The great blessing promised of old, as consequent on the coming
4. When viewed, in the light in which it was regarded by those who rejected the gospel, as a mere legal system, it was declared to be a ministration of death and condemnation. (2 Cor 3.6-18.) 5. And when contrasted with the new or Christian economy, as a different mode of revealing the same covenant, it is spoken of as a state of tutelage and bondage, far different from the freedom and filial spirit of the dispensation under which we now live.
The Gospel Dispensation
The gospel dispensation is called new in reference to the Mosaic economy, which was old, and about to vanish away. It is distinguished from the old economy,
1. In being catholic, confined to no one people, but designed and adapted to all nations and to all classes of men. 2. It is more spiritual, not only in that the types and ceremonies of the Old Testament are done away, but also in that the revelation itself is more inward and spiritual. What was then made known objectively, is now, to a greater extent, written on the heart. (Heb. 8.8-11.) It is incomparably more clear and explicit in its teachings. 3. It is more purely evangelical. Even the New Testament, as we have seen, contains a legal element, it reveals the law still as a covenant of works binding on those who reject the gospel; but in the New Testament the gospel greatly predominates over the law. Whereas, under the Old Testament, the law predominated over the gospel. 4. The Christian economy is specially the dispensation of the Spirit. The great blessing promised of old, as consequent on the coming of Christ, was the effusion of the Spirit on all flesh, I. e., on all nations and on all classes of men. This was so distinguishing a characteristic of the Messianic period that the evangelist says, 'The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.' (John 7.39.) Our Lord promised that after his death and ascension He would send the Comforter, the Spirit of