Q-A: What is the Real Meaning of a Dispensation? It's not a period of time. It's a way of life.

In the scripture below, Paul clearly writes of the start of a new dispensation; how that the mystery (that he writes about) will cause a new way of life for those who come in under its new guidelines. Note that it's the guidelines that defines the dispensation. It has nothing to do with an age, or a period or a duration of time.

Eph.3:1-7 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery [a new pattern of living]* ..., 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 *that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Oftentimes when in conversation with people, I hear them use the word, "dispensation", but they use it in the wrong way. They speak of the word as a period of time instead of understanding it as a way of life. Although a dispensation can be identified within a timeline, its focus is not the period of time as much as its focus is on what happened during that time. I thought I'd take a moment to highlight this, as it does alter one's understanding of the word, and it might even clarify the concept of a dispensation when rightly dividing the Word.

The description below, quoted from versebyversecommentary.com (and slightly modified), is a very clear and concise clarification.

A "dispensation" is not a period of time, but an administration, or stewardship of time. A dispensation is a way of life, not primarily a period of time. The Greek word itself means to manage a household. It describes the role of a steward. A dispensation is an order of things, a system or a way of doing things. God dealt with Moses very differently to how He deals with us today. 

Thus, the grace dispensation, which started at Paul's conversion (approx. 35AD), has more to do with God dispensing new rules (changing from a lifestyle in law to a lifestyle in grace) than calculating the duration in ages or years on a timeline. A dispensation ends when God declares a new set of rules that changes the pattern or behaviour (1 Tim.1:16) of living from the previous dispensation.

In summary, an age deals with time, whereas a dispensation relates to a way of life, an economy. Christians today live in the economy of grace, an institution of belief that orients around grace. Before Paul's secret (mystery) dispensation, Israel lived under the economy of law. So, when studying the Bible in accordance to right divisions, keep in mind that the focus is on the new way of living, and not on the duration of the period.