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Lewis Sperry Chafer
Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871–1952) was an American preacher, theologian, and educator whose influential ministry shaped 20th-century evangelicalism, particularly through his role as a founder and the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). Born on February 27, 1871, in Rock Creek, Ohio, he was the second of three children to Thomas Franklin Chafer, a Congregational minister, and Lomira Sperry. His father’s death from tuberculosis when Lewis was 11 left the family in financial strain, supported by his mother’s work as a teacher and boarding house keeper. Chafer attended Oberlin College from 1889 to 1892, where he developed a passion for music and met Ella Loraine Case, whom he married in 1896. Initially a traveling evangelist and gospel singer, he was ordained in 1900 by a council of Congregational ministers in Buffalo, New York. Chafer’s preaching career evolved from music ministry with evangelists like Arthur T. Reed to a focus on Bible teaching, influenced by C.I. Scofield, whom he met in 1901 at Northfield Bible Conference. He served as a Bible lecturer, assisted Scofield in founding the Philadelphia School of the Bible in 1913, and pastored First Congregational Church in Dallas (later Scofield Memorial Church) starting in 1921. In 1924, he co-founded DTS with his brother Rollin, serving as its president and professor of systematic theology until his death, shaping it into a leading dispensationalist institution. Author of over 20 books, including Systematic Theology (1947–1948), an eight-volume work, he preached a premillennial, pretribulational dispensationalism that emphasized grace and biblical authority. Chafer died on August 22, 1952, in Seattle, Washington, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose scholarship and leadership trained generations of evangelical leaders.
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Lewis Sperry Chafer emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between 'The day of Christ' and 'The day of the Lord' to avoid confusion in understanding the Bible. 'The day of Christ' is the next prophesied event, imminent and concerns only the saved of this dispensation, involving the resurrection of sleeping saints and translation of living saints to meet the Lord in the air. Conversely, 'The day of the Lord' follows 'The day of Christ' by about seven years, ending the Great Tribulation, delivering Israel, bringing judgments on all nations, and binding Satan.
Two Prophetic Days Must Be Distinguished
Endless confusion in our understanding of the Bible results when “The day of Christ” and “The day of the Lord” are not distinguished. They are wholly different as to time, people involved, events, and movement. “The day of Christ” is the next prophesied event. It is that for which we are taught to wait, to look, and which we are to love. It is imminent, and has been since the first promise regarding it was given. It concerns only the saved of this dispensation, whether Jews or Gentiles. At that day sleeping saints are raised and living saints are translated, and all together leave the earth to meet the Lord in the air. It is “timeless, sign-less, and unrelated,” excepting to that which is to follow. “The day of Christ” is not the second coming of Christ. It is not a phase of it. It is simply God’s way of getting His people out of the world before His judgments begin (note 1 Thess. 5:9). On the other hand, “The day of the Lord” follows “The day of Christ” by about seven years, if Daniel’s prophecies are rightly interpreted (Dan. 9:24-27). It ends the Great Tribulation, delivers Israel and regathers her into her Own land, brings judgments on all the nations, binds Satan, and extends throughout the earth. “The day of the Lord” is preceded by signs. Paul, speaking of “The day of the Lord,” says: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed" (2 Thess. 2:3). The seven signs to which our thought is now to be directed are signs anticipating the farther day, —“The day of the Lord.” We may understand that if “The day of the Lord” is seen to be drawing near, then as certainly “The day of Christ” is even nearer. The mariner sees the distant mountain before he sees the shore.
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Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871–1952) was an American preacher, theologian, and educator whose influential ministry shaped 20th-century evangelicalism, particularly through his role as a founder and the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS). Born on February 27, 1871, in Rock Creek, Ohio, he was the second of three children to Thomas Franklin Chafer, a Congregational minister, and Lomira Sperry. His father’s death from tuberculosis when Lewis was 11 left the family in financial strain, supported by his mother’s work as a teacher and boarding house keeper. Chafer attended Oberlin College from 1889 to 1892, where he developed a passion for music and met Ella Loraine Case, whom he married in 1896. Initially a traveling evangelist and gospel singer, he was ordained in 1900 by a council of Congregational ministers in Buffalo, New York. Chafer’s preaching career evolved from music ministry with evangelists like Arthur T. Reed to a focus on Bible teaching, influenced by C.I. Scofield, whom he met in 1901 at Northfield Bible Conference. He served as a Bible lecturer, assisted Scofield in founding the Philadelphia School of the Bible in 1913, and pastored First Congregational Church in Dallas (later Scofield Memorial Church) starting in 1921. In 1924, he co-founded DTS with his brother Rollin, serving as its president and professor of systematic theology until his death, shaping it into a leading dispensationalist institution. Author of over 20 books, including Systematic Theology (1947–1948), an eight-volume work, he preached a premillennial, pretribulational dispensationalism that emphasized grace and biblical authority. Chafer died on August 22, 1952, in Seattle, Washington, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose scholarship and leadership trained generations of evangelical leaders.