A Subtle View On Dispensationalism From Francis Schaeffer

northwye

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A Subtle View On Dispensationalism From Francis Schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer said that "What you have is the two halves given. There is the half that deals with the Jews as the Jews, a nation. And I would say that Romans makes very plain that God is not done with the Jews. This portion of the covenant still stands. As a matter of fact, I would say immediately that if it doesn’t stand, then we cannot trust God, because he says in reference to his covenant to the Jews, as Paul is speaking to the Jews concerning national, natural Israel, his brethren according to the flesh, he says “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” He’s talking about the national, natural portion of the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant to the Jews as Jews. But we mustn’t forget that that isn’t all there is to it. There is a spiritual portion, a spiritual and personal element that is shown here: Looking forward to the coming of Messiah and an individual’s partaking in personally in it.

Those who tend to take the amillennial position tend to lose the diversity of this and confuse the national, natural portion with the spiritual portion. But there are many many people today who make the opposite mistake. And that is that they lose the unity, the failure to understand the total unity of the Covenant of Grace from the promise of Gen 3:15 onward, including the fact that there is a unity to those of us who are born again, now on this side of the cross, a unity with these promises, the spiritual side of the promises made to Abraham. Let us not lose the diversity. There is a difference between the promise made to the nation of the Jews as Jews and the spiritual portion, but let us equally beware of losing the unity, There is a unity to the Covenant of Grace. To say in passing, this is the reason I am not a dispensationalist. There is a unity"

This quote from Schaeffer is from Francis Schaeffer’s Covenant Premillennialism
https://onepilgrimsprogress.wordpress.com/2016/06/18/francis-schaeffers-covenant-premillennialism/
Here are several New Testament scriptures that deal with the issues raised by dispensationalism - such as the theology's claim that God has two peoples Old Covenant Israel and the Church, that God will finish the present diepensation of grace and return to Old Covenant Israel to honor Israel identified by those of the physical bloodline. In dispensationalism the implication is that the physical bloodline continues to exist to determine who is Israel and will be honored by God in the future.

Animal sacrifices, dietary laws, Sabbaths, holy days, festivals, priests and liturgy have all been fulfilled in Christ and are done away with in the New Covenant (Colossians. 2:16-17; Hebrews. 8: 13, Hebrews 10:9, II Corinthians 3: 7-9 II Corinthians 3: 11.etc.

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Colossians 2: 16-17

"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." Hebrews 8: 13

"Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second." Hebrews 10: 9

"But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: . How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? πως ουχι μαλλον η διακονια του πνευματος εσται εν δοξη 9. For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." II Corinthians 3: 7-9

For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." II Corinthians 3: 11

"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." John 10: 16

"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Romans 12: 4-5

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" Ephesians 4: 4

"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:" Ephesians 2: 14-16

"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7. 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." Romns 9: 6-8

"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Romans 2: 28-29

"And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18. Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:" Romans 11: 17-20

"Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?... Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham."

"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect."

26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
"Galatians 3: 3, 6-9, 16-17, 26-29

"For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Romans 10: 12

"Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Galatians 4: 24-26
 

northwye

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Not my conclusion - but what is the meaning of these New Testament scriptures?

And what does Francis Schaeffer mean when he says "There is a difference between the promise made to the nation of the Jews as Jews and the spiritual portion, but let us equally beware of losing the unity, There is a unity to the Covenant of Grace. To say in passing, this is the reason I am not a dispensationalist. There is a unity"
 
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northwye

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The New Testament scriptures quoted above confirm Schaeffer's statement that "There is a difference between the promise made to the nation of the Jews as Jews and the spiritual portion, but let us equally beware of losing the unity, There is a unity to the Covenant of Grace."

Look at Romans 11: 17-24, "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18. Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
24. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

"For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Romans 12: 4-5

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" Ephesians 4: 4

"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:" Ephesians 2: 14-16

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3: 28-29

""For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Romans 10: 12

New Testament scripture does not say in an explicit way that God has two peoples, Old Covenant Israel and the Church. It says the opposite above.

Yet Romans 11: 23-24 honors those of Old Covenant Israel who "abide not still in unbelief", and as "natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree."

Schaeffer says there is spiritual unity between the believing Christian non-Jews and the believing Jews under the Covenant of Grace and that we do not want to destroy that spiritual unity by arguing - arguing that God has two peoples, Old Covenant Israel and the Church and, a different program for the two peoples. Some have called dispensationalism a theology of two peoples and two programs.
 
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northwye

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In this quote from Schaeffer, he mentions Romans 11, but does not go into any specific text there.

Does Schaeffer follow the John Gill view on Romans 11: 26, "And so all Israel shall be saved,.... Meaning not the mystical spiritual Israel of God, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, who shall appear to be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, when all God's elect among the latter are gathered in, which is the sense many give into; but the people of the Jews, the generality of them, the body of that nation, called "the fulness" of them, Romans 11:12, and relates to the latter day, when a nation of them shall be born again at once; when, their number being as the sand of the sea, they shall come up out of the lands where they are dispersed, and appoint them one head, Christ, and great shall be the day of Jezreel; when they as a body, even the far greater part of them that shall be in being, shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King; shall acknowledge Jesus to be the true Messiah, and shall look to him, believe on him, and be saved by him from wrath to come. There is a common saying among themF3, כל ישראל יש להם חלק לעולם הבא, "all Israel shall have a part", or "portion in the world to come"; and in support of this they usually produce the passage in Isaiah 60:21, "thy people also shall be all righteous": yea, they even go so far as to say."

Or does Schaeffer follow the John Calvin View on Romans 11: 26: "And so all Israel, etc. Many understand this of the Jewish people, as though Paul had said, that religion would again be restored among them as before: but I extend the word Israel to all the people of God, according to this meaning - "When the Gentiles shall come in, the Jews also shall return from their defection to the obedience of faith; and thus shall be completed the salvation of the whole Israel of God, which must be gathered from both ...." The same manner of speaking we find in Gal. vi.16. The Israel of God is what he calls the Church, gathered alike from Jews and Gentiles."

I do not know what interpretation Francis Schaeffer gave to Romans 11: 25-26.
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northwye

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Two of the fundamental issues in dispensationalism is their claim that there are two peoples of God, Old Covenant Israel and the Church. But NT scripture says there is one people of God - John 10: 16, Romans 12: 4-5 and Ephesians 4: 4. Another fundamental issue for dispensationalists is their assumption or implied assumption that God continues to honor Old Covenant Israel as a race. Romans 9: 6-8 and much of Galatians 3 deal with this issue.
 
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Dispensationalism does not see Israel as "old Covenant Israel," but as the "Israel" that was already in existence, as a possessor of an eternal promise, before the Old Covenant even came into being. This promise was not only made to Abraham, but also to Isaac and Jacob. Then, during the time the Old Covenant was in effect, it was repeated to them many times more, even as their ancient judgement for their wickedness was being announced.
 
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northwye

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On several popular Christian forums quarrels go on endlessly between a multitude of people defending dispensationalism and a smaller number who know that some Scripture does not agree with dispensationalism. On this thread I quoted a number of New Testament scriptures which do not agree with dispensationalism. One way to keep the quarrel going is for the dispensationalists to say, OK, these scriptures above that I quoted are for our present dispensation of grace, but that God in the future sometime is going to return to a dispensation of law and return to honoring the race of Old Covenant Israel.
 
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Biblewriter

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On several popular Christian forums quarrels go on endlessly between a multitude of people defending dispensationalism and a smaller number who know that some Scripture does not agree with dispensationalism. On this thread I quoted a number of New Testament scriptures which do not agree with dispensationalism. One way to keep the quarrel going is for the dispensationalists to say, OK, these scriptures above that I quoted are for our present dispensation of grace, but that God in the future sometime is going to return to a dispensation of law and return to honoring the race of Old Covenant Israel.

This is not a dodge, but the very clear statement of a multitude of scriptures. Although you are misrepresenting the future Dispensation.
 
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northwye

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A way to keep a quarrel going is to make statements like "Although you are misrepresenting the future Dispensation" without saying how whatever you mean by the future Dispensation is being misrepresented. I stopped posting on one Christian forum because I got tired of dispensationalists keeping the quarrel going by not being clear and by making statements that are not substantive, but are personal attacks.
 
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