have taught that there are seven dispensations which they equate with time divided up

into seven periods. This is a mistake, as time, basically, does not enter into this word.

Three times it is translated "stewardship" in Luke 16: 2, 3, 4, & "edifying" in I Tim. 1: 4,

and the root idea is of one who is put in charge of the administration of a household, an

overseer or bailiff. Twice the apostle Paul declares that he had been given a dispensation

(Eph. 3: 2; Col. 1: 25). No period of time had been entrusted to him, but a body of truth

connected with the Church, the Body of Christ, had been committed to him by the risen

and ascended Christ Jesus, and for this he was its steward or minister, as these verses

Because some have misunderstood or abused the word dispensation, this does not

justify the rejection of dispensational truth as error. In every class and society there are

those who act in an unbalanced way. One might as well reject Christianity because some

have been such poor practical exponents of it. It should surely be obvious that these two

aspects of Scriptural truth must be distinguished or confusion is bound to result. Nor

must one be stressed and the other forgotten, otherwise an erroneous conception of God's

Word will dominate the mind. In practice, every one who accepts the Bible as the Word

of God and the regulator of their daily life is bound to be a dispensationalist. The very

fact that such do not make any attempt to carry out animal sacrifices for sin, as mentioned

before, shows that they regard such regulations as not being truth for today, however

much they believe the Bible, and however true these commands were in the Old

Testament times. The Mosaic ritual of the law was a dispensation, or administration of

Divine truth, for a limited period only, and Moses was its steward. It was not basic for all

time and has been superseded since the coming of the great Antitype, the Lord Jesus

Christ, Who has fulfilled the type and shadow of the ceremonial law.

A practical following out of the historico-grammatical system of interpretation will

assuredly lead to a distinguishing between these two most important aspects of revealed

Truth, leading to a greater clarification and understanding of the great redemptive

purpose of God. In fact it will lead to a practical realization of what the apostle Paul

prayed for the Philippian believers, a spiritual perception enabling such to "try the things

that differ" (1: 10, margin) or as the main text "approve things that are excellent". When

things differ, they do so not only in external ways, such as shape and size, but in internal

quality, and it is only by recognizing and distinguishing these that we can get the best.

Abraham was a practical example of this attitude of mind. God had unconditionally

given him and his posterity an earthly inheritance (Gen. 13: 14-17; 15: 12-18).  The

Epistle to the Hebrews records by inspiration what the Old Testament leaves out, namely

that to Abraham God gave a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, very much as the apostle

John received in Rev. 21:  Chapter 11: of Hebrews describes this as a "better country"

(11: 16), and a city which God has built (verse 10). Abraham "tried the things that differ"

and found what was "more excellent". "Better" is one of the key words of Hebrews;

there are seven things described by God as "better" (Heb. 1: 4; 7: 7, 19; 8: 6; 9: 23;

10: 34; 11: 35).  If we want the best, then we shall have to consider carefully and

prayerfully the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians where the high-water mark of

revelation is reached.