Dr Couch,
I have always been told that the Reformed theologians took the Bible in a
literal, grammatical, historical sense. They even claim they do in the
areas of Bible prophecy. Is this true?
ANSWER: Unfortunately, they often speak with forked-tongue and even with a tinge
of dishonesty. Read Louis Berkhof’s section on prophecy in his book
Principles of Biblical Interpretation (Baker, 1990), pages 148-154. I
went "wow" when I first read it; Berkhof has it right, I thought! I can
agree with almost all he says about interpreting prophecy. Then I found
the statements where he tries to fool his readers. He writes the
prophets in their prophecies "always centered in the Kingdom of God, or
the work of redemption through Christ" (p. 149).
Gotcha! Berkhof just revealed his narrow and limited view of prophecy as
all the Reformed guys do! The Kingdom of God is always about the
millennial reign of Christ as so often mentioned in the Gospels. And
that Kingdom is not simply about spiritual redemption, as important as
that is. The Kingdom of God is about the one thousand years reign of
Christ on the Davidic throne in the Holy Land! But of course Christ is
the Redeemer who has the right to rule because He was obedient all the
way to the death on the cross.
While Berkhof does not say so in his section of interpreting prophecy,
he allegorized and "spiritualized" away the literal meaning of the
Kingdom of God. This is sorry and deceptive interpretation. I wish I
could believe that Berkhof was ignorant of what he did, but I am afraid
that the Reformed and Covenant writers know exactly what they are doing
when they re-write the literalness of the actual and historical second
coming of Christ. But at the same time, claiming they take all of the
Bible in a literal sense. They do not! Their (often) hidden allegorical
interpretation is a satanic ploy to get rid of Christ’s return, in both
the rapture and in His coming to restore the kingdom to Israel.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
