Recently someone asked whether dispensational theology has a practical impact on our function. This got me wondering how our church would answer this question. So, I asked them four questions.
- What is a dispensation?
- Who are the participants and what are the elements of a dispensation?
- How does this information affect how we function?
- Do we read Scripture dispensationally?
First, this pastor’s heart was so encouraged by the great answers from nearly everyone who participated. They gave good answers. They fleshed out those answers in very practical ways. So I want to share some of their answers and some of my comments.
What is a dispensation?
A dispensation is a house-rule, administration, stewardship, and management for a set period of time.
A dispensation is God’s dealing with a specific group of people for a set period of time.
My comments In answer number one, the words “house-rule, administration, stewardship, and management” were all given by different people. The second answer adds one more detail: it is for a specific group of people. Both answers also indicated that it is for a set period of time. It is not an eternal situation. I would add that it is a rule of life or standard by which the household lives. I also add that the principle is how the members of the household enjoy benefits that the owner provides to the household. Israel earned benefits under Law. One person added the importance of LAND in God’s promises. That was one of the promises God made to Israel under the Law, in addition to prosperity and good health while in that land.
Who are the participants and what are the elements of a dispensation?
An owner of the household
A manager of the household
The household
The principle by which the household will operate. The owner has the manager explain this principle to the household.
The owner of the household is God. In fact, He is the owner of every household (Heb. 3:1-6).
For us, the manager of the household was Paul. God used him to explain the principle by which we live. We find this in Ephesians 3:2 “The house-rule/dispensation of the grace from God, given to me (Paul) for you (the Ephesian believers, therefore us).”
For us, the household is the Church, the body of Christ.
For us, the principle is grace.
My comments Some people reject anything but Paul’s writings as governing our conduct and some claim that not all of Paul’s writings are valid for us. However, God gave Israel the Law (their dispensation or house-rule) through Moses (Jh. 1:17). But many others wrote after Moses. They were not managers or stewards because they did not alter the house-rule, they only added other details that were consistent with Israel living under the Law. So, James, John, Peter, Jude, and Luke do not alter how we live, they only add other details that flesh out something about living under grace.
Many dispensationalists confuse a dispensation with how we are saved initially. They claim that the dispensation of grace means that God offers salvation freely to all. By making this claim, some err and suggest or plainly state that Israel was saved by obeying the Law. This was never the case. Romans 4 demonstrates that God has always saved people through faith and by grace. Abraham was saved by faith. David was saved apart from works (no law). We are saved by faith. Abraham was before the Law, David under the Law, and we after the Law and we are all saved through faith by God’s grace (cp Rom. 4:16).
This error also leads to misidentifying the present household. It is not the whole world. The definition of a dispensation is a rule of life for a specific household. The world is not the household and is not under grace as a way of life. They must believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4) in order to become part of the household, then they can live under grace. For us, living by grace means that we have earned nothing from God and we can lose nothing. We are asked only to live in light of God’s sure provisions.
How does this information affect how we function?
*1 We live by grace, not law!!!!
*2 We live by grace, not the sermon on the mount!!!
3 We can mature by God’s principle of grace.
3.1 We can relate to our position in Christ.
3.2 We can relate to God and other believers by God’s grace.
3.3 We can love as Christ loved us.
My comments Everyone got number 1 almost immediately. Number 2 was much harder, but no one disagreed when reached that conclusion. The sermon on the mount is clearly a stricter law, one greater than the righteousness of the religious leaders. Many dispensationalists err on this point thinking that much of what Jesus said applies to us. They fail to realize that He came to Israel to talk about the kingdom God had promised them. Most in Israel were unbelievers and had no part in that coming kingdom, so Christ demonstrated just how strict life would be in that kingdom. This would be true for those who had experienced no change due to God’s promised salvation for Israel. He promised that He would write His law in their hearts (Jer. 31:33). This would only be true for believing Israelis.
The writer of Hebrews (I think it is Paul) states that the Law made NOTHING MATURE (perfect in many Bibles) (Heb. 7:19). Our better hope is how we can mature. Our better hope rests on our position in Christ, the One who has entered in within the veil and sits beside the Father. We sit in Him and have access to the Father through Christ.
We can only truly show grace to other believers when we appreciate being under grace and free of law. Extending grace to others is a key part of loving one another as Christ loved us.
Do we read/interpret Scripture dispensationally?
Some initially answered, Yes.
My comments Dispensationalism is the RESULT of reading the Scriptures in a consistently literal or “normal” (C.C. Ryrie) manner. We read each text in its context. We allow figures of speech to be figures of speech. We take promises to be exactly what God said. We respect the history that the Bible records and read the text in light of that history. We do not impose upon Scripture our theology or philosophy. We allow it to challenge what we think. We take the plain statements of God’s Word over our tradition and theology. Our theology may make us examine a text that does not seem to fit, so we may discern if our theology is off, or our interpretation of the text is wrong, or both.
The result of reading Scripture consistently in this way is the recognition of distinctions within God’s Word. It does not say the same thing in every text. It has different instructions for different people throughout history. This is the foundation of dispensationalism. if we interpret Scripture dispensationally, we run the risk of doing what dispensationalists accuse Covenant theologians and Reformed theologians of doing, imposing their system on Scripture. We might reject a text because it isn’t in the epistles to the churches. We might say, “That’s the Old Testament, so it cannot say anything to us.” We would be wrong on both counts.
Paul quotes Psalm 22:22 in Hebrews 2:12, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” In Hebrews, Paul has used ekklesia (church) for the Hebrew qahal (assembly). The psalmist (David) did not know who this “assembly” or “congregation” would be. He probably assumed it was Israel, but Hebrews indicates it is us. We are His brothers in this context. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Again, His disciples who heard this did not know what He meant by “church”. They likely thought it was an assembly of or within Israel. The builders rejected Christ “the stone” (Ps. 118:22-24). Peter applies this to Christ in His resurrection (Acts 4:10-11). Peter also ties this to Christ being the chief cornerstone upon which we as living stones are built (1 Pet. 2:4-7). Of what was this stone the key foundation stone? The psalm does not say. Peter and Paul understand Christ as the cornerstone to which the rest of the Church is squared and built. All three texts say something that has to do with the Church, not Israel, and each text is outside the letters to the Church. We arrive at this understanding by reading Scripture in context and allowing other Scriptures (such as the texts that quote the above texts) to inform our understanding. None of the New Testament texts alter the original sense of the texts quoted. None of the original texts state how the statement was intended.
If we imposed our dispensationalism on Scripture, we would miss these Old Testament statements that have reference to what God is doing today. So, read/interpret Scripture in a normal manner and do not impose, even our wonderful dispensational understanding upon it. Then we will see the real distinctions in God’s Word.
john1420blog.wordpress.com 