Grace Bible College

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article, especially its introduction, section layout, and relevant internal links. (help)

This article needs sections.
Please format the article according to the guidelines laid out at
Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings).

**Grace Bible College**
Established
Type	Private Undergraduate College
Students	153
Location	Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
Website	http://www.gbcol.edu/

Grace Bible College is a fundamentalist Christian College in the premillenial, dispensational tradition located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. GBC began as an evening Bible institute in 1939 in the Fundamental Bible Church of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that was expanded in 1945 to a day school and named Milwaukee Bible Institute. In 1961 the school relocated to Grand Rapids.

GBC's constituents differ from most other dispensationalists in their understanding of the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Whereas most fundamentalists and dispensationalists regard the ministry of Paul to be an outgrowth of the ministry of Christ and Peter, GBC interprets the Pauline mission as a distinct break from the past. In the view of GBC and others in the "Grace Movement," Christ and Peter's mission was solely directed to the nation of Israel and sought to fulfill Old Testament promises of a messianic kingdom to Israel. Paul's mission is distinct in that it is directed to the entire world, with no nation or peoples occupying a privileged position, and has as its realization a spiritual and universal "Church, the Body of Christ," which is comprised of all Christians in the current dispensation (as opposed to the "Kingdom Church" of Christ and Peter). Christ is the "head" of the Church, the Body of Christ, not the "king," as he is for the Kingdom Church. Prior to Paul, a mission to the world, with the unification of Jews and Gentiles into one Body, was a "mystery" that had no antecedents in Biblical revelation. As such, the epistles of Paul are of particular importance for the Church, the Body of Christ. All scripture is "for" members of the Body of Christ, but only the Pauline epistles are "to" the Body of Christ. Accordingly, even Christ's and Peter's teachings and practices may not be strictly normative for Christians today, especially if they are not consistent with the teaching of Paul. For example, Christ worshipped on the Sabbath and, prior to the ministry of Paul, Peter continued to regard Jewish dietary regulations as Christian virtues. Instead, Paul rejected the mandatory observance of the Sabbath and Jewish dietary regulations. Particularly important is the sacrament or ordinance of water baptism. GBC believes that Paul never regarded water baptism as necessary for full participation in the Christian community and that, as he continued to receive revelation from Christ, it became obsolete. Instead, "baptism by the Spirit," which brings Christians into the Body of Christ, is the only baptism that is in effect for this dispensation. On the other hand, GBC still regards the Lord's Supper as a Church ordinance.

GBC has some notable disagreements among those who subscribe to its doctrinal statement: whether the Church, the Body of Christ, began with the conversion of the Apostle Paul in Acts 9 or with the beginning of his formal ministry in Acts 13; whether or not good works were necessary for salvation in the Kingdom dispensation of Christ and Peter; and whether the other apostles (and all other Christians) were brought into the Body of Christ after the beginning of the present dispensation or instead remained in the Kingdom Church. This last point is important because it has implications for one's position on the normativeness of the general epistles for today (those who are "12-out" regard the general epistles as promulgating "Kingdom truth" whereas those who are "12-in" tend to see the general epistles as dispensing revelation for the Church, the Body of Christ, though they do not reveal Paul's distinctive message of the "mystery"). Another more-extreme dispensational position is the "Acts 28" view, which maintains that the beginning of the Church, the Body of Christ, did not occur until the end of the Book of Acts and only regards the prison and pastoral epistles of Paul to be "to" the Church, the Body of Christ. Mainstream dispensationalists believe the Church began in Acts 2 and consider the GBC view as a moderate form of "ultradispensationalism" and the Acts 28 view to be an extreme form of ultradispensationalism.

Like most dispensational organizations, GBC subscribes to the pre-tribulation "rapture" of the Church though a few adherents are post-tribulationalists (post-tribulationalism is not allowed for in the GBC doctrinal statement). GBC believes that speaking in tongues or individuals with special healing gifts have ceased in the present dispensation.

The first president of GBC was Charles F. Baker (Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary) (1960-1965). The second president, Jack Dean (Ph.D., Michigan State University), has held the longest presidency to date (1965-1985). Other presidents have been Sam Vinton, Jr., Bruce Kemper, and Ken Kemper, who is the current president. GBC is regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and by the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education. GBC's enrollment tends to be no greater than 175-200 students in any academic year. It awards several degrees, including a five-year professional ministerial degree (Th.B.).

GBC is loosely affilitated with the Grace Gospel Fellowship [1] (GGF), which is the denominational organization for "Grace" churches (though all churches are congregational in polity and can choose to affiliate or not affiliate with the GGF), Grace Ministries International [2], the largest missionary arm of the "Grace Movement," and a few other parachurch Grace ministries.