What is Dispensational Bible Study?

Have you ever wondered why there’s so much confusion and debate among the many divisions of Christianity and among Christians concerning the elements of the faith? All professing Christians quote the Bible, they all claim to believe the Bible, and yet most all disagree regarding what the Bible teaches! The thousands of denominational organizations and independent groups within Christendom today claim to be serving and following “Jesus Christ,” and yet, they all hold to mutually exclusive doctrines and practice opposing rites and rituals. How can they all claim to follow the same “word of truth” while believing and doing different things?

The “church, which is His Body” (Eph. 1:22-23a) is supposed to be one, united; nevertheless divisions, strife, and contradictions abound. These below are just some of the most common examples of the literally thousands of arguments among those of Christendom.

  • Faith & Works: Many churches teach that faith plus good works are necessary for salvation (Mat. 19:17, Jam. 2:24); the remaining churches believe that salvation is by faith alone (Rom. 3:28, 4:5, Eph. 2:8-9).
  • Water Baptism: Some groups believe that water baptism is necessary for salvation (relying on Mk. 16:16, 1 Pet. 3:21); others say no, it’s merely a testimony of salvation, (citing Mat. 28:19 and Acts 2:38); still others do not water baptize at all (relying on 1 Cor. 1:17, 12:13, and Eph. 4:5).
  • Pentecost’s Miraculous Giftings: Some churches participate in “snake handling,” “exorcism,” “tongue talking” and “healing services” (citing Mark 16:17-18 and James 5:15); others completely reject those practices, quoting (Rom. 8:18, 1 Tim. 5:23, and 2 Tim. 4:20).
  • Sabbath: Some churches argue that we must observe the Saturday Sabbath, citing the Law in Exo. 20:8-11, while others believe there is no Sabbath day to keep today, quoting Rom. 6:14 and Col. 2:16. There are even groups that argue that we must observe Sunday, the alleged “Christian Sabbath!”
  • Eternal Security: Some groups teach that Christians can lose their salvation after having believed (following Psa. 51:11, Mat. 24:13, and Heb. 6:4-6); other groups believe Christians are eternally secure in Christ (relying on Rom. 8:35-39, Eph. 4:30, and 2 Tim. 1:12).
  • Tithing & Giving: Some churches teach tithing (per Mal. 3:8-11), while other churches believe that we are not under an obligatory giving system (citing Rom. 6:14 and 2 Cor. 9:7).
  • Confession of Sins: Some argue that we should confess our sins to God daily (using Mat. 6:12, 14-15 and 1 Jn 1:9). Other groups believe that we should confess our sins to priests (using Jn. 20:23 and Jam. 5:16). Still, others believe that confession of sins is unnecessary because Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins, thus we are already forgiven of all our sins (past, present, and future), (citing Eph. 4:32 and Col. 2:13).
  • Law-Keeping: Some groups say we are bound to keeping the Mosaic Law (citing Exo. 20:1-17 and 1 Jn. 2:3-4), while others say we are under grace, not law (citing Paul’s words in Rom. 6:14 and Gal. 5:1-5).
  • Prayer: Some say we must repeat prescribed, memorized, wrote prayers, and that petitions or request can be made to intermediaries, consisting of the dead. Others say prayer is communing directly the Lord.

Jesus said concerning prayer: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” (Matthew 6:7)

Paul wrote concerning prayer: “Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

So, all these groups are using Bible verses to support these opposing views! How is this possible?! If the Bible has all of these conflicting views, then exactly what does God expect us to believe and do? What’s the solution to this confusion and these so-called Bible supposed contradictions?

The Bible says “God is not the author of confusion(1Cor. 14:33), so the problem is not with God’s Word. God’s Word is infallible, perfect, and completely sound. This confusion is caused by Satan and his Sin-nature in and influence mankind. Satan’s hand and work is seen in men’s use and reliance upon religious tradition, fallen human viewpoint, and human “wisdom,” not relying solely upon the pure “word of truth.”

If we would simply use the Bible God’s way all the doctrinal confusion in Christian circles would disappear. But, most people prefer religious tradition, not caring to submit to God’s “word of truth.” Jesus Christ rebuked the religious leaders of Israel: “Full well ye reject the commandment (law) of God, (so) that ye may keep your own tradition (Mk. 7:9). They approach God’s Word with denominational biases and reach denominational conclusions, instead of seeing what the Bible actually says, and to whom it was said.

What makes it even more disturbing is that the pastors and teachers who should be dispelling confusion and doubt are only adding to the confusion by failing to use God’s Word God’s way. These church leaders typically teach God’s Word as their denominational system interprets it, instead of letting the Bible’s testimony speak for itself. The Bible means what it says, where it says it and to whom it says it. As we will see, the instructions we find in the Bible do not necessarily apply to all men of all dispensational ages.

The remedy for this confusion is found in Paul’s words to Timothy, a young pastor. If we use God’s Word, God’s way, there will be no contradictions or confusion. The Bible will make sense to us only if we approach the Bible the way God designed it to be studied, which is to be “rightly divided.” Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Tim. 2:15, KJV)

The only verse in the Bible that tells us to “study” the Bible also tells us how to study it! When we “rightly divide the word,” we’re recognizing the distinctions and divisions that God Himself has made in His Word. Each dispensational age has a different set of instructions that God gave to different people groups.

Example: Let’s compare the differing diets that God has prescribed over time. Early in Genesis (1:27-29) man was to be vegetarian; then in Gen. 9:1-4 it animal meats were added; in Lev. 11:2 an Israelite could eat just certain meats (Kosher) with his veggies. Then, in 1 Tim. 4:3-5 Paul said eat what you want “with prayer and thanksgiving.” Confusion, contradiction; eat meat, eat no meat, some meats, eat any food? It would be impossible to keep such contradicting instructions as to what we should eat. So, nobody can live in accord with the whole Bible we must look at the Bible dispensationally… to see what applies to us today.

Confusion is the result when we mix together all Bible’s instructions as though they were spoken to all mankind as a whole. The fact is that there are in Scripture several dispensational ages, each with differing instructions given to different peoples at various times. We must never confuse one with the other. It is this very failure to “rightly divide the word of truth” that gives rise to all the conflicting doctrines and practices we see among the many divisions within Christendom. We need to now discuss the basics of right dividing.

There are mainly two programs of God for two people groups of God found in God’s Word. The very first verse in the Bible, Gen. 1:1 KJV, reads: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” God divided the heaven from the earth. This is true even at the end of the Bible, in Rev 21:1. Furthermore, God has designed two programs to operate in these two respective eternal realms.

The two programs are; 1) the prophetic program that concerns the Nation Israel, destined to reign on earth (Rev. 5:10, 20:6) and, 2) the “mystery program” (Gk. musterion, meaning, secret program of God) that concerns the church, the body of Christ.” (Eph. 1:22b-23a) destined to reign in heaven as it’s eternal home (Phili. 3:20-21).

  1. The Apostle to “the circumcision (Israel),” Peter, in Acts 3:21, says he was preaching “that which God hath Spoken by the mouth of all his holy “Prophets Since the World Began.”
  2. In contrast with what Peter preached, the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, writes in Rom. 16:25-26a that he was preaching the unveiling of a mystery or secret. Paul’s gospel was “according to the revelation of the Mystery, which was Kept Secret Since the World Began, but now is made manifest…”

Obviously, if words mean anything, then Peter and Paul are speaking two different things. Something that is spoken since the world began” cannot be the same as something kept secret since the world began.”

The Bible’s Prophetic program focuses on Israel and the earthly kingdom to “come to earth” (Mat 6:10, Exo. 19:5,6; Deut. 4:20). At that time, Gentiles (the non-Jews) could only receive salvation through Israel’s and its ‘prophetic program’ that concerns Moses “Law” of “the kingdom” (Isaiah 60:1-3).

On the other hand, Paul’s “mystery” (the secreted program of God for the Gentiles) focuses on “the Church, the Body of Christ” and a heavenly kingdom (Eph. 2:6-7; 1:22-23), whereby Gentiles receive salvation without involvement in Israel’s kingdom program and “the Law” (Rom. 11:11-12, 25). If we are to avoid confusion, we must keep those two programs and their respective instructions separated; this is “rightly dividing.”

Sadly, most of Christendom today mixes or combines all these Bible verses into one contradictory program, ignoring the differences between the two programs. Israel’s kingdom promises and program greatly differs from the God ordained “mystery (secret)” program for the Gentiles, which doesn’t involve Israel’s kingdom program at all. Such haphazard handling of the Bible is the source of the spiritual confusion and the alleged Bible “contradictions.” They are mixing opposing instructions that God gave in different dispensations, these directions were not given in and for the same dispensational age.

The Apostle Paul wrote explains how Israel’s prophetic program which operated in the “Old Testament,” and during Jesus’ earthly ministry, and continued in the early Acts period. It was then that the dispensation of “the Law” ended (Rom 11:10-11, 25), just before Paul was called. Today we are living during Paul’s “the dispensation of the Grace of God” (Eph. 3:2), under the “mystery” program that God had kept secret during in the earlier ages, before Paul was called to be “the Apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13). The secret has now been revealed to mankind through the ministry of the Apostle Paul (Please read Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 3:1-11).

Question: Why did God hide “the mystery” prior to Paul? It was to keep the devil from knowing His entire plan… so Satan would cooperate to crucify Jesus Christ, and thereby Satan defeated himself (1Cor. 2:6-8)!

So, Who Should We Follow Today? It is often mistakenly assumed that we need to follow Jesus of Nazareth, of the Gospels. When we consider Jesus’ words, this makes no sense whatsoever. Are we able follow Jesus’ instructions given to Israel (Mat. 15:24), to keep “the Law” (Mat. 16:17)? We are not able to keep all “the law.”

The answer to this question comes to us from Paul as the (one) apostle of the Gentiles.The ascended Lord Jesus Christ revealed the mystery to Paul alone; Paul called writes of “the revelation of the mystery” (Romans 16:25-26), which is God’s secret (mystery) program to deal with the whole world (both Jews and Gentiles) on the basis of the “grace” of Christ’s finished crosswork at Calvary. On the other hand, Jesus of Nazareth ministered only to “the lost sheep of Israel in Matthew through John (Mat. 10:5-7, 15:24; Jn 4:22; Rom. 15:8).

Jesus had no ministry to us as Gentiles because He had to save Israel first! Now it is not until we come to Paul’s ministry when God begins to deal with Gentiles. This is one basic fact of Scripture that most church members have never been told.

Jesus Christ urged His followers to obey the Mosaic Law, and commanded them to teach others to do the same (Mat. 5:17-19). But contrariwise, God through Paul tells us, “ye are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14,15). Obviously, we cannot follow both sets of instructions. We cannot follow Jesus’ earthly ministry because we are not Jews. Furthermore, Paul wrote, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea though we have known Christ after the flesh (as Jesus in His earthly ministry), yet now henceforth know we him no more(2 Cor. 5:16). We are not to know Jesus after His earthly ministry as seen in Mat., Mk, Luke, and John. Rather, we follow Jesus according to His heavenly ministry, by which Jesus from heaven (Acts 9) revealed “the mystery (secret)” to Paul who then gives it to us in his thirteen epistles of Romans through Philemon.

God sent Paul forth to be the “pattern” as to how we receive salvation (1Tim. 1:15-16). Paul wrote, “Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). In our Christian life, we follow Paul by living in the same way that Paul followed Christ. In Paul’s epistles alone we find the doctrine, duty, walk, and destiny of the members of “the Church, the Body of Christ. Paul is God’s spokesman to us, just as Moses was God’s spokesman to Israel. If we want to learn what God should say to us for today, we must go to Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon. To reject Paul, as much of Christendom has today, is to reject Christ who sent Paul to us, and to reject Christ is to reject God the Father (cf. Mat. 10:40; John 13:20). Paul wrote:If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37). The test for spirituality today is NOT in following Jesus in His earthly ministry to Israel, but obeying what God and His Spirit says to us today through the Apostle Paul as he shows us how to walk in union with Christ’s indwelling “Spirit of life” (Col. 1:25-27, Rom 8:2, Gal 5:16, 18, 25).

As members of “the church, the body of Christ,” we are not the nation Israel. During our dispensation, Israel is temporarily “fallen,” “cast away,” and “spiritually blinded” (Romans 11:10-11, 15, 25). We as members of “the Body of Christ,” where “there is neither Jew nor Gentile” (Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 1:22-23). What God has to say to us is different from what He told the nation Israel in the “Old Testament,” during Jesus’ earthly ministry to Israel, and during the early part of Acts. It’s important to understand how our Christian life operates as a non-Israelite, as Gentiles living during this “dispensation of the grace of the grace of god” and members of “the Church, the Body of Christ.”

If we want to be spiritually “edified” (“built up, strengthened”) and spiritually “perfected (“matured”), we need to study and believe the Paul’s epistles, given he says, “For perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Eph. 4:12)

God wants to “stablish” (stabilize) our Christian life and inner man by using a three-fold process. God wants us to understand the life that He has given to us in Christ Jesus. We need to better understand what He is doing today; we can by faith follow Paul as our “pattern” and do the same. This is how we discover and do God’s will for our lives in this age of “the grace of God.” Paul wrote;

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my (Paul’s) gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment (instruction) of the everlasting God, made known to all nations (Gentiles) for the (their) obedience of (to the) faith:”

Notice the three-fold process of Christian edification seen in the above verses.

  • “my gospelis Paul’s Gospel resting on “the cross” (1Cor. 15:1-4) as the foundation of the Christian life.
  • “the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery is seen in Paul’s epistles. There we receive the “sound doctrine” (1Tim. 1:10). The information found in Paul’s epistles are the building materials that he uses to lay the church’s foundation… which is Christ (1Cor 3:11).
  • “the scriptures of the prophets” is all the Scriptures… as seen in light of Pauline doctrine for today.

This is why studying the Bible rightly divided is so important. We study all the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, but we follow the design of Christian edification as laid out in Romans 16:25-26. If we refuse to follow the dispensational layout of Scripture, as most people do, then we will be going against what God is doing today, and our Christian lives will be in shambles, which is why Christendom is in such pitiful shape!

Do we only study Paul’s epistles? No!!! Paul wrote, All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). All the Bible is God’s Word, so we study all 66 books, Genesis to Revelation. But unlike most churches and professing Christians, we study the entire Bible in the light of “the revelation of the mystery,” as found in Paul’s epistles. So, ALL the Bible is FOR us, but not all the Bible is written To Us or written about us Remember, more than seventy-five percent of the Bible is written to and is about the nation Israel, not us.

We follow God’s design for Christian edification of “the body of Christ,” and seek only God’s approval, not man’s approval (2 Tim. 2:15). If Paul doesn’t instruct us in a matter, then it doesn’t apply to us. When studying any Bible passage, we first need to note; 1.) who is writing or speaking, 2.) who are they addressing, 3.) what are they writing, and 4) to apply when (in what age)?

Again, keep in mind that Paul’s thirteen epistles of Romans through Philemon are what God has to say to us today, while the rest of the Bible deals with Israel’s program of prophecy and prophecy’s fulfillment concerning God’s kingdom to “come to earth,” wherein Israel will co-reign with Christ.

If you’ve read and understood this paper, you may be shocked? But, doesn’t the Bible make more sense now? So, if you ask, “Why have you never heard this before?”, then I would suggest that you ask your pastor, Bible teacher, or priest why he never told you any of this.