....Not sure where you get classic sees Israel as saved by the Law that is the reformed view in most cases.
I assure you that notion never arose from thin air; as I said earlier I had that idea as a young Christian and it had to come from my upbringing in the early Scofield brand of dispensationalism that my home SB church held to.
Seems I remember now something about copyright violation concerning using the notes in the 1909 Scofield Bible. Maybe someone who knows could elaborate. Here's excerpts from
an article that alludes to it but doesn't directly quote it:
Although dispensationalists deny the charge, it has been said that these alleged seven distinct manners of testing create
seven different plans of salvation. Certainly Cyrus Ingerson
Scofield carried water on both shoulders at this point, saying
in some places that all people are saved in the same manner, but indicating
in others that salvation was gained in a different manner during each of the seven periods. An example of his dual plans of salvation is found in the Scofield Bible (page 11 15, note 2) where he is contrasting the dispensation of law with that of grace.
‘The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ… ‘ It is difficult to interpret this statement in any other way than that he was saying folk under the law were saved by one ‘condition’ while we under grace are saved by another ‘condition.’ His words, ‘no longer,’ indicate that there was a time when legal obedience was the means of salvation!
Lewis Sperry Chafer, another prominent leader among the dispensationalists, also – in his insistence on a complete isolation of the New Testament dispensation from that of the Old Testament actually
teaches two different plans of salvation. Writing in Dispensationalism (p.416), he makes the following statement:
"The essential elements of a grace administration –
faith as the sole basis of acceptance with God,
unmerited acceptance through a perfect standing in Christ, the present
possession of eternal life, an
absolute security from all condemnation, and the enabling power of
the indwelling Spirit are not found in the kingdom administration. On the other hand, it is declared to be the fulfilling of ‘the law and the prophets’ (Matt 5:17,18; 7:12), and is seen to be an extension of the Mosaic Law into realms of meritorious obligation."
When this paragraph by Chafer is broken down into its component parts, the following points can be distinguished clearly:
1.he gives the characteristics, including ‘faith as the sole basis of acceptance with God,’ of the present ‘dispensation’;
2.he says the alleged coming ‘dispensation’ (millennium) will operate under a different plan, since none of the above mentioned characteristics (note that this would include the mode of salvation) ‘are to be found in the kingdom administration’;
3.he says that
the alleged coming millennial kingdom will be a continuation of the Old Testament plan, i.e., ‘it is declared to be the fulfilling of the law and the prophets.’
From these three points a syllogism can be formed easily. The syllogism would be as follows:
1.In the present dispensation, we have ‘faith as the sole basis of acceptance with God…’
2.
In the coming kingdom administration, this plan will not be in effect. They ‘are not found in the kingdom administration.’
Since, according to the dispensationalists, people will be saved during the millennium, they must of necessity be saved in some other manner than ‘faith as the sole basis of acceptance with God.’ 3.Therefore,
inasmuch as the coming dispensation will be an extension of the Mosaic Law into realms of meritorious obligation,’ the people under the Mosaic Law also were saved in a manner different from the present dispensation.
Chafer’s argument could also be illustrated in a diagram as follows:
1.Old Testament – Salvation by legal obedience – In effect until the Cross
2.‘Church Age’ – Salvation by grace alone – Legal obedience postponed
3.‘Kingdom Age’ – Legal obedience resumed – On a more perfect basis
In another book (The Kingdom in History and Prophecy, p. 70)
Chafer again distinguishes between two different modes of salvation:
In the light of these seven ‘present truth’ realities we are enabled to recognize how great is the effect of the change from ‘the law which came by Moses’ and ‘grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ.’ And when these changed, age-long conditions have run their course
we are assured that there will be a return to the legal kingdom grounds and the exaltation of that nation to whom pertain the covenants and promises.
It should be noted, in view of the above statement, that if there is to be
a return to a certain means of salvation, then another means of salvation must of necessity be in operation at the present time.
In the writings of another dispensationalist we also note a reference to more than one plan of salvation based upon a distinct separation of the so-called dispensations.
William Evans (Outline Studys of the Bible, p. 34) says:
"This is sometimes called the Age of the Church, or the Church period.
The characteristic of this age is that salvation is no longer by legal obedience, but by the personal acceptance of the finished work of Jesus Christ, who by his meritorious ministry has procured for us a righteousness of God’."
Evans clearly states that during this present age salvation is through personal acceptance of the meritorious ministry (the cross) of Christ, while
in the age preceding this one, people were saved by legal obedience. If words have any meaning at all, then this dispensationalist – who is merely being consistent with dispensationalist teachings – has
presented two clear and distinct means of salvation, one by legal obedience and the other by the cross of Christ.
That thinking people have taken dispensationalism to present various means of salvation is evident in the
report adopted by the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States. That report, adopted by this assembly in May,
1944, was in part as follows:
It is the unanimous opinion of your Committee that
Dispensationalism is out of accord with the system of the doctrines set forth in the Confession of Faith, not primarily or simply in the field of eschatology, but because
it attacks the very heart of the theology of our Church.
Dispensationalism rejects the doctrine that God has, since the Fall, but one plan of salvation for all mankind. and affirms that God has been through the ages administering various and diverse plans of salvation for various groups…"
