manage, regulate, administer, and plan.10 The word itself is a compound whose parts mean literally “to divide, apportion, administer or manage the affairs of an inhabited house.” In the papyri the officer (pikonomos) who administered a dispensation was referred to as a steward or manager of an estate, or as a treasurer.11 Thus, the central idea in the word dispensation is that of managing or administering the affairs of a household. SCRIPTURAL USE OF THE WORD DISPENSATION The Usage of the Word The