The Salvation of Mankind, and the Governance of Mankind

Progressive revelation includes two parallel lines of thought, God's general demands on mankind in the governance of mankind, and God's progressive revelation with regard to eternal salvation.  Because these two distinct requirements on humanity are intertwined in the pages of God's progressive revelation to humanity, and in the dispensational architecture by which God has ordained the man's course through history, theologians and pastors must be careful to distinguish the nature of these demands to avoid confusion and violence to the doctrine of salvation.

a)                  Salvific Demands on Mankind  In every age, salvation has been by faith alone, and apart from human works.  We believe, however, that the content of saving faith has become progressively more specific throughout human history.  It is clear that the sacrificial system in Israel foreshadowed the redemptive work of Christ.  We further note that Israel operated through a priesthood performing sacrificial works, and that these sacrifices were therefore not offered by the individual worshipper.  We therefore believe that saving faith prior to Christ's death was directed, in some way, to the sacrificial system of Israel.  We believe that this is easily reconciled with the doctrine of grace in that, the sacrifice was not offered by the worshipper, but by a priest, even as the final sacrifice was a work in a very real sense, but offered by our Great High Priest . . . that is, by our Lord Jesus Christ.  We further observe that Scripture appears to explicitly identify faith, directed in some way toward in this sacrificial system, as the basis of justification under the law of Moses prior to Christ's death (Luke 18:14).  We acknowledge that the specific content of saving faith becomes increasingly speculative when directed to certain dispensations between Adam and Moses.

b)                  The governance of mankind  Throughout the various dispensations, God has governed mankind through a variety of means, such as the laws of Moses during the dispensation of the law.  Many of these demands, and means of governance, are general demands unrelated to salvation.  We believe it is vital to keep in mind the distinct nature of these parallel unfolding demands, God's general demands, and God's salvific demands, in progressive revelation, in order to avoid doing grave damage to the doctrine of salvation.

c)                  The Dispensation of Grace  Because men of every age have been granted eternal life and forgiveness only through the unconditional love of God manifested as the gift of eternal life to mankind, we believe that grace is a distinguishable feature of the present dispensation only with respect to God's general governance of His people, not with respect to His program of salvation.  Accordingly, we believe the term "dispensation of grace," though appropriate in describing the means by which God governs His people during the current age, has the potential for confusion if understood as implying that salvation was not by grace under the Mosaic period.  Accordingly, we believe that great care should be taken to ensure that the phrase "Dispensation of Grace" is never extend beyond the bounds of Scripture.  Because God's means of governing Christians during this age is largely that they are to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14 and possibly Jeremiah 31:31-34) the current age could equally be called the dispensation of the Spirit.  Similarly, because the church is God's visible instrument on earth for leading, governing and, when necessary, disciplining his people (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Timothy 3:1-15; 4:12-6:21; Titus 1-3), the present age could equally be called the dispensation of the church. 

The Salvation of Mankind, and the Governance of Mankind