PAULINE
DISPENSATIONALISM
Miles
J. Stanford
Breached Bulwarks -- There are
three great fissures in the Dispensational dike, through which doctrinally
contaminated Covenant theology is pouring. These inundating law-streams
arise from three sources: (1) Israel’s New Covenant, (2) Israel’s Sermon on
the Mount, and (3) Israel’s Millennial Kingdom.
These rifts are not only caused by Covenant-engineers from the outside,
but also Dispensational-sappers from the inside. Unless these torrents are
terminated, the Church will suffer greater devastation in the grip of
Covenant Theology than she has from the turmoil and personal wreckage caused
by the Arminian Charismatic chaos.
Pauline Dispensationalism --
Our theme is as follows: The Church is to be kept separate from all else,
including Israel and her Law, via clear-cut Pauline Dispensationalism.
The Lord Jesus Christ loves His Church, for whom He gave Himself on the
Cross. He did so that He might cleanse and sanctify her with the washing of
water by the (rightly divided) Word of truth. He would present her to
Himself a glorious Church, not having Charismatic spot, nor Covenant
wrinkle, nor any such thing, but that she should be holy and without earthly
Jewish blemish (Eph. 5:25–27).
The glorified Lord delivered His sanctifying and glorifying message
exclusively to His Bride through Paul—a life-giving Word infinitely higher
than His earthly message to the nation of Israel. The Pauline Gospel,
governed by Pauline Dispensationalism, belongs to the Church.
Dual Gospels --
Most dispensationalists and all Covenant theologians fail to
realize that there are two Gospels, each dependent upon the Blood of
the Cross. The one Gospel is earthly (Kingdom), the other is
heavenly (Grace). Both Gospels are “according to Jesus,” and present
only one way: by faith.
One Gospel was ministered by Christ on earth, during His pre-Cross
humiliation, and was exclusively addressed to Israel regarding her
Millennial Kingdom. The other—altogether “new creation” other—was ministered
to Paul by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ; after Calvary, from heaven,
exclusively to and for His chosen heavenly Body.
John the Baptist’s, Jesus’, and the Apostles’ Gospel concerned the
Messiah and His Kingdom-specifically and repeatedly referred to as “the
Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Mark 1:14; Luke 9:2, 6).
The other, “the Gospel of the Grace of God, “was neither preached nor
mentioned until Paul went forth to declare it (Acts 20:24; Rom. 3:21–28;
Eph. 3:1–3).
Heaven-based Church -- The
Church’s Source is in heaven; as a unique body she was brought into being on
earth at Pentecost. She will return to her eternal Source and abode in
heaven at the Rapture—not partially, but each and every member of His
completed Body. The glorious heavenly Church has no relationship, no
continuity, with anything prior to the Cross, nor after the Rapture. His
Body will be completed; His spotless Bride presented to Himself in heaven.
Paul’s heavenly Gospel is exclusively for the Church. One need not go
down to earthly Israel for anything! Why should a heavenly citizen,
“blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
stoop to purloin some “spiritual” blessing from comparatively poor Israel?
Like the wealthy shoplifter, in the 5 & 10! The Bride shares the throne with
her Bridegroom, whether in heaven, or on earth.
Anti-“Ultra”
-- Before going further, be assured that the dispensational aspects of the
Word presented here are simply normal, clear-cut, Pauline teaching.
We have always been opposed to all so-called “ultra,” “extreme,” [or
post-Acts2] Dispensationalism. We insist that the Church was born on the day
of Pentecost; we insist upon the privilege and responsibility of the Lord’s
Supper; we insist upon believers’ baptism by immersion. We have been
associated with the Bible Church movement for over half a century; we are
just seeking to give God’s revelation to Paul its proper place and nothing
more—there is no more!
Heavenly Gospel
-- The Gospel for the Church, the Gospel of the Grace of God, Paul’s Gospel,
is not mentioned in the Scriptures until 1 Corinthians 15:3–5. “For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received [from
Christ in glory], that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the
third day according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen…”
“But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by
me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I
taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11,
12). “For I [the glorified Lord] have appeared unto thee [Saul] for this
purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness of these things which thou
hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee” (Acts
26:16).
“All the Apostles (except Paul) accompanied the Lord and followed Him to
the cloud (Acts 1:9). Paul sees Him the other side of the cloud, and it is
this which characterizes his entire ministry.”
The glorified Lord directly communicated to Paul not only the great
fundamentals of the heavenly Church Gospel, but totally new
revelation concerning His Body—truths that He never shared with the nation
Israel. These truths concerned our identification with Christ crucified,
buried, resurrected and ascended; our heavenly position; our co-heirship and
co-reign with our Beloved Bridegroom, and much more.
Dr. Chafer wrote, “The current neglect of the extensive doctrine of the
Church is not only blameworthy, but has led to a considerable array of
baneful errors. The Church is the purpose of the Father in the present
dispensation, and His supreme purpose in the universe” (Systematic
Theology IV: 54).
Infinitely Above
-- All the while the Lord Jesus’ heavenly Gospel in content and position is
infinitely above the Kingdom Gospel that He shared with earthly Israel—which
they rejected.
Those who do not center in the truths which the ascended Lord
communicated directly to Paul will not know who and where they
are in Christ, nor what their portion is in the purpose of the
Father. Neither will they know their privileges and responsibilities. Those
who are ignorant of, and hence not centered in, the Pauline Gospel as set
forth exclusively in his Church Epistles, are constantly astray in their
interpretation of the Gospel, to say nothing of all-important Church truth.
“Few are restful and enlightened enough to ascend from earth to
heaven, and therefore there are so few who can descend from heaven to
earth to manifest the Lord Jesus and to share His mind and thoughts as
regards things here. The great secret of all blessing is to come from
the Lord. Every Christian goes to Him.” —J.B. Stoney
If Paul’s Gospel were not other than that of Jesus’ earthly
Kingdom Gospel, he would naturally have been instructed by the Apostles who
had been with and taught by Jesus all during His earthly ministry. On the
contrary, the Apostles had to be indoctrinated by Paul concerning most of
the new-creation truth.
“…even as our beloved brother, Paul, also according to the wisdom given
unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking in
them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
Scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:15, 16). Be warned, all ye
who would wrest, rather than rest and rightly divide! There is a heavy
penalty involved in forsaking Pauline Dispensationalism for Covenant
Theology, or even Neo-Dispensationalism.
“The sublimest truths are still needed to enforce the simplest
responsibilities. As the laws which mould the stars and move the gigantic
orbs of Saturn and Uranus in their tremendous circuits shape the dew-drop
that glistens at the end of a blade of grass, so should everything in the
Christian’s life be regulated by the principles which lie in the Person and
Cross of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. To isolate Christian morality from
Christian theology is to rend asunder the teachings of the Pauline Epistles,
as to their deepest and most vital elements.” —W.G. Scroggie
“The laws of the Kingdom are not required to be combined with the
teachings of Grace, since every item within those laws which could have any
present application, is exactly and amply stated in the Pauline teachings of
Grace.” —Chafer (Grace, p. 233)
“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a
good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of
good doctrine, unto which thou hast attained” (1 Tim. 4:6).