Contarini:
This is not a convincing view. If God forgave David, which is an act of grace, then clearly David was under grace. Paul makes clear in Romans 4 that the only way anyone has ever been saved is by grace through faith.
David was NEVER “
under grace” God acted graciously toward him, but David was a Jew, born under the Law. I don’t think you know what “under grace” means.
David was truly a man of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and therefore his sins “
lawless deeds” were forgiven in view of the
future,
substitutionary,
expiatory,
propitiatory,
once for all, sacrifice of God’s Sin Bearer, Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:29; Rom. 3:25). But David, born under the Law, was never “
under grace” as the believer now is, and in which he “
now stands” (Rom. 5:1-2), being in the resurrected Christ.
David would not understand Paul’s N.C. words: Eph. 2:8-9 “For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”“
For by grace (unmerited, unrecompensed, undeserved, divine favor)
you have been saved…” is a uniquely N.T. concept. A truth understood and a reality appropriated only AFTER the sacrificial death, burial and bodily resurrection of God’s unblemished Lamb. A truth based on the N.T. fact that, what was laid on the Substitute (all our sins; once for all) can not be laid back on the sinner.
Nathan, a prophet, a spokesman for God, personally told David that God had taken his sin away. But that one incident is hardly the same as the Apostolic gospel message to both Jews and Gentiles today, this side of the cross, and during this dispensation of GRACE:Acts 10:43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name
everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 13:38 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren,
that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,”
Col 1:14 "…in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins."It’s recorded in Genesis fifteen that the Lord reckoned Abraham’s faith in Him to him as righteousness, but it is not recorded that Abraham ever knew this. But during this dispensation the Apostolic teaching to the church Christ is now building, based on His substitutionary sacrifice is:Rom 3:21-24 "But now
apart from the Law {the} righteousness of God
has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even {the} righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all sinned and (
continually) fall short of the glory of God,
being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;"Neither in Abraham’s nor David’s day did such teachings, based on grace alone, exist
Your dispensationalism is a modern heresy that hacks Scripture to pieces under the pretense of “rightly dividing” it.
Your allegorical method of interpretation, which confounds law and grace, is a very old error and prevents you from understanding N.T. truths and the power of God’s grace, through the cross of Christ, to everyone who believes.
BTW, what exactly is “heretical” about Dispensationalism? Or is this just an opinion of yours based not on fact but personal prejudice.
You will not be able to assume it here. Most of the folks you are talking to do not believe in it. So unless you can convince us to accept the dispensationalist framework in very short order, you will have to make arguments that do not assume that framework.
Should I make my arguments reflect law simply because you, ultimately, reject God’s sovereign grace toward all who believe through the Person and historic, sacrificial work of Jesus Christ?
