The Dispensation of Innocence (Part 2)

By RANDY WHITE, D.Min.

Founder and CEO

(Read Part 11)

The dispensation of innocence involved the introduction of many truths that conflict with ideas that are widely held in our modern culture.

Two Different Worldviews
Our society does not like—fundamentally—some of the things that are expressed to us in Genesis 1 and 2. Here are some of those things with which the culture disagrees:

• Human beings are individually and fundamentally superior to the rest of the created order.

Human beings are the crown of God’s creation, and even one human being (not just human beings collectively) is above any other creature or object that the Lord has created. People are not parasites on the planet. We do not need to control the population in order that the planet may thrive. This means that people deserve the greatest amount of respect—whether they are unborn, young, old or in any other condition.

We care for the planet because it is our home, and because we honor its Creator. Yet we recognize that human beings were created to be in a fundamentally superior position to that planet and its entire natural world.

• God defines gender.

Just a few short years ago we would not have needed to focus on this point, as it was always commonly understood by everyone. Today, however, people would like to tell us that gender is defined by our thoughts and feelings, rather than by chromosomes.

We are, in fact, watching as our politicians are even now attempting to impose gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms upon society.

Fundamental throughout Scripture to having a Biblical worldview, however, is the following basic precept:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen. 1:27, NASB)

• God defines marriage and sexuality.

At the beginning of time, God gave the man a counterpart called “woman”:

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (Gen. 2:23)

This occurred after Adam had the experience described in Genesis 2:19-20:

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. (NASB)

God then worked to fulfill the plan He had announced in Genesis 2:18:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (NASB)

In Eve, God created a counterpart for Adam. The Lord has established the definition and boundaries for marriage and sexuality “from the beginning” (Matt. 19:8). No individual or society has the opportunity to re-define what God has already designed.

In the past, we would never have even dreamed of needing to discuss some of these things. Yet now the opposition to God’s intention for His creation in the areas of sexuality, marriage and gender is becoming so prevalent in our society that it is possible that the church may even begin to face persecution for attempting to uphold Biblical standards. The dispensation of innocence defines these things for us.

• Mankind is lost and has no way to earn God’s favor.

A fundamental separation from God took place at the fall, and man cannot undo this. Man is left outside of the Garden of Eden and cannot go back into it, because God’s glory prohibited anyone from returning to that garden (cf. Gen. 3:22-24). No one is good enough to go back in. We must have a Savior who can provide us with the eternal life that He alone can give.

Without the dispensation of innocence and these early chapters of Scripture, we would be missing so many of the fundamentals and foundations of our theology. We must recognize its vital importance.

In our next installment, we will take up a discussion of the second dispensation—the dispensation of conscience.

Editor’s Note: This blog article is taken from the following sermon, which you can watch in its entirety here: