Hypertext Webster Gateway: "dispensation"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Dispensation
(Gr. oikonomia, "management," "economy"). (1.) The method or
scheme according to which God carries out his purposes towards
men is called a dispensation. There are usually reckoned three
dispensations, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic or Jewish, and the
Christian. (See {COVENANT}, Administration of.) These
were so many stages in God's unfolding of his purpose of grace
toward men. The word is not found with this meaning in
Scripture.
(2.) A commission to preach the gospel (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph.
1:10; 3:2; Col. 1:25).
Dispensations of Providence are providential events which
affect men either in the way of mercy or of judgement.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dispensation \Dis`pen*sa"tion\, n. [F. dispensation, L.
dispensatio.]
1. The act of dispensing or dealing out; distribution; often
used of the distribution of good and evil by God to man,
or more generically, of the acts and modes of his
administration.
To respect the dispensations of Providence. --Burke.
2. That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that
which is enjoined or bestowed; especially (Theol.), A
system of principles, promises, and rules ordained and
administered; scheme; economy; as, the Patriarchal,
Mosaic, and Christian dispensations.
Neither are God's methods or intentions different in
his dispensations to each private man. --Rogers.
3. The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission
to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something
enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church,
exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to
God which a man has incurred of his own free will (oaths,
vows, etc.).
A dispensation was obtained to enable Dr. Barrow to
marry. --Ward.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
dispensation
n 1: an exemption from some rule or obligation
2: a share that has been dispensed or distributed
3: the act of dispensing (giving out in portions)
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