Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism

[Apologetic_Warrior]

Prov1810 is correct that Gill was a giant of learning. But, the information he made use of is severely limited when compared to what we now have available.

If you check out Gill's "The Cause of God and Truth" you'll see Gill making use of pre-Reformation sources. He was not "limited" by the Reformation, nor limited his studies to Protestants alone as you suggest.

 

[Iosias]

If you check out Gill's "The Cause of God and Truth" you'll see Gill making use of pre-Reformation sources. He was not "limited" by the Reformation, nor limited his studies to Protestants alone as you suggest.

I have read it; my point is that he had all the information available to him at that time, not what we have discovered since the seventeen hundreds, which is quite a bit.

His Exposition of the Song of Solomon allegorises, his commentary on Genesis 1-2 has no knowledge of ANE parallels and so on and so forth.

Modern scholarship on the development of Hebrew has shown Gill's The Antiquity of the Hebrew Language Letters to be wrong. There is overwhelming evidence from archaeology, paleography, and comparative linguistics that early texts were unpointed.

 

[JM]

If you check out Gill's "The Cause of God and Truth" you'll see Gill making use of pre-Reformation sources. He was not "limited" by the Reformation, nor limited his studies to Protestants alone as you suggest.

Exactly. Most modern minds think in tweets and blogs, believing more info equals better info.

Gill was different even for his time, he had depth AND breadth, he knew his sources inside and out.

 

[AmericanSamurai]

I want to buy John Gerstner's book, Wrongly Dividing The Word of Truth.

 

[AmericanSamurai]

I'll take depth of biblical understanding over breadth of so called modern scholarship.

Me too. Most of what passes for 'modern scholarship' these days is liberal bent, emergent church type deconstructionism.

 

[JM]

I want to buy John Gerstner's book, Wrongly Dividing The Word of Truth.

Gerstner is very combative in his approach and at the time, I was a Dispensationalist, I was really turned off by his attitude toward the Dispensationalist hermeneutic. It was only latter did I realize why he was so upset.

j

 

[JM]

I like Pastor Martin's approach, he doesn't use the term 'hyper' Dispensationalist instead, he compares the differing schools to mustard!

Dispensationalism: an Overview and Critique, A Peculiar Hermeneutic With Errors - SermonAudio.com

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

And in so doing you're painting a pretty false dichotomy; all biblical scholars possess a deep understanding of the Bible.

Then why is Christianity in such a state of confusion over the Bible?

.

 

[Iosias]

Then why is Christianity in such a state of confusion over the Bible?

Good question and the answer can become very complex; put simply, it depends on what the individual Christian determines is their authority - Scripture, Tradition, or Reason. Generally speaking, the fault lines are those who have Scripture alone as their only authority, those who have both Scripture and Tradition as their only authorities, and those who accept all three. In reality, every Christian uses all three, but the question is whether they are conscious of that. Hope that helps.

 

[JM]

Then why is Christianity in such a state of confusion over the Bible?

Great question with a simple answer:

Sin is the reason people deny the Gospel and create false churches. These false churches make it seem as if the gates of hell have prevailed against the church. Sin will never conqueror true belief because true belief in the saving work of Christ is a gift of God. The church is a collection of unworthy people, the assembly of sinners, called together to worship the King. We will always be sinners...sinners saved by grace through faith. We will always have trouble, sorrow and confusion in this world. It doesn't matter what authority you choose. If you are a Christian you will always be a sinner saved by grace and not by picking the right church.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[Iosias]

The stage at which the individual is at also contributes to the issue: Fowler Stages of Faith

 

[JM]

The Particular / Reformed Baptist Confession, 1689 reads:

26:3 The purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan; nevertheless Christ always hath had, and ever shall have a kingdom in this world, to the end thereof, of such as believe in him, and make profession of his name.

( 1 Corinthians 5; Revelation 2; Revelation 3; Revelation 18:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12; Matthew 16:18; Psalms 72:17; Psalm 102:28; Revelation 12:17 )

 

[Iosias]

.

 

[JM]

Mr. (staff edit),

I quoted the 1689 because it is a standard among Reformed Baptists. On this forum and in their associations these standards are important to prevent unorthodox views from being promoted or discussed. (see Why Wright is not Reformed) What I believe just happens to be clearly stated by the 1689. This does not mean I use the Reformed standards in the same manner as ARBCA or as a tradition I am appealing to.

You fail to recognize the difference.