Contradictions In Romans? - 3:09 PM, 3/18/2009 |
Contradictions In Romans? Bernard Pyron Dispensationalism is the dominant theology now taught in a great many Protestant Churches. This theology says there is to be a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church, that God has two distinct peoples he deals with differently, the Jews and the Church, and that the Jews, saved or unsaved, are God's chosen people. On the web site http://www. they say dispensationalism teaches that "The Church is not the continuation of God's Old Testament people, but a distinct body born on the Day of Pentecost. The Church is never equated with Israel in the New Testament, and Christians are not Jews, true Israel, etc. The prophecies made to Israel in the Old Testament are not being fulfilled in the Church, nor will they ever be. The Church does not participate in the New Covenant prophesied in the Old Testament; it is for ethnic Israel, and will be established in a future millennial kingdom..." J. Dwight Pentecost is a dispensationalist theologian who in his book Things To Come ( 1965) says "The church and Israel are two distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan. The church is a mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament. This mystery program must be completed before God can resume His program with Israel and bring it to completion. These considerations all arise from a literal method of interpretation." (page 193, J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965). Romans 11: 26 is an important Scripture for the dispensationalist claim that God is going to bring his plan for physical Israel to completion in the future, perhaps during the tribulation. Romans 11: 26 says "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." The classical dispensationalists - John Darby, C.I. Scofield, Lewis S. Chafer and Charles C. Ryrie - insist that "Israel" in the Old Testament always means physical Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. With that interpretation of Israel, they then go on to say that the Christian Church is not found in Old Testament prophecy. In part their view that "Israel" must always refer to Old testament physical Israel, both the faithful and the unfaithful Children of Israel, comes out of their belief that Scripture should always be interpreted literally. Since dispensationalism defines "Israel" in Scripture as always referring to physical Israel, i.e., the Jews as physical descendants of Abraham, then Romans 11: 26 must be, for dispensationalists, a prophecy of a future restoration of the Jews as the chosen people. Therefore, even now, to dispensationalists the Jews, saved or unsaved, are the chosen people. Dispensationalist Theology As the Leaven of Our Time In Matthew 16: 6 the text says "Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Paul adds in Galatians 5: 9 that "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." The "lump" would be a loaf of bread, and the leaven might be the yeast that is put in the loaf to make it rise. However, in this metaphor to be leavened is to be corrupted or defiled. The leaven of the Pharisees at the time of Christ was their false doctrines and practices. A small amount of false doctrine contaminates the whole group who were influenced by the Pharisees. Likewise, just a small amount of false doctrine taught in the Churches comntaminates the entire Church. So in our age dispensationalism is one of the main false teachings which leavens the Church, or makes it corrupt, so that it becomes part of the spirit of antichrist (I John 4: 3). Dispensationalism Is Also A Tradition of Men In Matthew 15: 6, and Matthew 15: 9: Christ says " Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition....But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Dispensationaism - if it fails to teach the truth as the doctrines of Christ (II John 9-10) - is a tradition of men. Contradictions In Romans? Romans 9: 27 says "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:" Since dispensationalists say "Israel" always ,means physical Israel, the Jews, they would interpret Romans 9: 27 as saying that only a remnant of physical Israel will be saved. This means the majority of Jews are not to be saved. But Romans 11: 26 says "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:" For dispensationaists "Israel" in Romans 11: 26 is physical Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham, now called the Jews. How can only a remnant of the Jews be saved in Romans 9: 27 and all Jews be saved in Romans 11: 26? When interpretation of Scripture comes up with a contradiction, we need to look again at our interpretation, because something is wrong within that interpretation. Then Romans 11: 20 says "Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:" "They" who are broken off because of unbelief in Christ are Jews. Romans 11 shows that it is Jews who are broken off because of unbelief. Paul says in verse 7 "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded." In verse 7 "Israel" is physical Israel, the Jews. But - following the dispensationalist doctrine that "Israel" in Scripture must always be physical Israel, we arrive at another contradition in Romans. Romans 11: 20 says Jews were broken off because of unbelief. But using the dispensationalism interpretation, Romans 11: 26 then says all physical Israel are to be saved. Are many Jews broken off and then sometime in the end times are they all to be brought back in, that is, saved. I don't think so. So between Romans 11: 20 and Romans 11: 26 - using dispensationalist man-made theololgy as a tradition of men - we have a second contradiction. These contradictions come abut because of the insistence of dispensationalists that "Israel" must always be physical Israel and never spiritual Israel. In Romans 11: 26 all Israel will be saved because all who are part of spiritual Israel are saved. Just as Paul teaches in Galatians 4: 25-26 that there is two different Jerusalems -one in bondage and the other which is above and is free - so he uses "Israel" in Romans 11 as physical Israel in several verses and as spiritual Israel in verse 26. A Jew can become part of spiritual Israel by being born again as Christ said to the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3: 16. The question followers of the pre-tribulation rapture of the Church, of the theory that God deals differently with Jews and the Church and that contrary to I Peter 2: 9 unsaved Jews are God's chosen people need to ask is this: Is dispensationalism part of the doctrine of Christ? It is a serious matter to give up one's position in Christ as a member of spiritual Israel to another people. I John 8-11 says "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." |
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