By Rev. Donald MacLean, Portree.
The movement which bears the name of the title of this article is one which has obtained a much firmer hold in America than it has done in this country. At the same time, much that goes under the name of Evangelical religion is tinctured with the outlook and approach of Dispensationalism, and in the opinion of the present writer this is likely to develop further in the future, despite denials to the contrary by Evangelicals. From the very beginning of the movement a flood of popular literature has issued from the pens of its enthusiastic supporters, and in recent times an attempt has been made to give a more scholarly presentation of the system. Apart from some other books dealing with the subject, a Systematic Theology of seven volumes has been produced by L. S. Chafer, while Professor McClain, President of Grace Theological Seminary in Indiana, completed in 1959 the first volume of a series of seven which is to cover the entire field of Christian Theology. It is evident, therefore, that this movement looks with confidence to the future and expects to be a prominent influence on Evangelical thought. An attempt will be made in this article to give a brief outline of the movement. Dispensationalism stemmed from Plymouth Brethrenism. John Nelson Darby, (1800-1882), who was the originator of the Brethren movement, was born in London, although he lived most of his life in Ireland. He studied law and practised for a time, but after his conversion he entered the ministry of the Church of England where he was ordained a deacon in 1825. He felt very dissatisfied with the worldliness of the Church, and left it to make a wider church unity possible through a non-denominational approach. He and his followers made a distinction between the Church as the true bride of Christ, and Christendom, which was the name they gave to organised Protestant and Catholic Christianity. They placed great stress on prophecy, with particular emphasis on the return of Christ as a present hope and immediate expectation. Some indication of Darby’s doctrinal position may be seen from his attitude to the Westminster Confession of Faith. “Darby was the uncompromising foe of the Covenant or Federal Theology which he found most clearly expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith. He says of the doctrines ‘Of God’s Covenant with Man’ and ‘Of the Law of God’ as set forth in this Confession: ‘All this is a fable and a mischievous fable. And I notice it because it is the foundation of the whole religious system to which it belongs.’ He speaks of ‘the nonsense of this system which Presbyterians accept by tradition,’ insisting that it is ‘a grave and fundamental error’ and one that is not confined to Presbyterians. He even goes so far as to assert that ‘The basis of the entire system of moral relationship with God in Presbyterianism is false and it has tainted the Evangelical system everywhere!’ ** Those who are apt to be impressed with the outward strictness of the Brethren should remember that their leader was the foe of the doctrines we hold to be precious and that his followers are not much better.
For 40 years from the 1830’s the Brethren movement expanded rapidly, not only in Britain but in the United States. Darby himself paid several visits to Canada and America during this period, and he and his followers exercised a great influence everywhere they went. The form of meeting they preferred was the Bible Study Meeting where lectures were given of a Biblical nature. This method has also been adopted and expanded by the Dispensationalists until Bible Conferences, etc., have really taken the place of the Church. Innumerable pamphlets and writings flowed from the pens of ready writers to spread abroad Dispensationalist teaching. The use of initials rather than the full name of the author is rather common with these writers. Our readers * Prophecy and the Church. O. T. Allis; p. 47-48. will have come across a few of these names such as Darby, himself, (J.N.D.), C. Stanley (C.S.), William Kelly (W.K.), and C. H. Mackintosh (C.H.M.). The last-named wrote voluminous Notes on different parts of Scripture and was immensely popular. He is said to have had a great effect on D. L. Moody and on American religious life as a whole. Although William E. Blackstone (W.E.B.) was a Methodist minister, he took a prominent part in the Conferences held from time to time. His book, Jesus is Coming, gained wide circulation and has been translated into at least 25 languages. The main features of Modern Dispensationalism are to be found in this book. G. Campbell Morgan was a thorough-going dispensationalist to begin with but repudiated some of their errors in later life.
In the 1890’s there appeared a new figure at the Bible Conferences in America whose popularity as a speaker caused him to be in great demand all over the country. This man was C. I. Scofield. He was born in 1843 and became a lawyer, being admitted to the Kansas Bar in 1869. In 1879 he believed himself to have been converted by a Y.M.C.A. worker and coming into contact with dispensationalism, he became an enthusiastic propagandist of its teachings. He does not seem to have received any theological training prior to his becoming a pastor. His best known work is the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible of which he was the chief of seven editors. This Bible together with Blackstone’s Jesus is Coming formed the main instrument for the spread of Dispensationalism.
The two basic doctrines peculiar to Dispensationalism are the views expressed on the dispensations of God through history and the view of the Church.
Scofield defines a “dispensation” as “a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.” In each of these testings man fails and brings upon himself the judgment of God. Scofield then proceeds to an entirely arbitrary division of the Bible into various dispensations, which process is referred to as “rightly dividing the Word!” According to this idea, there are seven dispensations which are as follows:— 1. Innocency. This is composed of the Edenic covenant which is said to consist of God’s command to Adam to procreate, subdue the earth, etc., and to eat of all the trees of the garden but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This last exception constituted the test in which man failed and for which he was expelled from the garden. 2. Conscience. According to Scofield, man’s sin brought an awakening of conscience and he was placed under the Adamic Covenant which included the curse of the serpent and the earth, physical death for man and the promise of a Redeemer. The test here is said to be the avoidance of all sin according to the dictates of conscience. The judgment of the Flood ended this dispensation. 3. Human Government. The test here for man is to govern his fellowman for God. He is given the right of capital punishment. This dispensation is called the Noahic Covenant. This dispensation overlaps the others. In the case of the Jews, it is said to end with the captivities, while for the Gentiles, it will not end until the judgment of the nations which is to take place when the millennium begins. 4. Promise. This dispensation extends from Gen 12.1 to Ex. 19.8 and is called the Abrahamic. The test is faith in God’s promise, and the judgment, the affliction in Egypt. 5. Law. The Mosaic law covers this period, applies exclusively to the Jews and extends to the Cross. The test is legal obedience as the condition of salvation. As in other cases, man fails and is judged. 6. Grace. This dispensation begins with the death and resurrection of Christ. The test is acceptance or rejection of Christ. The immediate result of this testing was the rejecting of Christ by the Jews. The predicted end of the testing is the apostasy of the professing Church and the resulting judgments. 7. Fullness of the times or the Kingdom. This is the millennium period during which the Davidic Covenant will be fulfilled, Christ will return to reign personally on the earth and the Kingdom of Heaven will be established.
Apart from the fact that the imposition of this scheme upon the historical framework of the Bible is highly unsatisfactory and cannot be established by sound exegesis, an acute question arises as to the method whereby a sinner is saved under these different dispensations. Does man’s salvation depend on his response to the various tests? And does not the fact that the tests are different point to different ways of salvation? These are important questions, for the Bible exists to give the knowledge of salvation, and however streamlined the above scheme may be, if it fails to reveal the way of salvation, it is wrong from top to bottom. Despite the denials of Dispensationalists, Christ does not come into some of these dispensations at all, and how can a sinner be saved apart from the Saviour? Scofield’s comment on a part of the Lord’s Prayer is significant. On the petition, “And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors,” He goes on to say, “Under Law forgiveness is conditional upon a like spirit in us. Under grace we are forgiven for Christ’s sake.” (Italics ours). It is abundantly clear that there are different approaches to salvation under the dispensations of law and grace. Many more instances could be added.
Many consider, however, that the root belief of Dispensationalism is the belief about the Church. Scofield made a distinct cleavage between the Kingdom and the Church. The Church is a “parenthesis” really between the Old Testament kingdom of the past and the Old Testament kingdom of the future. This future kingdom is distinctly Jewish and was promised to them in the Old Testament. Christ is said to have come as the Messiah to fulfil this promise, but when He saw that the Jews would not accept Him, He began to prepare his disciples for this new thing, the Church. In this way the Kingdom is postponed during the sixth period and will not be ushered in until the seventh dispensation at the expected return of Christ. The Dispensationalists, therefore, look rather to the Kingdom than to the Church as the final goal of God’s plan for the world.
The question again rises sharply before the mind, How are sinners to be saved without the atonement of Christ? It is held by Dispensationalists that Jesus did not begin to instruct His disciples about the meaning of His death and resurrection until the Jews had rejected the Kingdom and Jesus had announced the building of a new Church. The only possible conclusion is that the atonement is a Church doctrine and only applies to that age. How then were sinners saved during the other dispensations? The present work of the Church, according to this idea, is the calling of the elect out of the world to the enjoyment of spiritual blessings and a heavenly reward as the Bride of Christ. Here again we come to a peculiar distinction. The “Petrine” or professing Church is destined for apostacy and judgment according to this view. That is why the Brethren have no ministers or elders, despite the fact that the Word of God makes clear that such “offices” are to be in the Church of God. To them, that is the “Petrine” Church destined for apostacy and judgment. On the other hand, the “Pauline” or “mystery” Church is made up of those who are to be saved. This distinction opens up the way for an attack on the visible Church as set forth in the Word of God. Members of the “true” Church find their fellowship at Interdenominational Conferences of various kinds. A subtle attack is thus made on denominational loyalties, and an attempt made to break down all distinctive positions. This is one of the ways in which dispensational outlook has permeated evangelical circles.
A glance at the reports of Conferences such as Keswick, will show the delight which is taken in advertising the fact that the participants are “All one in Christ Jesus” and that “Denominational barriers were broken down.” Similarly, at Strathpeffer, a Conference of the same nature, it is reported with delight that although members of the Church of Scotland, Free Church, Baptist Church and Plymouth Brethren all hold different views of Divine Truth, they sink all differences at this Conference. In this way dispensationalistic influence, while professing to be evangelical, fosters an eucumenical Church at the expense of Truth as surely as Liberalism does in seeking to build a World Church. Conferences of this kind make a special appeal to seriously-minded young people and such need be warned of their influence. There is a great need that young people at the present time be thoroughly grounded in the true nature of the Church, and that it be made crystal clear that, although there has been a tremendous backsliding in the professed Church, yet there will always be a Church where the Truth in doctrine, worship and practice will be found.
The present dark state of world affairs presents a very suitable climate for the advance of Dispensationalism with its premillenarian view. According to Dispensationalists, nothing will put the world right but “the return of the King” by which they mean the personal return of Christ to reign on the earth for a thousand years. Many of them believe that Christ will return at any time, and that the Church should be living in constant expectation of this, and should not be worrying about the world’s ills, as destruction is to be its portion. Dispensationalism has given a tremendous impetus to premillenarianism although it has added considerably to historic premillenarianism. All Premillenarians are not Dispensationalists but all Dispensationalists are Premillenarians. To enter into a discussion of the error of premillenarianism would lengthen this article too much and enter into another field altogether. It is sufficient to say that the personal return of Christ to this earth would involve a further humiliation on His part and there is no word in Scripture of any such thing. Further, the view implies that the Holy Spirit is not capable of carrying out His great mission of gathering in the election of grace, but that a personal return of the Saviour is needed to consummate this. Both these views are without Scriptural warrant. The true view is that when the millennium comes, the Holy Spirit will be poured upon all the nations of the world and, by His glorious power through the Word of God, multitudes will be converted and united to Christ.
Modern Dispensationalism is an error from which souls need to be protected and one which will be swept away when the pure truth of God will come to be loved and understood.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.” (II. Tim. 4. 3-4).