Dispensationalism vs Covenant Theology

The two worst doctrines that will deaden Christianity are covenant theology and hyper-dispensationalism. We are going to cover covenant theology in this article.

What is covenant theology?

Covenant theology is mainly built on Calvinism.

• Do not emphasize a distinction between Israel and the church or Christians. This leads to a lot of Jewish doctrine entering our faith, which is wrong.
• They believe that salvation through grace and not by works was the same from fall of Adam to the millennium.
• They also believe in post-tribulation rapture.

Dispensationalism on the other hand teaches that not everything in the Bible applies to Christians.

What are the differences between covenant theology and dispensationalism?

Origin of the Christian church is in Antioch

Acts 11:26 “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Dr. Kim starts by establishing the origin of Christians with Acts 11:17-26. Antioch was the first place where right doctrine was first taught and established. It was the first place where people were called Christians. The Christians at Antioch held a literal belief in the word of God, including that every word of God is perfect. The concept is also important in establishing why the King James Bible translation is the most appropriate to be used by Christians since it provides a perfect manuscript translation of the word of God. 

What is dispensationalism?

Another approach that finds its origin here is dispensationalism. Dispensationalism is the approach of the historical-grammatical belief that every word of God is perfect. For instance, the Old Testament involved salvation by works, whereas the New Testament salvation is based on salvation by faith. Dispensation divides the old day Jews from the modern-day Christians.

Therefore, combining the Israelites and the church together gives rise to false doctrines and leads to an approach referred to as the spiritual or metaphorical approach. The metaphorical approach spiritualizes verses and does not employ literal meaning to verses. Thus some Christians refer to themselves as the real Jews, although not in the literal but spiritual sense. They also deny the presence of literal Jews, but spiritual Jews do not replace the literal Jews.

Differences between Christians who hold the Antioch (literal) belief and those who have a spiritual-metaphorical approach

First, the spiritual, metaphorical approach is not located in Antioch but rather in Alexandria, Egypt.

Second, Antioch Christians consist of preachers while Alexandria Christians consist of scholars. The spiritual, metaphorical predecessors mainly stayed at home and studied the Bible, which led to them developing a prideful approach. On the other hand, the Antioch Christians go out and win souls, and their preaching efforts bore fruits in various places like China and Korea.

Third, Alexandria gave rise to the majority of modern Bible translations like the NIV and ESV, while the King James Bible translation is an original from manuscripts in ancient Antioch, Syria.

Liberal modernism, Calvinism, and replacement theology

The metaphorical approach gave rise to the liberal modernism teaching that influenced Calvinism. Augustine, a historical figure who invented the replacement theology or anti-dispensationalism, also invented Calvinism, and John Calvin revived the teachings over time. Calvinism is one of the two worst movements in Christianity that detrimentally affected the Christian movement.

Calvinism gave rise to the Catholic Church. Calvinism originators like Augustine and other church fathers like Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and David Brainerd gained an influence on the right movement over time, including the Waldensians.

Although some individuals from the right movement like Luther had an effect on the Catholic Church, they were not immune to the wiles of Calvinism and were infected by some of Calvin’s doctrines. However, Luther was correct on his teaching of salvation by faith alone and not by works because he took a literal approach on the word of God. His teaching broke the chains of the Catholic church. Also, Erasmus also hated Calvinism produced the King James Version in its pure form. The Catholics eventually lost their power after and cults like Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, and Seventh-day Adventists gave rise.

Calvinism also affected some true Christian teachings at the time of the great awakening. For instance, George Whitfield, John, and Charles Wesley hated Calvinism.

Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd were both Calvinists. When you read David Brainerd’s diary, it’s depressing because it’s all down to the sovereignty of God and there’s no way to enjoy what God has given you.

Modernism attacked by Independent Fundamental Baptists (IFB)

After the fall of Catholicism, the elites and conspiracies gave rise to modernism. Modernism greatly influenced churches, but the concepts of dispensationalism were revived by the independent fundamental Baptist movement (IFB). The IFB, through their influential leaders, attacked modernism and revived dispensationalism and KJV only.

Scofield popularized the dispensational approach while Ruckman popularized the King James-only approach and J Frank Norris made the IFB an independent movement from the Bible-believing Christians. Ruckman was better because he combined all three – dispensationalism, KJV only, and IFB movement.

The modern-day church also has different teachings and beliefs from Calvinism. For instance, Calvinism teaches that the church will undergo tribulation, whereas the dispensational approach teaches that the church will not undergo tribulation. Covenant of grace by Calvinists holds that the new and the Old Testament salvation is the same, whereas modern Christians believe in salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ, not by works. Nonetheless, the teachings of Calvinism, including Lordship salvation salvation by faith and works, have also infiltrated the true Bible believers and the IFB. The reason why they come up with these wrong doctrines is because they do not rightly divide the word.

What makes a genuine Bible believer is they take the word of God literally, and that they are KJV only and dispensational.

Common Terms Associated With Reformed Theology

To identify a Calvinist, one may look up some keywords in the websites, including reformed, Presbyterian, sovereignty of God, elect, and predestination.

For more information, please refer to the following articles:

• Dispensational salvation
• Resources about Calvinism
• The differences between Israel and the church
• Two raptures coming (pre-tribulation rapture for church saints and post-tribulation for tribulation saints)
• What is replacement theology?
• Why we are KJV only?