What is a dispensation? Definitions vary slightly, but here are some helpful ones:
OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY: Anglicized form of Latin dispensatio, to weigh out or dispense. 1) The action of dealing out or distributing; 2) the action of administering, ordering, or managing; the system by which things are administered; 3) the action of dispensing with some requirement; 4) a stage in a progressive revelation, expressly adapted to the needs of a particular nation or period of time…also, the age or period during which a system has prevailed.
NEW TESTAMENT GREEK: Various forms of oikonomeo, -mos, -mia, also koinonia. Steward, stewardship, dispensation, edifying, fellowship. Lk. 12:42;16:1, 2, 3, 4, 8; Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 4:1, 2; 9:17; Gal. 4:2; Eph. 1:10; 3:2, 9; Col. 1:25; 1 Tim. 1:4; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet. 4:10; also koinonia in ASV of Eph. 3:9.
SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBLE: “A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture.”
C. C. RYRIE: A distinguishable economy in the outworking of God’s purpose. The distinguishing characteristics of a different dispensation are: 1) a change in God’s governmental relationship with man (though a dispensation does not have to be composed entirely of completely new features), 2) a resultant change in man’s responsibility, and 3) corresponding revelation necessary to effect the change (which new revelation is a stage in the progress of revelation through the Bible).
G. SCROGGIE: The administration of the human race (or part of it) at different times in different ways, according to the necessity of the case, but throughout for one great end.
H. A. IRONSIDE: That particular order or condition of things prevailing in one special age which does not necessarily prevail in another.
W. E. VINE: Oikonomia primarily signifies the management of a household (oikos, a house; nomos, a law)…and so a stewardship. A dispensation is not a period or epoch (a common, but erroneous, use of the word), but a mode of dealing, an arrangement or administration of affairs.
HELP GIVEN BY DISPENSATIONALISM
Charles Ryrie suggests three ways that a dispensational view helps the Bible student:
It makes necessary biblical distinctions: e.g, Israel, the Church, and the Kingdom; God obviously deals differently with Adam in Eden, Israel under Law, the present day of grace, and the Millennium. Thus the need for “rightly dividing the Word of truth.”
It provides a philosophy of history: in 3 areas:
i) The progress of revelation–covenant theology “by an artificial system of typology, and allegorizing interpretation, sought to read back practically the whole of the New Testament into the Old” (Jas. Orr).
ii) A unifying principle: covenant teaching makes it soteriological–the covenant of grace; the dispensational view says it is theological–the glory of God.
iii) What is the ultimate goal of history? The covenant theologian says it is the millennial kingdom; dispensationalism sees it as the eternal state.
It provides consistent hermeneutics: It allows for the plain and literal interpretation of Scripture. There is no need for allegorizing, especially the prophetic Scriptures. Because the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ were literally fulfilled, there is no reason to believe that those prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled will be fulfilled in any other way but literally.
WHY SHOULD WE EXPECT SUCH AN ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT OF HISTORY?
God’s revelation is both general and special. God has revealed Himself generally in nature, conscience, and history. He has revealed Himself specially in the Word of God and in the Incarnation. Although Volume 1 (His general revelation) is incomplete, it nevertheless reveals planning, method, and purpose. It is consistent to then suppose that similar planning and purpose will be found in all God does, especially in the unfolding of the ages. This is the “eternal purpose (lit., the purpose of the ages) which He purposed in Christ” (Eph. 3:11).