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Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism is a way of reading the Bible.

Summary

1 Definition
2 Phases
3 Origins of Dispensationalism
4 See also
5 External Links

Definition

All the interpreters of the Bible, without exception, recognize the need to make some basic distinctions in reading the Bible. Dispensationalists are in their own schema the most satisfactory response to this need recognized by all to make distinctions within the Bible. Indeed, providers respond to the need to define distinct stages in the revelation given progressively throughout the Bible. However, according to dispensationalists, these steps are not mere time periods in the revelation of the covenant of grace, but clearly distinct regimes in the divine direction of world affairs.

Dispensationalism is based essentially on three elements:

The recognition of a distinction between Israel and the Church
The principle of a literal interpretation of the Bible
The idea that the fundamental plan of God for his own glory rather than the salvation of mankind.

Phases

Called "dispensation" a time during which man is tested based on their obedience to a specific revelation of God's will. Dispensationalism defines 7 main phases in the history of mankind characterized by a certain type of relationship between God and man.

These are 7 periods:

Innocence: Adam and Eve before their fall
Consciousness: Man is sinful and must be accountable to God
Human government: From the deluge, God gives a political organization to humanity
The Promise: Abraham , God promises blessing to those who believe in him
The Law: God made a covenant with Israel for his own good and the blessing of the nations
Grace: God forgives completely to him who believes in Jesus
The Kingdom: Jesus will return and reign for 1000 years of peace on earth

The beginning of a dispensation does not necessarily mean the end of the previous one. It follows that each of dispensationalism passage of the Bible should be placed in context and applies literally in the present time (grace) unless it is confirmed by the Christian doctrine contained in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles.

Under this doctrine, Christ will return at the end of time with a series of events warning ( rapture of the Church , war, emergence of new political and economic world, the return of Jews to the Promised Land to Abraham , arrival of the Antichrist ) and establish a reign of peace for a thousand years before the coming of the Last Judgement.

Origins of Dispensationalism

The preacher Protestant John Nelson Darby is the origin of the systematization and dissemination of this doctrine. However, it is not the origin of ideas dispensationalists because there is already such ideas in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Mention may also be other more recent authors such as:

Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (1616-1719), published The Divine Economy for the first time in Amsterdam in 1687. This important book was later translated into English and published in six volumes in London in 1713. Each of the six volumes is devoted to an "economy" or special dispensation.
In 1699, John Edwards (1639-1716), pastor of the Calvinist Church of England, published two volumes entitled "A Complete History or Survey of All the Dispensations. In these books, his goal was "to show all transactions of divine providence in relation to religion, from creation to the end of the world."
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was a theologian whose writings fill six large volumes. In a forty page essay entitled "The Harmony of All the Religions Which God ever Prescribed to Men and All Its Dispensations Towards them", he defines his concept of dispensations.

John Nelson Darby is also known as translator of the Bible in several languages. Cyrus Ingerson Scofield was inspired by the Bible Darby Bible for annotated by himself and is now the Bible commentary by reference to the United States. More recently Charles Ryrie has greatly popularized the doctrine in Anglo-Saxon.