Covenant Theology v. Dispensational Theology: A Fundamental Rift

What do you do with the various contradictions and problems found in the Bible? There are two basic interpretive grids for reading the Bible in this regard: Either Covenant Theology or Dispensational Theology. As I see it, most if not all problems with modern Christendom are directly traced to this dichotomy. In my experience, understanding this has real-world consequences — for me, effecting a sea-change in my biblical understanding, which in turn put a fresh spring in my spiritual walk.

The question about what the difference was between these two interpretative methods came up recently during the “sunday school” lesson I was teaching my two youngest kids about the attributes of the Age of Grace (hat tip: Dr. Randy White randywhiteministries). I thought I would address it here for their benefit and anyone else’s curiosity and edification on this matter, as I don’t think it is addressed nearly enough.

Covenant Theology: Covenant theology views the Scripture under one purpose of God: the salvation of mankind. The key issue in understanding covenant theology is its premise that God redeems mankind under a covenant of grace. All of the Bible is to be interpreted through the lens of this covenant of grace, and in doing so, the question to ask of every passage of Scripture is where is Christ, and how is He fulfilling the covenant of grace? But this method of interpretation leads to lots of eisegesis (reading self into the scripture), closely related to the notion that every portion of scripture must yield some sort of practical application to our lives — a large error in my view, as a pastor/teacher should be striving first and foremost to impart proper knowledge of the scriptures. If you want “practical application” of the Bible to your life, this first requires accurate knowledge of what it means and says, “rightly dividing the word of truth” (see my discussion of Dispensationalism, infra).

Misapplication (in fact mutilation) of scripture is just one aspect of many concerning consequences of the covenant approach, as reflected in the basic tenets of covenant theology, which are: 1) the church is the “new Israel”; 2) Heaven is the new Promised Land; and, 3) Gentiles are the new Jews. In doing so, Covenant Theology tends toward phraseology like “Gospel focused” and “Christ Centered.”

Dispensational Theology: Dispensational Theology views the Scripture under a broader purpose than Covenant Theology: the restoration of God’s purpose for creation. The key issue in understanding Dispensational Theology is the premise, as gleaned from the scripture narrative, that God redeems His entire purpose through various means, at various times. The Bible narrates the history of those different means and purposes and is to be read normally and literally in that regard, just like any other book you would read. This way, the Bible is interpreted through the lens of redemption of God’s purpose as opposed to the narrow Covenant approach. The thesis here is that God is progressively working toward the fulfillment of redemption, which we can recognize and study through reading the bible normally and literally.

Under the dispensational approach, as God’s purpose unfolds through history, new revelations have totally changed the criteria for human behavior. Understanding this, we must be careful not to apply the criteria of one dispensation to another, unless merited by instruction from the new dispensation. The core instruction here is to “rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). But then the question arises, where do you “divide”? The Bible doesn’t have “divide here” signs. That is why the student of the Word must “study to show thyself approved…” (2 Tim 2:15).

Why I am a Dispensationalist: A dispensationalist will divide at points in the Scripture at which there was a fundamental change of operation in God’s revelation to man, as key to properly and accurately understanding it.

Here are some false beliefs you may adopt if you fail to divide:

• To commune with God, we only need to be quiet and hear Him speak. Every believer can hear from God if they just listen (like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which doesn’t seem to be true in any other dispensation).
• If you don’t give 10% of your income, you are robbing from God.
• Believers should have the power to heal the sick and cast out demons.
• Believers are under the 10 Commandments and the Law of Moses and/or the Law of Moses is still in effect today and is the “schoolmaster” that brings people to faith (Galatians 3:19–29, rightly divided, says that the law led the “child” Israel in the previous dispensation, keeping it together unto Christ, and now Israel might be justified by faith. Living in an age when grace has come, there is no more need for a “schoolmaster.” And — if the Law has magical properties that bring people to faith, why don’t we see massive conversions of ultra-orthodox Jews in Jerusalem whose very lives are focused on obedience to, and precepts of, the Law of Moses?).

Here are some doctrinal and worldview issues that can be nailed down when you divide:

• Why bad things happen to good people.
• Whether speaking in tongues is valid for today.
• Do prophets exist in the church today?
• Can I build church doctrine from the Old Testament?
• Where is the saving Gospel found?

Covenant Theology, the principle foundational to Reformed Theology (stay tuned to my future posts on that subject), on one hand claims that the Scripture is the sole “rule of faith and practice,” while on the other hand it claims understanding the Scripture requires interpretation by the Spirit.

But we do not need the Spirit to understand the Scripture. We need to know grammar and read the Bible. That is the je ne sais quoi of Dispensational Theology.

I hope this encourages you to do some further research and reading on this critically important topic