dispensations & covenants robert thurman, ma fall 2013

Dispensations & Covenants

Robert Thurman, MA

Fall 2013

Presuppositions

Everyone has presuppositions. Here are the ones I am bringing to this course…

1. I presuppose that we agree that the Scriptures are our ultimate authority and that they are uniquely sufficient to provide answers to the questions we will wrestle with during this course.

Presuppositions

Everyone has presuppositions. Here are the ones your instructor brings to this course…

2. I presuppose that you are willing to engage in hard work and study to learn the Word of God.

3. I presuppose that you expect to get your money’s worth out of this class, and that you expect me to challenge your thinking and to stretch you academically.

Presuppositions


4. I presuppose that you will not always agree with my understanding of the Scriptures. You are always free to disagree, but if you want to debate, I expect you to make your case using the Scriptures and with a loving and respectful spirit.

Presuppositions


5. I presuppose that you will not always understand everything in the assigned readings. Read them anyway and get what you can.

6. I presuppose that you will not always understand everything I communicate during lectures. Ask me questions and don’t stop until I’ve made myself clear.

Presuppositions


7. I presuppose that you want to do your best work, and that you want me to tell you how you can improve the work you submit to me.

8. I presuppose that you will face many challenges as you seek to complete this course. Please communicate with me if there’s something I can do to help.

Presuppositions


9. I presuppose that we will grow in Christian love and in mutual respect for each other.

10. I presuppose that you are not here for mere intellectual stimulation, but to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior.

Why this course matters…

Learning about the dispensations and covenants of Scripture is essential if you want to…

1. Interpret Scripture-– In particular this course will help you to understand

the promises God made to His people in the Old Testament.

– It will help you understand how the New Testament uses the Old Testament.

– it will also teach you how to approach passages dealing with the doctrines of the people of God and passages dealing with the end times.



2. Understand the present nature of God’s kingdom and to anticipate the future nature of God’s kingdom (the Millennial Kingdom and God’s overall purposes for the future).



3. Identify the people of God and to understand God’s relationship and obligations to Israel, to the Church, to the Gentiles, and to the nations.



4. Relate the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ (the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant).

5. Discern how New Testament believers should respond to Old Testament Law.



6. Recognize and trace God’s overarching purpose for history.

7. Evaluate the teachings of Dispensationalism and the teachings of Covenant Theology.



8. Appreciate God’s sovereign rule over all creation and His faithfulness in keeping the promises He has made.

What Is A Dispensation?

General Sense- The English word dispensation is an Anglicized

form of the Latin word dispensatio. The Latin verb is a compound, meaning "to

weigh out or to dispense.“ Tertullian, a North African Christian, in the

early third century used the Latin word dispensatio to translate the Greek word oikonomia.

What Is A Dispensation?

In ancient Greek culture, an oikonomos was a servant in charge of a household.

Oikonomia referred to his activity of managing the house.

These words came to be used broadly to describe any kind of manager or management activity.

What Is a Dispensation?

The management activity of an oikonomos usually involved financial transactions. The manager would receive money from his master, and he would be expected to use that money to run the household.

The financial aspect of oikonomia gives us our English word economy.


Oikonomia and oikonomos appear in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

The individual in charge of the King of Judah’s palace is called an oikonomos and his management responsibility over the king’s household is called an oikonomia (1 Kings 4:6; 16:9; 18:3; 2 Kings 18:18, 37).


Oikonomia and oikonomos also appear in the New Testament.

In Romans 16:23, Erastus is the oikonomos of the city of Corinth. This probably means he was the chief treasurer or the C.F.O. for the city.


Jesus also used these terms in some of His parables.

In Luke 12:42 there is an oikonomos responsible for making sure all his master’s servants were properly fed.

In Luke 16:1-13, there is an unjust oikonomos who is called in to have his oikonomia evaluated by his master.


From these references we can summarize the general sense of oikonomos and oikonomia.

Oikonomos refers to any type of manager or administrator.

Oikonomia, the word we translate dispensation, refers to the activity of a manager and to the way the manager organizes his activity (his plan, order, structure, etc.)


Theological Sense- The parables of Jesus are not just stories

about managers and households. Jesus told these parables to teach about the coming kingdom of God.

They speak to the relationship between God and Israel and to the fact that God will call Israel to account in the judgments that will precede God’s kingdom.


Through this teaching, oikonomia acquired a theological sense; it came to designate the relationship between God and the world.

Paul uses both oikonomia and oikonomos in his writings to describe God’s management or plan for the world.

Most of these uses refer to Paul’s own office as an apostle.


God, the Master of the world, entrusted to Paul and the other apostles the responsibility of proclaiming new revelation- the mysteries of God and Christ (1 Cor. 4:1-2; Eph. 3:2-6; Col. 1:25-29)

Pastors and teachers were also part of this stewardship (Titus 1:7).

Peter says that all Christians are all oikonomoi of the grace of God (1 Peter 4:10).


In Ephesians 3:9, Paul speaks of the dispensation or oikonomia of the mystery of Christ.

Reading this in the context of verses 4-6, we see that Paul uses dispensation to refer to a new order or a new arrangement in the relationship between God and humanity.


The relationship between God and human beings should be thought of as a dispensation, a management relationship, God has instituted.

We now live in a dispensation which has been established through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit.


This current dispensation or management relationship between God and humanity is different from the arrangement which had been previously in effect.

The previous arrangement was also a dispensation (Galatians 3:23-4:7).


Significance- What is the significance of God calling His

relationship with humanity or His management of our relationship to Him, a dispensation?


1. God is sovereign over human affairs. Just as the master of an estate, God has the authority to manage, structure, or design human affairs in any way that He desires and He has the authority to hold His servants accountable.

2. God has a purpose and a plan. Management activity always has a vision or a plan or a purpose in view. There is a planned and purposeful order to whatever arrangement God institutes.


4. A dispensation involves an ordered set of relationships. In any management plan there is organization, delegation, and accountability.

5. A dispensation involves responsibilities and requirements.

6. Dispensations can change. Managers often change their management plan when they’ve accomplished the goals set in the previous plan.


Summary- A dispensation is a management relationship

between God and humanity, in which God manages the way human beings are to relate to Him and to one another. God has progressively revealed Himself and His plans through successive historical dispensations and He is leading us to a future dispensation in which all of His promises and covenants will be eternally fulfilled.

What Are the Dispensations?

All Christian theologians admit the existence of identifiable dispensations in redemptive history, but not all use the term dispensation.

Charles Hodge, a Covenant Theologian, believed that there are four dispensations after the Fall -- Adam to Abraham, Abraham to Moses, Moses to Christ, and Christ to the end.

Berkhof, another Covenant Theologian believed that there were two dispensations -- the Old and the New, but within the Old he saw four distinct periods wherein God managed His relationship to humanity in distinctive ways.

What a Dispensation Is Not

1. Strictly speaking, a dispensation is not an age or an era.

Dispensations do exist in time- they begin and they end, but a dispensation is more than a distinct period of time.

We don’t talk about the dispensation of the Judges or the dispensation of the Divided Monarchy, or the Dispensation of the Exile.


All would qualify as distinct eras in Biblical history, but none are referred to as dispensations.

A dispensation is characterized by new revelation from God that changes the way in which He is managing humanity.


2. A dispensation is not a different way of salvation.

Some have suggested that people were saved by the works of the law in the Old Testament, but now they are saved by grace in the New Testament.

Unfortunately, that error was taught in the first edition of the Scofield Study Bible.

What A Dispensation Is Not

"As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ. The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation."

Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford, 1909)


The error in the original Scofield Study Bible, has unfortunately caused many people to associate dispensations with different ways of salvation.

This also leads to the charge that dispensationalism teaches that there have been multiple ways of salvation.


According to Ryrie, “the most frequently heard objection against dispensationalism is that it supposedly teaches several ways of salvation.” John Wick Bowman made this accusation in 1956 when he said that dispensationalists are “clearly left with two methods of salvation.” In 1960, Clarence Bass argued that dispensational distinctions between law and grace and Israel and the church “inevitably result in a multiple form of salvation—that men are not saved the same way in all ages.”


In his 1991 book, Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism, John Gerstner accused all dispensationalists of teaching more than one way of salvation. He said, “We must sadly accuse dispensationalists (of all varieties) of teaching, always implicitly and sometimes explicitly, that there is more than one way of salvation and, in the process of developing that theology, excluding the one and only way even from this dispensation of grace.”


However, the dispensations are not to be seen as different ways of salvation.

The error in the Scofield Bible was corrected in later editions.

No one is saved apart from faith in Christ. The Old Testament saints were saved by

believing in what Christ would do, and we are saved by looking back at what Christ has done (Hebrews 11).


Paul makes it very clear that no one can be saved by keeping the Old Testament law (Romans 3:20)

3. A dispensation is not evidence that God has changed or that He is reacting to human events. God is sovereign and His purposes cannot be thwarted.

The attributes of God remain consistent in each dispensation.

God is sovereign and has a plan.

Characteristics of a Dispensation

What are the primary characteristics of a dispensation?

A dispensation is characterized by 1. New revelation2. A distinct management relationship

between God and humanity (or a portion of humanity)

3. Responsibilities for humans

The Dispensations

Some theologians have added secondary features to the dispensations.

1. A test

2. A failure

3. A judgment

The Dispensations

Throughout the centuries many dispensational schemes for understanding the progress of God’s revelation have been developed (See handouts)

Traditional dispensationalist have typically pointed to seven distinct dispensations.

The Dispensations

Innocence or Freedom- Genesis 1:28-30; 2:15; 2:17 What is the new Revelation? What are the specifics of the management

arrangement instituted by God? Is there a covenant? Is there an obvious test or tests? Is there a failure? Is there a judgment?

The Dispensations

Conscience- Genesis 3:14-19; 3:21; 4:1-5; (possibly Jude 14-15)

What is the new Revelation? What are the specifics of the management arrangement

instituted by God? Is there a covenant? Is there an obvious test or tests? Is there a failure? Is there a judgment? Is there a continuation of any divine principles from the

previous dispensation?

The Dispensations

Human Government- Genesis 9:1-17 What is the new Revelation? What are the specifics of the management

arrangement instituted by God? Is there a covenant? Is there an obvious test or tests? Is there a failure? Is there a judgment? Is there a continuation of any divine principles from

the previous dispensation?

The Dispensations

Promise- Genesis 12:2; 13:16; 15:13; 17:2-6 (seed); 12:1; 7; 13:14, 15, 17; 15:18; 18:18-21 (land); Genesis 12:2-3, 13:2; 22:17-18; 26:4; 28:14 (to be a blessing).




The Dispensations

Law- The Mosaic Law (Exodus 19 ->; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy)

What is the new Revelation? What are the specifics of the management

arrangement instituted by God? Is there a covenant? Is there an obvious test or tests? Is there a failure? Is there a judgment? Is there a continuation of any divine principles from the


The Dispensations

Grace- Crucifixion-> continuing at present (John 1:17; Acts 2; Rom. 6:14; 7:22, 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 3:3-11; Heb. 8:8-12;


instituted by God? Is there a covenant? Is there an obvious test or tests? Is there a failure? Is there a judgment? Is there a continuation of any divine principle from the


The Dispensations

Tribulation* (Revelation 5-18) What is the new Revelation? What are the specifics of the management

arrangement instituted by God? Is there a covenant? Is there an obvious test or tests? Is there a failure? Is there a judgment? Is there a continuation of any divine principles from the


The Dispensations

Kingdom (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 2; Is. 9:6-7; 11; 65:7-25; Ez. 36; 37; Revelation 20-21)




Why Study Dispensationalism?

1. Because Dispensationalism addresses some of the most significant doctrines in Scripture:

– Hermeneutics—it provides a framework for interpreting the Bible consistently

– Kingdom—God’s kingdom purposes (including the millennial Kingdom and God’s purposes for the future)

– People of God—the relationship between Israel, Gentiles, Church, the Nations

– Law of God—the relationship between the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant (Law of Moses and Law of Christ)


If you care about these important topics and their relationship to each other then you should be interested in Dispensationalism since Dispensationalism makes a serious attempt to address these doctrines.

2. Because Dispensationalism presents a rival system to Covenant Theology that also addresses many of these same important issues.


3. Because Dispensationalism is a solid fixture and influential force in Protestant theology.

What Is Dispensationalism?

One way to define Dispensationalism is to call it theological framework for viewing the Bible.

Another way to define Dispensationalism is to call it a system of Biblical interpretation.

Both definitions are helpful.


Dispensationalism is built upon four essential components:

1. The Scriptures must consistently be interpreted literally (normally), grammatically, and historically.

2. There is an ongoing distinction between Israel and the church and this distinction involves an eschatological future for Israel.


3. God has ruled and continues to rule over the earth in successive dispensations. (Some definitions of Dispensationalism do not include this, because almost all Christians agree that the Bible speaks of at least two or three dispensations.)

4. God’s overarching purpose for history is His glory.

What Is Dispensationalism

Many non-dispensationalist affirm that consistently interpreting the Scriptures with a literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic will lead to a belief in an ongoing distinction between Israel and the Church, a future for national Israel, and a belief that God’s purpose for history is His own glory.

Look at the following quote from a non-dispensationalist…


"Now we must frankly admit that a literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies gives us a picture of an earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures. That was the kind of Messianic kingdom that the Jews of the time of Christ were looking for, on the basis of a literal interpretation of the Old Testament promises (Floyd Hamilton, The Basis of the Millennial Faith), 38


Therefore, the debate over Dispensationalism is largely a debate over hermeneutics.

Many non-dispensationalists claim to use a literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic, but in reality, they do not. They use a different hermeneutic when interpreting prophecy (especially Old Testament prophecy).


Non-dispensationalists actually use a hermeneutic that is better described as grammatical-historical-theological because they interpret Old Testament prophecies with the theological pre-assumption that all are either fulfilled in Christ or the church.

Covenant theologian, Anthony Hoekema, affirms this when he states: “The Old Testament must be interpreted in light of the New Testament and that a totally and exclusively literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecy is not justified.”[1]

[1]Anthony A. Hoekema, “An Amillennial Response to Dispensational Premillennialism, in The Meaning of the Millennium, Four Views, ed. Robert G. Clouse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1977), 55


Mythical Distinctions of Dispensationalism

1. Dispensationalism teaches multiple ways of salvation.

2. Dispensationalism is inherently Arminian.

3. Dispensationalism is inherently antinomian.

4. Dispensationalism is opposed to “Lordship salvation.”

5. Dispensationalism is all about land.


Mythical Distinctions of Dispensationalism6. Dispensationalism is mostly about believing in

dispensations. 7. Dispensationalism is all about believing in

seven dispensations.8. Dispensationalism is all about a Pre-

Tribulation Rapture.9. Dispensationalist don’t believe the Sermon on

the Mount is applicable today.


Mythical Distinctions of Dispensationalism10. Dispensationalism is new.11. Dispensationalism leaves people

unconcerned about current events and uninvolved in politics.

12. Dispensationalism is causing its adherents to push the world toward the horrors of Armageddon.

*This list is based upon “Busting Myths about Dispensationalism, by Michael Vlach


History Opponents of Dispensationalism often

assert that its ideas are new and didn’t exist until the 19th Century.

J.N. Darby is often credited as the inventor of Dispensationalism.

It is true that Darby popularized some facets of Dispensationalism, but he did not create it.


History The concepts vital to Dispensationalism

existed very early in Church History. The writers of the early post-Apostolic

Church era (e.g., Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Papias), were pre-millennial and held to a distinction between Israel and the Church.


History It was not until around AD 160 that any of

the church fathers blurred this distinction. The first to do this was Justin Martyr.

Irenaeus (130-200) spoke of the various dispensations of God and specifically mentioned the Christian dispensation.

Clement of Alexandria (150-220) saw four dispensations in Scripture.


History Augustine (4th century) spoke of

“successive epochs”, “dispensations” and “various ages” through which an immutable Creator ruled His mutable creation.

Augustine did not find contradiction in the teaching that the diversity of God’s work within the creation was in any way incompatible with the immutability of His character.


History Though each of these authors alluded to

dispensational-like concepts, these early references should not be claimed as the beginning of Dispensationalism.


History The first systematic presentation of

Dispensationalism was by a Frenchman named Pierre Poiret (1649-1719).

He wrote a book titled L’OEconomie Divine which was published in 1687.


History The title, when translated, is The Divine

Economie which is a direct reference to the recognition of “economies” or “dispensations” from the Divine viewpoint.

His six volumes are pre-millennial and dispensational in perspective,

Poiret identified seven dispensations.


History John Edwards (1637-1716) wrote an immense work

titled A Compleat History or Survey of all the Dispensations, in which he developed a dispensational scheme.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748), the hymn writer defined dispensations and developed a six-fold dispensational scheme almost identical to the one used by many modern dispensationalists.


History 1687, the date of Poiret’s work may seem

recent in terms of church history, but consider that Johnanees Cocceius didn’t systematize Covenant Theology until 1647.

Covenant Theology is only 40 years older than Dispensationalism as a theological system.


History John Darby is known as the father of

systematized Dispensationalism. A trained lawyer at the age of 22, he became an ordained clergy in the Church of England in 1826.

After only one year, Darby became dissatisfied with the state church religion and began seeking a closer walk with God that involved more intimate bible study.


History Darby left the Church and gathered with a

group of believers in Plymouth, England (1831), a group later known as the Plymouth Brethren.

He systematized seven dispensations: 1) Paradisaical state to the Flood 2) Noah 3) Abraham 4) Israel 5) Gentiles 6) The Spirit and 7) The Millennium. .


History Darby’s written ministry incorporates some

forty volumes of six hundred pages each, including a translation of the Bible.

His works show a breadth of scholarship in his knowledge of the biblical languages, philosophy, and ecclesiastical history"

(Ryrie, Dispensationalism), 68. .


History James Hall Brookes is the father of

American Dispensationalism. He was a Presbyterian who studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and United Presbyterian Seminary at Oxford, Ohio.

He was pastor of the Walnut Street Presbyterian Church in Saint Louis, Missouri


History Brookes became a Dispensationalist

through personal Bible study alone. Brookes was a very popular pastor in

America and was a featured speaker at the Niagara Bible Conference (1857-1900)

Though the conference was not about Dispensationalism, Brookes’s teaching gained popularity through it.


History Brookes was influential in teaching C.I.

Scofield, a lawyer turned pastor, who went on to develop and publish the Scofield Study Bible in 1909.

Brookes was also influential in the life of Lewis Sperry Chafer who founded Dallas Theological Seminary.


Distinctions

1. A literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutic The dispensational hermeneutical method is literal in

that it seeks to understand the literal, normal, or plain, sense of each Bible passage.

Robert Thomas describes this method when he states: “Take each statement in its plain sense if it matches common sense, and do not look for another sense.”[1]

[1]Robert L. Thomans, Evangelical Hermeneutics– The New Versus the Old (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2002), 155

dispensations & covenants robert thurman, ma fall 2013

Documents

course matters

covenants of scripture

people of god

future nature of gods

present nature of gods

gods relationship

word of god

promises god