Dispensationalism is a hermeneutic system for the Bible . It considers biblical history as divided by God into dispensations , defined periods or ages to which God has allotted distinctive administrative principles. According to dispensationalism, each age of God's plan is thus administered in a certain way, and humanity is held responsible as a steward during that time. Dispensationalists' presuppositions start with the inductive reasoning that biblical history has a particular discontinuity in the way God reacts to humanity in the unfolding of their, sometimes supposed, free wills . [1] Dispensationalism stands in contrast to the traditional system of covenant theology used in biblical interpretation.