John Nelson Darby, a significant figure in Evangelical Protestantism, developed a new lens for interpreting the Bible, which included the concept of dispensationalism. As used in his teaching, a dispensation is the system by which anything is administered, suggesting that different dispensations have existed throughout history. This implies that God's management and goals in one dispensation could be entirely different in another. While this idea holds a grain of truth, it also allows a dispensationalist to disregard certain scriptures by claiming they apply to a different dispensation. This often occurs with commandments like the Sabbath, where some assert that God commanded it only for ancient Israel, but now the church operates under a dispensation of grace, rendering the Sabbath irrelevant. Once this perspective is adopted, it becomes easy to wrongly divide the word of truth, fracturing the whole counsel of God and portraying Him as changeable. Dispensationalism is filled with contradictions, yet Darby used it to maintain his views while still affirming the Bible's truth, dividing the text according to what he deemed relevant based on his personal experiences. Having faced negative encounters with church authority and failing to produce sufficient fruit through his own works, he concluded that authority and works held no value in the present dispensation.

John Darby, a Bible translator and dispensationalist, significantly influenced Evangelical Protestantism through his teachings on dispensationalism, eternal security, and the rapture. His perspective on authority, often seen as religious anarchism, did not gain the same widespread acceptance, yet it persists among some Protestants and can be observed in certain groups who have departed from structured church bodies. Despite abundant scriptural examples demonstrating the authority and structure within the church, a dispensationalist approach might diminish the weight of these inspired teachings if personal experience is deemed more relevant.

Dispensationalism, as a lingering influence from Gnostic thought, continues to impact modern Christianity by diluting its truths. This concept, rooted in the rejection of the Old Testament and carried forward through historical figures like Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, persists in subtly persuading believers away from biblical foundations. It aligns with other Gnostic-inspired doctrines such as antinomianism and a disdain for Jewish elements like the Sabbath, maintaining a presence in contemporary theology despite its ancient origins. The influence of dispensationalism, supported and enforced by past reformers, remains a challenge to the purity of faith as intended by God.