How Many Dispensations?
Most dispensationalists believe Scripture affirms seven dispensations. However, all would agree there are at least three main historical divisions in God’s interaction with man: Law, Grace, and Kingdom.7 The Apostle Paul clearly made a distinction between the Dispensation of Law and the Dispensation of Grace in Colossians 1:25-27. Paul also alluded to the Dispensation of the Kingdom in Ephesians 1:10. By analyzing the Bible carefully, other dispensations seem to surface naturally in the historical narration. Few have questioned the fact that the apostle Paul referenced at least three of the seven. Paul clearly contrasted between the Dispensation of Law and the Dispensation of the Church. He wrote concerning the stewardship (“dispensation”) that was given to him by God, the “mystery” that “has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints…the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (
