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Early Pentecostals and Dispensationalism: A Critical Examination of the ‘Latecomer to Dispensationalism’ View
In this dissertation, I have argued that the evidence of the primary sources of early Pentecostalism contradicts the ‘latecomer to dispensationalism’ approach. The early Pentecostals were heirs of a dispensational, premillennial eschatology. They believed in a secret rapture from the beginning of their movement. Whilst their interest in the early
159 McQueen, Toward a Pentecostal Eschatology, 163.
years was in preaching the coming of Christ with urgency and not producing detailed dispensational charts, nonetheless they should be considered dispensationalists when a ‘family resemblance’ approach is adopted. If this analysis is correct, it calls for a reassessment of the way in which we understand early Pentecostalism in relation to dispensationalism.
3.1 Early Pentecostals in Relation to Other Dispensationalists
In reading the periodicals of early Pentecostalism, one notes their shared interests with cessationist dispensationalists. Despite differences over tongues or the miraculous gifts, early Pentecostals had many of the same emphases as other dispensationalists.
The Zionist cause is one example of the overlap in interests within this broader dispensationalism. In almost every issue of the four periodicals I reviewed for this dissertation, references to the Zionist cause abound. The editors provided current statistics on the repopulation of the ‘Holy Land’ by Jewish immigrants, in many cases linking this return to prophecies about a future for Israel. Many of the articles on the Zionist cause were republished from cessationist dispensational publications, such as Gaebelein’s Our Hope. Titles such as ‘Present Condition of Palestine Indicative of the Lord’s Return’160 are common. In light of this, Macchia’s comment about ‘a certain lack of interest in such questions [i.e. end-times events]’ 161 does not accurately represent the periodical literature of the early Pentecostal movement. Clearly, Pentecostals shared with other dispensationalists a strong interest in the future, especially in relation to the Jewish people.
Another area of overlap involves, in Althouse’s categories, the relation of early Pentecostals to ‘future hope’ and ‘future despair’. Althouse places Pentecostals in the ‘future hope’ quadrant, over against the ‘future despair’ of cessationist
160 E. L. Langston, ‘Present Condition of Palestine Indicative of the Lord’s Return’, The Bridegroom’s Messenger, July 1, 1912, 113.
161 Macchia, ‘Pentecostal and Charismatic Theology’, 285.
dispensationalists.162 As observed in chapter two, King also argues for the ‘leavening’ of Pentecostalism with cessationist dispensational despair. A better approach is to view the eschatology of early Pentecostals as a tension between ‘future hope’ and ‘future despair’, just as that of other dispensationalists. Sexton, without a hint of reliance on Scofield, wrote an editorial entitled, ‘What Will the Year 1913 Bring?’ She opens the piece with James 5:7, ‘Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord’. Following this exhortation, she proceeds to explain why the world is getting worse, rather than better. Statistics on alcohol use, crime, divorce and the widespread decline in the churches are marshalled to support this perspective. Her conclusion highlights the tension in the eschatology of early Pentecostals:
On account of these sad facts, and because we know that according to the Word wickedness will increase on the earth till the end of the age, our hearts cry out to our Lord to hasten His coming and for such a cloudburst of Pentecostal latter rain as will better fit us for that great, glad day. 163
A study of the periodicals of early Pentecostals shows that they, as other dispensationalists, held views that may be considered both pessimistic and optimistic.
3.2 Dispensationalism in Light of Family Resemblance
This dissertation argues for understanding dispensationalism in light of ‘family resemblance’ rather than according to a strict set of beliefs based on the views of Darby or Scofield. According to this approach, a set of broad features comprise the essence of dispensationalism, rather than a strict set of beliefs propounded by specific theologians or the number of dispensations or the interpretation of individual passages. Many of the reasons given by scholars for not considering early Pentecostals dispensationalists are answered by this approach. For example, holding to three dispensations or seven does not alter the essence of the system, if the main points cohere. The application or non- application of the Sermon on the Mount to the Church does not alter the essence of the
162 Peter Althouse, ‘An Introduction’, in Althouse; Waddell, Perspectives in Pentecostal Eschatologies, 14.
163 Elizabeth A. Sexton, ‘What Will the Year 1913 Bring?’, The Bridegroom’s Messenger, January 1, 1913, 124.
system, as long as a belief in a literal millennium is upheld. This same approach allows flexibility in regard to the interpretation of individual passages on the rapture or the revelation of Christ, or on whether or not the dispensations overlap.164
Cessationist dispensationalists and early Pentecostals, according to this approach, may be understood as fellow theological travellers. On eschatology, cessationist dispensationalists and Pentecostals of the first decades of the 20th century had more in common than with many traditionalist Reformed or Lutheran groups. Although cessationists believed that the exercise of the miraculous gifts ceased towards the end of the 1st century, they did not mark a break in the dispensation of the Church at that point. Their views on the gifts did not appear in their dispensational charts, nor did they disdain all use of typology in their reading of the Old Testament.165 On the other side, the early Pentecostals spoke of the ‘Latter Rain’, but this season did not form a new dispensation in their eschatological programme. They also emphasised the centrality of Scripture over experience in their doctrinal formulations. By way of example, Pastor William Hamner Piper urged his audience to ‘remember, please, always to test the vision by the Book, and never the Book by the vision, and if your vision does not agree with the Word of God, away with it.’166 Further studies from both cessationist and Pentecostal scholars should fairly assess the views of these early 20th-century groups based on the primary sources, rather than on their personal or denominational notions from a later period.
3.3 Refining of Pentecostal Dispensationalism
Proponents of the ‘latecomer to dispensationalism’ approach often portray the changes made within Pentecostal eschatology as evidence of the second-generation Pentecostals’ move towards fundamentalism or evangelicalism. Whilst this may have
164 For a similar approach to the essence of dispensationalism in the late 20th century see: John S. Feinberg, ‘Systems of Discontinuity’, in Continuity and Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship between the Old and New Testaments, ed. John S. Feinberg (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1988). Kindle.
165 For example, Scofield, commenting on Genesis 1:16, says, ‘Dispensationally the Church is in place as the “lesser light”, the moon, reflecting the light of the unseen sun’. Scofield, Scofield Reference Bible, 4.
166 William H. Piper, ‘The Sovereignty of God: In Its Dispensational and Individual Aspects’, The Bridegroom’s Messenger, September 15, 1909, 46, 4.
been true in some instances, another approach is to understand these changes as modifications of their already existing dispensationalism. A broad dispensationalism was accepted by early Pentecostals, and this system was then refined upon interaction with the publications and conferences of other dispensationalists, such as Scofield, Arno Gaebelein or Clarence Larkin. For instance, the visual theology of Larkin, as exemplified in his work Dispensational Truth,167 directly influenced F. J. Lee’s presentation of biblical history and eschatology in a conference session. The publication of the discourse included a diagram that borrowed aspects of Larkin’s charts.168 If Pentecostals already accepted a broader dispensationalism, it is not surprising that they would have used other dispensationalists’ work to supplement or modify their own views. Other refinements in their dispensationalism were necessitated by the rise of doctrinal diversity. For example, in the 1930s, discussion arose about the timing of the rapture, and for this reason Pentecostal groups began to define their position with respect to the pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib positions.169 This could be understood as a move towards evangelicalism or fundamentalism, but on my reading this is the natural development of doctrinal positions as each group confronted differing positions and further defined their own.
This chapter has looked at ways in which a reassessment of early Pentecostals in relation to dispensationalism leads to a more nuanced view of the eschatology of the movement in the first two decades. The ideas I mention provide some first steps towards reassessing the movement’s early history in light of the primary sources, but more research should be conducted in this area.
Conclusion
In this dissertation, I have argued against the ‘latecomer to dispensationalism’ view
on the eschatology of early Pentecostals. Following a ‘family resemblance’ method of
167 Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth or God’s Plan and Purpose in the Ages, rev. ed. (Glenside, PA: Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1920).
168 F. J. Lee, ‘Discourse Delivered by F. J. Lee Thursday Eve[ning at Bi]ble School, Illustrated with
Chart’, The Church of God Evangel, January 3, 1925, 1.
169 E. C. Clark, ‘When Does the Rapture Take Place?’, The Church of God Evangel, March 25, 1933, 4.
discussing dispensationalism, I have argued that the early Pentecostals may correctly be understood as proponents of a broader dispensationalism, a theological vision that gained popularity within Moody’s ‘interdenominational evangelicalism’. Following an introduction to the topic and a select literature review in which the popularity of the ‘latecomer’ view was shown, I examined the eschatological approaches available at the beginning of the 20th century in chapter one. In chapter two, I used four periodicals to argue that the early Pentecostals were dispensationalists in a broad sense of the term. They held to the main features of dispensationalism, such as a belief in the division of history into dispensations, the distinction between Israel and the Church, the rapture and a literal thousand-year millennium. In chapter three, I brought out several implications of this analysis.
Based on this research, Pentecostals and cessationists alike need to revise some of their statements on the eschatology of the Pentecostal movement in the early years. This reassessment could provide incentives for questioning the belief that dispensationalism is a leaven that should be removed from the bread of Pentecostalism. This research also highlights commonalities shared by both cessationist and Pentecostal dispensationalists of the early 20th century. Whilst I had initially begun to research the ways in which the eschatology of early Pentecostalism changed in the 1920s and 1930s, I was redirected by the scope of this dissertation to focus on the early years and consequently was only able to sketch a tentative proposal on the issue of the changes that occurred in the subsequent decades. Further research is needed on how and why Pentecostal eschatology changed in these decades. This dissertation has focused on the eschatological views of only a certain sector of North American Pentecostals, so a fuller treatment would need to incorporate a broader panorama of diverse groups from North America and the rest of the world. I hope that this dissertation may encourage others to take up some of these research questions in the quest for understanding the eschatological views of early Pentecostals from a broader viewpoint than that espoused by the ‘latecomer to dispensationalism’ perspective.
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