The Definition of Economy

Word Studies

The Interpreter’s Bible

On Ephesians 1:10:

10. As a plan for the fullness of time: The word oikonomia, here translated plan (dispensation KJV), has a wide range of meaning. Its primary sense is “household management” or “the office of the household manager, the steward.” From the latter it is extended metaphorically to any office of trust (“stewardship”); and this is the usual sense of the word in Pauline usage, as in Col. 1:25: “According to the divine office which was given to me for you.” From the former (“household management”) it is likewise extended in this case to include the management of an army or of a state (whence “political economy”), and at length to the making of any kind of arrangements or dispositions, and even to the execution of a project previously determined upon. This last sense is the most appropriate to the context here; we might then interpret somewhat as follows: “He made known to us the mystery of his will…with a view to giving it effect in the fullness of the times.” (619)

On Ephesians 3:9:

Many a Christian teacher could learn pedagogic wisdom from God’s plan of the mystery. Merely to memorize creeds or confessions of faith does not make a Christian. This may be like reciting the answers in the back of an arithmetic book. We must learn to see the problems to which the gospel is the answer. “Seek, and ye shall find.” We must first seek. We too must repeat the experience of the children of Israel trembling before Mount Sinai, or of the sinful nation in exile crying for redemption. We too must learn to ask with the prophet: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?…shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Mic. 6:6, 7). Having understood the seeking, we shall understand the finding. Then we too can join in the thrill of the answer to man’s questions, seeing for ourselves what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God. (670)

On Colossians 1:25-27: