«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 3:2 If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you.

　　9 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.

　　The Greek word which can be rendered “administration” in Ephesians 1:10, oikonomia, is difficult to translate. It can also be rendered “stewardship” or “household arrangement.” The anglicized form of this word is economy. I like dispensation, stewardship, and household arrangement better than administration, although administration can be used in 1:10 because eventually the dispensation, the stewardship, the household arrangement will become an eternal administration.

　　According to ancient custom, there was a steward in the royal family, and his ministry was called a stewardship. Hence, the stewardship is simply the service of a steward. A steward was not a mere slave, but a person intimately related to the family, one who took care of the household arrangement. Such a stewardship, such a household arrangement, was the best administration….God’s administration as a household arrangement is sweet and as a stewardship is intimate. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 85-86)

　　The stewardship, moreover, involves a dispensation. Dispensation here refers not to an age, but to a dispensing. For example, a mother dispenses food to her children every morning at breakfast. As the children sit down at the table, the mother dispenses nourishing food for them to eat. In such a dispensation a proper control is always exercised….The dispensation of food is the best control. I have observed this with my own grandchildren, who obey their grandmother…because she is the one who dispenses treats to them. Because she does the dispensing, she can very easily and pleasantly control them. She controls them by means of a sweet dispensation, a dispensation that is also a kind of administration and intimate service. The heading up of all things in Christ does not take place by a governmental administration. On the contrary, it comes about by a sweet stewardship, by an intimate household arrangement, by a pleasant dispensation. It takes place through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God into us. The apostle Paul calls this a “stewardship of the grace of God” (Eph. 3:2), a dispensation of the grace of God.

　　Satan’s injection has no administration or stewardship because he subtly injects himself into us. But God is working Himself into His chosen ones by a sweet, intimate stewardship. Paul’s ministry was such a stewardship. It was a model of the dispensation of grace, of the dispensing of God as grace into His chosen ones. By this dispensation of grace, the dispensing of God Himself as our enjoyment, the factor of life is ministered into the chosen ones. As the life factor gets into them, they are raised up and attached to Christ in the Body. This is the dispensation that heads up all things in Christ.

　　What a sweet, intimate stewardship there was with [the Lord Jesus] ! Throughout His ministry, He was dispensing God as the life supply to His chosen ones. This intimate stewardship is continued with the apostles, especially with the apostle Paul, who had the stewardship of the grace of God. In his ministry Paul was constantly dispensing Christ as life into the believers. Paul’s ministry was a sweet and intimate stewardship, a pleasant household arrangement. Paul even taught Timothy how to behave in the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15). The way to behave in God’s house is to have the household arrangement, an intimate stewardship, and to dispense Christ to all the members of God’s household. It is not by controlling or even by a governmental administration; it is by a sweet dispensation, an intimate stewardship, a very dear household arrangement. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 86-87)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 9