Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 23:1 (Spring 2019)
Article: “Dispensation” Biblically Defined: A Consideration Of The NT Usage Of The Greek Term(s) Οἰκονόμ(-Ος/-ία)
Author: James I. Fazio

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JMAT 23:1 (Spring 2019) p. 58

“Dispensation” Biblically Defined:
A Consideration Of The NT Usage Of The Greek Term(s) Οἰκονόμ(-Ος/-ία)

James I. Fazio

Throughout church history, Christians have used the term “dispensation” (Gr.: οἰκονομία) to convey a range of ideas pertaining to God’s administration of the earth throughout time. This is no less true today, despite the vast proliferation of the conservative theological movement that arose within fundamentalist Christian circles over the past two centuries, known as “dispensational theology” or “dispensationalism.” Nevertheless, even among those who identify as “dispensationalists,” no singularly accepted definition has been agreed upon which both defines and delimits its theological usage. The purpose of this paper is to draw meaning directly from the biblical text, as compared against Second Temple period and early Christian literature, and to observe how the Greek terms οἰκονόμος and οἰκονομία were understood within their cultural-historical framework at the time when they were employed by Jesus and the apostles as compared against Second Temple period and early Christian literature, and how they have come to be understood in contemporary theological usage by evangelicals.

JMAT 23:1 (Spring 2019) p. 59

“Dispensation” And The Problem Of Definition

The problem of definition is not a recent one for those inquiring into the biblical and theological usage of the term “dispensation.” Lewis Sperry Chafer observed this in the opening words of an article published in Bibliotheca Sacra in 1936:

A controversy among orthodox theologians over dispensational distinctions is not new. Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) wrote: “There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much intricacy, and wherein orthodox divines so much differ as the stating of the precise agreement and difference between the two dispensations of Moses and Christ” (Edwards Works I, 100). But this discussion, as is often the case, has suffered much for want of definition.3

Decades later, Charles Ryrie did not regard the risk of overstating the problem of definition when he wrote: “There is no more primary problem in the whole matter of dispensationalism than that of definition. By this is meant not simply arriving at a single sentence definition of the word but also formulating a definition/description of the concept.”4

In his book The Origins of Dispensationalism: the Darby Factor, Larry Crut...

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