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Seminary), MacArthur (Masters Seminary), Feinberg (Trinity Evangelical Divinity
School), Bateman (Grace Seminary), and Saucy (Talbot Seminary).

Summary

In observing these various definitional attempts, we are struck by their similarity

and agreement, particularly with regard to the distinction between Israel and the church.
Charles Ryrie's statement could have been made after perusing our list: "This [the
distinction between Israel and the church] is probably the most basic theological test of
whether or not a person is a dispensationalist, and it is undoubtedly the most practical and
conclusive."

Another concluding observation is in order as well. None of these definitions

comes close to providing a connection between dispensationalism and sanctification. As
MacArthur has suggested (see p. 4), dispensationalism certainly does have significant
ramifications for eschatology and ecclesiology, but such doctrines as soteriology,
anthropology, and theology proper are not affected. Neither Chafer

nor Ryrie,

both of

whom have written extensively on the doctrine of sanctification and both of whose views
on sanctification have been tied to dispensationalism (see pp. 1-2), ever makes the
connection between sanctification and dispensationalism.

Thus, after investigating the definition of dispensationalism, we can find no

organic connection between sanctification and dispensationalism.

But how are we to

Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 39.

Chafer, He that is Spiritual; idem, Major Bible Themes, rev. John F. Walvoord (Grand Rapids:

Zondervan Publishing House, 1974); and idem, Systematic Theology, vol. 7 (Dallas: Dallas Seminary Press,
1948), 279-84, never mentions dispensationalism in his discussions of sanctification in any of these
writings.

Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Balancing the Christian Life (Chicago: Moody Press, 1969), 61-83.

Idem, "Contrasting Views," 191, as mentioned above on p. 3, prefers to label his view of sanctification as
Chaferian rather than dispensational.

B. B. Warfield, review of He that is Spiritual, by Lewis Sperry Chafer, in Princeton Theological

Review 17 (April 1919): 322-27, never mentions Chafer's dispensationalism. In light of the fact that
Warfield has no problem giving labels to Chafer's view of sanctification (such as "Higher Life,"
"Arminian," and "quietistic"), we would expect him to make a connection between Chafer's sanctification
and his dispensationalism, but he (Warfield) never does.

One might well ask at this point how the Chaferian model of sanctification (to use Ryrie's term)

ever came to be tied to dispensationalism. There are at least three suggested proposals, and we will add a
fourth. 1) Dispensationalism's tendency to compartmentalize truth led to this type of sanctification teaching
(John F. MacArthur, Jr., The Gospel According to Jesus [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,
1988], 24-25). 2) Dispensationalism's emphasis on God's electing purpose for national Israel suggests that,
regardless of Israel's sin problems through the centuries, God remains faithful to His covenant promises to
her. This same emphasis is applied to the individual believer in this present age. The believer is absolutely
secure in his relationship with God even though he or she may fall far away from Him. Thus, the emphasis
on carnal as opposed to spiritual believers occurs (C. Norman Kraus, Dispensationalism in America: Its
Rise and Development [Richmond, VA: John Knox Press, 1958], 61-62). 3) The dispensational emphasis
on pure grace as opposed to the bondage of the Mosaic Law leads to a rejection of the necessity of the
lordship of Christ in the salvation message. This permits the possibility and expectancy of carnal Christians
who have failed to accept Christ's lordship in their justified state (MacArthur, Faith Works, 228-29, and
Crenshaw, 82-84). 4) Dispensationalism's expectation of the apostate nature of Christendom at the end of
the present age of grace points to an

expectation of disobedience on the part of true Christians. Hence, a

group of carnal Christians is foreseen by this proposal; if the church were able to avoid carnality, apostasy