I've been working through the first chapter of First Timothy. Here are some thoughts on the phrase “Stewardship from God” in 1Ti 1.4. The bold text represents the text of the ESV. If you have any criticism/feedback for me, please send it along via email (address on sidebar to right) or drop me a note in the comment section below.

What should the Ephesian believers be focusing on instead of the speculations caused by their focus on endless myths and genealogies? Fairly simply, writes Paul, the stewardship from God that is by faith.

The concept of stewardship from God is an interesting one. The Greek phrase is οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ (oikonomian Theou), the interesting word being οἰκονομία (oikonomia). One lexicon (BDAG) notes that one of the senses of οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is “training in the way of salvation”. It then recommends this exact phrase be translated “divine training”. The NET Bible translates this phrase as “God’s redemptive plan”. These meanings are plausible but somewhat removed from the general meaning of οἰκονομία (oikonomia), which is the work or output of an οἰκονόμος (oikonomos). How is this seeming disparity reconciled?

An οἰκονόμος (oikonomos) is a household manager, one who allocates the resources of the household according to the owner’s wishes and ensures that all is done that needs to be done to ensure the smooth running of the household. The οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is that work or plan. The sense of stewardship (the οἰκονόμος (oikonomos), after all, is a steward of the owner of the household) is based on this. The phrase οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ (oikonomian Theou), then, refers to the stewardship of God’s own house. It refers to the plan by which the house runs; the “economy” of God’s house, so to speak. This is where the ideas of “training in the way of salvation”, “divine training” and “God’s redemptive plan” come from.

The word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is used in the parable of the dishonest steward as recorded in Luke 16:

And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ (Lu 16.2-4, emphasis mine)

In these three verses, the word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) occurs three times. In each instance above, οἰκονομία (oikonomia) refers to the task of the manager. The manager's task is to ensure the proper management of his master's resources, to be a good steward of that with which he has been entrusted.

Further understanding of οἰκονομία (oikonomia) comes from examining its usage in the Letter to Diognetus. Speaking of Christians, the author of this letter writes “ … nor have they been entrusted with the stewardship of mere human mysteries.” (EpDiog 7.1) While the object of stewardship in this example is different than in 1Ti 1.4, the general syntax of the phrase is the same – with οἰκονομία (oikonomia) in the accusative and the surrounding nouns in the genitive case. Note Meecham’s discussion of the word:

The word οἰκονομία extends its meaning from ‘management of a household’ to management or provision in general (cf. EpDiog 7.1). It came to be used of the various operations of the divine will, particularly of God’s ‘dispensation’ effected in Christ for the salvation of men.

This stewardship from God is further qualified as being that which is by faith. God’s plan operates on the basis of faith. In other words, faith is the currency that is used in the economy of God.

Ok, there you go. It's a little rough around the edges. Go easy on me ...