Sowing Seeds of Truth


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THE DISPENSATIONAL VIEW

A dispensational view of the bible is demanded for proper understanding of God's word.

MEMORY VERSE

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  2Timothy 2:15

The word of truth is the Bible.  There is a right way and wrong ways to interpret the Bible.  Ephesians 2:10 tells us that ". . . we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."  If you are born again of the Spirit of God, then you are Christ's workman and this verse applies to you.  It tells us to rightly divide or rightly interpret it.  So let's see what this "rightly dividing" is all about.
 

RIGHTLY DIVIDING

orthotomeo or-thot-om-eh'-o - to make a straight cut, i.e. (figuratively) to dissect (expound) correctly (the divine message):--rightly divide.

Nothing mysterious here.  Rightly dividing is correctly interpreting.  But if we are told to rightly divide God's word, then we need to avoid pitfalls which will have us wrongly divide and misinterpret it.  
 

WHAT IS A DISPENSATION?

oikonomia oy-kon-om-ee'-ah  - administration (of a household or estate); specially, a (religious) "economy":--dispensation, stewardship.

A big word, with a simple meaning.  Simply stated, people being dealt with or tested differently at different times.  When we were colonies under British rule, the king and the parliament told the colonist what they could do and not do.  After the war for independence, a different type of government, with different people in positions of authority set and enforced a new set of rules.  Thus we have examples of two dispensations.  Note that the people under these different governments had responsibilities as well as the rulers, that is they had a stewardship.  No one can deny that things were different in the Garden of Eden before and after the fall.  Sin changed everything. 

REFERENCES

Like other words in language, "dispensation" can have a slightly different meaning depending on the context.  Note these examples below where three of the four examples refer to stewardships given to Paul and the fourth, a period of time (the fullness of times).

1Corinthians 9:17  "For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation <oikonomia> of the gospel is committed unto me."

Ephesians 1:10  "That in the dispensation <oikonomia> of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:"

Ephesians3:2  "If ye have heard of the dispensation <oikonomia> of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

Colossians 1:25  "Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation <oikonomia> of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;"

Some Definitions

  •  A dispensation is a period of time during which God deals in a particular way with man in respect to sin and to man's responsibility.  See:  Ephesians 1:10; 3:5

  • A dispensation is a  stewardship or administration.

  • A dispensation is a period of specific testing of man by God.

A Misrepresentation

Nowhere in the Bible does the use of the word or concept of "dispensation" suggest or imply that men were saved in different ways at different times.
  • What a dispensation is not is a different way of salvation.
  • Salvation has always been by God's grace through faith.

Agreement Among The Brethren?

Do all Christians agree that dispensations exist in God's revealed Word?
The answer is NO!          Why?

The Reason!

All Christians do not interpret the Bible in the same way and this leads to differing understandings of God's plan, especially for today and the future.  How does that happen?   Inconsistency - interpreting some passages of Scripture one way and others differently. 

 

The Interpretation Options

  • Grammatical/Historical - Literal, allowing for obvious figurative passages where they are clearly indicated (Jesus said, "I am the door . . .". John 10:7, 9).

  • Allegorical - spiritualizing - attributing some other meaning to a passage other than what the language would allow.  For example, Hell and the Lake of Fire are not real places prepared by God for the devil, but rather a state of mind.   Get the idea.   Can you see what this can lead to?

  • Combination of the above

The Correct Approach

Only this approach takes sinful man's hands off the Word and allows it to speak for itself as God intended.  God is not the author of confusion, but man certainly is.  "2 Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."  God superintended over the writing of the Word so that it would be without error.  And if it is without error, it says what it means, and means what it says. 

Grammatical/Historical - Literal

The Scriptures were taught at every level of society in the early days of the Church.  It wasn't only the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees that read the Scriptures, but common folk like you and me.  Timothy had the Word taught to him by his mother and grandmother.  It was intended for the common folk, to be understood in the common sense.  Therefore, every word should be understood at its common usage unless the context clearly shows otherwise.  If the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.  This does not mean that we reject figurative language, parables and other elements of language that are understood by common folk like you and me.  Jesus interpreted the Scriptures literally when He referred to Adam, Noah and Jonah.

 

True Revelation

A literal interpretation reveals:

  • Israel distinct from the Church

  • Literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth

  • Pre-tribulation catching up of the Church into Glory

How Many Dispensations?

Not all dispensationalist agree on the number of dispensations.

Some see 6, some 7, some 8.

The most commonly accepted number today is 7.

 

Monthly Devotional

“And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” - Ezekiel 33:31

There is much in all of life that is not what it appears to be. On the surface, one could conclude it to be so. But, going deeper reveals something else altogether: sometimes sinister, sometimes deadly, or sometimes perverted– but always deceptive.

James 1:22, says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls.” It is incredible how much effort we put into being deceived by others when ultimately the deception comes from within ourselves. Let’s cite some examples, though these are not the sum total of all that goes on in life. We are interested in buying or renting a house. We drive up and look at it from the outside, and check it over a second time. It is to our liking by what we see. Then we go inside and inspect the rooms, the flooring, the appliances, the a/c and heat. Our entire time of inspecting however, is on the basis of the outside only. We go ahead and get the house, and slowly and surely discover major and expensive problems that were there had we checked. The house was not what it appeared to be.

The same is true with things, or groups, or churches, or people. We can, and should try to check out as much as we can about those we become involved with, but even then we do not know the extent of everything. There is an element of trust involved, yet we must always remember Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The LORD knows the hearts of all people, but we do not know the extent of what our hearts are capable of. The examples of this are so numerous, we could take years citing them all, and by then, there would be a whole new list.

May this serve as a warning to each of us: things and people may not be what or who they appear to be. Impulsive action on our part, based on primarily the external, can injure or cause us to compromise or worse, destroy our testimonies for Christ.

Missionary of the Month

Benjamin & KatieShore

Church Planting Scotland