We may be familiar with the word economy in the context of national commerce, but did you know that the Bible reveals that God has an economy? The English word economy is the anglicized form of the Greek word oikonomia. The apostle Paul uses this word in three New Testament passages that refer to the economy of God, or simply God’s economy:
Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him. —Ephesians 1:10
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. —Ephesians 3:9
Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith. —1 Timothy 1:4
The word oikonomia, meaning “household law,” implies a distribution. Accordingly, the King James version translates the word as “dispensation” in Ephesians 1:10. The base of this word is of the same origin as that for pasture in John 10:9, implying a distribution of the pasture to the flock. It denotes a household management, a household administration, a household government, and, derivatively, a dispensation, a plan, or an economy for administration (distribution); hence, it is also a household economy. Accordingly, the NIV and NASB translate the word as “administration” in Ephesians 3:9. Regardless of the word that the English translators chose, the Greek interlinear text shows that the underlying Greek word in all these verses is oikonomia.
In ancient times, wealthy Greek or Roman citizens had large households with many family members, household servants, and other relations. In order to provide for each member of the household, there would be a house plan to dispense the various riches to meet their needs and wants. This household management or administration was referred to as an oikonomia. In modern times, we use the anglicized word economy to refer to a system of national commerce. Economics is essentially the study of how limited national resources and raw materials are processed to become finished goods, which are supplied through a system of distribution to meet the unlimited needs and wants of consumers.
The first step in God’s economy was the Father being embodied Himself in the Son (John 14:7-10; Col. 2:9); the second step was the Son being incarnated as a man and going through the process of birth, human living, death, and resurrection (the gospels); the third step was the Son in resurrection becoming the life-giving Spirit to be able to dispense Himself into His believers (1 Cor. 15:45). God’s economy in faith is His household economy, His household administration (Eph. 1:10; 3:9), to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people so that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church (v. 15), the Body of Christ. This is accomplished through the dispensing of the abundant life supply of the Triune God as the life factor into all the members of the church so that they may be built up as the organic Body of Christ.
With reference to modern commercial economics, God has unlimited riches (natural resources), such as life, love, light, righteousness, holiness, and power. These riches, which are just God Himself, have been processed through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection to become a wonderful finished good (product)—the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit (Exo. 30:25; 1 Cor. 15:45b)! This Spirit is the ultimate distribution system, dispensing all that God is and has accomplished into every believer, no matter when and where they may live, to satisfy their unlimited needs and wants. What a wonderful economy!
The wonderful economy in which God is dispensed into man can be clearly seen in many portions throughout the New Testament: drinking the living water (John 4:10: 7:37), eating the living bread (6:51,57), drinking the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), the love of God, the grace of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit being with the believers (2 Cor. 13:14), Christ making His home in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17), our gaining Christ (Phil. 3:8), longing for the guileless milk of the word (1 Pet. 2:2), becoming partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), the river of water of life (Rev. 22:1), and the tree of life (v. 2). This economy is according to God’s hidden purpose to dispense Himself into His chosen people (Eph. 1:9, 11). Hence, there is the economy of the mystery of God, which was hidden in Him throughout the ages (3:9). The Old Testament believers, such as Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and even David, who was a man according to God’s heart, did not see or understand this hidden mystery, but now the New Testament believers, having been enlightened, are able to see it!
The apostle Paul’s ministry was centered on the economy of God. In Ephesians 3:2, Colossians 1:25 and 1 Corinthians 9:17, the Greek word oikonomia is translated as “stewardship” in relation to the apostle’s ministry, referring to Paul’s participation in God’s economy by dispensing or distributing the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel (Eph 3:8). In 1 Timothy 1:4 Paul further warns against different teachings that were used by God’s enemy to distract people from God’s economy, which is in faith. In Ephesians 3:9 Paul speaks of being enlightened to see the economy of the mystery. We need to be enlightened to see that all persons and events in our lives are sovereignly planned according to God’s economy so that we may open to and receive the divine dispensing of the Triune God into us. As a result of this dispensing, we will be saturated to the point that we are corporately filled unto all the fulness of God (v. 19) for His expression and so that the manifold (multifarious) wisdom of God may be made known through the church (v. 10)!
“Gleanings from the Bible” is a series of articles contributed by a local Christian home meeting group that loves the Lord Jesus, believes that the Bible is God’s Word, and cares for the oneness of the Body of Christ. For more information please visit our website at www.fromhouse2house.org or email us at info@fromhouse2house.org. This article is based in part on footnotes from the Holy Bible Recovery Version published by Living Stream Ministry.