Hello all:
In my last post in this series, I spent a few moments criticizing our hermeneutical lenses of Command, Example and Necessary Inference. In this post, I want to focus on the theological system that we use in examining scripture and salvation history as a whole.
The magisterium, and to some extent, the Restoration Movement in general, holds to a three part, or Tripartite, Dispensationalism. This is ironic because we in Churches of Christ enjoy criticizing “dispensationalists” all the time, especially when it comes to talking about eschatology. I think that this is in part because we do not recognize that we are, in fact, dispensationalists ourselves, though of a different strain than the dispensational pre-millenialists we so often spar with.
Dispensationalism generally serves to separate periods of time into categories, and these categories describe how God dealt with his people during those times. For a full treatment of Dispensationalism in general, you can check out the Wikipedia Article on Dispensationalism.
Tripartite Dispensationalism divides the history of redemption into three parts: The Patriarchal Dispensation, the Jewish Dispensation, and the Christian Dispensation. We see a difference in how God dealt with the patriarchs versus the Nation of Israel, and we see a difference in how God dealt with Israel versus the Church. This is biblical fact. The problem comes when we see no connection between the differences, or dispensations, and declare that nothing God has said or done during the prior dispensations, nor anything that occurred in the prior dispensations, applies to us today.
This idea of disconnected dispensational time periods is most clearly seen in our view of the Old Testament as a whole. The magisterium holds that nothing in the Old Testament applies to us, because the Old Testament describes the Jewish and Patriarchal dispensations. For example, then, according to the Magisterium, the fact that we can read about Instrumental Music being used in the Old Testament to worship God does not mean that we can use it today.
A more obvious problem comes though, when we study the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and the teachings of Jesus. Tripartite Dispensationalism claims that the Christian Dispensation started at Pentecost. What does this mean, then? It means that Jesus’ teachings are lumped in with the Old Testament, were only for first century Jews, and that his teachings have no bearing on our conduct and lives as Christians.
It is absurd for us to think that God came down as a man into time, lived life as a human for 33 years, then died on a cross for us, but to also think that God doesn’t want us to take note of how he lived his life on Earth, or what he taught his disciples during that time. Such a claim makes a mockery out of Jesus’ life; a pure, holy, undefiled, perfect life, that he gave up in order to give us eternal life.
Furthermore, such a view of the Old Testament is in sharp contrast with Paul’s words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. Here, Paul is refering to the Jewish scriptures, not the “Christian” scriptures which haven’t yet been compiled into the Bible at the time of his writings.
Our Tripartite Dispensationalism is more damaging than pre-millenial dispensationalism. The premillenialists don’t deny the Old Testament its significance. We must find a more biblical way of talking and thinking about the History of Salvation. Removing our anti Old Testament bias isn’t enough; we must jettison our Tripartite Dispensationlism and adopt a biblical view. What that view might entail will be the subject of a future post.
-Clarke
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Thank you to Bobby Valentine for writing about the Old Testament and our Tripartite Dispensationalism, I was looking for sources and he provided a great one at just the right time.
