Christian Zionism and Dispensationalism
https://religionandpolitics.org/…/whats-so-american-about-…/
"God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America
By Samuel Goldman
University of Pennsylvania, 2018"
Stephen Sizer published, in 2004, an important book which is critical of what he calls Christian Zionism. By Christian Zionism, Sizer means dispensationalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sizer
"In 2004, Sizer adapted his PhD thesis into a book, Christian Zionism - Road Map to Armageddon.....He claims that Christian Zionism has led millions of Christians astray and helped to tip the world on its side heavy with military artillery."
But what was meant by Christian Zionism in history is larger than the church theology called dispensationalism. Christian Zionism was a movement in the English speaking nations before dispensationalism came on the scene in the 19th century.
Here is a quote by Samuel Goldman in "God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America, " 2018: "God’s continued covenant with the Jewish people did not, of course, seamlessly translate into Protestant respect for Judaism. Most theologians expected Jews to convert “from unbelief” as a precondition for their restoration to Palestine."
Christians can make an effort to lead Jews to Jesus Christ and to be born again in the Gospel of Christ without changing that Gospel of Christ at all. In fact, for men to change the Gospel of Christ would be to make it into a man-made theological system, which would weaken its ability to transform people.
John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an
interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to
them..."
John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation'
Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94.
"Them" are all physical Israel. The church, for Darby, exists to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel."
John Darby, known as the father of dispensationalism, teaches that the ekklesia, translated in the modern Bibles as the church, is just a parenthesis, and is not the main purpose of God. Instead John Darby says the ekklesia, the church, was established by God in order to fill in the parenthesis between the time the kingdom was rejected by the Jews and the time when it will be re-establiahed and accepted by the Jews. After the "parenthetic church age" is finished, then God will return to his first love, Old Covenant Israel.
Note that in the William Tyndale New Testament of about 1526, ekklesia was consistently translated as congregation. except for Acts 14: 13 and Acts 19: 37 where he used churche, meaning a pagan place of worship. Tyndale broke with Catholic tradition and used congregation for ekklesia something which might have contributed to his being strangled at the stake by the Catholics.
And after the death of John Calvin, Theodore Beza in 1556 returned to the use of church to translate ekklesia - and the Geneva Bible followed him, using church instead of congregation. Beza returned to the Catholic translation of ekklesia as "chirche."
In dispensationalism the church, with the implication that it is the Body of Christ, is a parenthesis, i.e., a temporary thing lying between God's two dealings with national Israel.
But Ephesians 1: 21-23 says the body of Christ,is the fullness of God.
"Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians 1: 21-23
The Body of Christ, all the elect of God now in the New Covenant, is not just a temporary group. Dispensationalism, though says that at the Rapture the ekklesia, the church, will meet Christ in the air, before the Great Tribulation, which in a way contradicts the teaching that the ekklesia is just a temporary group, while the multitude of Old Covenant Israel remain the chosen people.
Here dispensationalism makes a big change from the doctrine about the ekklesia given by Paul and what dispensationalism postulates about the ekklesia being merely a temporary group which is to exist between two dispensations of Israel, where Israel is defined literally as being the multitude of Israel, who are of the physical bloodline from Abraham.
Dispensationalism teaches that God has two distinctly different peoples, Old Covenant Israel and the Church.
"Israel is an eternal nation, heir to an eternal land, with an eternal kingdom, on which David rules from an eternal throne so that in eternity, '...never the twain, Israel and church, shall meet." Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas, Dallas Seminary Press, 1975), Vol. 4. pp. 315-323..
In his book, Dispensationalism (1966), Charles Ryrie says "The
essence of Dispensationalism, then, is the distinction between Israel
and the church." (page 3, "Dispensationalism")
J. Dwight Pentecost is another 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. (page 193,
J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965).
Lewis S. Chafer admits that dispensationalism changed the New Testament.
Lewis S. Chafer said that dispensationalism has "...changed the Bible from being a mass of more or less conflicting
writings into a classified and easily assimilated revelation of both
the earthly and heavenly purposes of God, which reach on into eternity
to come.." Lewis. S. Chafer, ‘Dispensationalism,’ Bibliotheca Sacra, 93 (October 1936), 410, 416, 446-447
Chafer, a founder of dispensationalism which became a newer form of Chritian Zionism in the 19th century, following John Darby and C.I. Scofield, claimed the Bible is a mass or more or less conflicting writings and that dispensationalism or Christian Zionism makes the Bible more easily classified and assimilated, or more easily understood.
Dispensationalism creates a systematic theology - "of rightly Dividing" the New Testament teachings - based upon the dispensationalist view that Old Covenant Israel remains God's Chosen people and that God is to bring in another dispensation in which physical Israel will be restored. Some dispensationalists, though, will dispute this view of what dispensationalism is about.
https://religionandpolitics.org/…/whats-so-american-about-…/
"God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America
By Samuel Goldman
University of Pennsylvania, 2018"
Stephen Sizer published, in 2004, an important book which is critical of what he calls Christian Zionism. By Christian Zionism, Sizer means dispensationalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sizer
"In 2004, Sizer adapted his PhD thesis into a book, Christian Zionism - Road Map to Armageddon.....He claims that Christian Zionism has led millions of Christians astray and helped to tip the world on its side heavy with military artillery."
But what was meant by Christian Zionism in history is larger than the church theology called dispensationalism. Christian Zionism was a movement in the English speaking nations before dispensationalism came on the scene in the 19th century.
Here is a quote by Samuel Goldman in "God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America, " 2018: "God’s continued covenant with the Jewish people did not, of course, seamlessly translate into Protestant respect for Judaism. Most theologians expected Jews to convert “from unbelief” as a precondition for their restoration to Palestine."
Christians can make an effort to lead Jews to Jesus Christ and to be born again in the Gospel of Christ without changing that Gospel of Christ at all. In fact, for men to change the Gospel of Christ would be to make it into a man-made theological system, which would weaken its ability to transform people.
John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an
interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to
them..."
John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation'
Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94.
"Them" are all physical Israel. The church, for Darby, exists to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel."
John Darby, known as the father of dispensationalism, teaches that the ekklesia, translated in the modern Bibles as the church, is just a parenthesis, and is not the main purpose of God. Instead John Darby says the ekklesia, the church, was established by God in order to fill in the parenthesis between the time the kingdom was rejected by the Jews and the time when it will be re-establiahed and accepted by the Jews. After the "parenthetic church age" is finished, then God will return to his first love, Old Covenant Israel.
Note that in the William Tyndale New Testament of about 1526, ekklesia was consistently translated as congregation. except for Acts 14: 13 and Acts 19: 37 where he used churche, meaning a pagan place of worship. Tyndale broke with Catholic tradition and used congregation for ekklesia something which might have contributed to his being strangled at the stake by the Catholics.
And after the death of John Calvin, Theodore Beza in 1556 returned to the use of church to translate ekklesia - and the Geneva Bible followed him, using church instead of congregation. Beza returned to the Catholic translation of ekklesia as "chirche."
In dispensationalism the church, with the implication that it is the Body of Christ, is a parenthesis, i.e., a temporary thing lying between God's two dealings with national Israel.
But Ephesians 1: 21-23 says the body of Christ,is the fullness of God.
"Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians 1: 21-23
The Body of Christ, all the elect of God now in the New Covenant, is not just a temporary group. Dispensationalism, though says that at the Rapture the ekklesia, the church, will meet Christ in the air, before the Great Tribulation, which in a way contradicts the teaching that the ekklesia is just a temporary group, while the multitude of Old Covenant Israel remain the chosen people.
Here dispensationalism makes a big change from the doctrine about the ekklesia given by Paul and what dispensationalism postulates about the ekklesia being merely a temporary group which is to exist between two dispensations of Israel, where Israel is defined literally as being the multitude of Israel, who are of the physical bloodline from Abraham.
Dispensationalism teaches that God has two distinctly different peoples, Old Covenant Israel and the Church.
"Israel is an eternal nation, heir to an eternal land, with an eternal kingdom, on which David rules from an eternal throne so that in eternity, '...never the twain, Israel and church, shall meet." Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology (Dallas, Dallas Seminary Press, 1975), Vol. 4. pp. 315-323..
In his book, Dispensationalism (1966), Charles Ryrie says "The
essence of Dispensationalism, then, is the distinction between Israel
and the church." (page 3, "Dispensationalism")
J. Dwight Pentecost is another 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. (page 193,
J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965).
Lewis S. Chafer admits that dispensationalism changed the New Testament.
Lewis S. Chafer said that dispensationalism has "...changed the Bible from being a mass of more or less conflicting
writings into a classified and easily assimilated revelation of both
the earthly and heavenly purposes of God, which reach on into eternity
to come.." Lewis. S. Chafer, ‘Dispensationalism,’ Bibliotheca Sacra, 93 (October 1936), 410, 416, 446-447
Chafer, a founder of dispensationalism which became a newer form of Chritian Zionism in the 19th century, following John Darby and C.I. Scofield, claimed the Bible is a mass or more or less conflicting writings and that dispensationalism or Christian Zionism makes the Bible more easily classified and assimilated, or more easily understood.
Dispensationalism creates a systematic theology - "of rightly Dividing" the New Testament teachings - based upon the dispensationalist view that Old Covenant Israel remains God's Chosen people and that God is to bring in another dispensation in which physical Israel will be restored. Some dispensationalists, though, will dispute this view of what dispensationalism is about.
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