dispensationalist
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: dispensationalists
Etymology: From dispensational + -ist.
Senses: examples: text: This change in nomenclature from the “Holy Ghost” or the “Holy Spirit” to just the “Spirit,” or the “Spirit of God” (as we find Him in the Old Testament), is indicative of the fact that the period is no longer the Church Age but another dispensation. (Of course, a man who is not a dispensationalist and is still trying to teach the Bible is a farce. I don’t mean that with malice; I mean it is just a plain statement of fact.) A man who is not a dispensationalist does not divide the Bible into dispensations, and therefore, he has sinned against God, for the clear commandment is to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2Tim 2:15).
ref: 1970, Peter S. Ruckman, “Revelation Chapter 11”, in The Book of Revelation (The Bible Believer's Commentary Series) (Religion), Pensacola, FL: Pensacola Bible Press, →OCLC, page 251:
text: The original purpose of the fundamentalist movement was certainly not to advance some new theological position. Instead its objective was to form a rallying point for biblical Christianity. But after the turn of the century, and especially after World War I, the leadership of this movement somehow came to be dominated by those holding to a dispensational way of interpreting Scripture. As a result those who remained in that movement came to feel that being a dispensationalist was essential to being a fundamentalist.
ref: 1980, Daniel P. Fuller, “Dispensationalism's Basic Concern”, in Gospel and Law: Contrast or Continuum? The Hermeneutics of Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology (Religion), Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 1-2:
text: Today's dispensationalists continue to address questions to the text that involve the use of hermeneutical approaches that affect our theological understanding of the text. They do so, however, without trying to undercut the basic unity of dispensationalism. What, then, unites one dispensationalist to another? Simply put, the basic unifying issue for all dispensationalists is that Israel is not the church.⁵ In fact, Ryrie maintains that such a distinction is “the most basic theological test of whether or not a person is a dispensationalist.”⁶
ref: 1999, Herbert W. Bateman IV, “Dispensationalism Tomorrow”, in Herbert W. Bateman IV, editor, Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional and Progressive Views (Biblical Reference / Theology), Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 308-309:
text: In 1924, Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871–1952), perhaps the most influential twentieth-century dispensationalist, founded and led Dallas Theological Seminary. […] The term is used more broadly by other theologians, including dispensationalists, to illustrate the fact that Adam’s decision to disobey God in the Garden brought sin and death upon the entire human race.
ref: 2022, R. B. Thieme, Jr., “dispensationalism”, in Thieme's Bible Doctrine Dictionary, First edition (Religion), Houston, TX: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, →ISBN, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2023, pages 64, 99, column 1:
glosses: A proponent of dispensationalism.