Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 06:17 (Mar 2002)
Article: History of the War Over Dispensationalism: Where We Stand Today, Part I
Author: Mal Couch

CTJ 6:17 (March 2002) p. 90

History of the War Over Dispensationalism:
Where We Stand Today, Part I

Mal Couch

President & Professor of Theology & Languages
Tyndale Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX

Introduction

We are into a rapidly moving paradigm shift in the Christian world. For those of us in the Evangelical camp, and even here in this PreTrib Research group, we’re continually asking what it all means, and, how can we better minister the Word of God in these strange and changing times.

For those of us here, we’re concerned: (1) about how best to communicate the gospel of salvation found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) and, about how to more effectively warn the world of the events we see coming upon our civilization. In our minds, these two issues are really tied together. Every human being ever born, and who will be born, has his or her own personal eschatological issues to deal with. We believe there is a generation that will soon have to face the terrors of the tribulation, and the judgment of the Messiah when He comes. A final spiritual judgment awaits all unbelievers. Their own personal salvation is intricately tied to what they must face in their lifetime. As dispensationalists we have trouble speaking of one without the other.

We believe the best way to accomplish our mission is to share the truths of Scripture through the dispensational and premillennial theological framework of Bible interpretation. Basically this means we interpret the Word of God in a plain and normal hermeneutic. We let the Bible speak for itself. We believe the dispensational approach to sharing the Bible is the way it was intended to be understood. We admit that the word dispensationalism may no

CTJ 6:17 (March 2002) p. 91

longer convey our views properly. But again, we believe it is the word that best explains how God’s Word should be understood and through which the plan of God can make sense to the common man. Ryrie states:

If plain or normal interpretation is the only valid hermeneutical principle and if it is consistently applied, it will cause one to be a dispensationalist… Dispensationalism, then, claims to be a help in supplying the answer to the need for biblical distinctions, in offering a satisfying philosophy of history, and in employing a consistently normal principle of interpretation.1

With what has been said above, and with the implications that appear to follow, dispensationalism:

• Best explains the continuing, and even growing, moral and spiritual failure of mankind.
• Best explains the free grace of God that flows from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Best expla...
  
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