Introduction to the Dispensations of the Bible

The next event that will be addressed in Genesis is the creation of man. This section begins what is known as the first "dispensation". A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to his obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.

Notice there are three parts to this definition. There is something, which God requires of man. Man is responsible to obey. And there is a specific period of time during which man is tested with regard to that particular area. It is sometimes referred to as an "age". The purpose of a dispensation is to demonstrate man's inability to fulfill God’s righteous standards.
Scholars do not agree on the number of dispensations in the Bible, so the number given depends on which dispensational perspective is followed. For the sake of this study we will adopt the view of Dr. C. I. Scofield that appears in the New Scofield Reference Bible, which observes seven dispensations. (These are not to be confused with the historical periods that were discussed earlier.)

The Seven Dispensations of the Bible
1. Innocence ‑ Gen. 1:28‑3:6 From the creation of man to the fall of man into sin. During this dispensation man was responsible to remain sinless.

2. Moral Responsibility ‑ Gen. 3:7‑8:14 From the fall to the emergence of Noah and his family from the ark after the flood. During this dispensation man was responsible to do all known good.

3. Human Government ‑ Gen. 8:15‑11:32 From the emergence of Noah and his family from the ark to the call of Abraham. Man was responsible to be obedient to God through submission to the authority of his fellow man.

4. Promise ‑ Gen. 12:1‑Ex. 18:27 From the call of Abraham to the giving of the law at Sinai. The responsibility for the acceptance of and identification with Abraham and his seed as God's chosen people was man's test during this dispensation.

5. Law ‑ Ex.19:1‑Acts 1:26 From the giving of the law at Sinai to the beginning of the Church at Pentecost. Man was responsible to keep all of God’s revealed laws.

6. Church ‑ Acts 2:1‑Rev. 3:22. From the beginning of the Church at Pentecost to the Rapture of the Church at the conclusion of the church age. Man's responsibility is to accept salvation made available through the death burial and resurrection of Christ by a simple act of faith. It should be understood that the redemptive death of Christ was God’s provision for the salvation of sinful man, not just in this dispensation, but also in all those that preceded it. Old Testament saints were saved by believing in the coming redeemer, as those in the Church age are saved by believing in the redeemer who has come. Those in the Old Testament looked forward to the cross while those of us in the church age look back to the cross. Why then would faith in Christ constitute man’s test of obedience during this dispensation? Probably because it should be so easy. Believers before this age had to believe what they could not see. In the Church age the reality of Christ’s historical life, death, burial, and resurrection should remove the complexity from faith.

Revelation 4:1‑20:3 represents a parenthetical period, a gap of seven years between the 6th and 7th dispensation. It is called the Great Tribulation and its purpose is to bring the Nation of Israel back to Christ. It will last from the rapture of the Church to the physical return of Christ to set up His Kingdom.

7. Kingdom - Rev. 20:4 From the Physical return of Christ to set up His Kingdom to the release of Satan from the abyss and the entrance into the eternal state, man's final responsibility will be to remain holy in a perfect environment.
Man has and will fail to completely obey in each of these dispensations and so demonstrate his corrupt nature. Sin is not a disease it is a disposition. Man is sinful at birth by nature and can only be saved by an act of a sovereign God by which his tainted nature is changed.