[HarleyD]

NO ONE that I know of thinks there are different ways of being saved in different dispensations.

That may be very true NOW. However, that was not always the case with Dispensationalists.

Below is an excerpt from the Fundamental Baptists which favors dispensationalism. They note how Scofield and Chaffer both "gave the impression" of different salvation methods. However, as explained in the article, the author believes they were misunderstood.

Another is a misunderstanding of the concept of a dispensation. Dispensationalists believe that revelation specific to a dispensation may include dispensationally specific requirements concerning how God approaches man and vice versa. This is assumed to mean that dispensationalists must argue for multiple ways of salvation. A reason more important to dispensationalists, however, comes from statements made by early dispensationalists which indicate that salvation in the Old Testament was not by grace. The Scofield Reference Bible was the Bible of early Fundamentalism, and its editor, C. I. Scofield, was one of the leading popularizers of dispensational thought. Scofield made this unfortunate statement: “As a dispensation, grace begins with the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 3.24–26; 4.24, 25). The point of testing is no longer legal obedience as the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ, with good works as a fruit of salvation (John 1.12, 13; 3.36; Mt. 21.37; 22.42; John 15.22; Heb. 1.2; 1 John 5.10–12).”[iv] This seems to indicate that in the New Testament salvation came by grace through the acceptance of Christ, while for those under the Mosaic Law salvation came by works through the maintenance of a system of works. Based on other comments by Scofield, this writer has concluded that this was an unfortunate phrasing by Scofield, but that is beside the point—the statement has been in print for over a century.

A related problem is that Lewis Sperry Chafer, a leading early dispensationalist, gives the impression that the dispensation of Law was a forsaking of a previous plateau of grace, a reversal in the progress of the dispensations. “When the Law was proposed, the children of Israel deliberately forsook their position under the grace of God which had been their relationship to God until that day, and placed themselves under the law.”[v] The implication is that the Old Testament saint was under grace until Moses, under law until Christ, and the New Testament saint is now again under grace.

Salvation in Dispensationalism

It is convenient that we don't have these gentlement to speak for themselves. As this author points out, dispensationalism is evolving. Undoubtably this is one of the evolutionary forms.

It should be noted that some dispensationalist here have suggested that salvation in the OT came by works of the law. Some believe the Jews now to be under a special dispensation, that God somehow loves Israel.

[CynicalBear]

>>It should be noted that some dispensationalist here have suggested that salvation in the OT came by works of the law.<<

I've not seen that but then I don't see all posts for sure. Salvation has always been by God's grace through faith in Him.

I think there is a lot of confusion over that word "dispensation". The original Greek word "oikonomia" means stewardship, management or administration. In Luke 16:1-3 we see the word used concerning a manager of the affairs and belongings of a rich man. The word "dispensation" is more along the lines of a time period of a particular management style.

Clearly we see that the management or stewardship of God's people changed over time. After Moses the people were to conduct themselves by a set of laws. Paul clearly indicated that there had been a change with the revelation Christ had given him. In his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 3 he talks about the fact that "the mystery of Christ which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men" had been revealed to him. It was given to him that God's way of dealing with men had changed. No longer was the law the guide that people were to live by. Paul called it the "stewardship" or "management" of God's grace in Ephesians 3:2.

It has always been by God's grace that men have been saved through faith in Him. But when Christ paid the full and complete price for our sins on the cross the "mystery", as Paul called it, had been hidden from men. That mystery was "that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" as we learn in Ephesians 3:6. Paul now revealed that God's grace was extended to the Gentiles without the requirements of the law. Paul called it the stewardship or management of grace.

That revelation has not yet been given to or realized by the other apostles. It took them some time to realize what had changed. They were still focused on the promised "kingdom" of Christ prophesied in the Old Testament.

Now we also know that this time period (dispensation) of grace will end when the "fullness of the Gentiles" is reached and the Israelites will once again build a temple and abide by the law until they fully accept Christ as their Messiah during the last seven years promised them in Daniels prophecies.

>>Some believe the Jews now to be under a special dispensation, that God somehow loves Israel.<<

God indeed does love Israel and is currently bringing them back to the promised land and will again focus His attention on them during the last seven years promised them. Currently any Jew/Israelite who accepts Jesus is under the same grace that all the rest of us are. The Israelites are however "blinded in part" until the "fullness of the Gentiles comes in".