Monday, November 3, 2014

Dispensationalism

    Perhaps you have never heard what the title “Dispensationalism” for this Thought for the Day means. Or maybe you have heard or seen the word but those who used it gave the impression it should be avoided at all cost. It has been said that its teaching is heretical, dangerous and a false teaching.

    John Gerstner has called dispensationalism “a cult and not a branch of the Christian church.” John Bowman in his criticism of the Scofield Reference Bible, which includes dispensational teaching, says dispensationalism is the most dangerous heresy currently to be found within Christian circles.” A number of other descriptions of the system have been called “modernism,” “unscriptural,” and “heresy.” As Charles Ryrie has said in his Dispnsationalism, the system has been attacked intellectually and historically.

    All the attacks and slanders against Dispensationalism have been addressed and answered but to little avail. Dispensationalism is a system of theology which sets forth that God has dealt with mankind differently in different time periods and in different stages of His revelation to man.

    Dispensationalists generally believe there are seven of these time periods. They are named: Innocence, Conscience, Human Government, Promise, Law, Grace, and Kingdom. These seven are also called economies. Unfortunately, critics have insisted that dispensationalists believe in seven different ways of salvation based on the seven dispensations. Nothing could be further from the truth. In his book titled Dispensationalism Dr. Ryrie lists three dispensations mentioned by the apostle Paul, He uses Ephesians 1:10; 3:2; and Colossians 1:25-26 to support his claim. In closing it should be pointed out that in the first two of these references the Greek word translated “dispensation” is used by Paul in the same way the dispensationalists use it.