Dr. Dwight Pentecost Comments
On New Testament Context
The following comments are from Dr. Dwight Pentecost's book entitled; "Thy Kingdom Come". Dr. Pentecost is a distinguished theologian on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary. Some theologians see the same corruption and distortions in church doctrine that many of us see. These precious men are attempting to use their knowledge and position to correct these Scriptural distortions. Dr. Pentecost's words shed more light on our discussion in this study. Below is a quote from Chapter 17 page 184 of his book.
"Chronologically speaking, there is a 400-year gap between Malachi and Matthew. Logically and thematically, however, there is no gap at all (meaning that the Law still continued from Malachi to Matthew despite this gap of time). The New Testament immediately takes up where the Old Testament prophets left off. In fact, "technically" the New Testament does not begin with Matthew, but with the book of Acts."
Some readers may be tempted to think that our beliefs concerning the actual "starting point" of the New Testament is some 'new teaching'. The reason Dr. Pentecost's comments are included in our writings is to illustrate that other theologians are also attempting to correct some of our flawed traditional beliefs about the Bible. However, including these comments does not necessarily mean that we agree with everything Dr. Pentecost teaches. Yet, we believe his words represent a neglected truth we should all carefully consider.
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