Lesson 7 - Dispensationalism

Question 1

What are the 7 Dispensations?

Answer 1

a. Paradise to flood
b. Era of Noah
c. Era of Abraham
d. Era of Moses and Israel
e. Era of the Gentiles
f. Era of the Spirit
g. Era of the Millennium

Question 2

Difference between classical dispensationalist and revised/modified dispensationalists?

Answer 2

1.) The distinction between the heavenly people (the church) and the earthly people (Israel)
2.) Modified Dispensationalism: continued to have the distinction between Israel and the church, but the salvation they would receive is the same.
Israel and the Church have the same salvation.

Question 3

What are the distinctions between revised/modified dispensationalism and progressive dispensationalism

Answer 3

1. ) See much more continuity between Israel and the Church than the previous two
   a. ) Acknowledge that both Israel and the church comprise the people of God, they are both recipients of the blessings of the New Covenant
   b. ) They maintain there are functional distinctions between Israel and the church. They still deny the church is Israel in this age.
   c. ) They hold that there is going to be a distinctive future for ethnic Israel in the coming millennial kingdom.

Question 4

10 ways dispensationalism is different than covenant theology?

Answer 4

1. ) Armenian or modified Calvinist (never a 5 point calvinist)
2. ) Israel only means the literal, physical descendants of Jacob
3. ) Stresses the “literal” interpretation of the Bible
4. ) God has two peoples with 2 different destinies: Israel (earthly); church (heavenly)
5. ) The church was born at pentecost in Acts 2
6. ) All OT prophecies for “Israel” are for literal Israel, not the church
7. ) God’s main purpose in history is literal Israel
8. ) The church is a parenthesis in God’s program for the ages
9. ) God’s program in history is mainly through separate dispensations (stresses discontinuity)
10. ) The Law has been abolished
11. ) David will sit on the millennial throne in Jerusalem