Dispensations

Dispensationalism is a Biblical fact in God's continuing history of salvation and in that which will move humankind from one venue to another through His sovereign will for the ages.

No exegisis or commentary only Scripture. Note: I Cor. 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25.

Dr. Berrian

 

A Street Preacher,
Three dispensations are clearly named in the NT. 1. Eph. 3:2 identifies the present dispensation, calling it the dispensation of the grace of God. 2. The parallel passage to this, Col. 1:25,26, shows that there was a previous dispensation to this one in which the mystery of "Christ in you the hope of glory" was not revealed. Dispensationalists would call this one the dispensation of the law.
3. A third dispensation is seen in Eph 1:10 and it is called the dispensation of the fulness of time. This one will begin in the future.

If we are correct in saying that #2 is the law, the law did not begin until hundreds of years after the beginning of human history, so we can assume at least one dispensation prior to the law, making four. Since there is a clear distinction prior to the law between God's dealing with man prior to the fall of Adam and his dealing after the fall, we can reasonably assume that there are two dispensations before the law, at least, which would bring the total to five.

It is clear that the Bible does dilineate dispensations and given the ones of which it speaks, it is hard to conclude that there are fewer than five.

 

Then there are the dispensations that we have created ourselves, such as the Acts 2 dispensationalists, Acts 9 dispensationalists, etc., etc....

 

Here is a link to a good overview of Dispensationalism.

http://answers.org/theology/dispensationalism.html

I am a strict dispensationalist, but Don is right- there are "hyper-dispensationalists," and they have gone a little bit too far. Anyone who follows the writings of Cornelius Stam believes in "hyper-dispensationalism." Much of my family adhere to this type of dispensationalism.

 

Ok, so there must be an opposing view, what is it? Admittitly I don't don't know much about this subject.

 

There are various opposing views.

There is covenant theology, which sees God dealing with man since the fall through one covenant, the covenant of grace. There are two administrations of this covenant, but this viewpoint emphasises the similarities of the old and new.

There is new covenant theology, which sees the overarching covenant as the covenant of Abraham. This covenant is fulfilled through the old covenant--the mosaic one, and the new covenant--the one Christ instituted. This viewpoint sees the covenants as distinct--not just two administrations of the same covenant, and also sees the old covenant as finished, done with...

There is progressive dispensationalism, which is, IMHO, pretty close to NCT, and not very close to traditional dispensationalism, but keeps the dispensational pre-mill view of the end times.

[ April 30, 2002, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: russell55 ]

 

Hey, now on to more important things.

Are you really a street preacher?

In Christ,
Wordsworth

 

Wordsworth,

I need to write you back in regards to your private message....can you write me again and make it to where you can receive private messages?

Thanks,
Molly

 

Clarence Larkin Dispensational Charts:

Now in public domain:

http://members.citynet.net/morton/charts.htm

http://members.citynet.net/morton/images/ldispen.gif

(Some "Baptists" on here don't like Scofield or Larkin, though.)

[ April 30, 2002, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: EagleLives911 ]

 

Opposing view:
http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/dispensationalism/

James2

[ April 30, 2002, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: JAMES2 ]

 

One of the most competent proponents of Dispensationalism is Charles C. Ryrie who earned a Th.D. from Dallas theological Seminary and the Ph.D. from the University of Edinburg. He has written twenty-eight books with more than l.5 million copies worldwide. He teaches that there are seven dispensations.

The Dispensation of Innocency
The Dispensation of Conscience
The Dispensation of Civil Government
The Dispensation of Promise or Patriarchal Rule
The Dispensation of the Mosaic Law
The Dispensation of Grace
The Dispensation of the Millennium

TDOI--Adam & Eve Before The Fall
TDOC-Accountable Response to Prompting of Conscience
TDOCG The Rule of Human Government
TDOPOPR Abraham Believes And Loves God
TDOTML The Great Code-613 Laws For Life & Discipline
TDOG Humankind Must Respond to His Gift of Grace By Faith
TDOTM Messianic Reign In Jerusalem--1,000 Years

Explanations and inclusions of the dispensations by Dr. Berrian

 

Joy,

I checked out your 'Link'. A very good explanation. Thanks!

Dr. Berrian