The Historical Development of Dispensational
Theology Within Biblical Fundamentalism
by Matt Costella
Foundation Magazine, Jan-Feb 2002
F
UNDAMENTALISM IN THE United States boasts a fascinating
history. Certainly few, if any, would classify the history of
fundamentalism as mundane, for the one who studies the historical
development of fundamentalism becomes drawn into a world of outstanding
human personalities, great denominational schisms and controversies and
groundbreaking religious and social developments that led to the rise of
some of the greatest educational institutions and religious
organizations that exist to this very day. But fundamentalism is more
than just a historical fascination. It is a doctrinal position, an
attitude and a movement that digs deep into the heart of man. It has
changed the lives of millions of individuals and drawn them closer to
God as they have diligently studied to understand God's Word and have
faithfully obeyed His precepts regardless of the cost.
The purpose of this article, however, is not to focus on
fundamentalism as a whole, but to trace and develop one of the
fundamentalist movement's key characteristics, from its introduction in
the early 1800s to its almost wide scale acceptance in the middle of the
twentieth century. This key characteristic, or distinctive, is known as
dispensationalism. This article will not necessarily focus on the
debate of whether or not a dispensationalist theology is Biblical
(although the writer certainly believes it to be true), nor will it
attempt to recognize and define every argument that differs with the
dispensational view and every variation of dispensational theology. This
article will simply define dispensationalism and its key characteristics
that relate to Biblical fundamentalism as well as highlight some of the
key leaders and literary tools used to shape and mold the fundamentalist
movement's acceptance of dispensational theology.
WHAT IS DISPENSATIONALISM?
Before delving into the development of dispensationalism in the
fundamentalist movement, it is necessary to define the term
dispensationalism and highlight many of its distinctive, key
characteristics, for it is exactly the acceptance or rejection of
certain of these characteristics of dispensationalism that separates
those who claim to be fundamentalists from those who reject
fundamentalism. This is not to say that all who accept a dispensational
theology are fundamentalists, nor does the writer intend to imply that
those who do not embrace every aspect of dispensationalism are not to be
classified as fundamentalists. It is obvious to any student of church
history that this is certainly not true. However, it has been
historically true that, as will be revealed later in this article,
certain characteristics of dispensationalism (the literal interpretation
of the Bible and the belief in the increasing apostasy of the church,
for example) have forced a delineation between the professed
fundamentalist and the non-fundamentalist.
So, what is dispensationalism? Cyrus Ingerson Scofield defines a
dispensation as "a period of time during which man is tested in respect
of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. "1
Charles Ryrie adds, "A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the
outworking of God's purpose."2 He elaborates as follows:
The essence of dispensationalism, then, is the distinction
between Israel and the church. This grows out of the
dispensationalist's consistent employment of normal or plain or
historical-grammatical interpretation, and it reflects an
understanding of the basic purpose of God in all His dealings with
mankind as that of glorifying Himself through salvation and other
purposes as well.
3
Thus, dispensationalism is essentially the belief or teaching that
God has worked with mankind according to different methods in different
time periods. While various individuals differ as to the exact number of
dispensations revealed in the Bible, the majority of fundamentalist
dispensationalists adhere to the concept of seven distinct
dispensations. These seven dispensations consist of: innocence (creation
to fall), conscience (fall to flood), human government (flood to the
call of Abraham), promise (call of Abraham to Mount Sinai), law (Mount
Sinai to Pentecost), grace (Pentecost to Christ's Second Advent) and
kingdom (Second Advent to Great White Throne judgment).
In addition to the division of the history of mankind into several
dispensations, several other characteristics comprise dispensationalism.
Clarence B. Bass identifies several of these characteristics in his book
Backgrounds to Dispensationalism. These characteristics
according to Bass include:
a rigidly applied literalism in the interpretation of Scripture
a dichotomy between Israel and the church
a restricted view of the church
a Jewish concept of the kingdom
a postponement of the kingdom
a distinction between law and grace that creates a multiple basis
for God's dealing with man
a compartmentalization of Scripture
a pre-tribulation rapture
its view of the purpose of the great tribulation
its view of the millennial reign of Christ
its view of the eternal state
its view of the apostate nature of Christendom4
Several of these characteristics have a close relationship to
historic fundamentalism. While all the aforementioned characteristics
can be considered internal characteristics of dispensationalism, that
is, they comprise the essence of the definition of dispensationalism,
Bass notes that one external characteristic of dispensationalism is that
it tends to be "separatistic in faith and practice. "5 This
is an extremely important observation by Bass. Indeed, the early
fundamentalists believed that while several elements or characteristics
of dispensationalism were essential for grounds of worship with others,
other characteristics of dispensationalism such as the view of the
apostate nature of Christendom were intrinsically separatistic in
nature.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISPENSATIONALISM IN AMERICA
It is important to understand the historical development of
dispensationalism in America before relating fundamentalism's connection
with the characteristics of dispensationalism. The study of eschatology
rose to an unprecedented height in the early 1800s as a result of the
French Revolution and the existing condition of the Jews.6
Historian Ernest Sandeen notes, "The apparently complete and precise
fulfillment of biblical prophecies during the French Revolution had a
direct impact upon the biblical interpretation generally. It became a
hallmark of the millenarian party that literal rather than figurative or
spiritualized fulfillments should be sought for every biblical
prophecy."7 In light of the war, an allegorical or figurative
interpretation of God's Word began to work against those who held to
such a view. Additionally, the Scientific Revolution, which placed a
great emphasis on fact and rationalism rather than figurative language,
opened the door toward the end of the eighteenth century for people to
begin accepting the Bible in a literal way. Sandeen says the Scientific
Revolution "had begun to weight the balance in favor of fact, even
within the church."8
Individuals began to see the difficult times in which they were
living and began to adopt a millenarian theology, that is, a belief
based on Scripture that Christ is going to come back to earth to
establish His millennial Kingdom and rule the earth with His saints.
These individuals were looking for this event to happen during their
lifetime. Though some stressed a post-millennial view while others
believed in a pre-millennial view, the point is this: People began to
interpret the Scriptures in a literal way and began looking for the
literal return of Christ rather than allegorizing and spiritualizing the
Scriptures. Before this time, the majority of the Christian church from
the fourth century onward accepted an amillennial view of Scripture.9
They did not believe in any literal, one thousand year reign of Christ
on the earth.
Once this thrust to accept a literal interpretation of the Scriptures
became more common, the next issue that arose was whether Christ would
come back before the millennium to rule and reign over the earth or
whether He would return after the millennium was over to usher in
eternity. In the United States, the prosperity of the early eighteenth
century and the great revivals that occurred under the leadership of
Jonathan Edwards (the first post-millennial theologian in American
history) sparked a leaning toward post-millennialism.10 At
the other end of the spectrum were the followers of William Miller.
Miller was a pre-millennialist whose fascination with setting a date for
the return of Christ led to the eventual demise of his influence over
his followers.11
Several Christian newspapers and periodicals began to circulate
between 1848 and 1863 that emphasized the soon return of Christ, aroused
an interest in prophecy and prepared America for an acceptance of
theological dispensationalism. Such magazines, newspapers and
periodicals included the Theological and Literary Journal (1848),
published by David Nevins Lord; the Waymarks in the Wilderness
(1854), published by James Inglis; the Prophetic Times
(1863), edited by Joseph Seiss, Richard Newton and George Duffield among
others and the Christian Intelligencer, the official newspaper of
the Dutch Reformed Church.12 It is interesting to note that
while the Christian Intelligencer was not originally
intended to be a voice of millenarianism or support millenarian views,
the intense debate over millenarianism that occurred in that newspaper
informed many Americans of such eschatological issues and mirrored the
interest that Americans were showing in this debate.13 The
Prophetic Times, on the other hand, was a publication that, from its
inception, intended to advance the idea of Christ's soon, even
pre-millennial, return. The Prophetic Times also differed from
the Christian Intelligencer in that it was extremely
denominationally diverse. Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Dutch
Reformed and Baptists all served on the editorial board of the magazine.
Sandeen, after naming each editor and his denominational affiliation,
says, "The complete roll of editors indicates to some extent the
denominational penetration of millenarianism."14
John Nelson Darby
One cannot study the background of dispensationalism or the history
of fundamentalism without noticing the name of one man, John Nelson
Darby, and learning of the impact he had on the formulation of
dispensationalist theology. Darby, who separated from the Church of
Ireland and became the leader of the Plymouth Brethren during the
mid-1800's, is credited as the founder of modern dispensationalist
theology. He brought his dispensationalist system of interpretation to
the United States through a series of trips he made to America.15
Darby spread his dispensationalist theology throughout the United States
not only through his frequent trips to America but also through an array
of literature distributed to American Christians that was written by
Darby and other Plymouth Brethren. Darby visited the United States seven
times in fifteen years (from 1862-1877), preaching in churches,
organizing meetings and gathering with many American religious leaders
in an attempt to teach them his dispensational theology.16
Darby's teachings were able to greatly influence Americans and American
religious leaders because his dispensational theology emphasized a
pre-millennial return of Christ that was already familiar to Americans
and had already been accepted by many of them. "The pre-millennial
emphasis was the main point of entrance through which Darby's
distinctives gained ground in the United States."17
Darby's dispensationalism possessed three key, distinct
characteristics that, while originally not fully accepted by all
fundamentalists, eventually became a hallmark of the fundamentalist
movement. The first characteristic was the distinction between Israel
and the church. Darby's literal interpretation of the Bible necessarily
moved him to answer many supposed contradictions contained therein.
Opponents argued that a literal interpretation of the Bible only
produced confusion and contradictions. Darby, "too traditional to admit
that the biblical authors might have contradicted each other, and too
rationalist to admit that the prophetic maze defied penetration ...
attempted a resolution of his exegetical dilemma by distinguishing
between Scripture intended for the church and Scripture intended for
Israel."18 Darby taught that the church was a "mystery" in
the Old Testament, something about which the Old Testament prophets and
writers knew nothing and that the Church Age was a parenthetical time
frame in which God no longer dealt specifically with the Jews but with
the church, which is comprised of all who believe on Him, whether Jew or
Gentile.19 According to Darby, Christ's work and covenant
with the Jews will resume after the rapture of the church.
This introduces Darby's second important doctrinal characteristic—the
rapture of the church, or the "secret rapture" as it has been called by
some. Sandeen expresses Darby's belief in the pre-millennial,
pre-tribulational rapture of the church as follows: "The consummation of
the church would take place at the second coming of Christ when the
members of the body of Christ, both living and dead, would be caught
away to dwell with Christ in heaven." 20 Darby also believed
that this rapture could occur at any moment. In fact, Sandeen mentions
that this doctrine is commonly known as the "doctrine of the any moment
coming."21 This doctrine was unlike any of the previous
millennial teachings, for those who held to a millenarian doctrine may
have expected Christ to come to the earth eventually but not at any
moment since they believed various prophecies had to come to pass prior
to the Lord's return to the earth.
Unlike William Miller, Darby never made the mistake of attempting to
set a date for the return of Christ for His church.
The third important distinct characteristic of Darby's dispensational
theology is his teaching that the church will continue to decline and
grow more and more apostate as time progresses." Marsden notes that when
Darby came to the United States to spread his dispensationalist
theology, "many Americans were interested in his approach to prophetic
studies, yet few took seriously the Brethren teaching of the 'ruin of
the church."22 However, as will be discussed later, the idea
that the end of the Church Age will be characterized by great apostasy
is tremendously important to dispensational theology and its
relationship to Biblical fundamentalism.
The Prophetic Conferences and the Niagara Conferences
While Darby's dispensational theology was becoming either accepted or
debated by major Christian leaders toward the end of the nineteenth
century, several gatherings of believers were convened for the purpose
of studying the Bible together and presenting its truths to large
audiences. These conferences heightened the awareness and interest in
eschatology, the study of end-time events. While the main purpose of
these conferences was to oppose modernism (liberalism) and
postmillennialism, not to promote dispensationalism, dispensational
theology became extremely popular and eventually became a major thrust
of the conferences.
The American Bible and Prophetic Conferences began in 1878 and
included such speakers as John T. Duffield, James H. Brooks, A. J.
Gordon and Nathaniel West. Sermon topics included "Christ's Coming:
Personal and Visible," "Christ's Coming: Is It Premillennial?" and "The
Present Age and Development of Antichrist."24 At the end of
the first Prophetic Conference, six resolutions were passed, revealing
the influence of dispensationalism:
Absolute authority of Scripture
Literal fulfillment of prophecy
Imminency of Christ's return
Progress of evil in this age
Duty of the church: To pray, watch and work
Premillennialism is viewed as one of the mightiest incentives to
earnestness in preaching the Gospel to every creature, until He comes.
25
While all the speakers at this conference did agree on the doctrine
of Christ's premillennial, imminent return, not all individuals agreed
with every detail of when or how it would occur. However, notice the
similarity between the final resolutions passed at the Prophetic
Conference and Darby's characteristics of dispensational theology. The
American Bible and Prophetic Conferences that followed continued to
steadfastly uphold the six aforementioned resolutions.
Three years before the beginning of the American Bible and Prophetic
Conferences, fundamentalist leaders met together for prayer and Bible
study in order to edify one another in the Lord and search the
Scriptures concerning truths such as dispensational theology. These
Believers' Meetings for Bible Study developed into the Niagara Bible
Conferences and had a profound impact on preachers, evangelists and
Christian laymen alike. Key speakers at these Niagara Conferences
included A. J. Gordon, James H. Brooks, A. C. Dixon, J. Hudson Taylor
and A. T. Pierson. All these men believed in the increasing apostasy of
the church and the premillennial return of Christ. Dollar mentions that
two particular aspects of the Niagara Conferences bear mention: first,
"the fixed position as to the conditions at the end of the present age,
for a fearful apostasy was foreseen within the professing Christian
body"26; and second, their firm conviction that "the
premillennial coming of the Lord is the only hope of man."17
Two individuals stand out as important leaders in the Niagara
Conferences, which had such a great impact on the development of
fundamentalism in America. These two men are A. J. Gordon and James H.
Brooks. Both profoundly influenced fundamentalism through their
preaching and through the magazines they published. Gordon published the
Watchword, a voice for premillennial, pretribulational doctrine,
and Brooks published the Truth, another premillennial,
pretribulational magazine. Both publications helped advance a
dispensational theology and eventually merged into the Watchword and
Truth. Robert Cameron, who was not a pretribulationist, became
editor of the Watchword and Truth following the deaths of
Gordon and Brooks. In 1894, Arno C. Gaebelein, a leader of
dispensationalist theology, began to publish a magazine entitled Our
Hope. This magazine served to take the same pretribulational stand
that the Watchword and Truth had taken earlier before Cameron
became editor.
The Scofield Reference Bible
Besides John Nelson Darby, probably no other name receives more
credit for popularizing and merging dispensational theology with
fundamentalism than C. I. Scofield. Poythress says, "The Scofield
Reference Bible, in particular, contributed more than any other
single work to the spread of dispensationalism in the United States."29
James Barr mentions that the Scofield Reference Bible is "perhaps
the most important single document in all fundamentalist literature."30
Poythress notes that four distinctives separated Scofield from other
nonfundamentalist leaders of his time. First, Scofield believed in a
literal approach to interpreting the Bible. Second, he made a
distinction between Israel and the church. Third, he divided the history
of the world into seven distinct dispensations. And fourth, he advocated
a pretribulational rapture." once again, these were marked distinctions
of dispensational theology that were becoming widely accepted among
fundamentalists and fundamentalist leaders.
Scofield followed the dispensational teachings of Darby and
Gaebelein. Before the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible,
Scofield met with the eight consulting editors several times for a
period of a week at a time. Gaebelein and A. T. Pierson, both prominent
fundamentalist dispensationalists, were two of the eight consulting
editors of the Scofield Reference Bible. Bass says that
Gaebelein, who "through his works has probably done more to synthesize
and promulgate dispensationalism than any other theologian," had a
greater influence on Scofield than any other individual.32
Scofield incorporated his dispensational theology in the form of notes
at the bottom of the pages of a King James Version of the Bible. Through
this format, anyone who owned a copy of the Scofield Reference Bible
could read and study the Bible and Scofield's notes simultaneously.
"Following a pretribulational, premillennial scheme, Scofield divided
history into seven dispensations and pointed out eight covenants that
condition man's relationship with God."33 More than two
million copies of the Scofield Reference Bible were sold in the
first generation alone.
So much more could be said about other fundamentalist individuals and
books that advanced dispensationalism during this period of
fundamentalist history. As the end of the nineteenth century closed and
the twentieth century began, more and more literature stressed the
importance of dispensational interpretation of Scripture and the
premillennial (and even the pretribulational) coming of Christ. For
example, The Fundamentals and W. E. Blackstone's Jesus Is
Coming both had a great impact on fundamentalists of the day.
The content of these publications stressed the dispensational
distinctives such as a literal interpretation of Scripture and the
imminent return of Christ.
DISPENSATIONALISM'S CONNECTION TO FUNDAMENTALISM
Strong Dispensational Fundamentalist Leadership
Dispensationalism flourished in the fundamentalist movement for
several reasons, but only three primary reasons will be considered here.
First, the acceptance of dispensationalism by fundamentalist leaders
greatly aided in the acceptance and promotion of dispensationalism among
the laypeople. Many of the aforementioned men such as James H. Brooks,
A. C. Gaebelein, C. I. Scofield, A. J. Gordon and A. T. Pierson, to name
only a few, were extremely influential fundamentalist authors and
powerful preachers. They commanded the attention of an audience that was
receptive to the things of the Lord. Had these men rejected
dispensationalism and its key distinctives, fundamentalism would not
exist in its present form. While many of these men differed on the
details of some dispensational points, they all believed in key
characteristics such as the literal interpretation of the Bible, the
distinction between Israel and the church and the any-moment return of
Christ. They were united on these matters, and that unifying factor
helped dispensationalism integrate with fundamentalism toward the end of
the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.
Literal Interpretation of the Bible
The second reason dispensationalism flourished in the fundamentalist
movement is because fundamentalists believed that the Scriptures must be
interpreted literally rather than allegorically or symbolically. The
modernists easily twisted the Scriptures to make them conform to their
own ideas and philosophies, for they interpreted the Bible allegorically
or figuratively rather than literally. W. W. Barndollar, in reference to
the difference between a literal and a spiritual interpretation of the
Bible, says that "if literalism is the valid hermeneutical method and
also if it is consistently followed, then it will lead to
dispensationalism."34 Sandeen noted that "since the
millenarian believed that the pages of Scripture contained the literal
truth of God's prophetic plan, he was only behaving consistently when he
set out to obey divine commands in an equally literal fashion."35
This observation by Sandeen is important to note, for it is exactly
the literal interpretation that demands a literal action on the part of
the believer, and literal action is a key tenet of fundamentalism.
According to fundamentalists, God means what He says in His Word, and it
is the believer's responsibility to obey what God has commanded, no
matter how difficult that may be. Dr. George Houghton, in defining
fundamentalism, notes that fundamentalism is an attitude that is
not only based on the literal interpretation of the Bible but also upon
an "unwillingness to cooperate with or coexist with religious
liberalism."36 In other words, the literal interpretation
produces a literal action of obedience on the part of the
fundamentalist. When God's Word specifically says to separate from
unbelief and apostasy, the true fundamentalist will take that as a
literal command and will, in fact, separate from unbelief and apostasy.
Obviously, this "literal interpretation link" between dispensationalism
and fundamentalism also applies to many other doctrinal areas besides
the doctrine of personal and ecclesiastical separation.
The Apostasy and Decline of the Churches
Finally, dispensationalism flourished in the fundamentalist movement
because dispensationalism stressed the decline and apostasy of the
church prior to the coming of the Lord, and fundamentalism was a
movement that eventually stressed the importance of coming out of, or
separating from, apostate denominations and associations. When Darby
visited the United States in 1862, he was appalled at the condition of
churches in America. He wrote, "The church is more worldly in America
than anywhere you would find it, that is, the professing bodies, the
world–professedly such–inordinately wicked."37
Of the six resolutions passed at the first American Bible and
Prophetic Conference, resolution number four reveals how the
fundamentalists readily believed in the apostate nature of Christendom
and used this decline of the professed church as an incentive for
further evangelism until the return of the Lord. It says:
The Scriptures nowhere teach that the whole world will be converted
to God, and that there will be a reign of universal
righteousness and peace before the return of our blessed Lord, but
that only at and by His coming in power and glory will the prophecies
concerning the progress of evil and the development of Antichrist, the
times of the Gentiles, and the ingathering of Israel, the
resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the transfiguration of
His living saints, receive their fulfillment, and the period of
millennial blessedness in its inauguration.
38
As mentioned previously, the Niagara Conferences also stressed the
fearful condition of an end time apostasy sweeping the churches in the
last days prior to the Lord's return. Certainly, the fundamentalist
leaders believed the apostasy to be true, and they preached accordingly.
Gaebelein, in an address delivered at the Bible Institute of Los
Angeles on August 17, 1919, said this about the condition of the church
in a message entitled "The Apostasy Sweeping Over the Churches":
[Christ] describes the events preceding his coming, speaking of man
becoming more unrighteous, lawless, the age finally to end with a time
of great trouble. There is not a word as to what theologians teach
about the world growing better through the process of evolution, etc.,
and not a word about righteousness and peace, but the Son of God
predicts apostasy as it was in the days of Noah and as it was in the
days of Lot. Wherever these learned men get their message from, we
don't know; they don't get it from the Word of God nor from the lips
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
39
Gaebelein continued in that same sermon by mentioning many men of
Scripture and relating what those men had to say about the condition of
man before the coming of the Lord. Indeed, these men did not believe
that the world would improve and grow closer to the Lord over time as
several modernists believed. The fundamentalists knew the apostasy was a
part of God's plan, and they obeyed God's command to separate
accordingly.
These early fundamentalists most likely had no idea that the apostasy
of which they warned would grow into the monstrosity that it is today.
In retrospect, it can be observed that their beliefs and convictions
concerning the end time apostasy (which they based on a literal
interpretation of the Bible) were absolutely correct. Even to this day,
fundamentalists still face the same struggles as those who have gone on
before—struggles for the acceptance of a literal interpretation of the
Bible, struggles for the acceptance of a premillennial and
pretribulational return of Christ and struggles to try to get the world
to see that Christendom will only grow more apostate and that the only
answer is personal belief in the death, burial and resurrection of
Christ and a separated walk with Him.
Endnotes
- C. I. Scofield, The Scofield Reference Bible (New York:
Oxford university Press, 1917), 5.
- Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago: Moody Press,
1995), 28.
- 3. Ibid., 41.
- Clarence B. Bass, Backgrounds to Dispensationalism (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1960), 18.
- Ibid., 19.
- David 0. Beale, In Pursuit of Purity (Greenville: Unusual
Publications, 1986), 28.
- Ernest R. Sandeen, The Roots of Fundamentalism (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1970), 13,
- Ibid., 108.
- Beale, 28.
- Sandeen, 43.
- Ibid., 58.
- George W. Dollar, A History of Fundamentalism in America
(Greenville: Bob Jones University Press Press, 1973), 75. Also,
Sandeen, 90-91.
- Sandeen, 93.
- Ibid., 94.
- George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 46.
- Sandeen, 71.
- Vern S. Poythress, Understanding Dispensationalists (Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 18.
- Sandeen, 66.
- Bass, 26.
- Sandeen, 62.
- Ibid., 63.
- Marsden, 70-71.
- Ibid., 70
- George Houghton, "History of Fundamentalism" class notes (Ankeny:
Faith Baptist Theological Seminary, n. d.), 15.
- Ibid., 15
- Dollar, 73.
- Ibid., 73
- While Dollar does not hesitate to label Gordon as a
pretribulationist, even citing references from the Watchword to
support this belief, Beale, on page 29 of In Pursuit of Purity,
says "that Gordon, seemed unclear on the subject."
- Poythress, 19.
- James Barr, Fundamentalism (Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press, 1978), 45.
- Poythress, 20-22.
- Bass, 18.
- Beale, 38.
- W. W. Barndollar, The Validity of Dispensationalism (New
York: Baptist Bible Seminary, 1964), it.
- Sandeen,41.
- Houghton, 3.
- Sandeen,71.
- Beale, 54.
- Amo C. Gaebelein, "The Apostasy Sweeping Over the Churches,"
(printed in Foundation magazine. Los Osos: FEA Press, March-April
1997), 17-24.
