Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, the dispensation (or administration) of the fulness of times is thought to be a world order or administration in which the heavens and the earth are under the political and/or spiritual government of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

. The phrase is derived from a passage in

Ephesians The Epistle to the Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Its authorship has traditionally been attributed to Paul the Apostle but starting in 1792, this has been challenged as Deutero-Pauline, that is, pseudepigrapha written in Pau ...

1:10 (

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

), which reads: "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him."

History

The term "fulness of times" was designated as a specific period by a variety of theologians and pastors in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Jonathan Edwards equated the term with the eternal state.

Charles Taze Russell Charles Taze Russell (February 16, 1852 – October 31, 1916), or Pastor Russell, was an American Christian restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement. He was an ...

(1852–1916) considered the fulness of times to consist of the millennial age as well as the "ages to come". George Soltau, a

dispensationalist Dispensationalism is a system that was formalized in its entirety by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages or "dispensations" in which God acts with humanity in different ways. Dispensationali ...

, placed the "dispensation of the fulness of times" after the millennial age.

Analysis

John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of moder ...

held a formidable body of doctrine on the subject of the biblical significance of the dispensation of the fulness of times. Darby's literal translation of

1:10 is: "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself for the administration of the fulness of times, amelyto head up all things in Christ, the things in heaven and the things on earth, in Him in whom also we have an inheritance," (from

Darby Bible The Darby Bible (DBY, formal title ''The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Original Languages by J. N. Darby'') refers to the Bible as translated from Hebrew and Greek by John Nelson Darby. History and principles Darby published a ...

). According to some postmillennialists, the dispensation of the fulness of times is thought to take place ''prior'' to the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...

of Jesus. Likewise, in the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

, the dispensation of the fulness of times is often interpreted as the era after which the Church of Christ is said to have been restored to the earth by the religion's founder

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

on April 6, 1830.The Living Christ
from the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints In this sense, the "dispensation" refers to the administration of truth and/or priesthood by the church and its leaders, guided by

revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

. This being so, the term also appears in Galatians 4:4 where it is used in the singular form fulness of ''time''"to describe Christ's first Coming at the meridian of time. In light of Daniel's "time, times and a half" (, , and ) these then seem to point to two different though indirectly related events, Christ's first Coming seen as one event leading to the concluding event encompassing all other 'times' when the King of kings is enthroned. The apostle John spoke of this "last time" () and warned of the expected anti-Christ (1 John 2:18) seen by the apostle as in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...

. Here he sees these 'times' as chapters of a book whereby the time preceding the opening the fifth seal would be the time spoken of in Galatians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dispensation Of The Fulness Of Times Eschatology in the Bible Plymouth Brethren Christian terminology Biblical cosmology

History

Analysis

See also

References