Paul "Born Out of Due Time" and the Mystery Age

In 1 Corinthians 15:8 Paul writes:

"And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

The term translated "out of due time" carries the sense of something premature---early rather than late. Paul is effectively saying, "I was the last in the sequence of resurrection appearances, yet I was born prematurely."

That raises an interpretive question: In what sense was Paul "premature," and can that status be generalized to every Jew and Gentile saved in the present age?

subsection*What Paul Means by "Out of Due Time"

The context of 1 Corinthians 15 is Paul's rehearsal of witnesses to the risen Christ. He lists appearances to Cephas, the twelve, more than five hundred brethren, James, and all the apostles, then adds himself:

"And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

The image is of a child born before its proper season---out of the normal order. Paul is unique among the resurrection witnesses. Unlike the others, he saw the risen Christ after the Lord's ascension, while Paul was actively persecuting the church of God. In that sense:

• He did not fit the expected prophetic pattern of Israel's faithful remnant receiving their Messiah.
• He was brought into covenantal blessing in spite of being, as he says elsewhere, a blasphemer and persecutor.

So there is a "premature" element in his experience relative to Israel's anticipated national restoration and the full establishment of the kingdom.

subsection*Can This Be Applied to All Jews Saved Today?

One could propose that Paul, as the Pauline pattern (cf.~1 Timothy 1:15--16), represents Jewish believers who come to faith during the present "age of grace," and that they, too, are somehow "premature" relative to Israel's prophetic timeline. Within that line of thought, you might say:

• The prophetic program anticipated Israel's salvation in connection with the new covenant and the kingdom.
• Jews who are saved today by grace through faith apart from the law are, in a sense, being brought into blessing in a way that does not match the prophesied national scenario.

There is some conceptual plausibility here, in that the present age of grace operates outside the clear structures of Old Testament prophecy. However, one must be very careful not to press Paul's "out of due time" language so far that it reshapes the nature of the current dispensation.

If we say that every Jew saved today is "out of due time" in the same sense as Paul, we risk sliding into the idea that:

• The present age is merely an early, partial fulfillment of the new covenant era, as though the body of Christ were just getting into the future kingdom economy ahead of schedule.

That would blur the sharp distinction between the mystery program (the body of Christ) and the prophesied new covenant program for Israel.

subsection*Does This Apply to Gentiles Today?

Extending the "out of due time" concept to Gentiles intensifies that problem. If Jews and Gentiles alike in this age are all simply early entrants into the prophesied new covenant kingdom, then:

• The body of Christ becomes an advance stage of Israel's future kingdom,
• The present dispensation of grace is no longer a distinct mystery economy but an early installment of the prophetic program.

That is precisely what needs to be avoided. The present dispensation, revealed through Paul, is described as:

"the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God" (Ephesians 3:9).

It was "hid in God" from the beginning of the world, not revealed in the prophets. That means:

• It was always in God's plan,
• But it was not part of the prophetic, publicly revealed program for Israel,
• And it is therefore not simply a premature phase of the new covenant.

If we make today's salvation (for Jews and Gentiles alike) a "premature" share in the new covenant, we effectively turn the body of Christ into an early stage of Israel's kingdom program rather than a distinct, unprophesied work.

subsection*Holding the Distinction

The safest theological move is to treat Paul's "out of due time" as describing his own unique experience and role, not as a blanket description of all present-age believers. At least:

• It is personal and autobiographical in 1 Corinthians 15:8.
• The text does not explicitly universalize this language to all who believe in the age of grace.

Paul is indeed the pattern for us in 1 Timothy 1:15--16, especially in regard to the manner of salvation by mercy and long-suffering. But that does not require that every element of his self-description---particularly this image of being "born out of due time"---be transferred wholesale to all others.

If we treat the "due time" expression as implying that Jews (and Gentiles) in this age are just early beneficiaries of the prophesied new covenant, we effectively pull the future kingdom program into the present and merge it with the mystery. That undermines the structural distinction between:

• Israel's prophetic covenants, and
• The unprophesied body of Christ.

subsection*A Cautious Conclusion

There is a sense in which Paul's experience---and that of those who follow his pattern---stands outside Israel's prophetic expectations. In that broad sense, you are correct to think about the mystery as operating "outside" the prophetic word.

But using 1 Corinthians 15:8 to insist that every Jew and Gentile saved today is "out of due time" in the same way as Paul creates theological complications. It tends to make:

• The body of Christ an "early launch" of the new covenant program, rather than
• A genuinely distinct dispensation that was hidden in God and then revealed through Paul.

It is better to preserve:

• Paul's unique role as one "born out of due time,"
• The full distinctness of the present age of grace from the future new covenant kingdom, and
• The clear separation between the mystery program and Israel's prophetic, covenantal program.