«　WEEK 3　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.

　　8-9 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel 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 intention of God’s economy is to dispense Himself into His chosen people, making Himself one with them. The Bible reveals that God dwells within His chosen people and that He desires to make Himself fully one with them.

　　God’s intention in His economy is also to dispense Christ with all His riches into His believers, who were chosen by God for the constitution of the Body of Christ, the church, to express the processed Triune God (Eph. 3:8-10).

　　Finally, the intention of God’s economy is to head up all things in Christ (1:10)… In the church Christ is heading us up so that eventually all things can be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and new earth.

　　In chapter 3 of Ephesians, Paul uses the Greek word oikonomia with two denotations. First, this word refers to God’s economy. Second, it refers to the stewardship of the apostle. Eventually, God’s economy becomes the stewardship of the apostle. God’s economy was made in eternity (vv. 9-11). The apostle’s stewardship (Gk., economy) of God’s grace was given in time to carry out God’s eternal economy in grace (v. 2; 1 Cor. 9:17). The economy of God is with God Himself, but the stewardship of the apostle was not merely given to Paul as one person. The stewardship has been given to all the believers. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” p. 353)

　　Paul reveals in Ephesians 3 that the economy of God was given to him as the stewardship, but as the receiver of the stewardship, he says that he was less than the least of all saints (v. 8).

　　If the least among the saints is qualified to receive the stewardship, all of us are qualified… Because we are later than Paul, we have inherited everything that he and others have passed on to us since his time…In a sense Paul was our initiation, and we are his consummation. The economy of God has become our stewardship to dispense the grace of God. The riches of Christ are the grace. The stewardship of grace is mentioned in 3:2, and the unsearchable riches of Christ are mentioned in verse 8, so the stewardship of grace is the ministry to distribute, to dispense, the unsearchable riches of Christ to the believers as grace for their enjoyment.

　　In eternity past God … made an eternal economy to dispense the riches of Christ into God’s chosen people, the believers, so that He could have a church, a Body, an organism for His expression. Eventually, by this dispensing, He will head up all things in Christ. For the accomplishment of His economy God dispenses Himself into us in a fine way. God’s dispensing of Himself into us, His chosen and redeemed people, will consummate in the New Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The Central Line of the Divine Revelation,” pp. 353-354)

　　The stewardship of the grace is the dispensing of the riches of Christ. According to the context of Ephesians 3, grace refers to the riches of Christ. When the riches of Christ are enjoyed by you, they become grace. Paul’s ministry was to dispense the riches of Christ as grace to the believers. A stewardess on an airplane dispenses food to the passengers; she does not dispense information on how to cook. Likewise, the apostle Paul dispensed the riches of Christ to the saints. This is what we are doing in the ministry today… Every saint can infuse Christ into others. Even a young sister in high school can dispense Christ into her classmates. This dispensing of Christ into others is the stewardship according to God’s economy. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 244-245)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 40