Review of Forged from Reformation: How Dispensational Thought Advances the Reformed Legacy

Cone, Christopher and James I. Fazio, eds. Forged from Reformation: How Dispensational Thought Advances the Reformed Legacy. El Cajon, CA: SCS Press, 2017, pp. 582, $39.95.

This volume provides a clear presentation of why dispensationalism sees itself not as something new, but as a recovery of something old—a recovery of what the Reformers themselves were attempting to do. The authors of this volume present a scholarly case for that assertion, and the reader will surely enjoy assessing that argument.

The Reformation is one of the most pivotal time periods in the development of the Church. The Reformers are largely credited with steering the Church back to faithfulness and fidelity to God’s Word, which had been absent for centuries. The key principles which guided the Reformers in this mission are often identified as “the five solas” of the Reformation. These include sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), and soli Deo Gloria (to the glory of God alone). One of the crucial ideas of the Reformation is that the Church has not arrived at perfection and ought to keep reforming in line with these five principles. Forged from Reformation: How Dispensational Thought Advances the Reformed Legacy, contends that, although the Reformation gave a much-needed corrective to the faulty doctrines and interpretations of the Catholic Church, the task was not completed. It is the assertion of the authors of this volume that, as a system, dispensationalism carries on the idea of semper reformanda (always reforming), guiding the Church away from the problems which remained even beyond the Reformation.

In order to make this argument, the book presents eighteen chapters that highlight the significance of dispensational theology and hermeneutics. The first seven chapters are devoted to discussing dispensationalism within history. After an introductory chapter, Thomas Ice writes the second chapter which examines the Reformation in light of dispensational commitments. Ice argues that dispensational hermeneutics is an outworking of the hermeneutic promoted by the Reformers. In the third chapter, Patrick Belvill analyzes the life of Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. Belvill argues that in Luther, one can see a “nascent form of the dispensationalist’s literal grammatical-historical interpretive method” (p. 76). In the fourth chapter, James Fazio analyzes the life of J. N. Darby, arguing that Darby and Luther walked very similar paths in their lives, both “firmly bent on the task that they felt the Lord had entrusted to them” (p. 103). Cory Marsh contributes a fifth chapter to the volume, in which he argues that both Luther and Darby shared a similar argumentation against the established Church of the day. Marsh goes on to note the similarities between Luther and Darby in how they used the same principles and methods to argue against the established practices of Church polity. Marsh argues that Luther and Darby both shaped a future generation of ecclesiastical understanding in the way they argued. In the sixth chapter, Kevin Zuber discusses the doctrine of church autonomy. Zuber argues that dispensationalism carries on the Reformation’s emphasis on local church autonomy. In the seventh chapter, Brian Moulton and Cory Marsh address the contentious issue of antisemitism, found especially in the writings of Martin Luther. Moulton and Marsh argue that, although one can appreciate Luther’s marvelous contribution to the Reformation, it is dispensationalism’s insistence of a literal, grammatical-historical hermeneutic that counters antisemitism, allowing the Church to appreciate God’s promises to national Israel.

The second part of the book references the five solas of the Reformation, analyzing how dispensationalism ostensibly carries on the Reformation legacy on each of these points. Beginning with a discussion of sola Scriptura, in chapter eight Andy Woods argues that the Reformation, although marked by a return to literalism, applied literal interpretation inconsistently to a variety of doctrines (such as the promises to national Israel). Woods argues that the dispensational paradigm of literal interpretation leads to a revival of key doctrines, such as a distinction between Israel and the Church. In chapter nine, Ron Bigalke contends that, although the hermeneutic of the Reformers largely abandoned the allegorical interpretation of the Catholic Church, there was one glaring exception—eschatology. Bigalke argues that a futuristic dispensationalism is the natural outcome of a literal application to eschatological and prophetic texts. In chapter ten, Thomas Baurain analyzes and compares the presuppositions of a literal interpretation framework. He then compares how the system of covenant theology is, in his opinion, inconsistent with how it applies its hermeneutic, in contrast to the consistent literalism of dispensationalism. In chapter eleven, James Fazio returns to Luther and analyzes Luther’s Christocentric method of interpretation, concluding that by applying a Christocentric method of interpretation, Luther actually undermined the principles of hermeneutics which he attempted to apply elsewhere. Jeremiah Mutie concludes the section on sola Scriptura with a twelfth chapter, discussing how the literalism of dispensationalism differs from a wooden literalism of other groups like the Millerites, which laid the foundation for Seventh-Day Adventism.

Forged from Reformation: How Dispensational Thought Advances the Reformed Legacy, contends that, although the Reformation gave a much-needed corrective to the faulty doctrines and interpretations of the Catholic Church, the task was not completed. It is the assertion of the authors of this volume that, as a system, dispensationalism carries on the idea of semper reformanda (always reforming), guiding the Church away from the problems which remained even beyond the Reformation.

In chapter thirteen, Grant Hawley connects dispensationalism with the Reformation principle of sola gratia. Hawley argues that whereas the Reformers applied the biblical doctrine of grace to soteriological passages, dispensationalism expands the concept of grace alone to the promises given to Israel, to whom God is faithful, despite her unfaithfulness. In chapter fourteen, Glenn Kreider discusses and clarifies how dispensationalism recognizes salvation being by faith alone (sola fide) in every dispensation. In chapter fifteen, Paul Scharf discusses the dispensational contribution to solus Christus (Christ alone). One of the arguments Scharf makes is that dispensationalism recognizes the unique experience of the New Covenant believer being “in Christ”—a concept which brings great glory and honor to Christ. In chapter sixteen, Christopher Cone discusses soli Deo Gloria as the “pinnacle” of the dispensational system. Cone notes that dispensationalism moves beyond a soteriological emphasis only and emphasizes that “God does all things for the expression of His own glory” (p. 521). Luther Smith writes the seventeenth chapter, which discusses the same theme as the previous chapter. Smith traces the theme of soli Deo Gloria since the Reformation (Luther, Calvin, etc.), and concludes that this desire to see God glorified in every aspect of creation is the defining mark of dispensationalism. Cone provides a concluding chapter pointing to the idea of semper reformanda, advocating for the idea that we should not expect the Reformers to have gotten everything right, but we should expect that the Church would continue to diligently apply the principles the Reformers themselves advocated to areas that the Reformers themselves neglected.

Forged from Reformation is a volume which purports to show that dispensationalism should not be thought of as a novel innovation that breaks from the Reformers. Dispensationalism as a system may have been formulated relatively recently, but the authors of this volume would contend that the core tenets of dispensationalism are themselves a natural outcome of the principles of the Reformation. One of the most important contributions of this volume is in analyzing the hermeneutics of the Reformers and proposing that there was an inconsistency during their day by selectively applying certain hermeneutical principles. This volume provides a clear presentation of why dispensationalism sees itself not as something new, but as a recovery of something old—a recovery of what the Reformers themselves were attempting to do. The authors of this volume present a scholarly case for that assertion, and the reader will surely enjoy assessing that argument.