Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke
Hi,
I am quite confused. On the one hand, I have never really taken a serious study of the Bible (but I am enrolling in TBDI as soon as my text books arrive. Ordered them two weeks ago  ), but on the other hand, I have gradually moved towards the position held by dispensationalists.
I am inclined to believe that Jesus gospel and Paul's gospel are different. Not in all aspects, but in it's purpose. Jesus Gospel was of righteousness in regards to the Kingdom coming. Paul's Gospel was of imputed righteousness by Christ's death burial and resurrection. There are similarities between the two, and the Gospel of John is almost Pauline in doctrine.
So my question is this, and it may seem ignorant, so please forgive me:
If the gospel of the Grace of God (Paul by revelation of Jesus Christ) and the Gospel of the Kingdom (Jesus Christ & John the Baptist) are different, how exactly?
If they are not, how does one reconcile a works based Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, with a faith without works based Gospel of the Grace of God?
I cannot understand "reformed" theology (including amillennialism & calvinism), because there seem to be too many contradictions within scripture. |
Aloha brother Luke,
I've been reluctant to recommend brother Ruckman's works, because he is so often misunderstood, and I don't want to be Labeled a "Ruckmanite", but in this case I have to make an exception, and do so because I do not think that you could find a better book to explain "Dispensations" than Dr. Peter Ruckman's "How to Teach Dispensational Truth".
The Book is only 87 pages long, so it is not a deep "treatise" on Dispensational Truth, instead it is more of an "outline" for further study (with literally hundreds of sources sited). Here is the "Table Of Contents":
Preface
Backgrounds of "Dispensationalism"
What is "Dispensationalism"?
Locating the Time Periods
Noting Exceptions to the Rule
Examining the Covenants
A major Dispensation
The New Testament in His Blood
Salvation in the Great Tribulation
The Second Part of the New Testament
Dispensational Outlines
The following Quote comes from the "Preface":
"IN this work, you will see why "
rightly dividing the word of truth" is the proper method of studying the Holy Scriptures. We call this type of study an attempt to grasp "dispensational Truth" - the truths that apply to DIFFERENT dispensations in the Bible. "Differences" divide people. Differences put division between people and things. Thus "differences" divide scriptural passages (and sometimes verses, and even sentences) into separate, segregated units. It is a
negative operation. It is the operation given to us by the Holy Spirit, in the
King James Authorized Version (any edition, from 1611 o 1980), and found in not other English Bible in the world, including the
NEW KJV.
In this book brother Ruckman names at least a couple dozen men who taught about "dispensations" long before Darby, Scofield, and Clarence Larkin (probably the best of them all) came along.
Here is one more Quote from
Chapter Two ("
What Is a Dispensation?"):
The Greek word, for this english word, is "oikonomia", and it doesn't mean a "period of time" at all; it means "the laws by, which a household is operated, or the way the master of a house arranges his household." Our word "ecumenical" comes from this word. Still, this word has been used, ever since 1700, to mean "a period of time." This, of course, is due to the fact that as Master of the house (Hebrews 3:2; Ephesians 2:19), God sets up different ways of running His "family" at different times, according to His Own Wisdom. TIME BRACKETS show up where alterations in method and protocaol take place. Clarence Larkin's
Dispensational Truth is the real grand-daddy of all the work done since 1929. It is a superb, scriptural work; but, in constructing the charts, the time element is very conspicuous; it has to be. The law was given at a certain time, in a certain place. Christ died on the cross at a certain time, in a certain place, etc. Larkin's charts are well done; they are excellently drawn, and everything in them, that is true, scripturally, can be found in ANY edition of a
King James Bible. No knowledge of Greek or Hebrew is necessary to understand one "dispensational" teaching in the entire book of over four hundred pages. Before Larkin (Scofield, 1909, for example), a number of dispensations were listed and commented on with several hundred scriptural cross references (see p. 6).
I do not think that you could go wrong if you could obtain this book and read it. "Dispensationalism" is a very controversial and often mis-understood subject and brother Ruckman does a superb job separating all of the "competing" ideas concerning this doctrine; such as, defining "hyper-dispensationalism" or "ultra-dispensationalism", of which brother Ruckman is often accused of believing and/or promoting, but which he certainly does not.
I hope this may be of some help to you - and perhaps you will understand why I have been so late in replying to your question.
