Romans – God’s Timeline XVIII: The Purpose of the Eons, Part 2

 

Why Does the Purpose of the Eons Matter?

Though we have only considered the purpose of the first eon and its conclusion, we now have a solid backbone which helps us apprehend the rest of the eons. The only way that this backbone could break is if, of course, there were direct scriptural evidence to the contrary.

We have read affirmations in the text that God has inaugurated His grand operations in Christ. We further read, in passages such as 1 Cor. 8:6, and Col. 1:17, that God has commissioned Christ to carry creation through to His desired conclusion (which we will consider in a moment.) This is conveyed in “the purpose of the eons,” which expressly states that there is a reason for these periods of time in view, screwy as some of them are. God must have known, in the beginning, how much time would be needed for the creation, corruption, justification, and reconciliation of every man. Sure enough, He tells the end from the beginning (Is. 46:10,) settling that He, through His multifarious wisdom, had already settled the plan of the eons.

This wisdom is in Christ. God’s purpose is centered in and around the Son of His love, Christ Jesus, our Lord. When Paul introduced his evangel back at the beginning of Romans, it was “concerning God's Son” (Rom.1:3). It was love for His Son (and, through Him, for all creation) which motivated all God’s operations. Because of Christ’s faith, and His obedience to God’s will, into the horrendous death of the cross, we have access to the Father with boldness and confidence. There is no barrier left to prevent this.

It is as we grow in Christ, then, that we deepen our growth in His wisdom, which helps us further discern and appreciate the love of God, which is the very thing that He is spurring in us (Rom. 8:28-30, Eph. 1:6.) This provides us with a dire need to learn as much as we can concerning these eons. To learn the times and seasons in which our Father is working is great, yes, but it is even greater to learn their purpose.

We first considered the purpose of the first eon, which was first to create the heavens and the earth through Christ, and establish Him at the Head of creation.  The most notable fact about the first eon other than the creation of the first heavens and first earth, which are flawless, is the creation of the Adversary, the doubting catalyst which demonstrates the necessary end to the first eon, which would launch the restoration of the earth, the creation of the living soul, and the eventual accomplishment of God’s purpose.

The Introduction to Administrations

The second eon concerns the creation of mankind on earth. In order to understand mankind’s role in the story (and thus apprehend the purpose of the second eon, as well as any following eon,) it is simultaneously important for us to begin considering different administrations in the text. This will help us with that “wisdom” we were just talking about in Christ Jesus. Using scripture’s guideposts, it will be impossible for us to become dazed and confused in any part of Holy Writ. This will help us contextualize the entirety of scripture (which would have been otherwise impossible without the outline of Paul’s evangel provided in Romans 1-5.) With a broad overview of each administration, scripture becomes, notably, an enjoyable read, hardly confusing for the faithful reader.

The administrational boundaries is, even among Christ’s own, one of the least-considered and most confused topics. These administrations are often confused with “dispensations,” which are related, but distinct. You could think of these two topics, “administration” and “dispensation,” as related as a “world” is to an “eon” – that is, the two coincide directly, but remain distinct in relation to the thoughts in view. The term “dispensation” is diakoinia, “THROUGH-SERVice.” It appears 33 times in the text. I will not consider a handful of their uses at present, though it does appear three times later on in Romans, so we will consider this when we get there.

The term “administration” is oikonomia, that is, “HOME-LAW,” of which there are nine occurrences. These occurrences, as with aion, should settle the divine meaning of the term, and justify their use in regards to the twelve administrations we will be discussing (yes, there are twelve.)

The first three occurrences are in Luke 16:2-4, in the parable of the unjust steward, the unjust stewards representing the Pharisees, who guarded Israel’s wealth–

Now [Jesus] said to His disciples also, “A certain man, who was rich, had an administrator, and this man was accused to him by an adversary as dissipating his possessions. And, summoning him, he said to him, ‘What is this I am hearing concerning you? Render an account of your administration, for you can no longer be administrator.’ Now the administrator said in himself, ‘What shall I be doing, seeing that my lord will be wresting the administration from me? To dig I am not strong enough. To be a mendicant I am ashamed. I knew what I shall be doing that whenever I may be deposed from the administration, they should be receiving me into their homes.’

Every other use of the term, however, is confined to Paul’s letters. We read in 1 Cor. 9:17–

For if I am engaging in this voluntarily, I have wages, yet if involuntarily, I have been entrusted with an administration.

And again, in Eph. 1:10–

[God makes] known to us the secret of His will (in accord with His delight, which He purposed in Him) to have an administration of the complement of the eras, to head up all in the Christ – both that in the heavens and that on the earth…

And Eph. 3:2–

…since you surely hear of the administration of the grace of God that is given to me, [Paul], for you…

Eph. 3:9–

To me, less than the least of all saints, was granted this grace: to bring the evangel… and to enlighten all as to what is the administration of the secret, which has been concealed from the eons in God…

Col. 1:25–

[I, Paul] am filling up in my flesh, in His stead, the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the ecclesia of which I became a dispenser, in accord with the administration of God…

And, finally, 1 Tim. 1:4–

…you should be charging some not to be teaching differently, nor yet to be heeding myths and endless genealogies, which are affording exactions rather than God’s administration which is in faith.

These uses should clarify succinctly that we are dealing with an administration of affairs. To quote Adlai Loudy in his study of these administrations–

“We are thus prepared for clear, scriptural definitions of the words dispensation and administration sufficiently comprehensive to express their full meaning, in accord with their inspired usage.

Diakonia, “THRU-SERVice,” denotes work performed in behalf of the welfare of others, service, or that which is given or entrusted to one to be dispensed or served out to others, a dispensation

Oikonomia, “HOME-LAW,” denotes the stewardship or administration of affairs with mankind under given conditions, characterized and empowered by a special dispensation from God, by which He further fills up His purpose of the eons which He made in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”

We see, then, the definite distinction between these two concepts. An administration is undeniably distinct from a dispensation. A dispensation would be the service enacted within those administrations. Where there is a dispensation, then, there is an administration, but these two should not be confused or tossed about interchangeably by the teacher of the scriptures, nor should the student shun this topic, for God is, again, exact and precise in both timing and verbiage. Mixing these up will only confuse the reader, so it is best to trust God, in the peace which has been dispensed to us (Rom. 5:1,) and stick to His diction.

Twelve Dispensations and Administrations

The question remains: how many different administrations appear throughout the scriptures? How many appear within each eon? How is each one distinct from the other? And how exactly do these administrations fill up God’s purpose of the eons??

I pray for wisdom. All of these questions will be answered as we discern each dispensation in the Bible, to learn of God’s eonian purpose.

To briefly answer the first question (I will prove it in the following articles,) there are twelve administrations. This itself is notable. I have been adamant that numbers are important in scripture, from their literal appearance in the text, to the numerical value of each term (called “gematria,”) and even to how often a term appears in the text. And, as with each other appearance, twelve is indeed a valuable number. We may quote E.W. Bullinger’s beautiful work, Numbers in Scripture–

“‘Twelve’ is a perfect number, signifying perfection of government, or of governmental perfection. It is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule. The sun which ‘rules’ the day, and the moon and stars which ‘govern’ the night, do so by their passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiac which completes the great circle of the heavens of 360 (12 x 30) degrees or divisions, and thus govern the year.

Twelve is the product of 3 (the perfectly Divine and heavenly number) and 4 (the earthly, the number of what is material and organic).”

Notably, there are:

-       Twelve patriarchs (from Shem to Jacob)

-       Twelve sons (thus twelve tribes) of Israel

-       Twelve disciples

-       Twelve gates of New Jerusalem

-       144,000 saved of Israel by Revelations’ close (12,000 x 12,000)

This number, then, has great significance in regard to the governmental perfection throughout man’s history, leading into the kingdom which shall have no consummation (Luke 1:33.) It is important for us to learn a few details concerning this kingdom, as it will bring us to a complete understanding of God’s agenda with His creation, turning His ways from a mystery into a bountiful relationship.

And, in all honesty, that’s the point of these administrations – to present a display to the celestial realm which subjects this earth. Recall Satan’s challenge – why not sin? What’s so right about Christ? The first eon displayed God’s power and His life, but it could not accurately display His heart – thus establishing the need for a human demonstration, in a series of successive administrations, in which mankind, as a whole, is entrusted, tried, educated, admonished, and disciplined from a state of immaturity to maturity, all through a backdrop of relational, perfectly layered contrasts between good and evil. These administrations will contribute to the purpose of the eons in that the goal of the universe will be effected – not by mankind personally, but by God, through this series of demonstrations with us.

This, by the way, is why we are so vital to the story; it’s not because we’re “so big and mighty,” but because, without the demonstration that we are, the celestials would not be able to learn the vital heart of creation, the intent for which God created it. By examining each administration, then, we may grow in God’s perspective of history, and gain a much clearer view as to where humanity is headed.

No Administrations in Eon 1

First, there can be no administration in the first eon, for man did not exist until the restoration of the heavens and earth in Genesis 1, which established the conditions for man’s existence. If we did not exist, there is evidently no man to dispense toward – nor, prior to the disruption of the world (that is, the introduction of doubt as to the Head of the universe,) was there reason to dispense anything, as no one had yet challenged the heart of the Image of the Creator.

The First Administration – “Innocence”

When God restores the earth at the beginning of the second eon, He establishes the notable themes which will concern its runtime – light with darkness (Gen. 1:3, 14-18,) spirit and chaos (Gen. 1:6-8,) and good and evil (Gen. 2:15-17.) When God established the main theme which would concern man – good and evil – He ensured that one could not be attained without the other, by placing the knowledge of both in the fruit of one tree. Adam did not have to eat one fruit with evil and another fruit with good, or some concession that free will exists could be made.

This was the first dispensation to Adam in the garden – entrusting Eden to Adam, to serve it and keep it (Gen. 2:15-17.) This was done apart from the knowledge of good or evil altogether; Adam had no conception of his purpose, what destruction was, or what creation was. He likely had knowledge of other things, but, having not yet eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we must assert the obvious – his lack of understanding dictates his various actions.

He held a negative innocence, in simple terms. Adam may have served and kept the garden to literal satisfaction, but this is because he would have had nothing better to do (he didn’t even realize the joys of sex until after leaving the garden – Gen. 4:1.) He didn’t know any better – so acted accordingly.

We have spent the good majority of our lives believing that Adam’s decision in the garden yielded no positive results. On our end, relatively, this is true, and we have been under necessary duress so as to recognize the fault in being at enmity with Love. But ultimately, Love has used this experience of evil to also enlighten us as to what good is. As much as it was the knowledge of evil, it also provided the knowledge of good. It was only upon eating this fruit that Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, and they realized all the good that had been provided to them: health, glory, companionship, free food, a perfect habitat, tranquil environment, it was all there! But they had no appreciation for such qualities.

As it was with the first eon, we find ourselves face to face with a critical lesson, both at humanity’s inception, as well as the beginning of the second eon: all knowledge is relative. It is based on contrast. I know I’m beating a dead horse at this point in the study, but no amount of clarification seems to be enough, as the Christian religion is still preferred over these simple facts.

When this event occurred, Adam failed in three different ways. First, he had transgressed upon the one law God had given him (Gen. 2:15-17, 3:11.) Second, he had thus sinned, or missed the mark of righteousness in this regard, by becoming insubordinate to the Righteous One. And, finally, he offended God, hurt Him by His actions (yes, humans can do this, Eph. 4:28.)

This one offense brought all mankind into condemnation (Rom. 5:18.) Through Adam, then, sin entered into the system, and through sin, death. This death has passed through into all mankind, on which all presently sin (Rom. 5:12.) In his disobedience, we are constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19.) For more on this, you may look at the previous article, both on Romans 1:32 and 5:12, for a discussion of death and its transference into all mankind.

Note, in this disobedience, who God had used to confuse man – the serpent, the Adversary, instilling doubt in Eve through jealousy of Yahweh. This gives us further insight into Satan’s desire to usurp Christ’s place as Head of the universe. Yet God wills this to occur, so that the demonstration of sin’s failure can be demonstrated in a small, contained, controlled environment – earth.

On its surface, these travesties are tragic. There would seem to be no good, and, according to man’s philosophy, God has been fighting hard ever since to try and counteract irreversible damage done at Eden. Yet, when we consider that Christ’s sacrifice was foreknown well before sin’s introduction into the story (1 Pet. 1:19-20,) we find the truth: that sin, while indeed a force to be reckoned with, is not a permanent force in this creation. In truth, there is no Savior without sin. There is no reconciliation without enmity. You can’t have the latter without first experiencing the former. This makes sin a necessary prelude to salvation. It makes distance a necessary prelude to closeness.

- GerudoKing