BLINDNESS IN PART HAS HAPPENED TO DISPENSATIONALISM

By Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama)

March 30, 2010

In Romans 11:25 Paul wrote that: Blindness in part is happened to Israel. In this chapter Paul writes about two different groups of Jews in Israel. The ones who believed on Christ and were elected and saved by grace in verses 5-6 and the other Jews who did not believe and were blinded by their unbelief in verses 7-10. That is why he said their blindness was in part. All Jews were not blinded, but many were. A small remnant within the nation believed on Christ, but the majority did not. According to verse 8 the ones who were blinded had eyes, but they could not see and they had ears, but they would not hear. They had a mind, but they could not understand. They had their own preconceived ideas about God and the Bible and their blindness caused them to reject any teaching that contradicted what they had believed for so many years.

Sad to say, but what Paul says about Israel is true of dispensationalism today. Among dispensationalists there is a small remnant who can still see the truth when it is shown to them. They are willing to hear and believe the truth even when it contradicts what they have believed for many years. They are still able to understand the truth when they hear it and see it. Thank God for this remnant. But there is a growing number of people who call themselves dispensationalists who are blinded. They have eyes, but they cannot see the truth. They have ears, but they will not listen to any truth that contradicts their preconceived ideas. They have a mind, but within their mind there is a spiritual barrier that prevents them from comprehending any truth that contradicts their pre conceived theories about Peter, Paul, the gospel, the kingdom of God, the second coming, the church etc.

In this article is found an example of this blindness. I have re printed a letter that I received recently from a person who calls herself a “right divider” and a “dispensationalist”. This person sits under the teaching of so called grace preachers who call themselves dispensationalists. In this letter this person says that Peter did not preach that Christ died for our sins. She says the only person who ever preached that Christ died for our sins was Paul. She also says that no one before Paul ever said that Christ would die for our sins. Keep in mind as you read this letter that she was taught this by men who call themselves “dispensationalists and “right dividers”.

Here is the letter exactly as sent to me:

Quote: And what is the gospel of Christ?

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

You will not find any such statement in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John or the first part of Acts. Peter never preached that Christ died for OUR sins. Peter preached the death, burial and resurrection of THE Christ, the Son of God, their Messiah who will atone for their sins when he returns to the earth.

Here is a person who calls herself a “right divider” and a “dispensationalist” who sits under the preaching of more than one dispensationalist preacher who says that Peter never preached Christ died for our sins and that no one before Paul ever preached it either! What is sad about this letter is that this person is not the only one who believes this. If it was I would not pay any attention to it. But there are scores of so called dispensationalists who are as blinded as the person who wrote in this letter.

What saith the scriptures? Is it true that Peter did not preach that Christ died for our sins? Let Peter speak for himself;

1 Peter 1:18-19 - Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1Peter 2:24 - Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

1 Peter 3:18 - For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

I ask you, did Peter preach that Christ died for our sins and shed his blood to redeem us? The answer is obvious. But this person and many like her who call themselves dispensationalists says he didn’t!

Did anyone preach Christ would die for sins before Paul? Yes, and guess who it was? Jesus Christ himself.

In Matthew 26:27-28 when the Lord and the apostles observed the Lord’s Supper for the first time it says: And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Why did Jesus say he was going to shed his blood? He said for the remission of sins. Paul quotes this verse in 1 Cor.11:24-26.

In Matthew 20:28 Jesus said: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Paul preached the death of Christ as a ransom for sinners in 1 Tim. 2:6.

In John 6:51 the Lord said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Why did Christ die? To give eternal life to the world. Paul said the same thing about Christ’s death in Rom.6:23.

John 3:14-15 says: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And John 12:32-33 says: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.

When Moses lifted up the serpent on the pole those who looked lived. When God lifted up Christ on the cross those who believe he was lifted up on the cross for their sins live eternally.

Also when Paul preached the gospel of Christ he said: Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament scriptures. Read Isaiah 53 and see that is was prophesied that Christ would be offered as a sacrifice for sins and iniquities.
So the gospel of Christ was not only preached by Christ in the Four gospels, not only by the apostles in Hebrews through Revelation, but by the Prophets in the Old Testament.

Why can’t dispensationalists see this? Because dispensationalism has a false idea of what a mystery is. In Romans 16:25 Paul’s gospel is called a mystery and many dispensationalists like the woman who wrote this letter say there is no statement of it before Paul and remained a mystery even after Paul. But yet Paul’s gospel is found in the Prophets according to 1 Cor.15:3-4. How can this be true? Because a mystery is not a mystery because it is not written down prior to its revelation. There were many doctrines written down in the Prophets that were hidden from the understanding of men and remained a secret for 1000’s of years until God chose the right time, place and man to reveal them to. Paul’s gospel was one of them. It was written down in the Prophets, preached by Christ in the four gospels, but remained a mystery until God fully revealed it to Paul.

This can be seen in Luke 18:31-33 when Jesus told the apostles that he would be put to death but rise again from the dead. But verse 34 says: And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. The reason why they did not understand that Christ was going to die was not because it was not written down in the Prophets for it was. It was not because Jesus did not tell them, for he did many times. It’s because IT WAS HID FROM THEM. It was a mystery to them because God kept it hidden from their understanding. The first man in recorded history to preach the cross for salvation was Paul and after his conversion everyone preached it as you can plainly see in 1 Peter 1,2, 3. If they didn’t God would have cursed them.

To be fair, what I have written in this article is not true of all dispensationalists. But it is true of a growing number of them. Don’t be blinded by the false theories of dispensationalism. When confronted by any Biblical issue always ask the question: What saith the scriptures. And when the scriptures say one thing and dispensationalism another, believe the scriptures and reject the theories of dispensationalism.