I grew up in Dispensational literalism (DL). I have considered all the angles of it, and those are included in my thread at 'Teachers Lounge' on Acts 1--4 and the apostles teaching.
There you will find some instances of what DL actually does which are 'moves' to make the text appear to be saying a certain theology's result. Here is a summary: 1, that Acts 1:6 does not prohibit a believer from spending tons of time on trying to figure future events, in particular when Israel's kingdom comes.
2, that Acts 2:30, 31 is actually a case of skipping from the present (the apostles) far into the future. David did not think the resurrection was the enthronement of Christ that meaningfully affects us now.
3, That 3:20's "send Jesus" was an offer to Israel to set up its kingdom then.
4, that 3:21's "heaven must receive" or "keep" is the correct translation of dexasthai. Even major translations have inexplicable done this. It usually means to welcome a person in an honorary reception.
5, that 13:33's "what ever God promised" is actually only about one promise about the resurrection happening, which does not have anything to do with the Davidic kingdom.
6, that 15:14-17's "taking a people from the Gentiles" was either Israel's original calling (God calling Abraham) or was a total surprise development to the early believers, sometimes called 'the mystery' (an interruption in the plan to 'restore Israel's kingdom').
But probably the most effective type of DL that influenced me was 2 things done to Daniel 9, which I will explain here briefly.
First, that 9:24's list of accomplishments by Messiah within the 490 years is not a statement about the Gospel. No, this is something he will do in the millenium. Thus, 'bring in everlasting righteousness' is not related to Romans (see 3:21 etc), but is a period when Israel the race-nation finally practices Torah as intended, aka, a covenant with Israel that is 'new' because the hearts of the people are new. As you can see, it has high stakes because there are now 2 atonement events. The person who believes DL is sure that Christ made atonement for our sins, but will do so again in the millenium, because of 9:24. This is doubling called 'literalism.'
Second, that the 490 years must be broken up. Now, they are already by the phrasing "7 weeks and 62 weeks," leaving 1. But that break is of no consequence; the DL belief is that the final week is split by thousands of years to the future. Even though the leaders of Judaism at Christ's time were concerned that the events might happen in their times (that the city and sanctuary would be ruined), by the normal reading of Daniel 9, DL believes that it is far in the future from that, and this interpretive practice is called 'literalism.'
So after 50 years of listening and having studied these things at the master's level (Regent College, Canada), and interviewing people like John Walvoord personally, I find that DL does these things to the passages involved. This is what is meant by 'literal reading.'
There you will find some instances of what DL actually does which are 'moves' to make the text appear to be saying a certain theology's result. Here is a summary: 1, that Acts 1:6 does not prohibit a believer from spending tons of time on trying to figure future events, in particular when Israel's kingdom comes.
2, that Acts 2:30, 31 is actually a case of skipping from the present (the apostles) far into the future. David did not think the resurrection was the enthronement of Christ that meaningfully affects us now.
3, That 3:20's "send Jesus" was an offer to Israel to set up its kingdom then.
4, that 3:21's "heaven must receive" or "keep" is the correct translation of dexasthai. Even major translations have inexplicable done this. It usually means to welcome a person in an honorary reception.
5, that 13:33's "what ever God promised" is actually only about one promise about the resurrection happening, which does not have anything to do with the Davidic kingdom.
6, that 15:14-17's "taking a people from the Gentiles" was either Israel's original calling (God calling Abraham) or was a total surprise development to the early believers, sometimes called 'the mystery' (an interruption in the plan to 'restore Israel's kingdom').
But probably the most effective type of DL that influenced me was 2 things done to Daniel 9, which I will explain here briefly.
First, that 9:24's list of accomplishments by Messiah within the 490 years is not a statement about the Gospel. No, this is something he will do in the millenium. Thus, 'bring in everlasting righteousness' is not related to Romans (see 3:21 etc), but is a period when Israel the race-nation finally practices Torah as intended, aka, a covenant with Israel that is 'new' because the hearts of the people are new. As you can see, it has high stakes because there are now 2 atonement events. The person who believes DL is sure that Christ made atonement for our sins, but will do so again in the millenium, because of 9:24. This is doubling called 'literalism.'
Second, that the 490 years must be broken up. Now, they are already by the phrasing "7 weeks and 62 weeks," leaving 1. But that break is of no consequence; the DL belief is that the final week is split by thousands of years to the future. Even though the leaders of Judaism at Christ's time were concerned that the events might happen in their times (that the city and sanctuary would be ruined), by the normal reading of Daniel 9, DL believes that it is far in the future from that, and this interpretive practice is called 'literalism.'
So after 50 years of listening and having studied these things at the master's level (Regent College, Canada), and interviewing people like John Walvoord personally, I find that DL does these things to the passages involved. This is what is meant by 'literal reading.'
