Rising in
the 1800's Dispensationalism emphasized the discontinuity between the Old and
the New Testaments and in fact in its original form created several tiers of
discontinuity even within the Old Testament. This was a break with past
theological models and ways of explaining how the Bible fit and worked
together.
Historically
there had been a tendency to overemphasize the unity between the Old and New.
The whole premise of Christendom and much of what happened with the Church in
the Middle Ages rested on this assumption of continuity and emulation of Old
Testament patterns.
The Reformed
or Calvinistic wing of the 16th century Reformation later reworked
some of this theology into what is often called Covenant Theology. The problem
with this term is its broadness. There's a wide range of positions and
understandings that have operated under the umbrella of Covenant Theology.
Different factions have emphasized this teaching in different ways. Covenant
Theology attempts to tie the Old and New together in some form of overarching
unity... one Bible, one Plan and certainly one God. And yet, also explain how
the Old and New administrations differ.
While the
term Covenant may sound foreign to some, it shouldn't. The word that is translated
as Testament is identical with Covenant. Thus when we speak of Old and New
Testaments, we're also speaking of Old and New Covenants.
While we
hold to Covenant Theology our understanding of it tends toward discontinuity.
There are many Covenant Theologians who would accuse us of having
Dispensational tendencies, while most Dispensationalists would not agree with
the level of unity that we allow for and accuse us of overemphasizing the
continuity with certain aspects of the Old Testament.
Of course
the question is... what does the Bible itself teach?
On the one
hand Paul makes clear Abraham was saved by faith just as we are and that we in
the New Testament are children of Abraham and members of the Commonwealth of
Israel and participants in the Covenants of Promise...
And yet on
the other hand the gospels speak of the veil of the Temple being rent and
Hebrews speaks of the Old Covenant being annulled.
There is
both unity and disunity at work and how it works out depends on the particular
text one is dealing with.
The New
Covenant prophesied in the Old Testament is also closely tied in with the
promise of the Kingdom and in the New Testament the Kingdom principle is at the
forefront. The emphasis is slightly different but still part of the same
general set of ideas... the Covenants pertaining to Christ and realities of the
heavenly Kingdom.
Dispensationalism
denies the Kingdom as a present reality. For them it is something future,
something that takes place after Christ returns and yet falls short of what we
would call 'heaven'. For them that comes 'after' the Kingdom.
We contend
one of the keys to understanding the Christian life is to understand the
spiritual nature of the Kingdom, it inauguration by Christ in the Gospels and
its present reality. In addition we understand that 'in Christ' we are already
part of that Kingdom, citizens of heaven and that we dwell in both This Age and
The Age to Come simultaneously. This affects how we live, our expectations for
this age, and this tension, this dual-reality, also plays out in how we
understand the Church on Earth... an Eternal body manifested in time and space.
These
questions affect how we view the Church's mission in the world, how we
understand the nature of the Church, how we view and raise our children, as well
as other issues, like how we view our jobs and our lives in this sin-cursed
epoch of history.
We
definitely take a stand that has historical precedent but has always
represented something of a minority position. That is truer than ever today.
Dispensationalism represented something of a pendulum-swing, a reaction to long
held errors within Protestantism.
But the
pendulum swung too far and compromised the Biblical structure and had led to a large-scale
misreading of the Bible.
The
Covenants and the Kingdom all fulfilled in Christ are the answer. And it is
only in Christ that we find the fulfillment of Old Testament expectation and
prophecy. And only then can we rightly understand the hope we possess in
looking for His return.