Is this dispensation under the law? and are the ten commandments the law of sin and death?
The first thing to be done in studying any subject is to come to an understanding of the terms used. A great many words float about in common use, and are used without any thought of their meaning, and the word "dispensation" is one of them. The verb "dispense" is the Latin word to weigh out. All are familiar with such expressions as "dispensing favors," that is, the dealing out of gifts. That is dispensation. "Dispensation" is the act of giving out anything whatever.
In the common version of the Bible it is used as the rendering of the word meaning "stewardship." It is evident, therefore, that to use the word as synonymous with a period of time, as is most frequently done, is nonsense. The first of these two questions really means nothing, for what it virtually amounts to is, "Is this dealing out under the law?"
But if we ascertain what God has to dispense, and how He gives it out, we shall arrive at the answer to the question that is intended. God deals in grace. He is "the God of all grace." (1 Peter 5:10) "He delights in mercy," (Micah 7:18) and, "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting." (Psalm 103:17)
He is continually dispensing it, and we can therefore "come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)
How freely this grace is dispensed is thus stated: "Unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." (Ephesians 4:7)
Moreover, God associates the recipients of His grace with himself in dealing it out; for: "[He] has committed unto us the word of reconciliation, [and] has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation;" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) so "As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10)
People who talk about the "dispensation of law," and the "dispensation of grace," as though the word "dispensation" meant a certain period of time, intimating that at one time God deals, or dealt, out law, and at another grace, do not think what a charge they are bringing against God. They are virtually saying that there was a time when God was not gracious, and when men could not be saved, or, if saved, must do the work themselves, without any help from God. That is to charge God with being changeable and partial.
Yet the people who use these terms actually profess to worship and adore such a God. Truly, they know not what they say. Such language is most dishonoring to God, and is directly contradictory to Scripture, which declares that God's ways are equal, and that He changes not. There has never been a time when the grace of God has not been freely given.
What is the purpose of the grace of God? It is to save men. "The grace of God that brings salvation to all men has appeared, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." (Titus 2:11-12) "By grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)
From what does it save us? We are saved from sin by God's grace. And what is sin? "Sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4)
Then is the object of grace to save us from obedience to the law? Not by any means; but from the transgression of it, and so from its condemnation. "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." (Romans 5:20) "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin [in transgression of the law], that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ... Sin shall not have dominion over you." (Romans 6:1-2,14)
That is, you shall not be subject to transgression of the law; "for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin [transgress the law], because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." (Romans 6:14-15)
The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of Romans tell the story in plain terms to everybody who can read. There was law in the days of Abraham, as well as in the days of Moses, because, God says, "Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:5)
He kept them by faith; for: "He believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)
Then when the descendants of Abraham forgot the lesson of his life, and became self-confident and self-righteous, the law was spoken from Sinai, "that the offense might abound." (Romans 5:20)
The offense, the sin, already existed, which shows the existence of the law before Sinai; for: "sin is not imputed when there is no law;" (Romans 5:13) but the law was spoken in order "that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." (Romans 7:13)
Nevertheless, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." (Romans 5:20)
There was dispensation of law, if you please, but there was "more grace." The dispensation then was exactly the same that it is now. Moreover the "Christian dispensation" was at Mount Sinai, because grace abounded there, and "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
The law was "in the hand of a Mediator," (Galatians 3:19) and "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:6)
Suppose you let all the time between us and Abraham drop out of sight for a moment; it will simplify matters very much. Now read: "We desire that everyone of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swore by himself; ... Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus." (Hebrews 6:11-13,17-20)
Thus we see that we are in the same "dispensation" with Abraham; but God is not fitful, fickle, and vacillating, now giving, and now withholding; so we know that there is no break in the bridge of grace that spans the ages between Abraham and us. Where there is always law, there is always abundant sin, and there is always superabundant grace.
Christ is High Priest for the purpose of making reconciliation for the sins of the people, (Hebrews 2:17) and His priesthood is "after the power of an endless life." (Hebrews 7:16)
We are "saved by His life." (Romans 5:10)
Now it is evident that His life was reconciling and saving men even before the days of Abraham, for Enoch, who "walked with God" three hundred years, (Genesis 5:22) and was then taken to heaven without dying, and is still living, is a demonstration of it. God does not change. There has been no intermission in His grace, but it has been flowing a steady stream from that time to this. The dispensation of law and grace is coincident, for by the grace of God in Christ the law is written in the hearts of all who believe. Those who sin are "under the law," (Romans 3:19) while "the undefiled in the way ... walk in the law of the Lord." (Psalm 119:1)
The second question is already answered in the foregoing. Indeed, one has but to read the ten commandments, to know that they are not "the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2) "You shall have no other gods before me. ... You shall not kill. ... You shall not steal. ... You shall not commit adultery. ... Honor your father and your mother." (Exodus 20:3,13,15,14,12)
Do you know what it means to say that those commandments are sin? It means that it is sin not to kill, steal, swear, commit adultery, dishonor parents, and dishonor God. Is there any doubt in your mind on the subject? Do you think that it is sin not to do those things? Of course you do not. Then you have the answer to your question. "My tongue shall speak of your word; for all your commandments are righteousness." (Psalm 119:172)
What is "the law of sin and death?" It is the carnal mind, our natural disposition, which "is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be," (Romans 8:7) and, "To be carnally minded is death." (Romans 8:6) "The prince of the power of the air, [is] the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience," (Ephesians 2:2) who are "dead in trespasses and sins;" (Ephesians 2:1) but there is "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, ... For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2)
The law of God is in the heart of Christ. (Psalm 40:8) Indeed, His life is the law, for: "His commandment is life everlasting;" (John 12:50) and therefore when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, (Ephesians 3:17) "the righteousness of the law [is] fulfilled in us." (Romans 8:4)--Present Truth, March 5, 1903.