Age

The Seven Dispensations of the Gospel

Also Known As Gospel Dispensations

Cosmological Age

In Latter-day Saint doctrine, a dispensation of the gospel is a period in which the Lord places on earth at least one authorized servant holding the keys of the priesthood, entrusted with the same fulness of gospel truth revealed in every other dispensation. Unofficial commentary traditionally numbers seven major dispensations, each named for its principal prophet: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, the meridian of time, and Joseph Smith, the dispensation of the fulness of times. Rather than progressive revelation building toward something new, Latter-day Saint teaching holds that the same gospel has been revealed and lost across these periods, apostasy interrupting priesthood authority between them, until Joseph Smith's own dispensation, the final one, in which keys from every earlier dispensation are restored together and the purposes of all of them are to be completed.

Facts

Disputed

Proposed Dating

Seven dispensations are named in tradition for their prophet-heads, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ (the meridian of time) and Joseph Smith (the fulness of times). 1

The count of seven is traditional in Latter-day Saint commentary rather than a fixed number set by scripture or official pronouncement. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism itself notes the list leaves out additional dispensations LDS scripture attributes to the Jaredites, the Nephites and the ten lost tribes of Israel, so commentators differ on the total count even while agreeing on the seven principal names.

Identity

Symbol

The keys of the priesthood passed from dispensation to dispensation, pictured concretely in Latter-day Saint teaching as a sequence of heavenly messengers, among them Moses, Elias and Elijah, described as having each restored their own dispensation's keys directly to Joseph Smith to open the final dispensation. 1

Attributions

Tradition

Encyclopedia of Mormonism; Doctrine and Covenants 128:18, describing a dispensation of the fulness of times in which God will gather together in one all things. 1

Connections