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subject to certain special operations and influences of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit strives with
them in a special manner, convicts them of sin, enlightens them in a measure, and enriches
them with the blessings of common grace, Gen. 6:3; Matt. 13:18-22; Heb. 6:4-6.
It should be noted that, while the covenant is an eternal and inviolable covenant, which God
never nullifies, it is possible for those who are in the covenant to break it. If one who stands in
the legal covenant relationship does not enter upon the covenant life, he is nevertheless
regarded as a member of the covenant. His failure to meet the requirements of the covenant
involves guilt and constitutes him a covenant breaker, Jer. 31:32; Ezek. 44:7. This explains how
there may be, not merely a temporary, but a final breaking of the covenant, though there is no
falling away of the saints.
V. The Different Dispensations of the Covenant
A. THE PROPER CONCEPTION OF THE DIFFERENT DISPENSATIONS.
The question arises, whether we ought to distinguish two or three, or with the modern
Dispensationalists, seven or even more dispensations.
1. THE DISPENSATIONAL VIEW.
According to Scofield “a dispensation is a period of time during
which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of
God.”[Scofield Bible, p. 5.] In further explanation of this he says on page 20 of his pamphlet on
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth: “Each of the dispensations may be regarded as a new test of
the natural man, and each ends in judgment, — marking his failure.” Every dispensation has a
character of its own, and is so distinct that it cannot be commingled with any of the others.
Seven such dispensations are usually distinguished, namely, the dispensation of innocency, of
conscience, of human government, of promise, of the law, of grace, and of the kingdom. In
answer to the question, whether God is then so fickle-minded that He must change His will as
regards man seven times, Frank E. Gaebelein replies: “It is not God who has vacillated. Though
there are seven dispensations, they are all one in principle, being throughout based upon the
single test of obedience. And had man been found able to keep the conditions laid down by the
first dispensation, the other six would have been unnecessary. But man failed. Yet, instead of
casting off His guilty creature, God was moved with compassion, and gave him a fresh trial
under new conditions. Thus each dispensation ends with failure, and each dispensation shows
forth God’s mercy.”[Exploring the Bible, p. 95.] There are serious objections to this view. (a) The
word “dispensation” (oikonomia), which is a Scriptural term (cf. Luke 16:2-4; I Cor. 9:17; Eph.
1:10; 3:2.9; Col. 1:25; I Tim. 1:4) is here used in an un-Scriptural sense. It denotes a stewardship,
an arrangement, or an administration, but never a testing time or a time of probation. (b) The
distinctions are clearly quite arbitrary. This is evident already from the fact that