Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 23:1 (Spring 2019)
Article: The Postponement Of The New Exodus Theory In Non-Dispensational Hermeneutics
Author: Neal Cushman

JMAT 23:1 (Spring 2019) p. 84

The Postponement Of The New Exodus Theory In Non-Dispensational Hermeneutics

Neal Cushman

One of traditional dispensationalism’s much maligned teachings is that the kingdom was “postponed” due to the Jewish rejection of the King’s offer, as recorded in the Gospels.2 Some non-dispensational theologians infer from this that dispensationalists believe that since Israel’s national restoration was postponed for a future time, God turned his attention away from the Jews and created the church. Plan “A” did not work out, so plan “B” was initiated.3

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They further observe the dispensationalist view that the church was unknown to the prophets of the OT, so on this basis plan “B” is not even mentioned in the OT. Therefore, they assume that dispensationalists believe that God initiated some type of spiritual kingdom at this juncture of human history since Israel rejected his original plan.4

Likewise, since many dispensationalists call the church age a “parenthesis” in God’s timetable, it appears to non-dispensationalists that dispensational theology seriously downgrades the church and all that comes with it. From a grammatical standpoint, a parenthesis in a sentence typically denotes a word, phrase, clause, or sentence that is less important than the rest of the text. Essentially the sentence retains its meaning in the absence of the parenthesis. In the order of English grammatical significance, this punctuation communicates ideas that are less important than ideas connected to the independent clause by colons, semi-colons, and even dashes. So why would dispensationalists bracket the church age as a parenthesis in God’s program?

Therefore, non-dispensationalists accuse dispensationalists of reducing the church’s existence and its task of fulfilling the Great Commission for the past few millennia to a placeholder in time until God resumes his original plan, which is to inaugurate the mediatorial kingdom. However, although traditional dispensationalists use the terms, “postponement,” “mystery,” and “parenthesis” in their descriptions of how the mediatorial

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kingdom relates to the church, they do not view the church age as plan “B” nor do they minimize its significance in the overarching purpose of God.

It is not my intent in this article to (1) address the postponement theory broadly from the standpoint of teaching in the Gospels and Acts; (2) discuss supposed theolog...