Dispensationalism (II)

In the previous issue we began to point out briefly what we believe to be the principle errors of Dispensationalism. Those errors include:

(3) its separation of Israel and the church. One of the fundamentals of Dispensationalism is Israel is Israel and the church is the church and never may the two be confused. This is contrary to Scripture's teaching that the OT "Israel," both nationally and spiritually, is the church (Rom. 2:28, 29; Acts 7:38, where "Israel" is called "the church in the wilderness"; Gal. 3:29; Phil. 3:3; Heb. 12:22-24, where Jerusalem and Zion are identified with the church; Rev. 21:9,10, where "the bride, the Lamb's wife" is identified with "the holy Jerusalem").

(4) its separation between Christ's work on behalf of the Jews and of the church, i.e., Christ is King of Israel and Head of the Church. The Scofield Bible even teaches that OT people were saved in other ways than by the faith in Christ's atoning work and that God has more than one plan of salvation. This is contrary to Scripture's clear teaching that Christ is the same Savior of the same people both in the Old and New Testaments (Gal. 3:28, 29; I Tim. 2:5,6; Heb. 11:6).

(5) its exclusion of OT saints from the "body" and "bride" of Christ. This follows, of course, from the separation that Dispensationalism makes between Israel and the church, and between Christ's relation to Israel as King and to the church as Head. It is also contrary to Scripture, which includes OT saints in the "household of faith" and numbers them in the body and bride of Christ (Eph. 2:11-18, especially verse 16, which speaks of the fact that Jew and Gentile are reconciled "in one body;" Rev. 21:9-10, where the "bride, the Lamb's wife" is identified with the new Jerusalem).

(6) its teaching that the Holy Spirit is gone from the earth during the seven-year period between the rapture and the revelation. During this period the Jews are supposed to be saved and brought to faith in Christ without the sovereign and gracious operations of the Holy Spirit. This, too, is contrary to the teaching of Scripture, that faith is the gift of God, through the Holy Spirit, and that regeneration or the new birth, which is essential for salvation, is the unique work of the Spirit (Jn. 3:3-8; Eph. 2:8-10).

(7) its teaching regarding the so-called "mystery" church. Classic Dispensationalism teaches that the history of the church in the NT is a "parenthesis" and that the church itself is a "mystery" never spoken of in the OT. This contradicts the teaching of Scripture which not only prophesies of the church, but actually views true Israel as the church and the church as Israel (Acts 15:13-18, where James applies an OT prophecy concerning Israel to the establishment of NT Gentile churches; Acts 7:38). Likewise, the church is not viewed in Scripture as a "parenthesis" but as the goal and purpose of all God's work in history. It is "the fullness of him who filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:22, 23), the "glorious church" which He presents to Himself by all His saving work (Eph. 5:25-27).

For all these reasons Dispensationalism must be rejected.