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Author:
Dr. George Gunn

theWord Version:
3.x - 4.x

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A Dispensational View of Worship

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Dispensational, Worship

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A Dispensational View of Worship - George Gunn.gbk.twm

Historically, Dispensationalists have been very strong in promoting their theology. To its credit, Dispensationalism has prompted among its followers great devotion both to Bible study and to evangelism. However, a strong conviction over dispensational worship is lacking in most works written from a dispensational perspective. One of the great challenges facing the development of a dispensational view of worship is the relative lack of extended New Testament discourses on the subject of worship. For this reason, the view of worship promoted by the Catholic and Reformed traditions borrows its liturgy from a spiritualized view of the Old Testament cultus with its exclusive priesthood, altar and temple. By way of contrast, the New Testament priesthood of the believer and lack of any physical altar/temple present an approach to worship that is vastly different in many respects from that found in the Old Testament. Dispensationalism’s tenet that there is an absolute distinction between Israel and the Church makes it incumbent upon the earnest Bible believer that he draw from the pages of the New Testament a clear understanding of what worship means for the church. The only extended discourse that pertains to worship for the church is to be found in Yeshu‘a‘s presentation of this subject to the Samaritan woman in John 4. Most of Yeshu‘a‘s pre-cross ministry was directed toward Israel and the presentation of the kingdom. But there are a few glimpses of church age teaching to be gleaned from the Savior’s teachings – for example, the Upper Room Discourse, and, possibly, the “church” references in Matthew 16 and 18, and even perhaps some implications from the kingdom parables of Matthew 13. But clear and extended teaching on the church dispensation is rarely found in the Gospel narratives. In light of this, it must be asked at the outset whether Yeshu‘a’s discourse about worship in John 4 rightly describes the church dispensation. His statement to the woman that, “an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (John 4:21), requires that we understand His reference to be to the church age. Clearly, Jerusalem was the appropriate focal point of worship under the Law Dispensation and will be again in the Kingdom. Yeshu‘a’s reference in John 4, then, could only have been to the church dispensation. Thus, we find in His words to the Samaritan woman probably the only extended discourse in the New Testament on the subject of church-age worship.