Customer Reviews

Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism (Second Edition)

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I am a graduate of a solidly Dispensational Bible college. It was this book that changed my thinking. I highly recommend it.

It is easy to criticize, because the book is geared toward old line Dispensationalism, the type that is not commonly held by many modern Dispensationalists. I recognize that that is true. There were certain parts of the book that didn't apply much to what I had been taught, aspects of my beliefs that had already been more in line with what Gerstner taught than what he was refuting.

Never the less, there was enough relevant information in the book that it really got me to thinking about what I had always been taught and accepted as the truth. I looked more carefully, comparing what I believed to the Bible, and came away with Reformed doctrine when my study was through.

I highly recommend it to any Dispensationalist who is willing to analyze what he believes, testing it with the time honored truths of God's Word. You will be glad you did it.

Great Job! Really made me examine my dispensationaal beliefs - has helped steer me ever closer to the covenantalists. However, Gerstner seems to want to paint all dispensationalists with the same broad brush. There is a vast difference, for example, between MacArthur and Saucy on the one hand, and Chafer, Ryrie, and Hodges on the other.

Growing up in a "fundamental Baptist" church I received nothing but the "Bible Truth" of the "end times", i.e., the eschatological system called Dispensationalism. Always had a twinge of concern about what I was hearing--so often the Bible proof texts offered to certify tenets of Dispensationalism didn't seem to really say what my teachers said they said. But what did I know? I was just a kid, they were the smart adults...

Reading the Bible for myself, cover to cover, year after year (trying to, anyway) led me to deeply question and doubt much of the eschatological notions I'd received from my upbringing. But not until God blessed me by some meetings with the late Dr. John Gerstner did I encounter "Wrongly Dividing the Word Of Truth."

Reading this book confirmed for me that I had sound reason for all the disquiet in my soul. Much of what Dr. Gerster covered I'd sort of figured out for myself, from Scripture--but only in this work did I find a careful, historical and Scriptural demolition of the doctrine.

"Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth" rewards careful study. The author spends much time showing the historical roots and branches of dispensational development. He also demonstrates its Biblical and historical novelty, lack of support in the Church, and its logical fallacies and inconsistencies. Some readers may find these topics dry--I didn't, but I like reading Church history and the study of ideas and their development.

Of greatest interest, I think, for the Church as a whole: Dr. Gerstner shows how the evangelical churches of North America have departed theologically from their Reformation roots. Many if not most of the "dispensational" churches arise not from the 16th-17th century Reformation but from the "holiness" movements of the 19th century. Those sects uniformly rejected the sovereign grace of God in saving dead sinners, in favor of a Finneyan/Wesleyan notion of man saving himself by his "deciding for Christ". If God no longer controls the eternal destiny of individuals (humanistic soteriology), then why should we assume that He controls the destiny of the earth? What we believe about God and about His work matters--at EVERY level of thought. Dr. Gerstner (a sound Westminster Confession adherent) demonstrates how dispensational unsoundness on basic theology and soteriology leads directly to unsoundness in eschatology. Dr. Gerstner quotes published works of dispensationalists over the years, showing their unsoundness in their own words.

That dispensationalism now recedes in the Church becomes plainer with each passing year. I like to believe that our Lord has used Dr. Gerstner's challenging book to produce at least some of that benefit. I heartily endorse the book to all serious Christian readers.

Great book for getting to the heart of the issues separating Reformed Christians and Dispensational Christians. Gerstner was a great theologian, and in this book he is able to demonstrate that in many ways those of us in the Reformed camp view the gospel much differently than those in the Dispensational camp. If you want to understand the beliefs that seperate the Dispensational Christians from those in the Reformed camp, this is the book.

This book was instrumental in my becoming Reformed. (But it was God that changed me, not John Gerstner.) One of the big things that helped me see the truth of the Reformed position was Gerstner's fair analysis of Dispensational beliefs. He was careful not to overstate the dispensational position, and he avoided building faultly straw men to make it easier to tear down.

Gerstner bent over backwards to correctly represent Dispensationalism, then expertly refuted it. I highly recommend it. It's too bad good books like this don't stay in print.

Here is the third edition of John H. Gerstner's contemporary classic refutation of Revised Dispensationalism. I have read this book twice. I am now convinced that as a calvinist, I cannot remain dispensational unless I abandon my convictions about grace theology. The critique here is substantial. This book is primarily geared toward pastors, in my opinion. It is a long book but reads rather like a novel. One is left wanting to move ahead to the end of the story, so to speak. No one who claims to be a dispensationalist can afford to miss this book. Be prepared to be successfully challenged!

'Nevertheless, covenant theologians have adamantly maintained that the OT in its entirety (see Luke 24:44-47) refers to Christ, and that the OT sacrificial system in its entirety (see Heb 10:1-18) points forward to Christ.' p 155

Gerstner relived the dramatic rise and divisive nature of dispensationalism, its notable feature since its modern inception being the ability to rear its flexible head despite critical schisms brought on by divisive leadership. In the same breath, John Gerstner denied this divergent entity any titular rights to historic pre-millenianism, providing several sources from antiquity pointing to the fact that although millenarianism was a distinctly Jewish prefiguration, its modern counterpart indeed had a form of the old spectre, but had morphed considerably into pre-tribulational pre-millennialism. Shaped by popular demand, the desire to be expansive played into the waiting hands of the 'Brethren': 'Revivals in England tended to benefit the more scripturally-oriented Brethren as theological liberalism tended to weaken the established churches.' p 23 Derby's 'principle of separation' meant for the traditional churches' losses to become Brethren gains.

Through transatlantic prophetic conferences and the mushrooming of Bible colleges in the 20th century, which based their teaching on the Scofield Reference Bible, a new systematic theology burdened with dispensationalist premise was delivered right on the doorstep of many Americans. Dispensationalism was clearly on the ascendancy, infiltrating and dividing in the process. Gerstner's approach in methodology was to seek out the philosophy dispensationalism most adheres to, but true to its erratic nature, no fixed school of thought was to be found in the area of apologetics or hermeneutics. Following an awareness of brazen alterations to Calvinistic doctrine served up by its various leading authors, formidable opposition came in the form of Reformed theologians, none more imposing than OT Allis, who noted the dispensationalist tendency to reverse the accepted method of reading history literally and to read prophecy figuratively. Following in his wake, Gerstner systematically presented the manifold flaws of dispensational publications, their revisions in tow, designating it nothing other than 'spoof-texting'. A comical example, Gerstner cited Hal Lindsey assigning modern-day weaponry to OT predictions of shields, bows and arrows, only to shame his own literalist ditty. More inconsistencies led to more exegetical embarrassment, but Gerstner saw the dilemma as operating at core level: 'We should not accuse the dispensationalists of being absolute literalists nor should they accuse non-dispensationalists as being absolute spiritualizers.' p 80

Gerstner's gracious concession has been outlived by his damning critique. A penchant for needless distinctions exposed their double-talk: 'So Scofield says of Joel's prophecy as cited by Peter: 'A distinction must be drawn between the last days when the prediction relates to Israel, and the last days when the prediction relates to the church.' This is an admission that Joel's words do concern the church, and amounts to a confession that the church is the subject of prophecy. How then are we to understand the statement that the church corporately is not in OT prophecy?' OT Allis, Prophecy & The Church pp. 135-136

Apocalyptic novelties parading as triumphs aside, however, the inertia witnessed of 21st century dispensationalism is mainly due to its failure to ignore covenant specificity and fulfillment of the land promise (Deut 28:15-68). Speaking of the modern return from exile, through a dogged insistence to the contrary, Gerstner destroyed their leading presupposition: 'The return of the Jews to Palestine in unbelief hardly fulfills such a biblical requirement.' p 49 Gerstner continued: 'That dispensationalists attempt to explain away the many Scripture passages which clearly teach or assume the essential unity of Israel and the church is a continuing source of amazement to non-dispensationalists.' p 63 For the benefit of disbelieving dispensationalists Gerstner provided OT texts referring to Israel which, in the NT, are applied directly to the church (p 174). As to Matthew 21:43, Gerstner was greeted with an eerie silence in dispensational indexes to biblical references, with the notable exception being Charles Ryrie, who presumed on Israel's privileged position to mean Israel receiving, not losing, the kingdom.
Moreover, Gerstner ably deconstructed the dispensational 'kingdom offer' hypothesis, stating that it could not be harmonized with Scripture (particularly John 6:15), nor with theology proper as it involved a conflict with the nature of God. One dispensationalist thing has led to another:

'Luke uses Peter's sermon to establish his main point at the opening of this book: the messianic kingdom of David was now being offered again to Israel. It had been offered to Israel by Jesus before His death, and it was now being offered again.' John H Sailhamer, NIV Compact Bible Commentary p 498

Gerstner reduced the entire argument to make its outcome hang on a single thread: would dispensational persona stand up under scrutiny to their claim of being Calvinist? Mere lip service failed to settle down Gerstner, and a thorough litmus test ensued, with their printed materials being compared to the doctrines of grace. The investigation conducted exposed an Arminian in hiding: 'In Norman Geisler, the implicit Arminianism of dispensationalism has become explicit. No Arminian has ever been more specific in his denial of Calvinistic doctrine than this self-designated dispensational Calvinist.' p 107 More recently, John MacArthur's marginalization of Calvinism only serves to show the profit in this line of questioning, appending their defective voices to that of their forebears' man-centered approach: 'This is precisely the evangelical Arminian order - divine help, then human faith, followed by regeneration: 'It is entirely a supernatural act of God in response to the faith of man', say Chafer and Walvoord.' p 130

The denials continue, and dialogue has only highlighted the slumbering resentment, as the three letters of response at the end of the book show. The church desperately needs to be liberated from bondage to the very things it regards as benign, or even hopeful.

Dr. Gerstner discribed me perfectly as a moderate Calvinist, Dispensationalist. I was challanged, I even found an old copy of OT Allis in a used Bookstore to follow up on some of Dr. Gerstner's points. The second edition is more fun than sitting in a debate listening because you can read the opposing positions carefully and analise both. Excellent reading.

Dr. Gerstner wrote this book with a desire to demonstrate that the Dispensational view of salvation cannot be held along with a Calvinistic or Reformed view of salvation. Although at times Dr. Gerstner can be hard-hitting, his book presents two systematic theologies that are not compatible with each other. In all, he accomplishes his task in an organized fashion with a more scholastic approach than most authors who have tried the same study

Dr. Gerstner and Dr. Kistler have written a good response to the foundational problems of dispensationalism namely; it's hermeneutic (method of exegesis and interprestation) and it's philosophy. Rather than respond to every text that dispensationalists use to argue their interpretations, Gerstner and Kistler take the approach of following dispensationalist arguments to their necessary end and analyzing the ramifications.

Anyone who has been enthralled with "Left Behind" and "Late Great Planet Earth" mania ought to read where dispensationalist theology leads. The only problem with the book is that it spends too much time finding the roots of the theology rather than refuting more of the claims of dispensationalists from different angles.

The authors make the compelling argument that there are only two peoples in the world today: those of faith in God through the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us....and those who deny Him before man and are under judgement.

A very good read - give it uninformed friends.