Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology

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Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology
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• Dispensationalism is a Protestant evangelical
  tradition based on a biblical hermeneutic that
  sees a series of chronologically successive
  "dispensations" or periods in history in which
  God relates to human beings in different ways
  under different Biblical covenants. As a system,
  dispensationalism is rooted in the writings of
  John Nelson Darby (18001882) and the Brethren
  Movement.

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• The theology of dispensationalism consists of a
  distinctive eschatological "end times"
  perspective, as all dispensationalists hold to
  premillennialism and most hold to a
  pretribulation rapture. Dispensationalists
  believe that the nation of Israel is distinct
  from the Church,3322 and that God has yet to
  fulfill His promises to national Israel.

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• These promises include the land promises, which
  in the future result in a millennial kingdom
  where Christ, upon His return, will rule the
  world from Jerusalem for a thousand years. In
  other areas of theology, dispensationalists hold
  to a wide range of beliefs within the evangelical
  and fundamentalist spectrum.

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• The label "dispensationalism" is derived from the
  idea that biblical history is best understood
  through division into a series of chronologically
  successive dispensations. The number of
  dispensations held are typically three, four,
  seven or eight. The three- and four-dispensation
  schemes are often referred to as minimalist, as
  they recognize the commonly held major breaks
  within Biblical history.

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• These different dispensations are not separate
  ways of salvation. During each of them man is
  reconciled to God in only one way, i.e. by God's
  grace through the work of Christ that was
  accomplished on the cross and vindicated in His
  resurrection.

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• Before the cross, man was saved on the basis of
  Christ's atoning sacrifice to come, through
  believing the revelation thus far given him.
  Since the cross, man has been saved by believing
  on the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom revelation and
  redemption are consummated.

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Although the divine revelation unfolds
progressively, the deposit of truth in earlier
time-periods is not discarded, rather it is
cumulative. Thus conscience (moral
responsibility) is an abiding truth in human life
(Ro. 215 91 2 Co. 112 42), although it
does not continue as a dispensation.
10
In every past dispensation unregenerate man has
failed, and is failing in the present
dispensation, and will fail in the future until
Eternity arrives. But salvation has been and will
continue to be available to him by God's grace
through faith. (The New Scofield Study Bible, NIV
1984 Edition , pg. 3-4)
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The relationship between the ancient nation of
Israel and the church as the people of God is the
key discriminator between Dispensationalism and
other views.
12
In the dispensational view, the time in which the
church operates, known as the church age or the
Christian dispensation, represents a
"parenthesis". That is, it is an interruption in
God's dealings with the Jewish people as a nation
as described in the Old Testament, and it is the
time when the Gospel was preached and salvation
in the present age is offered to the Gentiles and
Jews alike.
13
Gods continued care for the Jewish people as a
nation will be revealed after the end of the
church age when Israel will be restored to their
land and will accept Jesus as their messiah and
therefore "all Israel shall be saved."
14
Jesus Christ will then sit on the throne of David
and will begin the Theocratic Davidic Kingdom
which is promised in numerous places in the Old
Testament, in which believers and Christ reign
together on the earth from Israel
15
Contrasted with this view are Roman Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Covenant
Theology, and New Covenant Theology. In
Catholicism and Covenantalism, the church is not
a replacement for the nation of Israel but an
expansion of it where Gentiles are, in the words
of Romans 11, "grafted into" the existing
covenant community.
16
All of these groups expect there will be an
influx of Jews to the church before the second
coming of Christ. However, dispensationalists do
not view the Church as the promised covenanted
kingdom in Old Testament prophecy. They believe
such a kingdom is still promised to the Jews
during the New Testament era, i.e. in Acts 319-21
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 Acts 3 18 21 18 But those things, which God
before had shewed by the mouth of all his
prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so
fulfilled. 19 Repent ye therefore, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord. 20 And he shall send Jesus
Christ, which before was preached unto you 21
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken
by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the
world began.
18
Dispensationalism was first introduced to North
America by John Inglis (18131879), through a
monthly magazine called Waymarks in the
Wilderness (published intermittently between 1854
and 1872). In 1866, Inglis organized the
Believers' Meeting for Bible Study, which
introduced dispensationalist ideas to a small but
influential circle of American evangelicals.
19
The energetic efforts of C.I. Scofield and his
associates introduced dispensationalism to a
wider audience in America and bestowed a measure
of respectability through his Scofield Reference
Bible. The publication of the Scofield Reference
Bible in 1909 by the Oxford University Press was
something of an innovative literary coup for the
movement, since for the first time, overtly
dispensationalist notes were added to the pages
of the biblical text.
20
The Scofield Reference Bible became the leading
Bible used by independent Evangelicals and
Fundamentalists in the U.S. for the next sixty
years. Evangelist and Bible teacher Lewis Sperry
Chafer (18711952), who was strongly influenced
by C.I. Scofield, founded Dallas Theological
Seminary in 1924, which has become the flagship
of Dispensationalism in America.
21
Dispensationalism has come to dominate the
American Evangelical scene, especially among
nondenominational Bible churches, many Baptists,
and most Pentecostal and Charismatic groups,
while mainline Protestants generally continue to
reject dispensationalism.
22
"Ultra" Dispensationalists hold to the belief
that the Church wasn't started till after the
stoning of Stephen. The first reference to the
church the body of Christ is in Romans and unlike
most other dispensationalists they believe that
the church started after Acts 2. Some begin the
church with the salvation of Saul in Acts 9,
while others move to Acts 13 with Paul's first
missionary journey.
23
Dispensationalism rejects the notion of
supersessionism, sees the Jewish people as the
true people of God, and sees the modern State of
Israel as identical to the Israel of the Bible.
John Nelson Darby taught, and most subsequent
dispensationalists have consistently maintained,
that God looks upon the Jews as his chosen people
even as they remain in rejection of Jesus Christ,
and God continues to have a place for them in the
dispensational, prophetic scheme of things.
24
Christian Dispensationalists sometimes embrace
what some critics have pejoratively called
Judeophiliaranging from support of the state of
Israel, to observing traditional Jewish holidays
and practicing traditionally Jewish religious
rituals. Dispensationalists typically support
the modern state of Israel, recognize its
existence as God revealing His Will for the Last
Days, and reject anti-Semitism.
25
Covenant theology (also known as Covenantalism or
Federal theology or Federalism) is a conceptual
overview and interpretive framework for
understanding the overall flow of the Bible. It
uses the theological concept of covenant as an
organizing principle for Christian theology.
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The standard description of covenant theology
views the history of God's dealings with mankind
in all of history, from Creation to Fall to
Redemption to Consummation, under the framework
of three overarching theological covenants the
covenants of redemption, of works, and of grace.
27
Covenant theology is often referred to as
"supersessionism," or "replacement theology" by
its detractors, due to the perception that it
teaches that God has abandoned the promises made
to the Jews and has replaced the Jews with
Christians as his chosen people in the earth.
28
Covenant theologians deny that God has abandoned
his promises to Israel, but see the fulfillment
of the promises to Israel in the person and the
work of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, who
established the church in organic continuity with
Israel, not a separate replacement entity.
29
Covenant of Redemption The covenant of
redemption is the eternal agreement within the
Godhead in which the Father appointed the Son
Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to
redeem his elect people from the guilt and power
of sin.
30
Covenant of Works The covenant of works was made
in the Garden of Eden between God and Adam who
represented all mankind as a federal head.
(Romans 512-21) It promised life for obedience
and death for disobedience. Adam, and all mankind
in Adam, broke the covenant, thus standing
condemned.
31
Covenant of Grace The covenant of grace promises
eternal life for all people who receive
forgiveness of sin through Christ. He is the
substitutionary covenantal representative
fulfilling the covenant of works on their behalf,
in both the positive requirements of
righteousness and its negative penal consequences
It is the historical expression of the eternal
covenant of redemption. Genesis 315, with the
promise of a "seed" of the woman who would crush
the serpent's head, is usually identified as the
historical inauguration for the covenant of grace.
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Adamic covenant Noahic covenant Abrahamic
covenant Mosaic covenant Davidic covenant New
Covenant
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The following are quotations from
Dispensationalism A Reformed Evaluation by J.
Ligon Duncan, PCA
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Classic dispensationalism, in addition to being
premillenial, is also pretribulational. On the
other hand, most Covenant Theologians have been
either post- or amillenial. 
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You can only have two views at the time of the
millenium. Christ is either coming before or
after the millenium.  Those are the only two
possible views.  So, amillenialism is a
subcategory of postmillenialism.  All believers
are either premillenialists or postmillenialists. 
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Amillenialists tend to stress the heavenly
character of the millennium.  They will, for
instance, stress that the millenial reign is
going on now, in heaven.  It is a spiritual
millenium.  Whereas postmillenialists tend to
stress a more earthly character to that
millennium, and often times project it as a
golden age which is yet to be experienced, but
which will occur before the time of Christ. 
38
...it is perhaps the fundamental point of
Dispensationalism that Israel and the Church are
distinct, and the Law-Gospel distinction must be
preserved at all costs.  That is the very heart
and core of classic dispensationalism.  You
should never, ever mix up Law and Gospel, and you
should never ever mix up Israel and the Church.  
39
Dispensationalists do not believe that the Church
is prophesied about in the Old Testament. 
Covenant Theology on the other hand, sees the
Church as the fulfillment of Israel in New
Covenant prophecy.  Covenant Theology is happy to
acknowledge the uniqueness of the Church,
especially in its post Pentecost phase.  But
Covenant Theology sees all believers in essential
continuity.  There are not two peoples of God.
There is one people of God. Dispensationalism,
however,  contends that God has two peoples with
two destinies.
40
Some modern dispensationalists generally argue
that the saving faith of the Old Testament was
substantially and materially different from the
saving faith of the New Testament.  They tend to
argue that sinners in the Old Testament were not
justified by faith in the Gospel of the Messiah
as sin-bearer (Christ crucified), but rather
their faith was in promises that were peculiar to
their individual era in redemptive history. Now,
this isnt just out of accord with Covenant
Theology, but this is the area where
dispensationalism has been most out of accord
with Protestant theology.
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Hebrews 4 1 2 1 Therefore, since a promise
remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest
any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For
indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as
to them but the word which they heard did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in those
who heard it.
42
Dispensationalists speak in terms of a literal
interpretation of the Bible.  This is a major
rhetorical thing that you hear in discussion with
Dispensationalist friends.  We interpret the
Bible literally.  Of course, the implication
being that you dont.  We interpret the Bible
literally, you dont.  You do something else to
it. 
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Covenant Theologians would argue, We interpret
the Bible literally, but, we believe that the New
Testament interprets the Old Testament.  We
believe that the New Testament is the
hermeneutical manual for the Old Testament.  And
Dispensationalists are suspicious of that. 
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For the Covenant Theologian, the New Covenant
always has the final word as to the meaning of
the Old Covenant passage.  It doesnt mean that
you dont start with the original context, and
that you dont bother yourself about original
intent, it just means that you recognize from a
biblical theological standpoint that later
revelation, by definition, controls the final
Systematic Theological understanding of earlier
revelation. 
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Acts 2 (NKJV) 14 But Peter, standing up with the
eleven, raised his voice and said to them, Men
of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this
be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these
are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only
the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what
was spoken by the prophet Joel
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Joel 2 (NKJV) 28 And it shall come to pass
afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all
flesh Your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions.
47
For the Dispensational side, the Church is a
parenthesis in Gods program for the ages. It is
a temporary thing in the flow of history.  You
have heard the phrase The Great Parenthesis,
which is used to describe the time when Messiah
came and the Jews shockingly rejected Him.  This
actually thwarted Gods plan, because the
original plan was for Messiah to come and set up
a kingdom in Israel, but oops, the Jews rejected
Him.......
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At that point the prophetic clock stopped and we
entered into the period of the Gentiles, the
Great Parenthesis.  That is a period about which
there was no prophecy in the Old Testament.  At
the end of the period of the Great Parenthesis,
the end of the time of the Gentiles, as the
Dispensationalists interpret that section in
Romans chapter 11,  the Church is removed.   That
is the rapture.  Then the prophetic clock starts
ticking again, and Gods dealings with Israel
resume. 
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This gives you a clue as to why a
pre-tribulation rapture is so important for
consistent classical Dispensationalism, because
you have to get rid of Gentile believers in the
program of God, before you can get on with the
work that God is doing with literal physical
earthly Israel. 
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Pauline Dispensationalism
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Lehman Strauss wrote

• the departure from the traditional
  dispensational position is leading younger
  students of Gods Word into the Covenant Theology
  camp

• For years I have been reading and studying the
  Apostle Paul and his Church Epistles. They are
  completely adequate for the life and labors of
  every member of the Body of Christ.

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Paul R. Van Gorder wrote

• Utter confusion reigns among evangelicals
  because of the failure to rightly divide the
  Word, especially the clear distinction between
  Israel and the Church

• I am distressed with the teaching which confuses
  Israel and the Church, Law and Grace, Salvation
  and Discipleship

• Sad, sad that many of Gods dear children seem
  to know nothing more than Jesus of Nazareth in
  His humiliationwhile the risen, ascended,
  glorified Man is ignored, or unknown

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neo-dispensationalism

• This movement, recently emerging from Dallas
  Theological Seminary and elsewhere, is
  contemporary, and progressive, having left
  Dallas founder, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, and his
  Pauline Dispensationalism far, far behind.

• The aim of Neo-Dispensationalism is to equate
  Israel and the Church as much as possible, while
  at the same time keeping them separate.

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Pauline Dispensationalism is heavenly.

• The Christian whom Paul presents is heavenly

• The Church that Paul presents is heavenly
  her Source is in heaven, although
  her birth took place on earth on the Day of
  Pentecost.
• She will return to her Source in heaven on the
  Day of the Rapture

Neo-Dispensationalism is progressing on the
horizontal, kingdom level, and is already halfway
to Covenant Theology, which has always been on
that earthly plane.
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Pauline Dispensationalism
Coming onto Pauls heavenly ground results in a
full escape from all earthly, horizontal, New
Covenant, Synoptic, Sermon on the Mount, and
Millennial Kingdom influences.
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The Church is to be kept separate from all else,
including Israel and her Law, via clear-cut
Pauline Dispensationalism.
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Ephesians 525-27 . . . . Christ also loved the
church and gave Himself up for her, so that He
might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word, that He might
present to Himself the church in all her glory,
having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing but
that she would be holy and blameless.
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Two Gospels

• The earthly (Kingdom) gospel
• The heavenly (Grace) gospel

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The earthly gospel

• ministered by Christ on earth, during His
  pre-Cross humiliation
• exclusively addressed to Israel regarding her
  Millennial Kingdom

60
The Heavenly Gospel

• ministered to Paul by the glorified Lord Jesus
  Christ after Calvary, from heaven
• exclusively to and for His chosen heavenly Body

61
Heaven-based Church

• Why should a heavenly citizen, blessed with all
  spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
  Christ, stoop to purloin some spiritual
  blessing from comparatively poor Israel?

The Rapture 1 Thess. 413-17
Here we are, in the year 2004.
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Infinitely Above

• The Lord Jesus heavenly Gospel in content and
  position is infinitely above the Kingdom Gospel
  that He shared with earthly Israel
  which they rejected.

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Those who do not center in the truths which the
ascended Lord communicated directly to Paul

• will not know WHO they are in Christ

• will not know WHERE they are in Christ

• will not know WHAT their portion is in the
  purpose of the Father

• will not know their PRIVILEGES and
  RESPONSIBILITIES

They will constantly go astray in their
interpretation of the Gospel and the
all-important Church truth
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Dr. L.S. Chafer wrote

• "The laws of the Kingdom are not required to be
  combined with the teachings of Grace, since every
  item within those laws which could have any
  present application, is exactly and amply stated
  in the Pauline teachings of Grace."

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You can evaluate a mans ministry by this
rule--is he Pauline? Does his doctrine start
and finish according to those statements of
Church truth proclaimed by the Apostle Paul?
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Would they substitute the synoptic Gospel of the
Kingdom for Pauls exclusive glorious heavenly
Gospel?
Would they subject members of the heavenly Body
of the glorified Lord to Israels earthly New
Covenant, her legal Sermon on the Mount, and
her Mosaic and Kingdom law systems --
that to which the
Christian has died?
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Israels New Covenant

• Those who pander to Israels New Covenant, and
  seek to participate in its spiritual blessings,
  are simply playing into the hands of
• Amillennial Covenant Theology,
• its stepchild, Theonomy,
• as well as Judaistic Messianic Christianity.
• There is neither word nor inference in Israels
  New Covenant concerning the Church

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John Darby wrote

• Covenant theology at the utmost, is
  forgiveness of sins and divine favor enjoyed and
  all that concerns their new position in the Lord
  Jesus Christ is ignored, or alas! guarded against
  as dangerous.
• Men are placed under Israels New Covenant
  which does not go beyond remission of sins and
  the law written on the heart. But being new
  creations in Christ Jesus, and knowing it by the
  Holy Spirit, and what that involves nowthat is
  not a part of their creed.

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• We are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the new
  covenant (Heb. 1224). We are not come to the
  New Covenant, but to Jesus the Mediator of it.
  We are associated with Him who is the Mediator
  that is a far higher thing than if merely come to
  the Covenant. He will make this New Covenant
  with Israel on earth.
• H.H. Snell

70
The Blood

• The heavenly Bride requires nothing from earthly
  Israel and her coming kingdom.
• Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter
  into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus (Heb.
  1019)
• Israel, in all her coming earthly glory, will
  never be the recipient of anything like that!

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The Holy Spirit

• Israels indwelling will be for the purpose of
  writing the theocratic law upon their hearts and
  enabling them to walk in His kingdom ordinances.
• After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My
  law in their inward parts, and write it in their
  hearts. (Jer. 3133)
• And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause
  you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep
  Mine ordinances, and do them (Ezek. 3627).

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The Sermon

• Christs Sermon on the Mount, addressed to
  Israel, is the next great leak in the
  Dispensational wall.
• There is nothing in the Sermon on the Mount that
  is not superseded by Pauls Church Epistles.
• Nothing!
• The Sermon on the Mount is characterized--among
  other thingsby the absence of those elements
  which are distinctly Christian, i.e., redemption
  by the Blood of Christ, faith, regeneration,
  deliverance from judgment, the Person and work of
  the Holy Spirit. The absence of these vital
  elements cannot but arrest the attention of those
  who are awake to, and jealous for, the faith once
  delivered to the saints. Dr. L. S. Chafer

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KINGDOM the
catchword from seminary

• The Church is a phase of Israels future
  millennial kingdom
• There is a recognition of a present form of the
  theocratic kingdom now/not yet.

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kingdomization of the Church

• Failure to distinguish between the kingdom of
  God, and the
  kingdom of
  heaven.

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Millennial Saint

• The Christian is now joined to Christ and is one
  spirit with Him.
• the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
  hath made me free from the law of sin and death
  (Rom. 82)
• The future earthly kingdom saint will live here
  on earth
• he will not be united to the Lord Jesus
• He will not be dead to the flesh and the world

76
Millennial Saint

• The great difference
• the heavenly saint has a standing of complete
  deliverance from the man in the flesh
• while the millennial saint will be through grace
  empowered by the Spirit to do what God requires
  from man in the flesh.
• For this is the covenant that I will make with
  the house of Israel after those days, saith the
  Lord I will put My laws into their mind, and
  write them in their hearts (Heb. 810)

77
Millennial Saint

• We the heavenly believers -- have
• boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood
  of Jesus... through the veil, that is to say,
  His flesh (Heb. 1019,
  20).
• The earthly millennial saint, though cleansed of
  his sins by the Blood, cannot speak of being
  inside the veil, because his dispensation is
  connected with this earth.

78
Messianic Judaism

• Hebrew Christianity by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum
• "What then is a Hebrew Christian? He is a Jew who
  believes that Jesus Christ is his Messiah. He
  must acknowledge that he is both a Jew and a
  Christian" (p. 12).
• There is neither Jew nor Greek for ye are all
  one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 328)
• If a Jew accepts baptism solely to lose his
  identity as a Jew, he is by no means to be
  considered a Hebrew Christian he is a renegade,
  a traitor, and an apostate. A Hebrew Christian
  is proud of his Jewishness (p. 13).

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Judaism is not the bud that blossomed into
Christianity.

• ground of relation-ship
• Jew by physical birth
• Christian by spiritual birth
• instruction on the life
• Law for Israel
• Grace for the Church
• sphere of existence
• Israel on the earth
• Church in heaven

80
Distinctive Gospels

• The Church, the Body of Christ, into which, in
  the Father's wondrous grace, we have been called,
  is heavenly.
• The Church has nothing to do with earth, except
  to witness in the name of the Lord, and then pass
  on into glory, into heaven, her eternal Home.

81
Distinctive Gospels

• Israel,
• the chosen earthly nation,
• The Church,
• the heavenly Body of Christ

82
Stephen Juncture

• the times of refreshing shall come from the
  presence of the Lord and He shall send Jesus
  Christ, who before was preached unto you, whom
  the heaven must receive until the times of
  restitution of all things, which God hath spoken
  by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the
  age began. (Acts 319-21)
• This same Jesus, which is taken up from you
  into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
  have seen Him go into heaven (Acts
  111)

83
Stephen Juncture

• He would come again to receive them unto Himself,
  that where He was they should be also
• the leaders of Israel began to reject the Gospel
  and persecute the apostles
• they not only rejected but stoned to death the
  witness of the Holy Spirit
• now by the stoning of Stephen they openly unmask
  and expose the hatred and rebellion of their
  hearts to a glorified Christ

84
Disciples - To Stephen - To Paul

• The disciples Gospel was salvation expecting
  Christs earthly return to establish His Kingdom.
• Stephen was witness to Christs earthly
  presence and to His post-ascension glorification.
• Saul sees Him and is commissioned to be a
  minister and a witness of the things that he sees

85
Church Gospel

• Unto me, who am less than the least of all
  saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
  among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
  Christ, and to make all men see what is the
  fellowship of the mystery, which from the
  beginning of the ages hath been hidden in God,
  who created all things by Jesus Christ (Eph.
  38, 9)

86
Church Gospel

• He preached Christ that He is the Son of God
  (Acts 920)
• the Gospel of God (Rom. 11)
• the Gospel of His Son (v. 9)
• my Gospel (Rom. 1625)

87
Established in the Cross of Christ

• bearing in Himself the judgment on man
• He was made to be sin for us, that we should be
  made the righteousness of God in Him
• the old man was crucified with Christ
• the end of man in the flesh

88
Grace Reigns

• through righteousness to eternal life through
  Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 521)
• ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit
  (89).
• the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
  which has made me free from the law of sin and
  death (82)
• if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
  none of His (89)

89
Pauls Gospel

• righteousnessthe righteousness of God
  established by Christ
• the judicial ending of the old man
• the gift of eternal life
• the Spirit of Christ
• so that Christ in me is the summing up, as well
  as the fullness, of blessing.

90
Dr. Chafer Vs. Covenant Theology

• he faithfully sought to alert the Church as to
  its doctrinal dangers
• too many dispensational leaders are seeking
  dialogue and fellowship with Covenant theologians
  
• the errors of Covenant Theology

91
Reformation Restraint

• the Church is,
• the Body of Christ,
• the Bride of the Lamb
• the Reformation did not recover this truth as
  formerly it was held by the early Church
• that attitude of the theologians, being bound and
  confined within the limitations of Reformation
  truth, has been one of avoidance of what to them
  seems new.

92
J. N. Darby Company

• The Plymouth Brethren movement produced an
  expository literature covering the entire Sacred
  Text which
• is orthodox
• free from misconceptions
• interprets faithfully the entire field of
  Biblical doctrine

93
J. N. Darby Company

• division in the ranks of orthodox men
• there are those who are restricted in their
  doctrinal viewpoint and who look upon added truth
  as a departure from standard ideas and therefore
  dangerous.
• there are those who are constructing an
  unabridged system of theology, and finding the
  way into full-orbed harmony of truth and into
  limitless fields of Biblical doctrine

94
Apocryphal Covenants

• The theological terms,
• Covenant of Works and
• Covenant of Grace,
• do not occur in Scripture
• Covenant Theology builds its structure on these
  two covenants
• Covenant Theology has Cocceius (16031669) as its
  chief exponent.

95
Undiscernment

• Reformed Theology has largely been constructed on
  these two covenants.
• It sees the empirical truth that God can forgive
  sinners only by that freedom which is secured by
  the sacrifice of His Son,
• However, that theology utterly fails to discern
  Gods purposes for the ages.

96
Undiscernment

• Reformed Theology
• penetrates no further into Scripture than to
  discover that in all ages God is immutable in His
  grace toward penitent sinners
• constructs the idea of a universal Church
  (continuing through the ages)
• disregards vast spheres of revelation
• reaps the unavoidable confusion and misdirection
  which part-truth engenders

97
One-track Limitation

• Judaism has its field of theology with its
  soteriology and its eschatology
• Covenant Theology engenders the notion that there
  is but one soteriology and one eschatology
• Scripture is harmonized and its message clarified
  when two divinely appointed systemsJudaism and
  Christianityare recognized, and their complete
  and distinctive characters are observed

98
Roman Residuary

• Many theologians consider millennialism to be a
  modern theory.
• justification by faith and millennialism were
  taught in the NT and were therefore the belief of
  the early Church

WRONG
99
Roman Residuary

• along with justification by faith the Reformers
  retained the Romish notion that the Church is the
  Kingdom, fulfilling the Davidic covenant, and
  appointed to conquer the world by bringing it
  under the authority of the Church.

100
Covenant Amalgamation

• Israel has never been the Church, is not the
  Church, nor will it ever be the Church.
• Covenant Theology asserts its inventions
  respecting an OT Church, which, it is claimed, is
  an integral part of the NT Church

101
Rescinded Resurrection

• as viewed by Covenant theologians, there is
  practically no doctrinal significance of Christ's
  resurrection
• Christ as the federal Head of a wholly new order
  creation of beings cannot be incorporated into
  a system of which the cherished and distinctive
  feature is one unchangeable divine purpose from
  Adam to the end of time.
• According to Covenant Theology the Church is not
  a new creation with its headship in the ascended
  Christ, but has existed under a supposed uniform
  covenant from the beginning of human history
• the great reality of a heavenly purpose peculiar
  to this dispensation is ruled out completely

102
Slighted Spirit

• Covenant Theology neglects most of the vital
  truths respecting the present age-characterizing
  ministries of the Holy Spirit
• The disannulling of all Jewish purposes and
  distinctive features for a dispensation renders a
  continuous-covenant conception objectionable

103
This Present Dispensation

• Romans 39
• What then? Are we better than they? Not at all
  for we have already charged that both Jews and
  Greeks are all under sin (NAS)
• Romans 1012
• For there is no distinction between Jew and
  Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all,
  abounding in riches for all who call on Him
  (NAS)

104
Incalculable Loss

• the resurrection of Christ is,
• the very ground of all the purposes of this
  dispensation
• the basis upon which the new positions and
  possessions of those in Christ are made to rest.
• There is a wide doctrinal difference between
  those who see no special consequence in Christs
  resurrection and those who see its momentous
  significance

105
Incalculable Loss

• the greatest transition the world has ever
  experienced.
• from Judaism
• to Christianity
• This stupendous change is not clarified or even
  approached by Covenant theology

106
PseudoSabbath

• Such blindness respecting the discriminating
  teaching of the Bible can be accounted for only
  on the ground that a man-made scheme of supposed
  continuity is embraced and followed without an
  unprejudiced examination of the Scriptures

107
School Of Paranoia

• Two schools have developed among orthodox men
• one which restricts all doctrine to the findings
  of men from the very early days of Protestantism
  (Covenant Theology)
• one which recognizes that much added light has
  fallen upon the Word of God in later days and
  that this is as worthy of consideration as the
  findings of men of former times (Dispensational
  Theology)

108
Eschatalogical Error

• A phenomenon exists, namely, that men who are
  conscientious and meticulous to observe the exact
  teaching of Scripture
• the ruin of the race through Adams sin,
• the Deity and Saviourhood of Christ
• are found introducing methods of spiritualizing
  and vamping the clear declarations of the Bible
  in the one field of Eschatology.

109
Eschatalogical Error

• In the Covenant theory Israel and the Church are
  one.
• Disregarding Biblical testimony they believe that
  a hypothetical Grace covenant will produce a
  transformed social order
• not by a returning Messiah,
• but by the preaching of the Gospel.

110
Eschatalogical Error

• They assert that Christ cannot return until the
  missionary enterprise has reached to all the
  inhabited earth
• They fail to realize that passage is a
  Tribulation passage, not a passage for this
  dispensation, the Church Age.

111
Kingdom Misconstrued

• Misunderstanding of the Millennial Kingdom is
  directly due to the failure to recognize the
  dispensational aspect of divine revelation
• 2 Timothy 215
• Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
  workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
  dividing the word of truth.

112
Kingdom Misconstrued

• The Old Testament Kingdom
• IS NOT
• the Church
• The New Testament Church
• IS NOT
• the Kingdom

113
Deadly Rule Of Life

• Covenantism
• recognizes no distinctions as to ages
• therefore it can allow for no distinctions
  between Law and Grace
• utter neglect of life-truth in all their works of
  theology

114
Kingdom Gospel vs. Grace Gospel

• Strong objection is offered by Covenant
  theologians to a distinction between the Gospel
  of the Kingdom as preached by John the Baptist,
  Jesus, and the Disciples, and the Pauline Gospel
  of the Grace of God

115
Israel And The Church Contrasted

• Extent Of Biblical Revelation
• Israel 80 Church 20
• The Divine Purpose
• Israel Earthly Church Heavenly
• Birth
• Israel Physical Church Spiritual
• Nationality
• Israel World system Church Aliens
• Ministry
• Israel None, yet Church Missionaries

116
Israel And The Church Contrasted

• The Death of Christ
• Israel Church
• Guilty of His Death Saved by His Sacrifice
• The Father
• Israel Church
• God, not Father Abba Father
• Christ
• Israel Church
• Messiah, Immanuel, King Savior, Lord,
• Bridegroom, Head, Life
• The Holy Spirit
• Israel Church
• Temporary Induement Permanent Indwelling

117
Israel And The Church Contrasted

• Governing Principle
• Israel - Law Church Grace
• Divine Enablement
• Israel none flesh Church Holy Spirit
• Christs Return
• Israel Church
• Gather Israel Take His Bride
• into her land to Heaven

118
Israel And The Church Contrasted

• Position
• Israel Church
• Servants of Jehovah The Body of Christ
• Christs Earthly Reign
• Israel Church
• Subjects of the King Reign with the King
• Priesthood
• Israel Church
• has a priesthood is a priesthood

119
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church

• Neo-Evangelicalism is a compromise toward
  Liberalism.
• spawned in Fuller Seminary
• Neo-Dispensationalism is a compromise toward
  Covenantism.
• spawned in Dallas Theological Seminary

120
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church

• You, a totally new creation in the ascended and
  glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
• You, one spirit with Him who is your very
  Christian life.
• You, having died to the law and to the world, and
  already blessed with all spiritual blessings in
  heavenly places in Christ, co-heir with Him.
• You, raised and seated in Christ, at the Fathers
  right hand.

121
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church

• If (since) you, then, be risen with Christ,
  seek those things which are above, where Christ
  (and you) sitteth on the right hand of God. Set
  your affection on things above, not on things on
  the earth, for you died, and your life is hidden
  with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
  life, shall appear, then shall you also appear
  with Him in glory (Col. 314).

122
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. Stanley N. Gundry, ex-dispensationalist,
  Vice President of Academic Books, Zondervan
  Publishing House.
• contemporary dispensationalist thinking
• Dr. Craig A. Braising, progressive
  dispensationalist
• reexamine biblically the distinction between
  Israel and the church
• abandon the transcendental distinction of
  heavenly versus earthly peoples in favor of a
  historical distinction in the progressive
  revelation of the divine purpose.

123
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. Darrell L. Bock, progressive
  dispensationalist
• The descriptions invisible and visible do not
  characterize the kingdom as ineffective or secret
  now, versus powerful later. Rather, the terms
  are intended Christologically to describe the
  nature of Jesus rule.
• Being seated on Davids throne is linked to
  being seated at Gods right hand

124
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Neo-Dispensationalism is kingdom-oriented, and
  would fasten The Kingdom upon everything and
  everyone
• Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer
• David was not promised a heavenly spiritual
  throne, and the one who contends that Davids
  throne is now a heavenly rule is by so much
  obligated to name the time and circumstances when
  and where so great a change has been introduced
  (Systematic Theology IV 324)

125
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. Bruce A. Ware, progressive dispensationalist.
  Dr. Ware is Professor of Biblical and Systematic
  Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• Between the two extremes of a strict distinction
  between Israel and the church (two new covenants
  and hence two distinct peoples of God) there is a
  middle position that would suggest that Israel
  and the church share theologically rich and
  important elements of commonality while at the
  same time maintaining distinct identities.

126
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• When Israels New Covenant is usurped, all
  becomes of the earth, earthy. Neo-Dispensationali
  sm would bring the Bridegrooms
  unique-in-the-universe-Bride down to the
  commonality of the earthly kingdom

127
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. Carl B. Hock, Jr., progressive
  dispensationalist. Dr. Hock is Professor of NT,
  at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary
• Here is the very heart of Neo-Dispensational
  error! Wrongly-divided Word!

128
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Not knowing who they are in Christ, and where
  they are in Christ, and what they have in Christ,
  they would seek to make something of Israel, and
  have us come down to it as the source of blessing
  
• The Israelite in Christ, as well as the Gentile
  in Christ, is a totally new heavenly creation,
  and needs nothing from the nation Israelwhether
  it be now, in her Millennial Kingdom, or in
  eternity

129
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. Robert L. Saucy. Dr. Saucy, progressive
  dispensationalist, is professor of Systematic
  Theology, at Talbot School of Theology, Biola
  University
• The revelation of the equal participation of
  Israel and the Gentiles in Gods salvation
  through union with Christ is a realization of OT
  prophecy
• Our examination of the mystery in Ephesians 3
  leads us to a mediating position between
  traditional dispensational and non-dispensational
  views.

130
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. W. Edward Glenny. Dr. Glenny, progressive
  dispensationalist, is Professor of NT, at Central
  Baptist Seminary
• Old Testament Israel was a pattern of the
  churchs relationship with God as his chosen
  people.
• In his use of the three people of God citations
  in 1 Peter 29, 10, the apostle is teaching that
  there are aspects of the nation of Israels
  experience as the people of God that are also
  true of the NT church.

131
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. J. Lanier Burns. Dr. Burns, progressive
  dispensationalist, is Professor of Systematic
  Theology, at Dallas Theological Seminary
• The end of this survey shows that dispensational
  theologians have constantly distinguished Israel
  and the church, while dispensationalism has
  undergone remarkable developments over time in
  terms of a common destiny emphasis mine in the
  city of God, a shared new covenant, and, most
  recently, a recognition by many scholars of a
  present form of messianic kingdom that removes
  the parenthetical idea.

132
Dispensationalism, Israel And The Church - The
Search For Definition

• Dr. Kenneth L. Barker. Dr. Barker, progressive
  dispensationalist, is Executive Director, NIV
  Foundation Center, International Bible Society
• One of the legitimate continuities, then, between
  the Old and New Testaments is Gods moral law
  expressed throughout Scripture. It is more in
  keeping with the totality of biblical teaching to
  insist that the ethical and spiritual commands of
  the OT, the numerous imperatives of the NT, and
  Christ (or the law of Christ, or the royal law of
  love) are all part of the believers rule of
  life

133
Theologians Respond

• Dr. William A. VanGemeren. Dr. VanGemeren,
  ex-dispensationalist, now Covenant theologian, is
  Professor of OT at Reformed Theological Seminary
• Dr. Bruce K. Waltke. Dr. Waltke,
  ex-dispensationalist, now covenant theologian, is
  Professor of OT, at Regent University (Canada)
• Dr. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Dr. Kaiser,
  non-dispensational, pro-Covenant, is Academic
  Dean at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

134

• The similar lines that Dispensationalism and
  Covenant Theology are locked onto are horizontal
  
• Israels New Covenant,
• Synoptics,
• Sermon, and
• Kingdom
• all Law-oriented.
• But Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ
  from heaven, to Paul, for the Church.

135

• If since you, then, be risen with Christ,
  seek those things which are above, where Christ
  sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your
  affection on things above, not on things on the
  earth. For you have died, and your life is
  hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 313).