One of the earliest and most respected Mid Acts teachers in America was J.C. O'Hair. We read the following about him on the website of the Berean Bible Society: "Pastor O'Hair was, without a doubt, the one person who, more than any other, was used of God to establish among believers what Paul, by inspiration calls, 'the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.' "

O'Hair wrote that "Peter and James and ten other apostles are going to sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:27 and 28). But I do not agree with Christians who say that the twelve apostles were not members of the Body of Christ...I make no such foolish statement, that the Four Gospels and these Epistles of Peter and James are not for this age" [emphasis added] (O'Hair, The Accusers of the Brethren).

Since the reformation the epistle of James has been the subject of much controversy among the Protestant churches. Martin Luther did not think that it belonged in the Bible at all. The reason is simple. It seems to deny the truth that the believer is justified before God by faith alone.

Mid Acts Bible teacher Cornelius Stam, the founder of the Berean Bible Society, believed that the doctrine contained in that epistle does indeed teach that "works" are required for salvation but that that epistle is not for the present "dispensation of grace":

"The Epistle of James will fit into God's dispensational plan just where it is found in the canon of Scripture: after the Pauline dispensation. When 'the dispensation of the grace of God' has run its course God will again begin dealing with 'the twelve tribes of Israel,' now 'scattered abroad.' In that day the 'gospel of the kingdom' will again be proclaimed (Matt. 24:14) and works will again be included in the terms of salvation as they were when our Lord was on earth" (Stam, Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, [Berean Literature Foundation, Second Printing, 1984], p.89).

It is surprising that Stam would believe that James is teaching that "works" were included in the terms of salvation since he wrote the following at another place:

"Finally, we would emphasize the fact that 'in the nature of the case' men born of Adam must be born or begotten again to be saved...The sinner is born anew and receives the life of the Spirit as the Spirit implants the Word in his heart, so that he accepts it by faith:

James 1:18: "OF HIS OWN WILL BEGAT HE US WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH..." (Stam, TRUE Spiritually, [Berean Literature Foundation, Fourth Printing, 1984], p.34).

Even though Stam believes that the epistle of James contains doctrine that requires works for salvation he himself says that the same epistle is teaching that the sinner is saved when "the Spirit implants the Word in his heart".

The epistle of James is the only epistle that Stam says contains doctrine for a time after the present dispensation has ended. None of the other great Mid Acts Bible teachers of the past say that any of the epistles are for a later dispensation.

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