Dispensationalism - simply a means to an end

[BPPLEE]

Did anyone teach dispensationalism before John Nelson Darby in the 1800s?

Also, how does it free people from private interpretation and traditional practices that are no longer needed?

Dispensationalism And The Early Church Fathers

 

[Guojing]

Did anyone teach dispensationalism before John Nelson Darby in the 1800s?

Also, how does it free people from private interpretation and traditional practices that are no longer needed?

Ephesians 3:1-9 in the KJV will tell you that Paul himself taught that.

 

[atpollard]

Why is asking who taught it before the father of dispensationalism an issue? Nobody is answering that.

Moses taught it first.

When he wrote Genesis, Moses claimed that God and Man had one relationship in the garden before the fall and a different relationship after the fall ... that is the definition of a "dispensation of God's grace".

Moses then goes on to tell us that God had one relationship with mankind from Adam to Abram (Abraham) and a new relationship (dispensation) under the Patriarchs.

Moses then goes on to lay out yet another new relationship (dispensation) going forward ... the Covenant of the Law.

Moses described the reality and Rabbis commented on this reality for a very long time before men like Darby or Scofield came along to describe it with the English word "Dispensationalism" and apply it forward to times yet to come. Whatever they may have done, Darby and Scofield did not invent the concept ... it has always been prominently displayed in the Torah.

[... and I am not even a "Dispensationalist" when it comes to end times. I think they have some of the details wrong. However, give credit where credit is due.]

 

[wonderkins]

Dispensationalism And The Early Church Fathers

Thanks bpplee. I asked and you provided. So I will concede that there was at least some premillenialism going on in the early church. However, after reading the link you provided and doing some rabbit trailing, it seems that it wasn't the dominant view point at the time. The evidence seems to be lacking anyways.

I can see throughout history that there are times where things seems to shift phases in God's plan. If you are dispensational, does each successive dispansation replace the previous one? Example...does the Mosaic covenant replace the abrahamic covenant?

I'm really not trying to stir things up. But based on the title of this thread and the things said in the op, how does dispensationalism do these things? How is it a means to an end?

 

[BPPLEE]

Thanks bpplee. I asked and you provided. So I will concede that there was at least some premillenialism going on in the early church. However, after reading the link you provided and doing some rabbit trailing, it seems that it wasn't the dominant view point at the time. The evidence seems to be lacking anyways.

I can see throughout history that there are times where things seems to shift phases in God's plan. If you are dispensational, does each successive dispansation replace the previous one? Example...does the Mosaic covenant replace the abrahamic covenant?

I'm really not trying to stir things up. But based on the title of this thread and the things said in the op, how does dispensationalism do these things? How is it a means to an end?

There are different models and I don't agree with everything. I have a hard time seeing animal sacrifices resume in the millennium for instance.

 

[Dan Perez]

I'm on another forum and most of the discussion there is over the deity of Christ. There are Unitarians and Jehovah's Witnesses who post there and the Trinity is always being questioned.

And I am on 4 other Christian web site and see the same thing .

dan p