The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Looking for Artcle on Dispensationalsm

One of the best known and at the same time most characteristic illustrations of the dispensational method and the dangers that beset it is the Lord's Prayer. There are thousands of Christians today who do not use this prayer: there are many ministers who have eliminated it from the accustomed order of worship in their churches. Why is this ? The reason is briefly stated in the comment which is found in the margin of the Scofield Bible on the Fifth Petition, "and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors":

"This is legal ground. Cf. Eph. iv. 32, which is grace. Under law forgiveness is conditioned upon a like spirit in us ; under grace we are forgiven for Christ's sake, and exhorted to forgive because we have been forgiven. See Matt. xviii. 32 xxvi. 28, note." (4)

"This is legal ground" is the indictment brought by Dispensationalism against this petition. Law, of course, belongs to the Dispensation of Law. We are today in the Church age, the Dispensation of Grace. Therefore this petition and by inference the whole prayer is legal and not for the Christian. Dr. Haldeman puts it bluntly when he says ". . . . it does not belong to the Church, it is not for the Christian at all ". He calls it "a prayer that has no more place in the Christian church than the thunders of Sinai, or the offerings of Leviticus "(5)