Editorial: Christians Do Not Go To Glory! -- By: Mal Couch

Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 09:26 (Mar 2005)
Article: Editorial: Christians Do Not Go To Glory!
Author: Mal Couch


Editorial:
Christians Do Not Go To Glory!

Mal Couch

President, Tyndale Seminary

Progressive Dispensationalism (PD) that was begun in one of our “big” seminaries, is turning out to be a most destructive teaching. Many say that it is not even dispensational in nature. One “mole” teacher we know who is still a professor at that institution says that, most of the instructors there should not even be able to sign the doctrinal statement, but they do! For laymen, the issues seem trite and not very important, but for those who have studied this aberrant view in some detail, we are convinced it is terribly destructive.

Wanting Acceptance

Progressive Dispensational began, according to one of its early advocates, in order to appease those of the Reformed faith. It is admitted by all, to be a movement toward Covenant Theology, and meant to blunt some of the distinctions of classical dispensationalism. Progressive Dispensationalism teaches (1) that Christ is now presently sitting on the throne of David in heaven. They argue from Psalm 110:1–4, though that passage says no such thing! (He is on the throne of His heavenly Father in glory, not on the earthly throne of David!) Therefore, they say, the Church is now “partly” in the promised millennial kingdom in a spiritual sense. But this is not so. They have other disturbing beliefs. Some of the PDs teach that (2) the Church is not destined for glory. They argue that heaven is never called glory! While they still “weakly” teach the rapture of the Church, they say the main destiny of the Church is to the millennial kingdom. While the Church will indeed join Christ in His earthly reign, the rapture takes the living body of Christ into glory, along with giving to the saints who have died, their new bodies.

I have asked students at that “big” seminary, “Does not PD destroy the love of Bible prophecy, and bring about confusion concerning the rapture of the Church?” To a man, they all said yes.

Heaven is not Glory

What a surprise to my grandparents and parents. In their last days, they were looking forward to going home to heaven, to glory! They must have been wrong! To many PDs, heaven is not called glory. To answer what the PDs are saying, I will confine my argument to just several passages in the book of Colossians, and also to Philippians 3:20. I will prove that glory is heaven, and heaven is glory. The PDs say that the glory is simply about Christ, and that we should not identify heaven with glory (doxa).

But what does the Bible say?

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