Defining the Terminology
There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. (1 Corinthians 14:10–11)
It is estimated that “the average English-speaker knows around 50,000 words,” although most only use around “5,000 words in their speech and about twice that many in their writing.” The King James Bible contains over twelve thousand different words, and only three hundred to five hundred are considered archaic or hard to understand. The truth is that “the Authorized Version is no more archaic than daily newspapers, current magazines, and modern Bible versions” because so-called archaic Bible words are often used in contemporary publications. In the biblical passage above, the apostle Paul referred to not knowing “the meaning” of words as signified by different languages, but it is also true that believers should know “the meaning” of Bible words as defined by the author of the Bible. Jesus told the Pharisees, in one instance, that they needed to “learn what that meaneth” (Matthew 9:13), and then He quoted the verse they were to learn (Hosea 6:6). The Lord Jesus Christ also gave a command to “search the scriptures” (John 5:39), which goes along with the directive to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
We should keep in mind that the author of scripture is also the author of the mind, and He has chosen to communicate to His creation with “words…printed in a book” (Job 19:23). These literal “words…are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63) and are “noted in the scripture of truth” (Daniel 10:21). Since “scripture” is never defined in “the scripture” as the original manuscripts (Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic), when we read the English Authorized Version, we can trust with all confidence and assurance that we are reading “scripture” that “is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16).
But reading the Bible alone isn’t good enough for the seeker of truth. The seeker must understand what he reads (Acts 8:30). This only comes through respect and desire to “not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). The Bible believer must learn what individual words mean, not by using Bible dictionaries only, but by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13) and using words in scripture to define words in scripture. This biblical method of learning Bible words is often done through repetition of similar words or similar thoughts within the same passage or chapter. Sometimes words will have to be traced throughout entire books of the Bible or the entire Bible itself in order to discover their meaning or meanings.
Bible Concepts and Theological Words
Learning Bible words can be fairly simple as you work through the context of a passage or run cross-references that correlate with the context or verse. But when you start defining Bible concepts and theological dogmas (like the doctrine of the Trinity, for instance), you will then have to use entire Bible passages and multiple cross-references. This process of constant referencing can be laborious and meticulous but is necessary for the “workman” (2 Timothy 2:15) to arrive at the proper conclusion.
Bible teaching and preaching is founded on biblical examples and should be much more than merely reading the scriptures. The Bible teacher should expound and clarify the scriptures by way of words and explanation:
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8)
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)
And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. (Acts 8:30–31)
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. (Acts 17:2–3)
And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. (Acts 28:23)
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. (2 Timothy 2:24)
Since Christians are to learn biblical concepts and doctrine from “pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11) by way of explanation and guidance, there arises the problem of what people have said the scriptures teach when it is opposed to what the scriptures actually say. It is at this point that the teacher must not only define Bible words, but also theological words and concepts that people use to teach the Bible. After terms are defined, then the teachings of others can be uncovered as to whether or not they are supported or opposed by scripture. Since Satan used words to deceive Eve, believers must be “sober” and “vigilant” (1 Peter 5:8) regarding how they evaluate Bible teachers and so-called scholars who simply use the Bible to teach their own systems of study. It is pertinent that definitions and descriptions are made clear from the beginning of this study, so the pupil doesn’t get lost in the tall weeds of tradesman terminology.
Rightly Dividing
The phrase “rightly dividing the word of truth” comes from 2 Timothy 2:15 and suitably defines the theological word dispensationalism both biblically and practically. The key word in that phrase is the negative word “divide,” and the idea behind the passage is that the student is to separate things in “the word of truth” that do not go together. For instance, God commanded the nation of Israel in the Old Testament to “put to death” people who commit adultery (Leviticus 20:10), but in the New Testament we learn of Paul’s admonition “to forgive” the offending person (2 Corinthians 2:7). We are to make a division between God’s command to kill a man who “gathered sticks upon the sabbath day” (Numbers 15:32) from the time we now live in, because that command was given to Moses and the nation of Israel under the Old Testament Law and doesn’t apply today after Calvary. The observance of Old Testament feasts days (Leviticus 23:2) and “sabbaths” (Exodus 31:13) are to be divided from the teaching of the New Testament observance of “the first day of the week” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Included in this division are the changes in dietary laws (Leviticus 11; Acts 10:10–15; 1 Timothy 4:2–5). If you force scriptural truths together, that do not go together you create a contradiction in the Bible. Since “every word of God is pure” (Proverbs 30:5), we know there are no incongruities in scripture. If you notice a passage that seems to contradict another passage, the problem isn’t with the Bible; the problem is with how you are reading the Bible.
Dispensationalism
The term dispensationalism refers to the theological system that explains the Bible in view of different dispensations given successively throughout history. Dispensationalism has been defined and classified many ways. One author defined it “as that system of theology which sees a fundamental distinction between Israel and the church.” While that is a true statement, there is much more to dispensationalism. Another author correctly stated that “dispensationalism is the interpretive key that unlocks the pages of scripture, opens the door for our understanding of prophecy, and orients our thinking about God’s blueprint for human history.” Some describe a dispensationalist as someone who “divide[s] the course of history into a number of distinct epochs,” and others summarize dispensational views as seeing the world like “a household run by God [where] God is dispensing or administering its affairs according to His own will and in various stages of revelation in the passage of time.”
Dispensation
The term dispensationalism comes from the word dispensation, which is a Bible word (1 Corinthians 9:7; Ephesians 1:10, 3:2; Colossians 1:25) and basically means the way God deals with man. Presbyterian pastor Albert Barnes (1798–1870) referred to a dispensation as a “period” of history,9 James Hall Brookes (1830–97) used the words age and dispensation interchangeably,10 and C.I. Scofield (1843–1921) brought this idea over to The Scofield Reference Bible stating that “a dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.” Clarence Larkin (1850–1924) defined a dispensation as a “moral or probationary period in the world’s history” and Harry Ironside (1876–1951) mirrored Scofield’s definition, saying, “A dispensation then is a period of time in which God is dealing with men in some way in which he has not dealt with them before.” Many Bible dictionaries carry this similar definition, defining a dispensation as a “period of time” or an “era of time.
Dispensations as “Ages”
Bible teachers and scholars have been referring to dispensations as “periods of time” for years, and they will continue to do so. The reason for the misnomer is because a dispensation is “a manner, or method, which God sets up during a period of time, which will operate during that period.” We have seen how we must be careful when defining the word biblically, because it is impossible to define dispensation as “a period of time” in the verses where the word occurs. But we must also understand the close connection dispensations have with ages or periods of time. Ryrie wrote that the words “dispensation and age are connected ideas, but the words are not interchangeable.” He then cited Ephesians 3:5 and Colossians 1:26 where the word age simply means “a long period of time.” Clarence Larkin made a formidable distinction between age and dispensation, even meticulously defining an age as “a period between two great physical changes in the earth’s surface.” He then listed the Ages as:
Clarence Larkin's Ages and Dispensations Chart
1. The Ante-Diluvian Age.
2. The Present Age.
3. The Ages of Ages.
The “Third Age” is a “Dual Age,” composed of the “Millennial Age” and the “Perfect Age".
C.I. Scofield, on the other hand, equated dispensations with “periods…called ‘ages’” and taught the following:
These periods are marked off in scripture by some change in God’s method of dealing with mankind, or a portion of mankind, in respect of the two questions: of sin, and of man’s responsibility. Each of the dispensations may be regarded as a new test of the natural man, and each ends in judgment–marking his utter failure in every dispensation. Five of these dispensations, or periods of time, have been fulfilled; we are living in the sixth, probably toward its close, and have before us the seventh, and last–the millennium.
Scofield outlined the seven dispensations as:
1. Man innocent.
2. Man under conscience.
3. Man in authority over the earth / government.
4. Man under promise.
5. Man under law.
6. Man under grace.
7. Man under the personal reign of Christ
Most dispensational Bible teachers follow a similar outline as Scofield’s and thereby equate dispensations as time periods or ages. What we must keep in mind, however, is that the Bible makes a clear distinction between the truth dispensed during a particular period of time and the actual time period. For instance, the truth God dispensed to Adam that his spirit would “surely die” (Genesis 2:17) overlaps other ages down to the present age where men are born “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Also, parts of the dispensation (or the “specified order [and] arrangement”) sometimes carry over to time periods other than when they were first given. For example, the agreement and arrangement by God that He would not “smite any more every thing living” (Genesis 8:21) with “the waters of a flood” (Genesis 9:11) is still true to this very day.
Covenant/Covenants
The word covenant is used all throughout the Bible and is very important in the study of dispensationalism. The English word covenant in the singular form appears 292 times in the Authorized Version, three times as covenants, and four times as covenanted. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties. Its counterpart is the word “testament” which is used only in the New Testament books of the Bible (Hebrews 7:22 etc.). The Hebrew word for covenant is beryith and comes from the word bará, meaning “to cut, to cut out, to carve, to form by cutting or carving.” Hence, the Abrahamic Covenant is marked with a cutting or a “dividing” (Genesis 15:9–10) of the sacrifices, and the New Covenant with the piercing or cutting in the Saviour’s side (John 19:34–37).
Since we are studying the Bible in relation to God’s dealings with men, it is imperative that we identify the covenants that God makes with men. We know from basically opening the Bible that there are two covenants or testaments. The “old testament” (2 Corinthians 3:14) deals primarily with the Jewish people and is also referred to as the “law of Moses” (Malachi 4:4 etc.), because “the law was given by Moses” (John 1:17). The “new testament” (Matthew 26:28 etc.) comes into effect after “the death of the testator” (Hebrews 9:6), which is the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament has application to all people – those who believe in Christ now and has application to those in the future Kingdom Age, called the “Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). We should pause and note this obvious division between the Old and the New Testaments. Even those who were not strong dispensationalists, like W. Graham Scroggie (1877–1958), have observed that “the emphasis of the Old is on doing, but of the New it is on being.” Paul taught this difference when he summed up the Old Testament Law by saying that “the law is not of faith” (Galatians 3:12) and also when he clarified that “the new testament [was] not of the letter, but of the spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:6). We learn from this basic division between the Old and New Testaments that there are differences with how God deals with men under the different covenants.
Most dispensational Bible teachers outline seven covenants; some present eight. Bible expositor John Phillips divided them into three categories as reflected in the following chart:
These various covenants are agreements that God made with men. Some had conditions to them (Exodus 19:5), and some are unconditional (Genesis 17:2). A thorough examination of the covenants will yield more insight into locating the various dispensations because some dispensations occur within the covenants and are limited to the “dispensing of truth” or the “order of arrangement” within the covenant.
Reformed and Covenant Theology
Theology is the study of God and comes from the Greek words Theos, meaning “God,” and logos, meaning “word” or “discourse.” Theology then “is a rational discourse about God.” Dispensational theology is the study of God from a dispensational perspective and primarily based on “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Reformed theology is a study of God from the perspective of the Reformers from the Protestant Reformation, namely Martin Luther (1483–1546), Huldrych (Ulrich) Zwingli (1484–1531), and John Calvin (1509–64). From John Calvin comes the term for the theological distinction known as Calvinism, which “is of course associated with the doctrine of predestination”37 – that people are predestined to either go to heaven or hell before they are born. Reformed doctrine is Calvinistic and is often referred to as “synonymous with covenant theology.”38 Covenant theology arose with the systematic writings of post-reformers like Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75), who was Zwingli’s successor, Johannes Wollebius39 (1586–1629) the Puritan William Ames (1576–1633), and more “clearly defined” by the works of Dutch theologians Johannes Cocceius (1603–69) and Herman Witsius (1636–1708).
Covenant theology is actually the “principal rival” of dispensationalism and on the surface appears to have some biblical basis. The classical covenant theologians taught a two-covenant system called “a ‘covenant of works’ and a ‘covenant of grace.’” The covenant of works referenced Adam’s failure in the garden of Eden and the covenant of grace applies to “the relationship of God to his people subsequent to man’s fall into sin.” Modern covenant theologians don’t like using the phrase “covenant of works.” Instead, they use “covenant of creation. Many covenant theologians also teach a third covenant, “the covenant of redemption” that covers “God’s secret decree of predestination” where God supposedly elected people to be saved or damned contrary to their free will before the foundation of the world.
Calvinism and Replacement Theology
Calvinism and reformed or covenant theology is contrabiblical in multiple respects. First, the idea of predestination as presented in Calvinism is unbiblical and heretical. “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) and He “is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). God wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) and is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God’s will can be resisted (Acts 7:51) and man’s will is not totally depraved or God wouldn’t give him the choice to either receive or reject Jesus Christ. If men are unable to trust Christ, then why would the Bible command and exhort men to do so? God didn’t pick some people to be saved and others to be lost for all eternity!
Next, covenant theology blurs the clear distinction between the nation of Israel and the church as two separate groups under different dispensations. Covenant theologians teach that Israel “cannot be restricted in its essence to an ethnic community.” Covenant theologians believe “there is only one people of God” and actually teach that “the church is the ‘new’ or ‘true’ Israel that replaces or fulfils national Israel’s place in the plan of God.” This aspect of covenant theology is called replacement theology, because it teaches that “ethnic Israel’s significance [has] been irrevocably eclipsed.” It is also referred to as supersessionism because it is “the view that the church replaces, supersedes, or fulfills Israel as the people of God.” This distortion of doctrine is Roman Catholic in origin and was never shaken by the reformers. It is fostered by a rejection to take the Bible literally as well as disobedience to the command to rightly divide scripture and often leads to anti-Semitic views. These views of replacing the literal descendants of Jacob with the church were passed down from heretics like Augustine (354–430) to Pope Gregory I (540–604) to the Vatican II council which declared that the “church” was “the new Israel.” William Grady expounded on this Roman Catholic origin of replacement theology:
The Vatican Harlot (along with her rebellious Protestant offspring) has insisted over the centuries that God is through with that “elder son.” Because of this supposed disenfranchisement, every pope has viewed Rome as the New Jerusalem, claiming all of Jehovah’s original promises to Israel in the process (e.g. Augustine’s “City of God”). Thus, Rome’s “replacement” of Israel has come to be known as Replacement Theology. Once again, note how this eventually was forecast in the “archaic” English of the Authorized Version when the paranoid Pharisees prophesied: “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” (John 11:48).
Replacement theology also carries with it the idea that the true Jewish lineage can’t exist today because of intermarriage between Gentiles through the centuries. But, as Thomas Ice contended, Even though the Jews surely have intermarried with Gentiles that does not invalidate their Jewishness any more than intermarriage that was practiced in the Old Testament did not invalidate their Jewishness. Jesus Himself had a number of Gentiles within His genealogical line, yet He was certainly Jewish. In the time of the New Testament these people were still known as Jews—the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…The notion that Jews cannot have the blood of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob flowing through their veins is purely one manufactured by those with an anti-Semitic bias…If the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were considered Jews after two thousand years by Jesus in His day, then why should they not be considered descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob today, after another two thousand years have passed?
Scripture confirms that Jews in the first century were from both the northern areas of Israel as well as the south. Paul refers to both himself and Simon Peter as “Jews by nature” (Galatians 2:15) even though Peter was from the north (Galilee) and Paul was from the South (Benjamin).
Finally, covenant theologians pervert the doctrine of church practice because they insist that “baptism, in fact, is the true circumcision.” Reformed doctrine teaches that “circumcision under the old covenant is replaced by baptism under the new covenant. The cleansing rite of the one covenant is replaced by the cleansing rite of the other.” If circumcision is replaced by baptism (and by that they mean “sprinkling”), then why are girls allowed to be baptized when only boys can be circumcised? Furthermore, if infant baptism is biblical, why is there never a case of it in the Bible?
Christian Zionism
Dispensationalism, on the other hand, is part of what some call “Christian Zionism…an umbrella term under which many Christians who support Israel have congregated.” Paul Wilkinson outlined some tenets of Christian Zionism which are diametrically opposed to replacement theology:
1. A clear, Biblical distinction between Israel and the Church.
2. The any moment, pre-tribulation Rapture of the Church.
3. The return of the Jews to the Land.
4. The rebuilding of the Temple.
5. The rise of the Antichrist.
6. A seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation.
7. The national salvation of the Jews.
8. The return of Christ to Jerusalem.
9. The thousand-year reign of Christ on earth
Eschatology/Prophecy
The word eschatology comes primarily from the Greek word eschatos, meaning last, and is the study of last things or Bible prophecy. Bible prophecy is one of God’s ways He validates or proves His existence and infallibility, because if God truly is God, then He should be able to tell the future. History written ahead of time is indeed proof that God is the divine Author behind the human authors of scripture. The Bible records approximately fifty prophecies about the first coming of Jesus Christ. These prophecies were written in scripture long before Jesus was ever born and are detailed, not ambiguous. Some of the prophecies dealt with His birthplace (Micah 5:2), His name (Isaiah 7:14), His ministry (Isaiah 61:1–2), and His death (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53). The odds of all those specific particulars being fulfilled are beyond human possibility, and no other book (religious or secular) contains such phenomenal characteristics.
Second Coming/Rapture and Revelation
Many Bible prophecies point to the return of Jesus Christ. This event is often referred to as the Second Coming and it is divided into two stages: The Rapture of the church and the Revelation to the world. The Rapture of the church is a catching away of all living believers as well as a resurrection of “the dead in Christ” in this present dispensation (1 Corinthians 15:51–58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). The Revelation will be when Jesus returns to the earth to rule as “the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). Much of Bible prophecy centers on the promises God gave to the nation of Israel and relate specifically to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Advent.
The Rapture of the church is called “a mystery” (1 Corinthians 15:51) and was revealed in detail to the apostle Paul and developed in his writings. The word rapture originated in the “late 16th century (in the sense ‘seizing and carrying off’): from obsolete French, or from medieval Latin rapture ‘seizing’, partly influenced by rapt.”58 The word rapture describes the catching up of dead saints and living believers when Jesus returns (1 Thessalonians 4:17). There are four main views as to when the Rapture will take place, and they are all in relation to the period of judgment on the earth known as “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21): that time of great plagues and geologic disturbances when the Antichrist rules the world. The Tribulation period is also known as Daniel’s seventieth week from Daniels prophecy (Daniel 9:24–27) and is commonly divided into two periods of 3½ years each. The “great tribulation” is the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week and commences with the Antichrist desecrating the Jewish holy place in the temple.
The pre-tribulation view of the Rapture teaches that the church will be raptured prior to the Tribulation period. The mid-tribulation view of the Rapture teaches that the Rapture will take place “midway through the seven-year Tribulation.” The post-tribulation view teaches that “the Rapture will occur at the end of the Tribulation concurrent with the second coming of Christ.” The pre-wrath view maintains that believers will be raptured “sometime during the second half of the seven-year period” of the Great Tribulation.
The biblical position is the pre-tribulation Rapture position, and there are many reasons for this being the case. One of the strongest reasons that the church will be raptured out prior to the Tribulation is the fact that salvation conditions change after the Rapture: eternal security is not a guarantee to those who follow Christ in the Tribulation like it is today during the Church Age. Every believer in Jesus Christ today is promised “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23), but in the Tribulation, it will be possible for believers to lose their salvation and go to hell (Hebrews 6:4–8). Salvation during the Tribulation will be based on faith and works (Revelation 12:17, 14:12, 22:14) because the “gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 24:14) and “the everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6) will be preached instead of “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). Furthermore, the Tribulation is called the “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7) and isn’t intended for the church at all. In fact, during the Tribulation, the distinction of Jews and Gentiles is again observed (Revelation 7:1–9), but in the Church Age, “there is neither Jew nor Greek…for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Tribulation saints will sing “the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:3); while Church Age saints sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:19).
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