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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 preaches about the nearing end of the age and the importance of discerning the signs of the times as the Church, the body of Christ, nears the shore of its pilgrim voyage. He challenges believers to see as the great spiritual seers do and to recognize the unprecedented signs of the times as indicators of the approaching end. Just as Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not discerning the signs of the times, Chafer urges listeners to be spiritually alert and perceive the world situation in the light of God's Word, which reveals that Christians may discern the approaching end.
Is the End in View?
The tempest-tossed mariner takes heart when he sights the land. I ask you, O child of God, whether your eyes can see the haven? Can you see as do the great spiritual seers of this generation that we, who are of the same company of the redeemed who have suffered and labored from the apostles until now, are nearing the end of the age, the end of the pilgrim voyage of the Church, — the body of Christ? Do you see the shore? To the question, “Watchman, what of the night?” many are replying, “The night is far spent. We hail the Morning Star.” The most spiritual, conservative students of God’s Word are now hailing the morning. They discern the nearing shore through the unprecedented signs of the times. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matt. 16:3.) Might some of us be as blind and as deserving of this reproof today? Surely the present world situation is full of interest to all, but how all-absorbing and startling it is to the one who sees it in the light of God's Word! Turning to the Bible we discover that Christians may discern the approaching end.
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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.