Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Dispensationalism is a theological system that emphasizes the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy, recognizes a distinction between Israel and the Church, and organizes the Bible into different dispensations or administrations.

Dispensationalists understand the Bible to be organized into seven dispensations: Innocence (Genesis 1:1-3:7), Conscience (Genesis 3:8-8:22), Human Government (Genesis 9:1-11:32), Promise (Genesis 12:1-Exodus 19:25), Law (Exodus 20:1-Acts 2:4), Grace (Acts 2:4-Revelation 20:3), and the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4–6). These dispensations are not paths to salvation, but manners in which God relates to man. Each dispensation includes a recognizable pattern of how God worked with people living in the dispensation. That pattern is 1) a responsibility, 2) a failure, 3) a judgment, and 4) grace to move on.

Dispensational theology teaches that there are two distinct peoples of God: Israel and the Church. Dispensationalists believe that salvation has always been by grace through faith alone—in God in the Old Testament and specifically in God the Son in the New Testament. Dispensationalists hold that the Church has not replaced Israel in God’s program and that the Old Testament promises to Israel have not been transferred to the Church. Dispensationalism teaches that the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament (for land, many descendants, and blessings) will be ultimately fulfilled in the 1000-year period spoken of in Revelation 20. Dispensationalists believe that, just as God is in this age focusing His attention on the Church, He will again in the future focus His attention on Israel (Romans 9-11; Daniel 9:24).

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