 'shining upon' and could well be a faint glimmer, or even a star as for the Wise Men. The essential thing is that enough light is given to see the way in some instance of literal or figurative darkness.

To me the most absurd and unaccountable idea of Sellers is that the word metanoia means "submit", though "repentance" is unsatisfactory. The thought of Submission is certainly part of Biblical truth and the proper word for "submit" is hupeikO as in Heb.13:17. Submission would not precede but follow believing the gospel as in Mk.1:15. There is no English word to indicate the change of mind implied;  but perhaps the "readiness of the minds of the Bereans" is an example.

It is always necessary to test by Scripture what any teacher or student sets forth as truth, even when most of what they teach is sound. Nor on the other hand should the teaching of one who often is unsound be refused consideration in the cases when he is sometimes right. But one only criticises that which is basically good. So we must gratefully own the debt all Bible students owe to the late Otis Sellers in bringing to light the truth of the Kingdom of the Heavens in its pre-advent phase.

I hope that some at least of what I have written will prove to be helpful. 1 look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Sincerely Yours in Christ  Maurice Lloyd   11th August 1992 

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