Progressive Dispensationalism Destroying the Bible

Dr. Couch, does not Progressive Dispensationalism (PD) put interpretation in dangerous territory? Is it not destroying a clear meaning of the understanding of the Bible? ANSWER:  Yes, indeed, it is. The founders of this view of interpretation said when they revealed their system that they wanted to have a compromise system with covenant theology. They admitted they wanted the covenant guys to like them and not look down on traditional dispensationalism.    I am not a dispensationist as one who simply follows a system. The Bible IS dispensational. That is the nature of Scripture. I do not have to foist a view on the Bible. I just take it at face value and the Word of God "interprets" itself. I read the Bible with a literal approach, and with a historical, grammatical interpretation. This is what the orthodox Godly Jews did with the Old Testament. What they come up with, I come up with. Christ did not chide the Jews for their belief in prophecy or in their literal understanding of Scripture. He chided the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and their legalism. The PD guys, Blaising and Bock, added biblical theology to interpretation, along with their approach to understanding Scripture. They say the interpreter adds theology in his interpretive mix. This is dead wrong. We develop our theology from our observation of what Scripture is saying.    I know for a fact that PD at one of the "big" seminaries in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area has blunted an understanding of the Bible. The students come out not fully knowing the prophetic Word. They come out confused as to what the Bible is teaching. I remember some years ago talking to the class president of that school and asking him what he was going to do when he graduated. He said he was going to Westminster Seminary in order to understand what the Bible said. He was tugged by Covenant Theology because of his confusion as a graduate from that big (supposedly) dispensational school. All he had to do was read the theologies of Berkhof and Charles Hodge to find out about Covenant theology. In their books he will find that the Covenant guys admit that Covenant theology is not in the Bible, that the covenants of grace and works are simply "implied" in the Bible, they are not "explicit." They were made with Adam, and Christ, in eternity past but that you can't find them in Scripture. What a dumb system! You need to read my quotes of Berkhof and Hodge in my Classical Evangelical Hermeneutical textbook on pages 158-59. You will be shocked at what they say!    Dispensationalists can "prove" the dispensational nature of the Bible.    PD and Covenant theology are just plain nutty!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (9/10)

Another "The Already But Not Yet" Theory Question

Dr. Couch, what does the Progressive Dispensational expression "The already but not yet" mean?

ANSWER: It is a stupid view that says the kingdom has begun and finds its present expression in the church, though the PDs add, there is yet to come also an earthly millennial reign of Christ on earth. It is a compromise position to make the Covenant guys happy, and maybe cause them to like dispensationalism a little more. Finding "common ground" is part of the whole movement toward modernity. It is a form of liberalism that is afraid to be dogmatic and correct. "We just don't want to offend!"

It does not matter schmatz to me what the false Covenant guys think. They are wrong from the get-go to say the church has replaced Israel, and that the promises to the Jews have been transferred to the church. In my opinion this view is heresy and denies the literal coming of my Lord to reign and rule on earth as promised Him!

While it is true the church will be in the kingdom, still the church is not presently fulfilling the kingdom nor is it the key kingdom people. It is true however we will have some authority during that millennial period on earth. Christ promised in the future (not presently) believers will be granted (Future Tense) "to set down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21).

John further says in Revelation that (in the future, not presently) Christ will grant that church believers will exercise like-authority with Him in the kingdom! We will even be given judgmental rights over the nations (Rev. 2:26-27).

But no verse says the church is now fulfilling some sort of kingdom reign in this present age. Christ ratified the New Covenant, which is to be fulfilled by Israel in the kingdom when the Jews accept Christ by the work of the Spirit. Presently however, the church benefits from it by the salvation it provides, but nowhere does it say we fulfill the New Covenant. It was not promised or made first and foremost for the church but for Israel! (See Luke 22:42; Acts 2; 2 Cor. 3:1-6). But again, we are not now in the kingdom itself.

The PDs, allegorical and Covenant guys, have the right to be wrong, and sure enough, they are!

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch

New Thoughts About Progressive Dispensationalism

Dr. Couch, you have had some interesting answers to Progressive Dispensationalism in the past that I really appreciated. Any new thoughts about it? 

 

    ANSWER:  I understand from a reliable source that o­ne of the "creators" of this off-beat view has recanted his position that Christ is reigning on the throne of David in Psalm 110:1-4. All of us dispensationalists who translate from the Hebrew text knew this all along. This guy, by the way, graduated from a big liberal European University and was tainted in his biblical views. He is o­ne of the founders of this position. 

    By the way one of their most silly views is that the church does not have a "heavenly destiny," whatever that means. Again, remember that the PDs come to the Bible with their preconceived views and then try to substantiate them with Scripture. An old-line premillennialist and dispensationalist like me, goes to the text to Observe what the Bible says. I let it speak to me; I don’t speak to it first! 

    The Bible makes clear that the church indeed has a heavenly destiny. Read 1 Peter 1:4. God "has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU." 

    End of argument! 

    Please stop following aberrant and dumb views from folks who just like "the new" for variety sake, and not for the sake of spiritual truth! Stay on the main highway and do not go onto the rocky, bumpy back road. I believe in ACADEMICS but they are into ACADEMIA! Beware! 

   Thanks for asking.

   Dr. Mal Couch

What About Progressive Dispensationalism?

Dr. Couch, I know you speak often of Progressive Dispensationalism. What is your main complaint? 

 

    Progressive Dispensationalism (PD) is not biblical! It was an attempt by some academicians to hold hands with Covenant theology. In fact, the “founders” of PD virtually admitted the same. They wanted to join the “intellectual” guys, the Reformed crowd, or at least to be accepted by them, so they came up with a compromised view. They say two things that are not biblical:

1. Christ is now seated on the throne of David “in heaven.” They use Psalms 110:1-2 as proof which says: “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet.’ The Lord will stretch forth Thy strong scepter from Zion, saying, ‘Rule in the midst of Thine enemies.’” Then they try to tie the Melchizedekian order to the kingly Davidic covenant in verse 4. Wrong again! The book of Hebrews ties the order of Melchizedek to the fact that Christ is a priest “forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 7:17), but then points to the fact that this order shows that Christ is the giver of the New covenant (Heb. 7). The Davidic covenant has to do with Christ’s future earthly rule and reign. Note “earthly” not “heavenly.” He is not on the throne of David presently, as further clarified in Revelation 3:21. There Christ differentiates between His Father’s throne in heaven, and His earthly throne He will set up on earth in the Millennium. This is further confirmed by the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-on where He speaks in the future tense of His coming to reign on His “glorious throne” on earth, in Jerusalem!
   
2. Along with the allegorists and the amillennialists the PD guys try to say that Joel 2 was fulfilled in Acts 2:14-21. Peter does not say that. He does not use any word that indicates this quote is (a) an illustration, or (b) a fulfillment. He says “but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel” (v. 16). With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the New covenant was LAUNCHED, BEGUN but not fulfilled! It will be fulfilled by Israel at their conversion in the kingdom. However, the church presently does BENEFIT by the New covenant but does not fulfill it.

   I understand that some of the PD fellows have changed many of their views and gone back, to a degree, to biblical dispensationalism! You cannot mix apples and oranges—Covenant theology (which is allegorical and amillennial) and true biblical dispensationalism! 

   I suggest you order the book Progresssive Dispensationalism by Dr. Ron Bigalke, published by University Press of America. I have two chapters in that book: “The Relationship Between Covenants and Dispensations” and “The Church Dispensation and the ‘Times of Refreshing.’”

   Thanks for asking,

   Mal Couch, Ph.D., Th.D.