The word "
dispensation" comes from the Greek word, "
oikonomia," economy, administration, management, or an established set of standards, and carries with it the connotation of stewardship. Jesus uses the term in Luke 16 in his parable about the unrighteous steward.
Luke 16:1-13
"Now He was also saying to the disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager' (oikonomien). The manager (oikonomos) said to himself, 'What shall I do, since my master is taking the management (oikonomian) away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management (oikonomias) people will welcome me into their homes.' And he summoned each one of his master's debtors, and he began saying to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'"
Paul uses the term in 1 Cor. 9:17 when he writes, "
For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship (oikonomian) entrusted to me." or as the KJV translates it, "
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me."
In Colossioans 1:25 we read,
1 Colossians 1:25 NAS
"Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship (oikonomian) from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,"
1 Colossians 1:25 KJV
"Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation (oikonomian) of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;"
1 Colossians 1:25 NIV
"I have become its servant by the commission (oikonomian) God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness--"
So the term can be found in scripture. However, John Darby radically departed from the Church's historical treatment of the term going all back through the early Church fathers (ECFs). Historically any mention of "dispensation" occurred in context of "covenant." This is not to say they were asserting Covenant Theology as it contemporarily exists. They simply did not see any distinctions between God's covenants and God's dispensations. Similarly, the church has (generally) seen the covenants and the revelation of scripture itself) as a single cohesive but progressive revelation with each covenant initiated by God all covered or subordinate under the one eventually fulfilled covenant found in Christ that existed before the world was creates (1 Pet. 1:20).
So like many, many other streams of thought, doctrinal positions, and relevant practice, Darby departed from what had up to his point been
eighteen hundred years of Christian thought, doctrine, and practice. Darby argued the dispensations are distinct and unrelated and Dispensationalism continues to teach this position. This is most obvious in their separation of the Jews in the Abrahamic Covenant from the Church. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary says the following in his book titled, "
Dispensationalism," in which he explains dispensations in Dispensational Theology,
"To quote the Century Dictionary bearing on the theological import of the word: '(a) The method or scheme by which God has at different times developed his purpose, and revealed himself to man; or the body of privileges bestowed, and the duties and responsibilities enjoined, in connection with that scheme or method of revelation as the Old of Jewish dispensation; the New Gospel dispensation..."
The Wikipedia article of Dispensationalism summaries the matter well,
"Progressive revelation is the doctrine in Christianity that each successive book of the Bible provides further revelation of God and His program..... Dispensationalism, however, holds that both the Old Testament and New Testament are interpreted using literal grammatical-historical interpretation. As a result, they reject the idea that the meaning of the Old Testament was hidden and that the New Testament can alter the straightforward meaning of the Old Testament. Their view of progressive revelation is that the New Testament contains new information which can build on the Old Testament but cannot change its meaning."
The various dispensations may go by different names or labels but generally you will find seven listed. Pre-sin, Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Moses, Jesus, for example, or the dispensations of innocence, conscience, human governance, promise, law grace, and the millennium (as another example). There some who assert variations, other may have as many as nine, but Dispensationalism generally asserts seven. They've built a whole theology around the word, "
oikonomia".
