Classical Dispensationalism

AKA “Traditional Dispensationalism”

• The “golden age” of dispensationalism began in the 1830s and lasted through the 1940s. This was the era of “classical dispensationalism.” Classical dispensationalism refers to the dispensational views of British and American dispensationalists between the writings of John Nelson Darby and Lewis Sperry Chafer’s Systematic Theology (1947). The interpretive notes of the Scofield Reference Bible (1909, 1917) are often seen as the key representation of classical dispensationalism. [1, pg. 18]
• One important feature of classical dispensationalism was its dualistic purposes for the peoples of God. God is seen as pursuing two different purposes. One is related to heaven and the other to the earth. [1, pg. 18]
  • Vlach citing Blaising: the “heavenly humanity was to be made up of all the redeemed from all dispensations who would be resurrected from the dead.
  • Vlach citing Blaising: the earthly humanity concerned people who had not died but who were preserved by God from death
• Vlach citing Blaising: the church is a parenthesis in the history of redemption
• there is a very sharp distinction between Israel and the church—so much so that the church and Israel do not even share the same eternal destiny. The church is destined for heaven while Israel will inherit the earth. [1, pg. 19]
• Dispensationalists of the classical variety sometimes held:
  • That there were two new covenants—one for Israel (Jer. 31:31–34) and one for the church (Heb. 8:8–12). [1, pg. 19]
  • To a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. [1, pg. 19]
  • That the Sermon on the Mount was only relevant to the coming millennial kingdom and had very little applicability to the church. [1, pg. 19]

References:

1. Michael J. Vlach, Dispensationalism: Essential Beliefs and Common Myths, Revised and Updated. (Los Angeles, CA: Theological Studies Press, 2017).