Part III -- Some Conclusions

Preface:  May the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard
                your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.  (Phil. 4:7)


     "We have much more to say about this . . ."  (Heb. 5:11) but the Holy Spirit has clearly said, "Put this subject on the shelf awhile after today".  Yes Lord, I will do exactly that; then, as You lead, come back to it on down the road.  "So cut to the chase, Russ, are you a Dispensationalist?"  Well, I think that I have been "up front" with you and shown that I have an appreciation for the broad, general ideas in Dispensationalism and I have tried to show briefly how I have modified it at certain points.  I have tried to set an example for those who hold different views of Scripture to similarly critically evaluate their own systems.  But I must also say that I do not really like words that end in 'ist' or 'ism'.  But we are stuck with them:  Calvinist, dispensationalist, etc., etc., etc.   So we'll do the best we can with them.
     Remember, that the word "dispensation" no longer appears in most English translations of the New Testament.  That is the main reason we rarely hear the word.  Some believers prefer to view the broad sweep of history by the covenants God has made with people.  This is often called Covenant Theology.  They see the Church as being the New Covenant People of God, as being what Israel failed to be and therefore being the New Israel or The Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).  They see baptism as replacing circumcision as the Sign of the Covenant and therefore they baptize infants.  This is a very brief description and I hope a fair one.  Covenant theologians may, of course, say it a little differently.  You may do a Google search to find more.  
     I have no desire to critique Covenant Theology only to very briefly say why I am unable to embrace it.  Paul, in his letters, rarely mentions the New Covenant and the context of those few references is to believers of Jewish background who need assurance that only in Jesus can the blessings of the New Covenant be found.  All believers, whether Jew or Gentile, receive the two basic blessing of the New Covenant:  their sins removed and being given a new heart.  But the believer in the Lord Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, now has "every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 1:3), something even greater than the New Covenant.  God's purpose in the New Covenant was "with the House of Israel and the House of Judah". (Jer. 31:31)  It is no accident that the longest passages on the New Covenant in the New Testament are in the Letter to the Hebrews.   And it is also no accident that Paul's letter giving the most detail of the believer's standing in Christ and what the Church, the Body of Christ, is in God's plan and purposes, never mentions the New Covenant.  The word 'covenant' itself is only mentioned when he reminds Gentile believers that they were ". . . by birth . . . foreigners to the covenants (plural) of promise . . . ." (Eph. 2:11&12)   Agreeing with the broad, general aspects of Dispensationalism does not mean that I minimize the Covenants in Scripture.  But that is a topic for another day.
     Having said all this I quickly add that some of the greatest defenders of the Faith, past and present, have held to Covenant Theology and this is true of some of my dear friends in the Body of Christ.  The Covenant view of Scripture dominated Christianity from the time of Augustine (ca. 400 A.D.) until the 20th century when the broad, general aspects of Dispensationalism became, in the words of a well known Covenant theologian, "the majority report of Evangelical Christianity".  Interestingly, this same man also said that he believes Romans 11:26 will be literally fulfilled:  "And so all Israel will be saved . . . . "    (Be careful there R.C., you're sounding like a dispensationalist.)
     I hope that in these three posts I have passed the test of James 3:17&18.  "The wisdom that comes from God is first utterly pure, then peace-loving, gentle, approachable, full of tolerant thoughts and kindly actions, with no breath of favoritism or hint of hypocrisy.  And the wise are peacemakers who go on quietly sowing for a harvest of righteousness--in other people and in themselves."  (Phillips-New Testament in Modern English)
      The next post will be "The Small Change of Life" (as in "nickel and dime")