Dispensation - Definition - The New Scofield Reference Bible
A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to his obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God. Three important concepts are implied in this definition: (1) a deposit of divine revelation concerning God’s will, embodying what God requires of man as to his conduct; (2) man’s stewardship of this divine revelation, in which he is responsible to obey it; and (3) a time-period, often called an “age,” during which this divine revelation is dominant in the testing of man’s obedience to God.
The dispensations are a progressive and connected revelation of God’s dealings with man, given sometimes to the whole race and at other times to a particular people, Israel. These different dispensations are not separate ways of salvation. During each of them man is reconciled to God in only one way, i.e. by God’s grace through the work of Christ that was accomplished on the cross and vindicated in His resurrection. Before the cross man was saved in prospect of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, through believing the revelation thus far given him. Since the cross man has been saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ in whom revelation and redemption are consummated.
On man’s part the continuing requirement is obedience to the revelation of God. This obedience is a stewardship of faith. Although the divine revelation unfolds progressively, the deposit of truth in earlier time-periods is not discarded; rather it is cumulative. Thus conscience (moral responsibility) is an abiding truth in human life (Rom. 2:15; 9:1; 2 Cor. 1:12; 4:2), although it does not continue as adispensation. Similarly, the saved of this present dispensation are “not under law” as a specific test of obedience to divine revelation (Gal. 5:18; cp. Gal. 2;16; 3:11), yet the law remains an integral part of the Holy Scriptures which, to the redeemed, are profitable for “instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16-17; cp. Rom. 15:4).
The purpose of each dispensation, then, is to place man under a specific rule of conduct, but such stewardship is not a condition of salvation. In every past dispensation unregenerate man has failed, and he has failed in this present dispensation and will in the future. But salvation has been and will continue to be available to him by God’s grace through faith.
New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford, 1967), 3.
Editors Note: I am still amazed at how many Christians (even seminary professors) just reiterate a false view of Dispensational teaching from someone else. A simple reading of this short description dispels many fanciful myths proclaimed by people who have never looked at the Biblical claims of Dispensational Theology.
