What is Dispensationalism?

Perhaps you don’t realize that all modern dispensation thinking came from Darby (called the “father of dispensation” by Ryrie, if my memory is working). At least that is the claim on the B.B. (Sarcasm).


Trouble being, Ryrie was wrong in that appointment, but in the context of what became popular dispensation thinking, Darby was the father.

As you stated, the earliest church teaching was premillennial, and dispensation was not alien to their teaching, and, in my opinion, an intricate part of presenting acceptable service for God’s glory.

What is unfortunate (imo) is the surge to reject Darby, by some, lead to a rejection of premillennialism, when the two are more easily uncoupled and premillennialism be found securely presented in the Scriptures Long with proper dispensation teaching

One positive about Darby, his work in the Scriptures has undergone numerous in-depth reviews and he has not been found unfaithful to the Word. I may disagree with some conclusion or nuance, but at least he did not become heretical as some have uneducatedly pronounced.

 

Well...I suppose I might not be aware of the new wrinkles...I listened to hours of S Lewis Johnson....and the men from believers chapel...william payne...sam storms...mcrae...deffinbaugh...walvoord.etc....so I will pay attention. ..

 

I have taken much time to speed read through a number of his works. They are not for the faint of heart!

Until about a year or so ago, I had never read much if anything that he wrote. I have been looking for error, Something in which to agree to the claim made of him being heretic. Just can’t find anything. Neither have others.

He writes like a lawyer, so he and I wouldn’t get along, and although he leans to some Calvinistic imprints, he was too much into unorganized worship for my taste.

 

Thanks for this useful thread, toward sorting out dispensationalism and its understanding. Not to break into what John is doing, and not intended to divert the discussion here, but this link mentions and discusses a couple different ways that dispensationalism has been subdivided: Things Dispensationalism Does Not Teach.

 

Kind of peripheral to your OP, John, but Scofield as a person has been attacked in several books in recent years. The move away from Scofield began long before those books, it seems, but do you think that he has been somewhat discredited -- making an appeal to him even less likely in modern times?

Thanks.

 

Interesting thread but based on a word which occurs only 4 times in Scripture, in one of which there is an indication of it being time related. Eph. 1:10 That would appear to be the sense used by Scofield to develop dispensationalism. The theological system that many of us challenge.

If I've counted correctly (& I haven't read every word) we now have FOUR definitions of dispensation, which word is a translation of a Gk word meaning stewardship. I'll quote yours -

There is of course a sense in which a word is defined by its common usage & incorrect usage finds its way into approved, accepted definition. That has clearly happened with "dispensation." Most Christians have a Scofield understanding of D whether they enthusiastically accept it, or reject it.

How are you proposing to correct the definition for the general Christian public?

And have you a suitable word to define what is generally understood as dispensationalism?

 

This chart

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I am trying to paste it.....it announced it was Gods plan for the ages....I obtained at a premill school in clarks summit pa.
Baptist bible college. Notice it clearly says Gods plan TC.....are you suggesting it might not be direct revelation????

 

I at one time gave this away as a tract...lol...on the back it tried to give an explanation of salvation...

 

The men at believers chapel explained that if I had the chart...a strongs concordance...and a scofield bible...I was good to go.
Are you suggesting they were mistaken T C.....once I bought Things to Come, walvoord on matthew, late great planet earth, the basis of premillenial faith, I figured I was IN.I drove three states away to hear Jack van impe.... and a man named Marvin Rosenthal.....a couple of Salem Kirban novels.....not sure where I took a wrong turn???

 

You might be correct sir....lol....I thought I was historic premill for awhile...ie, George Eldon Ladd, then perhaps an optimistic amillennial person.....now drifting toward postmill.....
I am not quite a prophecy expert TC...haha...maybe you noticed.
The thing is They were good men and I did learn some from Each person.

 

This thread makes very relevant reading -
What do you think of Isaac Watts as a dispensationalist?

The link to the article cited is here.
Thanks A-M for linking to it. Pity there were only a few replies.

It does indicate that dispensation is a commonly used term. He quotes Ryrie -

I think the association of time with dispensation is due to the way Eph. 1:10 reads - the dispensation of the fulness of time implying other dispensations relating to other times.