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The Orgins of Dispensationalist Theology
Posted : 5 Sep, 2010 07:25 AM
http://www.journalhome.com/remnant/126659/the-origins-of-dispensationalist-theology.html
www.journalhome.com
There are several false doctrines taught now in the churches, and to some extent outside of them, which start from an acceptance of the idea that the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still God's chosen people. That is, the DNA, genetics, or physical descent of the Hebrew peoples in these false doctrines is thought to determine, even now, their identity in Israel, and acceptance by God. In these theologies, ethnic Israel, saved or unsaved, is God's chosen.
Dispensationalist theology is the most popular of these false doctrines based to some extent on race. This theology does not teach that Gentile Christians are physical Israelites, but the system does honor, as the first group of God's people, those who are of ethnic Israel, most of whom reject Jesus Christ. The Sacred Name movement - and Hebrew Roots for Gentiles - likewise does not claim Gentile Christians are physical descendants of Abraham. But Sacred Namers and followers of Hebrew Roots certainly honor ethnic Israel, want to mingle the New Covenant with the Old Covenant, and go back to observing the law, and parts of the ceremonial law.
Christian Identity, the Mormons and most of the groups following Messianic Judaism value their claim to be physical descendants of Abraham. Of course, almost all those in Christian Identity and in Mormonism are Gentiles and their claim to having Hebrew blood is false.
Some evidence exists that the ruling elite played a role in the establishment of Dispensationalism as the dominant theology in the churches of North America, especially in the more evangelical denominations. This is the subject of the blog post found in the link above.
Jeremiah 31: 31-33 says "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I too...k them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
And Hebrews 8: 8 says "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:"
Both Jeremiah 31: 31 and Hebrews 8:8 say the New Covenant is with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
But classical dispensationalists teach that the church and Israel are completely different groups with whom God deals in different ways.
If the church is not Israel, how then could the dispensationalist "church" be part of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is with Israel, and the truth is that Gentile Christians who are saved are of Israel, something the dispensationalists will not accept, unless they are converted to that truth.
And - Paul asks in Galatians 4: 9 "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?"
In Galatians 5: 1 he says "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
The weak and beggarly elements and the yoke of bondage refer to going back to the Old Covenant and to a legalistic attitude.
The Old Covenant, including circumcision, Paul's issue in Galatians, and all other old ordinances are fulfilled and done away in Christ. Hebrews
7: 7 explains that "Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself."
Even if the theologies based on honoring the physical descendants of Abraham do not practice circumcision, in going back to the Old Covenant in other ways they are again entangled in the yoke of bondage.
John 8: 3, 33, 39.
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in
adultery; and when they had set her in the midst...33.They answered
him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how
sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?...39 They answered and said unto
him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were
Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Christ is saying here that the Pharisees are not the spiritual children of Abraham. The Pharisees thought that being the physical seed of Abraham was enough, and that is what they are bragging about.
Matthew 8: 11-12
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and
shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven.
12. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth
The ethnic Israelites who reject Christ are not saved because they are the physical descendants of Abraham.
Romans 9: 6 . Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
There are two Israels, one saved and the other not saved. The Israel which is not saved is also the physical seed of Abraham.
Romans 9: 7-8
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not
the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed.
Again, just because one is a physical descendant of Jacob, or Abraham, does not mean one is a child of God, accepted by God.
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