II
God's plan for His people.
A. Covenant Theology states that since God has one people, the Church, He also has one plan in all the ages since the fall of Adam - to call out this one people into one body in both the Old Testament and the Old Testament ages.
B. Dispensationalism believes that since God has two peoples, Israel, and the Church, He also has two plans - a separate plan for each of these two distinct peoples. For Israel, His plan is the kingdom, which is yet to come, in light of Israel's rejection of the kingdom at Christ's coming. Concerning the Church, which is only present on earth during the Church age (which is a parenthetical period until God gets back to Israel and the kingdom), God's plan is to call out a heavenly people for Himself from the New Testament era.
III
Gods Plan of salvation
A.
Covenant Theology believes that God has had one plan of salvation for His one people during the outworking of His one plan since the fall of Adam. That plan of salvation is a plan of grace, in that each covenant is an outworking of the everlasting covenant of grace. The content of faith of both testaments has been the Lord Jesus Christ, though obviously, the New Testament era has a deeper concept and understanding in its content of faith concerning Christ.
Such passages as John 5:39, where Christ commanded the Jews to search the Old Testament Scriptures because they testify of Him, and John 5:46 where Christ said Moses and the prophets wrote of Him, and Luke 24:27, where Christ began at Moses and the prpohets and expounded the Scriptures of things concerning Himself, convince the Covenant theologian that the Old Testament does have in its content the revelation of Christ, and therefore faith had for its content the person of Christ also. Theu to deny the faith of the Old Testament saints was faith in a Messiah is to make them completely ignorant of the interpretation of the Old Testament revelation which they had received. Thus Covenant theology holds to one plan of salvation for God's one people as He works out His one plan throughout history since the fall.
B.
Dispensationalism has been in some controversy over the years as to whether it believes in one plan of salvation or two. All modern dispensationalists would argue for one plan of salvation (salvation by faith), yet some, like Charles Ryre, have argued for a salvation by faith, yet meaning by such a statement a salvation by faith in God, without any content of Christ.
The controversy over whether dispensationalism has held to two plans of salvation or one may well go back to statements made by early dispensationalists. The first edition of the Scofield Reference Bible stated: As a dispensation, grace begins with a death and resurection of Christ. The point of testing is no longer legal obedience at the condition of salvation, but acceptance or rejection of Christ.
Lewis Sperry Chafer appears either to have made some very unguarded and unexplained statements on the subject of salvation, or he truly believed in two plans of salvation., He wrote as follows:
With the call of Abraham and the giving of the law and all that has followed, there are two widely different standardized, divine provisions, whereby man, who is utterly fallen. might come into the favor of God.
Under grace the fruit of the Spirit is, which indicates the present possession of the blessings through pure grace; while under the kingdom the blessings shall be to such as merit it by their own works.
In this age, God is dealing with men on the ground of His grace as it is in Christ. His dealings with men in the coming age are based on a very different relationship. At that time, the king will rule with a rod of iron. There is no word of the cross or grace in the kingdom teachings.
Any view of two plans of salvation, however, would be strongly denied by modern dispensationalists. They too would argue for one plan of salvation, but note the modification of that one plan of salvation as mentioned above in the view of some such as C.C. Ryre.
