1st Semester / Week 7
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Regarding the word “dispensation,” “To say that there is a great lack of clear thinking on this matter of definition is an understatement. Many are satisfied to use the well-known definition that appears in the notes of the original Scofield Reference Bible: “A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Seven such dispensations are distinguished in Scripture.”
“Dispensationalists use this definition without thinking further of its implications in relation to age, for instance, and without ever examining its basis or lack of basis in the scriptural revelation itself.”
The root word of dispensation is “dispense.” The word dispensation can be used as a verb, which means “to weigh out, to dispense, to distribute, or to give out.” That Greek word when used as a noun means “the conducting, supervising, or managing of a household.” A household can be managed by dispensing a plan or orders to others who are in that household, or by dispensing things which are necessary for life within that household.
The Greek word, οἰκονομία, which is Strong’s G3622, is translated after the Gospels as the word “dispensation” in only a mere 5 other passages. This is how these passages are explained by the New Living Translation:
“God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you,” (Colossians 1:25).
“And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ–everything in heaven and on earth,” (Ephesians 1:10).
“assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles… I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan,” (Ephesians 3:2,9).
“If I were doing this on my own initiative, I would deserve payment. But I have no choice, for God has given me this sacred trust,” (1 Corinthians 9:17).
“Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God,” (1 Timothy 1:4).
It should now be clear from reading all of the passages that actually use the Greek word “oikovouia,” which means “dispensation,” that this word is not used in Scripture to describe chopping up history into multiple different time periods where God tests people using different requirements for each time period. That is a manmade doctrine. Reread those verses and see if in any way those passages tell us to chop up Scripture into different messages for supposedly different people groups of God (or if there is really just one message, and His name is Jesus) … Seriously… did those specific “dispensational” passages of Scripture tell us to break it up? No.
Doesn’t it seem that it would be better for us to use Biblical terminology, rather than manmade theological terminology? Just stick with what Scripture teaches? What we’ll instead find in Scripture is an everlasting Covenant made with Abraham (which pointed to Christ, per Galatians 3:16), followed by a temporary by divine design Mosaic Old Covenant (see Jeremiah 31:32, Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 7:12, Hebrews 8, 2 Corinthians 3, Ephesians 2, etc.), which was designed to be replaced by the everlasting New Covenant of Jesus Christ which completes the Abrahamic Covenant (Galatians 3:29). It’s all about Jesus. One plan revolving around “Faith” in the promised Redeemer, Jesus (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:21-29, etc.).
You will also hopefully notice that this Greek word meaning dispensation, “οἰκονομία,” is very similar to another Greek word, “oikodomeó,” which is Strongs Greek 3618 and 3619. They share the same root word “oikos,” which means “the family or the house.” The Greek word, “oikodomeó,” is translated as “edification,” which means to build up a house. What is the reason why we assemble? We gather together as Christians to equip and train the saints as we worship our Creator and Savior. Our gathering is for our mutual edification. We build up one another. We gather in order to build up the house, but this isn’t referring to a physical building that can be seen, it’s instead a spiritual temple/building. We as believers are the “living stones” in that house, as taught in 1 Peter chapter 2. Therefore, the dispensing of the plan (THE “dispensation”), is to build up the family or house of believers who are the “living stones” of that house, in order to bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ and to serve our Heavenly Father. The conducting, supervising, or managing of our household (which, again, is the definition of “dispensation”) is to bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ, because He has given us grace and paid the price in order for us to be redeemed to the Father. That is how the word “dispensation” is used in Scripture.
We’re going to eventually study more of the specific “plan” in passages such as Ephesians 2, but for now, we should be able to see that the main “plan,” THE “dispensation,” is Jesus. It’s been one clear and consistent plan from the beginning. Dispensationalists had unfortunately taken great pride in how they’d used their brains to figure out how to chop up Scripture into many different sections with different messages for supposedly different people groups of God. However, unlike Scofield and dispensationalists, we’re here to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” by using the actual original Greek words, such as orthotomeó, which is used in the phrase “rightly divide,” which actually only means “accurately handling,” or “to teach rightly.” We are to “rightly divide” by making a clear, straight path pointing directly to Jesus Christ as the ONLY way to be redeemed to the Father.
“Helping People See Jesus and Exploring All That He Has Fulfilled” 