(616) 785-3618 staff@bibledoctrines.org

A-B-C’s of Dispensationalism, The

by | Aug 26, 2024 | Bible Brief

By J.C. O’Hair

“All Scripture is God-breathed.”

THE DISPENSATIONAL PRINCIPLE OF INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION (2 Timothy 2:15).

Every true Christian believes in the verbal inspiration of the Bible; not only some of Bible, but all of the Bible. But all Christians know that some truths that God intended for Israel, under the Law, cannot be applied to members of the Body of Christ in this Dispensation of Grace.

Every Christian who subscribes to the creed of some evangelical church organization and enjoys fellowship with other Christians, on the basis of that creed, is a Dispensationalist.”

Every evangelical Christian knows that during the Old Testament period of time, Israelites were under the Law, whereas, since the death and resurrection of Christ and the advent of the Holy Spirit, members of the Body of Christ are in Christ and are not under the Law. Therefore, to admit that Israelites, during a certain period of time, by Divine authority, were under he Law, and that by the same authority present-day believers are dead to the Law, delivered from the Law, not under the Law, is to admit that God’s program for His people, during one period, differs from His program for His people during another period. If we refer to these different periods as “Dispensations,” we are justified in calling ourselves “Dispensationalists.”

Consider, for example, the creeds and practices of the Presbyterians, Lutherans, Reformists, and the Christian Reformed denomination. They teach and practice water baptism by sprinkling for New Testament believers and their households. They believe that water baptism was given by the Lord to take the place of circumcision. Whether or not their teaching is Scriptural, such teaching makes them “Dispensationalists,” because they admit that which rightfully belonged to God’s people during one economy has no place in another one.

We have only to read and compare Genesis 17:14 and Galatians 5;3 and 12 to learn that during one Dispensation, God demanded circumcision as the basis of fellowship, with the specific instructions to “cut off” those who refused to submit to the rite; whereas in this Dispensation of Grace the same rite was not only forbidden but those who tried to practice it were to be “cut off.” The explanation is “Dispensationalism.”

Let us next consider the Sabbath. In Exodus 3:14-17 is recorded the plain Word of God concerning the Seventh-day Sabbath given to Israel by Jehovah. It was a sign between Jehovah and Israel. There was a severe penalty for the violation of the holy commandment regarding the Sabbath. But why is it that Christians today do not believe that God’s commandment to Israel concerning the Seventh-day is binding? Whether or not Christians today call the first day of the week Sabbath, they should be convinced by their failure to obey God’s Sabbath commandment to Israel, that they are Dispensationalists. The Sabbath given by the Lord, during one period, is not binding upon His people of another period.

Read Numbers 15:32-37 concerning the man stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath. This was the specific command of the Lord. But God’s dealing with humanity, under Grace today, is altogether different. Why? It’s a different Dispensation.

From Sinai to Calvary, “meats and drinks, divers baptisms and carnal ordinances” were imposed on God’s people (Heb. 9:10). This religious Dispensation began about 1500 B.C. When Christ died, about 33 A.D., Ephesians 2:14-15 was accomplished: “…the Law of commandments, in ordinances, was abolished.” “Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances … nailing it to the Cross” (Col. 2:14) Israel’s God-given religion of a past Dispensation is not for this Dispensation.

It is apparent to even the superficial student of the Bible that with the advent of the lord Jesus a most radical change took place in God’s dealings with the human race. “The Law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” We must answer this most important question: “If we would rightly divide the Word of Truth, did this radical change come gradually by the commands and teachings of Jesus while He was the Minister of the Circumcision, sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, or suddenly by His death and resurrection?” “Was the middle wall of partition between Israel and the Gentiles standing until Christ died on the Cross” (Eph. 2:14-17; Col. 2:14). This leads to another question: “Did Jesus spend His earthly life under the New Covenant Dispensation or under the old?” Where was the handwriting of ordinances nailed?

In 1 Corinthians 12:13 we are told that Jews and Greeks, by the Holy Spirit, are baptized into the Body of Christ. This was written about 58 A.D. But Jews and Greeks were not baptized into the Body of Christ while Jesus was on earth. There are three reasons: 1) “The Holy Spirit was not yet given (Jn. 7:39); 2) There was no Body of Christ; and 3) Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. “Go not into the way of the Gentiles” (Mt. 10:5; 15:24).

In Romans 10:12 God’s Word declares that there is no difference between the Jew and Greek. That was about 59 A.D.; but in 32 A.D., Jesus called the Jews “children” and “sheep” and He called the Greeks “dogs” (Mt. 15:22-27). There is a great difference between “children” and “dogs,” and between “sheep” and “dogs.” What brought about this Dispensational change, and when was it brought about?

About 1900 B.C., God called Abram. From Abram, Isaac and Jacob came the Nation of Israel created for God’s glory, in fulfillment of His promise to Abram (Isa. 43:1-7; Gen. 12:2). Four-hundred and thirty years after the call of Abram, in about 1492 B.C., more than one-million Israelites were led out of Egypt by Moses. During the 2,000 years, or more, from Adam’s fall to the year that the seventy Israelites went down to Egypt (Ex. 1:5), Israel did not exist. “From Adam to Moses,” was a period before the Law (Rom. 5:14). During that period there were neither Jews nor the Jews’ religion; therefore, for more than 2,000 years there were no Israelites. But “from Adam to Moses” there were many saved people of God. If those people were not “Israel,” most assuredly they were not members of the Body of Christ, then there will be redeemed sinners in the ages to come belonging to neither Israel nor the Body of Christ. We must recognize that there was one or more Dispensations in the program and purpose of God before the “birth” of Israel. With what group in eternity will Abel, Seth, Enoch, Shem, and others be identified?

John the Baptist came baptizing with water. The significance of John’s baptism is told in his own words, as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. “That Christ might be made manifest to Israel” (Jn. 1:31). While Jess was on the earth, the believers were not baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; Jn. 7:39). During that Dispensation there was one baptism, “water.” During the present Dispensation, beginning with Ephesians 4:5, there is one baptism, “Holy Spirit.”

No consistent Christian today preaches water baptism unto repentance for remission of sins. If it was a God-given message for one period, and is not today, then we must apply the Dispensational principle to the study of water baptism. Do you believe that water baptism is unto repentance for the remission of sins? If your answer is “NO,” whether or not you believe that water baptism is still in God’s program, you are a Dispensationalist.

That God inaugurated a new program or ushered in a new Dispensation with the advent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, no real student of the Bible can or will deny. Neither will any student of the Bible deny that most of that program has been eliminated from the programs of present-day church organization. Why? Why do present-day church programs differ so much from the “Book of Acts” program? Now, meditate before you answer this question. If Christians today are living in the same Dispensation that God ushered in on he day of Pentecost (as most Dispensationalists so teach), what Divine right has any Christian church organization to eliminate from its program the messages and practices of the Church of God which began under the leadership and authority of Peter and the Eleven who are commissioned by the resurrected Christ?

If we have Divine right to ignore, alter or abbreviate that God-given program, it must be because of a Dispensational change since the days of Peter’s authority. If we are in the will of God for refusing to preach, as un-dispensational in this Dispensation of Grace, the message of Acts 2:38, “…repent and be baptized for the remission of sins,” or the message of Acts 3:19-21, “…repent and He will send Jesus Christ for the restitution of all thing,” then we must admit that God’s message and program for today is quite different from the message which the Holy Spirit put into the heart and mouth of the Twelve on the day of Pentecost and for some years thereafter.

Why don’t we follow the order of Phillip, in Samaria, in the eighth Chapter of Acts: miracles, faith, water baptism, imposition of hands, Holy Spirit baptism? If it is not the will of God that the Church of Christ today should observe the order of Acts 19:3-11: water baptism, imposition of hands, Holy Spirit baptism, speaking with tongues, healing the sick, casting out demons, etc., then we must confess that God has brought us into a new Dispensation quite different from the “Acts” or “Pentecostal” Church, or “Apostolic” Dispensation. Yes, or No?

Jesus of Nazareth was a man in the midst of Israel, approved of God by signs. He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. He was made under the Law. He was a Minister of the Circumcision, confirming promises to Israel (Rom. 15:8). He instructed His Apostles to preach “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” What next? The first command, “…heal the sick” (Mt. 10:5-8). This was in the year 31 A.D. In the year 66 A.D., in the last message the risen Christ gave to Paul before his death: “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick” (2 Tim. 4:20). Apostles were healing the sick in 31 A.D. (Lk. 9:6). Apostles were healing the sick in 60 A.D. (Acts 28:8). Members of the Body of Christ had the gift of healing in the ear 58 A.D. (1 Cor. 12:8-9). But Apostles did not have the gift of healing in 66 A.D. If what the Apostles and Disciples experienced while Jesus was on earth and during the Book of Acts period, as to heavenly vision, angelic visitations, miraculous jail deliverances, pronouncing death judgments, casting out demons, raising the dead and performing miracles, what is the explanation? Is the explanation “unbelief” or “un-dispensational”? Surely un-dispensational, which means the “Sign” Dispensation, has been done away in fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 13:8. If that which is perfect has taken the place of that which is in part, in accordance with 1 Corinthians 13:10, then we have an intelligent exegesis and explanation of the absence, in Paul’s Prison Epistles, of the signs, ceremonies, and covenants found in his first six Epistles: Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans, and as to why they are still absent among Christians.

Today there are four explanations as to why the signs of Mark 16:17-18 are not following believers today. 1) Uninspired; 2) Unintended; 3) Unbelief; and 4) Un-dispensational.

Some say Mark 16:17-18 are not in several of the original manuscripts; therefore, “uninspired.” Others say, the signs were to follow only the Apostles, and were not intended for believers. 1 Corinthians 12:8-9 refute and disprove this. Some say, that the signs would be here, if it were not for the unbelief among Christians. The fourth group say that signs do not belong to the Dispensation of Grace, since the close of the Book of Acts period; tat a new Dispensation of Grace, without any religious mixture, began after Paul said: “…the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles” (Acts 28:28). Therefore, the answer to the absence of the signs of Mark 16-17-18 as well as the absence of the gifts of the twelfth Chapter of 1 Corinthians is “un-dispensational.” What do you say?

God’s Son was made under the Law (Gal. 4:4).

  1. Christ was born to occupy the throne of David and reign forever over the house of Jacob (Lk. 1:31-39).
  2. When Jesus was eight days old, He was circumcised (Lk. 2:21).
  3. When Jesus was thirty years old, He went on the Sabbath into the synagogue as was His custom (Lk. 4:16).
  4. Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God in the midst of Israel by miracles and signs (Acts 2:22).
  5. Christ was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt. 15:24).
  6. Christ was a Minister of the Circumcision to confirm certain promises God, through His prophets, had made to Israel (Rom. 15:8). Christ, therefore, recognized those who sat in the seat of Moses (Mt. 23:1-3).
  7. Christ was raised from the dead, according to the prophecy of David, to occupy the throne of David (Acts 2:25-32).

Compare several messages of Christ, spoken while He was Jesus of Nazareth on earth, with several messages He spoke from Heaven some years later through Paul.

  1. “Strive to enter in” (Lk. 13:24).
  2. “He that shall endure to the end shall be saved” (Mt. 24:13).
  3. “If thy right hand offend thee cut it off” (Mt. 5:30).
  4. “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Mt. 6:14).
  5. “Shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded” (Mt. 8:4).
  6. “This do and thou shalt live” (Lk. 10:28).

Now the messages of Grace through the Apostle Paul.

  1. “Justified without cause by His grace” (Rom. 3:24).
  2. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:9-10).
  3. “By grace are ye saved through faith … not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9).
  4. “Who hath saved us … not according to our works, but according to His grace and purpose given u in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Tim. 1:9).
  5. “Having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:13).
  6. “Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).

 Which message is for members of the Body of Christ today? The messages of pure Grace sent down from Heaven from Christ, or the Kingdom messages of Jesus spoken to Israel, which are not compatible with the later Grace Message.

 No sensible Christian ever made the statement that the Four Gospels are not for the Body of Christ. Many of the blessed truths, spoken by Jesus on earth, should be appropriated and applied by members of His Body. The same is true of the psalms and all the Scriptures.

No  obedient Christian will teach that any one part of the Bible is any more inspired than any other portion. Neither will he say that any verse in all of the Scriptures is not for the Body of Christ, if that verse will stand the test of God’s truth for this Dispensation of Grace, which was committed to the Apostle Paul (Eph. 3:1-11).

 

THE FOUR GOSPELS … PAUL’S “MY GOSPEL” AND THE BODY OF CHRIST

 HOW ABOUT THE ‘WHOSOEVER’ OF JOHN 3:16

AND THE “AS MANY AS” OF JOHN 1:12

 We are agreed that all intelligent Bible students are “Dispensationalists.” All Dispensationalists are agreed that the Body of Christ, referred to in Ephesians 1:19-22, did not exist, except in the eternal purpose of God, while Jesus of Nazareth was a man on earth, approved of God by miracles and signs in the midst of Israel (Acts 2:22).

Likewise, all Dispensationalists are agreed that there is a difference between the Gospel of the Kingdom, mentioned in Matthew 4:23, 9:35, 24:14, and the “MY” Gospel of Paul, mentioned in Romans 2:16, 16:25m and 2 Timothy 2:8. Every Christian, who makes any attempt to rightly divide the Word of Truth, is sure that when Jesus of Nazareth announced to Israel, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” in Matthew 4:17 and 10:7-8, He was not proclaiming either the continuation or the beginning of he Ephesians’ Body of Christ made up of believing Jews and Gentiles. “Go not in the way of the Gentiles” was the command of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 10:5.

HOW ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN OR THE GOSPEL IN JOHN?

 There are, in the Gospel of John, sixteen chapters concerning the life, ministry, and message of the Lord Jesus not mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke. We call Matthew, Mark and Luke, “The Synoptic Gospels.” “Synoptic” means presenting the same or a common view. It is not a difficult task to compare and harmonize the Lord’s Kingdom messages in the Synoptic Gospels, or to perceive wherein the Lord’s Kingdom messages in these three Records differ from the Gospel of Grace which the risen Christ afterward revealed to Paul (Gal. 1:11-12).

But the task that requires diligent, prayerful study is to harmonize the Lord’s ministry and message in John’s Gospel with the Synoptic Gospels, on the one hand, and with Paul’s Grace Gospel on the other hand. We certainly have, in John’s Gospel, a mixture of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Grace, in spite of the fact that John, with Peter and the other Apostles, was a Minister of the Circumcision (Gal. 2:7-9).

It is significant that the Sermon on the Mount, with the Golden Rule and the so-called Lord’s prayer, “Our Prayer,” is not found in John. In the very first chapter we are told that Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ; “Behold the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world”; “He that believeth on the Son is not condemned”; and “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life,” are certainly a message of Grace. Notice also: John 3:16, 6:47, John 5:24 and 10:9.

 

BUT NOW LET US COMPARE CAREFULLY AND RECONCILE

 John 3:16 … “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

            WITH

Matthew 15:24 … “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

 During the Old Testament period, Gentiles were saved. They became Jews (Esth. 8:17). They were called “proselytes.” They were Jews by religion. To some proselytes, Peter and the Eleven preached on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:10). In spite of the fact that the Lord Jesus specifically instructed His Apostles “…go not into the way of the Gentiles,” we must believe that if a penitent Gentile had really wanted to be saved, while Jesus was here on earth, as King of the Jews, while Jesus was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, surely he would have been saved. But we know that saved Gentile would not have become a member of the Body of Christ. While repentance and restitution wee being preached to Israel, before the Lord Jesus was crucified, a saved Gentile would have become a proselyte, a Jew by religion. Perhaps we have tried in vain to find in any of the Four Gospels the record of one Gentile who was saved while Jesus was here on earth. We know that the Syrophoenician woman, of great faith, and the centurion, of great faith, received for their loved ones, physical healing, but their blessings were only physical so far as we know. There is a great difference between the Samaritans and the Gentiles.

Then what about …

“AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM TO THEM HE GAVE THE RIGHT

TO BECOME THE CHILDREN OF GOD” (JOHN 1:12)?

 Let us compare the WHOSOEVER in John 3:16 with the WHOSOEVER of Acts 10:43 and Romans 10:13.

First: Year 31 A.D. – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 Second: Year 41 A.D. – ‘To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”

 Third: Year 60 A.D. – ‘For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”

 Whenever we find the message of salvation by Grace, eternal life the gracious free gift of God, in the Gospel of John, we find in the same chapter that it is because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ: cf., John 3:16 with John 3:14); cf. John 6:47 with John 6:51; cf., John 10:28 with John 10:17-18. All sinners who were saved from Abel to the thief on the Cross were saved by the redemptive work of Christ. But in light of other Scriptures, we cannot teach that the WHOSOEVER of John 3:16 means that while the Savior was on earth, Jews and Gentiles alike were saved by the same Gospel of Grace that was preached by Paul after he told how God had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles about twelve years after the death of Christ (Acts 14:27).

Let us consider several facts:

  1. John the Baptist confined his ministry to Israel: Luke 1:16; Luke 1:80; Acts 13:24
  2. Jesus was born King of the Jews and died King of the Jews: Matthew 2:2; 27:37
  3. Jesus of Nazareth lived as a Jew, under the Law: Luke 2:21; 2:q4-50; Luke 54:16; John 4:22; John 7:10; Matthew 5:17; Luke 22:29 and 30; Luke 21:38; John 1:49; John 12:13; Acts 2:22; Romans 15:8; Galatians 4:4
  4. Even seven or eight years after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, it was not lawful for His Twelve Apostles to go to a Gentile with the Message (Acts 10:28). Peter and his associates were to be ministers to Israel with the Gospel of the Circumcision (Gal. 2:7-9). For the first eight years after the death of Christ, Peter and the Eleven addressed all their messages to Israel (Acts 2:5, 14, 22, 36; 3:12, 22; 5:30; 7:2, 44, 53). During these years they preached the Word to none but Jews only (Acts 11:19).

About 41 A.D., Peter was authorized, by the vision on the housetop, to preach the WHOSOEVER message of Acts 10:43. So far as we have any record, from the days of John the Baptist, from the days of the Apostles, said to Jesus, concerning the Gentile woman, “…send her away” (Acts 15:23; Mt. 15:23), the household of Cornelius was the only group of Gentiles to whom any of the Twelve had preached. So far as the Book of Acts records their ministry, they preached no messages to Gentiles thereafter.