βIf ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-wardβ (Eph. 3:2).
Godβs Word must be understood in the way God revealed His will to mankind. Therefore, it needs to be understoodΒ dispensationally. There is the broad division in Scripture between Godβs two programs, Prophecy and Mystery, but then there areΒ dispensationsΒ which must be broken down within it as well.
The term βdispensationβ is the Greek word,Β oikonomia, which means βhouse lawβ or βhouse management.β At different times and stages in Godβs Word, GodΒ dispensedΒ to mankind a different and distinct rule of life.
Within each of our homes we have a certain set of rules that we expect our children to abide by. These are the house rules, the law of the household. Our house law may be different than your house law. For example, one time one of my kids came to me and said, βMy friendβs family does it this way in their home, canβt we do this?β My response was βThatβs their rules. We donβt do it that way in our house.β Thatβs the case in the dispensations of God. They each have their own set of house rules. We shouldnβt try to live by the house law belonging to another time and dispensation.
Within each dispensation of God, God dispensed a new set of βhouse laws or rulesβ that needed to be followed, and was the responsibility of those who lived under them to carry out and obey. God has given different commands to different people at different times throughout the Scripture.
Today we are under βthe dispensation of the grace of God.β This current administration is an administration of grace. The house is managed by grace. Grace dominates everything about this dispensation under which we live. Our salvation is by grace, our walk is a grace walk, we are blessed by grace, our speech is with grace, and we sing with grace in our hearts, etc. There are countless principles to be applied throughout Godβs Word, but the letters of Paul provide us with our βhouse rulesβ that we are to directly live by in this dispensation of Grace. source
[β¦] Law wasΒ partΒ of the Word of God, and you just said that those unruly men didnβt want to be ruled by the Word!β They didnβt!βthat is, they didnβt want to be ruled by the Word of [β¦]