The Pauline Definition of Dispensationalism: Christ as the Believer's Present Inheritance
Orientation
Many believers assume the Christian life is about following rules to earn God's favor, which severs them from the present enjoyment of Christ.
- This mindset reduces justification to a distant, future hope.
- It creates a cycle of striving, failing, and repentance.
- It points you to your own efforts rather than to Christ as your life and supply.
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. (Galatians 4:15)
— Galatians 4:15
Clarification
Dispensationalism is not about prophetic charts but about God's household economy that freely dispenses Christ's riches to you now.
- The Greek word 'oikonomia' means household administration or economy.
- It describes how God, as a Father, distributes the unsearchable riches of Christ to His heirs.
- This is a ministry of dispensing nourishment and supply, not imposing law.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:8-9)
— Ephesians 3:8-9
Structure
Paul's stewardship reveals that Christ Himself is your present wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and life.
- God appointed Paul as a steward to dispense the mysteries and riches of Christ.
- These riches are supplied by the Spirit to equip you for growth into Christ.
- This builds you up as part of Christ's body, God's masterpiece.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)
— 1 Corinthians 1:30
Weight-Bearing Prose
Pauline dispensationalism defines God’s household economy. It is a stewardship (oikonomia) that dispenses the unsearchable riches of Christ—wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, hope, nourishment—to believers as their present inheritance. This is not law-giving but grace-distributing. The effect is that believers are equipped for growth into Christ, becoming His body, living by Him as their life (Philippians 1:21).
This stands in direct contrast to legalistic systems (Judaizing, Galatian error, and post-Reformation law-based rule of life). Those systems sever believers from the present enjoyment of Christ, reduce justification to a future hope, and foster a futile cycle of fleshly sowing. They are the ‘strength of sin’ (1 Corinthians 15:56).
The Reformation recovered justification by faith but often retained law for sanctification, perpetuating the Galatian error. Dispensationalism arose to recover Paul’s full ministry: grace as the present rule of life, the heavenly character of the walk, and the Church as a mystery. The core assertion is that God’s economy freely distributes Christ’s life to heirs for their building up in love as the body of Christ.
Integration
Your place in God’s household is secure. You are an heir, not a laborer. The feast of His riches is spread for you now. Christ is your present supply—your wisdom, your righteousness, your sanctification, your life. There is no pressure to advance or perform to access what is already freely given. The stewardship of this mystery simply means these riches are being dispensed to you. Your growth is not your project; it is Christ being formed in you. Rest in the assurance that God’s household economy is operating for you, building you up in love, grounded in the enjoyment of Christ Himself. He is your portion and your peace.