Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," Summer Edition 1991
What Is Darbyism?
"Darbyism" is an old-fashioned term for the modern school of Bible prophecy interpretation called "dispensational premillennialism." It comes from the Nineteenth Century English clergyman, John Nelson Darby, who first popularized many of the specific views on Bible prophecy that are now being taught by dispensationalists.
The distinguishing and most controversial features in modern dispensational premillennialism are: (1) belief in a secret pre-seven year tribulation rapture of the Church, and (2) insistence on maintaining a careful distinction between God's purpose for national Israel, and God's purpose for the Church in the divine plan of the ages, a distinction which many old-school Wesleyan theologians believed to be based on a truncated understanding of the unifying message of Scripture, new covenant holiness.
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