Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a school of
Bible interpretation that is associated with
fundamentalist Christianity. It has been most influential in the United States, outside of which its influence is mostly limited to areas evangelized by dispensational missionaries. However,\nsome political analysts have argued that dispensationalism\nhas had large influence on American foreign policy and hence had a large indirect influence worldwide.
Dispensationalist theology
Dispensationalism seeks to address the apparent contradictions in doctrine and practice that arise from viewing both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as Scripture. The dispensationalist approach to these issues is based on what they call "rightly dividing the word of truth" (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15). They do this by breaking sacred history up into several different "dispensations", (time periods) which mark separate covenants that God is thought to have made with humanity. The word dispensation is occasionally used in the King James Bible to translate the Greek word οικονομος (oikonomos), which refers originally to the government of a household, and is the origin of the English word economy.
The most common list includes seven such dispensations:
Dispensationalism teaches that the
Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be a physical event, by which a world-wide kingdom will be established in human
history, geographically centered in
Jerusalem. As such, dispensationalism is associated with the circulation of
end times prophecy, which professes to read omens of the Second Coming in
current events. Many of the distinctive features of dispensationalism were anticipated by the work of Pierre Poiret.
Dispensationalism in this form was proposed as a specific system by
John Nelson Darby, founder of the
Plymouth Brethren movement.\nIt was popularised in the United States by
Cyrus I. Scofield through the vehicle of his widely circulated
Scofield Reference Bible, an annotated
study Bible that taught dispensationalism as a system. In the Protestant countries of Europe, on the other hand, it has had very little influence. This fact is largely responsible for the very different "flavors" of American and European Protestantism that exist today.
Dispensationalism has had a number of effects on Protestantism, at least as it is practised in the
United States of America. By consistently teaching that the
Beast of Revelations, or the
Antichrist, is a political leader, dispensationalism has weakened the traditional
Reformation-era identification of that figure with the
Pope, and the
Roman Catholic Church with the
Whore of Babylon. Dispensationalism has led many
evangelical Christians of the USA to temper their traditional anti-Catholicism, at least a little.
Dispensationalism rejects the traditional Christian teaching of
supersessionism. It tends to go hand-in-hand with a very protective attitude toward the Jewish people, and the modern
State of Israel.
John Nelson Darby taught, and most subsequent dispensationalists have consistently maintained, that God looks upon the
Jews as his chosen people and continues to have a place for them in the dispensational, prophetic scheme of things. While virtually all traditions of Christianity teach that the Jews are a distinct people, irrevocably entitled to the promises of God (because "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance"), dispensationalism is unique in teaching that the covenant with the Church is only a provisional dispensation, until the Jews finally recognize Jesus as their promised Messiah during the trials that dispensationalists envision coming upon the Jews in the
Great Tribulation. Darby's prophecies envision Judaism as continuing to enjoy God's protection, parallel to Christianity, literally to the End of Time, and teaches that God has a separate track in the prophecies for Jews, apart from the Church.
On the other hand, dispensationalists tend to be energetically evangelistic, with special interest in the Jews
because they are "God's
chosen people". Dispensationalist beliefs are widespread in many forms of
Messianic Judaism, for example, which aggressively seeks the conversion of Jews to a form of Christianity mixed with Jewish ritual and Hebrew language. In some dispensationalist circles, the Jewish converts to Christianity are sometimes referred to as "completed Jews". Thus, while it is at odds with traditional supersessionism (which was formulated to discourage directly carrying over Jewish practice into the Christian Church), dispensationalism generally is markedly at odds with modern
religious pluralism, which is typified by the view that proselytism of the Jews is a form of
anti-semitism. Also, some dispensationalists, such as
Jerry Falwell, have asserted that the Antichrist will be a Jew, based on a belief that the Antichrist will falsely seem to some Jews to fulfill prophesies of the Messiah more accurately than Jesus did. This belief is not essential to dispensationalism. At any rate, dispensationalists are typically, in practical terms, allies of the Jews and enthusiastic popularizers of Judaica, and foes of anti-semitism in the conventional sense.
Dispensationalism is criticized for other reasons. It teaches that Christians should not expect spiritual good from earthly governments, and should expect social conditions to decline as the end times draw nearer. Dispensationalist readings of prophecies often teach that the Antichrist will appear to the world as a peacemaker. This makes some dispensationalists suspicious of all forms of power, religious and secular, and especially of human attempts to form international organisations for peace such as the
United Nations. Almost all dispensationalists reject the idea that a lasting peace can be attained by human effort in the
Middle East, and believe instead that "wars and rumors of wars" (cf. Matthew 24:6) will increase as the end times approach. Dispensationalists teach that churches that do not insist on Biblical literalism as they deem appropriate are in fact part of the
Great Apostasy. This casts suspicion on attempts to create church organisations that cross
denominational boundaries such as the
World Council of Churches. (See also
Ecumenism.)
Dispensationalism as a school of Biblical interpretation is associated with a number of fundamentalist institutions, of which the best known are the Dallas Theological Seminary and the
Moody Bible Institute.
\n
Dispensationalism and United States Politics
Some political analysts have argued that dispensationalism has had a major influence on the foreign policy of the United States because as believers in dispensationalism have had large amounts of influence through the Republican Party. This influence has included strong support for the state of
Israel and rejection of Palestinian calls for a separate state as well as a general distrust of multinational organizations such as the
United Nations. Some dispensationist authors such as
Hal Lindsey have explicitly identified the Antichrist with the
Soviet Union or the
European Union.
Dispensationalism and Fiction
Dispensationalist themes form the basis of the Left Behind series of books.
Biblical Arguments in Favor of Dispensationalism
\n*The Apostles determined at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) that it was not necessary for Gentiles to become Jewish in order to become Christians. Thus, the church is not a sect of Judaism but a separate entity.\n*The term 'Israel' in the Bible always refers to physical descendants of Jacob.\n*Similarly, the terms 'church' and 'kingdom' are never used interchangeably in Scripture.\n*Paul claims that Israel will be grafted in again (Romans 11).\n*Abraham was saved by faith, 430 years before the Law was given to Moses. (See Galatians 3:6,16-19.) \n* The
Book of Galatians is understood to teach that the Law continues to have binding force for Jews, but not for Christians. Now that Christ has come, Christians are not under the supervision of the law (3:25), but Jews are still governed by the law (5:3) unless they are in Christ (3:28).
Biblical Arguments Opposed to Dispensationalism
\n*"Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." (Deuteronomy 6:4
NIV) "But from everlasting to everlasting the L
ORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children — with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts." (
Psalm 103:17-18) "I the L
ORD do not change." (
Malachi 3:6) "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (
James 1:17)\n**Dispensationalism, by contrast, paints a picture of a fickle God, whose covenants and requirements change with the seasons and which are not part of a single plan for
salvation.\n* "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." (
Matthew 5:9) \n**Dispensationalism discourages human efforts to achieve peace, and teaches that we are living in an epoch in which an increase of war and famine are inevitable. \n* "No one knows about the day and hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. . . . therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. . . because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44) "It is not for you to know the dates or times which the Father has set by his own authority." (
Acts 1:7) \n**Dispensationalism is associated with the drawing up of purported timetables for the fulfilment of prophecy. For example, dispensationalist
Hal Lindsey wrote a book with the title
The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon. \n* "Remember that at the time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. . ." (
Ephesians 2:12-14) \n**There is in fact only one plan of salvation, which God has opened to both Gentile and Jew.
Sources
\n* Enns, Paul: The Moody Handbook of Theology
External link
\n* http://www.dispensationalism.com/\n* http://www.hallindseyoracle.com/\n* http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=15221 - When U.S. Foreign Policy Meets Biblical Prophecy
Category:Christianity
