Category:Dispensation

Dis`pen*sa"tion, n. Etym: [F. dispensation, L. dispensatio.]

1. The act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution; often used of the distribution of good and evil by God to man, or more generically, of the acts and modes of his administration. To respect the dispensations of Providence. Burke.

2. That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed; especially (Theol.),

Defn: a system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and administered; scheme; economy; as, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic or Jewish, and the Christian dispensations. Neither are God's methods or intentions different in his dispensations to each private man. Rogers.

3. The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will (oaths, vows, etc.). A dispensation was obtained to enable Dr. Barrow to marry. Ward.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Dispensation - (Gr. oikonomia, "management," "economy"). (1.) The method or scheme according to which God carries out his purposes towards men is called a dispensation. There are usually reckoned three dispensations, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic or Jewish, and the Christian. (See COVENANT, ADMINISTRATION OF - ...His having the administration of the covenant committed into His hands (Matthew 28:18; John 1:12; John 17:2; Acts 2:33), and in the final salvation of all His people (Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 53:10, Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 31:33; Titus 1:2)). These were so many stages in God's unfolding of his purpose of grace toward men. The word is not found with this meaning in Scripture. (2.) A commission to preach the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:17; Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25). Dispensations of Providence are providential events which affect men either in the way of mercy or of judgment.