God Wants Understanding of His Word
God delivered His Word for men to understand and by which they would live. Men must study it and then rightly divide it (2 Tim 2:15), but God made its meaning accessible (Rom 10:8-10, Deut 30:11-14). He will judge men according to it (John 12:48).
The Bible is not indecipherable. Its degree of opaqueness relates almost entirely to desire and belief. Proverbs 2:3-5 say these such things:
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and] liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Still People May Not Understand God’s Word
Rebellious
On the other hand, Psalm 106:7 says,
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.
God wanted understanding, but those who did not have “ears to hear” could not understand. Ezekiel 12:2 explains that some “have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.” Not understanding does not always relate to supernatural blinding. A student in class may not like the subject, so he does not comprehend or retain. Almost everything is lost on him. Furthermore, Jesus revealed in Matthew 13:13-15:
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Satanic
A sufficient degree of the understanding of scripture becomes unattainable to the one not caring about it or wanting it. An unbeliever might hear and comprehend, but still miss what God says. This testifies to the uniqueness of scripture. Isaiah 8:17 says: “And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.” To some, God hides His face, and others will look for God, apparently finding Him because of that looking.
The Apostle Paul says Satan works toward deluminating blindness. “[T]he god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor 4:4). What someone might ordinarily understand, he cannot because Satan keeps him from getting it through various Satanic means.
God Wrote His Word with Plain Meaning
Since God wrote a book to man to understand, a man would expect a reading of it in accordance with a plain meaning. God intended accessibility of its message. Men would live by what He said even from a child.
I didn’t make this up. But how I explain plain meaning is understanding scripture like the people heard it in that day. What did the words mean and how were they used at the very time men wrote and received them?
What was God saying in Genesis to the original audience of Genesis? Or, what was the Lord saying in Matthew to the original audience of Matthew? When someone gets that interpretation, what God was really saying, what is that called? Someone might call that a literal interpretation or a grammatical-historical interpretation.
An original audience, the children of Israel, received the original manuscripts of the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah or Pentateuch. As they read through those writings, they received more understanding of each part as they also knew more of the whole. When God gave other inspired writings through various other human authors, such as Joshua, Judges, historical books, and poetic ones, the meaning of the previously given books, the Torah, did not change in meaning. Genesis still means the same as it did when the first readers first set eyes on it.
God Changed His Methods and Manner of Operation Sometimes
Different Eras or Ages
As God gave more writings, one could understand more of His will. Through history, sometimes God changed His methods or His manner of operations. God didn’t change. As He continued communicating with mankind, He used different, sometimes new genres. He spoke in different ways. God used symbolic or figurative language among other types of writing.
Looking back at proceeding time periods, historians recognize eras, ages, or periods of time. They may disagree with the dividing points for these periods, but they admit shifts in thinking and lifestyle. You’ve heard of premodern, modern, and postmodern as a description. Surely you’ve heard said, ancient, middle, and modern. Broader periods can break down into even more detail.
The Bible is Dispensational
The changes of methods and manners of God as seen in scripture also divide into epochs of time. In order to systematize a literal understanding of scripture, grammatical and historical, men organized scripture into dispensations. The system of interpretation became known as dispensationalism. Dispensation- alism recognized the continuity and discontinuity of God’s methods and manner of operation across these various ages.
God is dispensational in His revelation of Him and His will. The Bible is a dispensational book. Any literal or true view of history is dispensational.
Old Testament Priority
Succeeding new generations of recipients of original scripture could understand what they read in their day. Scripture did not change in meaning. However, God makes prophesies. He uses prophets to tell the future. The understanding of a divine prophecy could increase with time, closer to or after its fulfillment (cf. Daniel 12:4). The Babylonian captivity shed light on the prophesies of captivity. The return to the land after captivity shed light on the prophesies of return to the land.
The added understanding with a fulfillment of prophecy is not a change in meaning. God wanted understanding of what He said. He gave His Word to man to be lived. God meant the original audience of the Old Testament to understand its meaning. “Hearing” meant understanding (Deut 19:20, 21:21, 31:12-13). God did inspire the Old Testament with a New Testament priority. The Bible does not read as though God a thousand or more years later said what He really was saying in what He earlier inspired.
More to Come
This is great, I look forward to reading part two. Thank you for writing this, Sir.
You’re welcome.
I believe in the principle of dispensationalism and in reading the Bible literally. God dealt with men differently in different times, most notably under Moses and then under grace. I do have a question though. Why do we apply the word dispensation to periods of time? The Bible doesn’t use the word dispensation as a time period. It is used as the dispensing of something. It seems our definition of dispensation is different than the Bible’s. I’m not saying that dispensationalism as a system is wrong, but why use a word that is not used in that way in the Bible?
Hi David,
I use the word because of historical reasons. This systematization of premillennialism (also not a biblical word) has been called dispensationalism. You want people to know what you’re talking about, so you use the word that means what you’re saying. Someone could coin a new word and we would have to start explaining again. That is happening to a certain degree with classical and progressive dispensationalism. One theologian has coined a new type of dispensationalism, I’ve read, called Biblical Covenantalism. The word “dispensation” is found 4 times in the KJV. I think those who coined the term were using that word from the KJV.
Thanks brother Brandenburg,
I understand your point and I wasn’t trying to criticize your use of the word. Using dispensationalism for its convenience of common usage gives your readers clear perception of your topic and point.
I like the phrase Biblical Covenantalism, since it is the two covenants given emphasis in the NT as the difference between the Old and New Testament. While also recognizing the earlier covenants God made with men prior to the law and grace.
The reason I brought it up is that I was preaching through Ephesians and when I came to “dispensation” I studied it out and realized it’s not speaking of a time period in any of its four uses, but today we say “the dispensation of grace” used as if it were a period of time. In my estimation, using “dispensation” in that way can cause confusion for others when they read through the Bible.
I do look forward to reading your future articles on this topic.
And to restate, I agree with the premise of literal, grammatical interpretation which leads to dispensational theology (though I would call myself “dispensational light” compared to most).
Ryrie in his classic book on the subject writes: “The various forms of the word dispensation appear in the New Testament twenty times.” The word translated dispensation is oikonomia, which is literally “house law,” so it speaks of management, administration, or stewardship. People who coined the word saw it as the management, administration, or stewardship of a particular era or age. Something in a particular age or era that was once hidden is now manifest. This is the aspect of stewardship or administration of that age or era. God deals with men during a certain time in a certain way. You are saying, Bro Thompson, that it doesn’t fit. I see it as fitting. I’m not saying it’s the best word to use, how I’m explaining it is how people thought about it, why they used it like they did. Ryrie writes: “A dispensation is a distinguishable economy in the outworking of God’s purpose.” That fits how the word does get used in the NT.
Hello bro Brandenburg,
After reading your comment and considering it, I think you’ve convinced me to reconsider my position. I generally understand what you’re saying. I read through the four uses of dispensation in context again. It seems that Ryrie’s definition puts a little more into the word than what is plainly obvious, but if used carefully and properly I understand the “economy” aspect.
It seems to me that saying “during the age of the dispensation of ___________” would be the most biblically accurate way to use the word, but I realize it’s simpler and easily understandable to just say “the dispensation of _____________.”
I’d be interested to know where the other 20 words meaning dispensation are found and what they are.
Thanks for challenging me to think through things.