Ephesians 2.8, 10: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God... For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Kent Smith, my professor and guide/teacher/mentor/educator in my internship of missional living & leadership, gave to my cohort an article of his in which he describes the "Economy of Grace" given to us in Ephesians. In this paper, Kent follows the language Paul uses in describing grace (charis) & what Kent calls economy (a quite literal transliteration of oikonomia, which literally translated is "law or order of the household").
First, go read Ephesians. Beginning to end, all at once. Partly, so you'll be familiar with the language used here; but mainly because I believe our understanding of Scripture is best founded on a holistic view of a given text: Each part of Ephesians is founded in the entire movement of that letter.
Now, on grace. Our traditional view on grace leans heavily upon the Reformation's definition: Grace is the gift by which we are saved through Christ Jesus (Eph. 2.4-9). And this is true, but does not cover the whole extent of the use of charis in the New Testament. Charis is a gift, something that brings delight. God's greatest gift is absolutely God's self, most explicitly in Jesus Christ. However, God's self-giving has not stopped there. The Church is the Body of Christ—not like the Body of Christ, but is the Body of Christ (Eph. 5.23). And God's great grace, charis, has been given to each and every individual in that Body (Eph. 2.10 & 4.7). So grace, holistically understood, "is God dispensed into us" (Kalistos Ware).
In Ephesians 3.1-10 Paul explains that what once was a mystery has been revealed in Christ, and that the revelation came through grace (God's self-revelation) and is to be continually revealed through anyone to whom grace has been given; grace implies calling, and calling implies action or works—again, Ephesians 2.10: "For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." But, what works? And how?
Here we unpack the language of economy. The root word meaning "household" (oikos) is all over the letter—in words like "plan" (1.10, 3.9), "aliens" or "members of the household" (2.19-22), "building itself up" (4.16)—and it fits right into the language of God as "Father" and of Jews and Gentiles both being children adopted into the family of God (1.5, 2.19). When you add on the Greek word nomos, which means law or order, you then get oikonomia or "order of the household."
In Ephesians 1, Paul explains how, "with all wisdom and insight, God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth." The word rendered "plan" here is in fact oikonomia, the same word from which came our commonly used term "economy."
Look up "economy" today, and you'll find definitions like "the management of the resources of a community, country, etc., especially with a view to its productivity;" or "the regulation of the parts or functions of an organic whole, an organized system or method."
In this light, broadened by the definitions of the roots found in oikonomia, we can then see that what we have been calling the "plan" of God for the fullness of time is in fact a system of management in Creation initiated by Christ that we are then called into & empowered by grace as the Body of Christ to carry out. It ends in the adoption of humanity into familial relationship with God and the perfection of all things through Christ; and this management system is the way in which "the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" (Eph. 3.10).
Kent then draws out this paradigm for the context of mission today, and even more so as "our way of life."
(1) The initiator of this "economy of grace" can only be God, the One with the Plan, the "Grace-dispenser."
(2) The leader of this family, this household, can only be the Father; all we as humans and communities of people can do is act as stewards.
(3) Therefore, we stewards must first be attentive listeners for God's initiative in any context in which we find ourselves. Kent also explicates, looking at Jesus' instructions in Luke 10.4-7, that the contexts into which disciples of Christ will go will have "households of peace" waiting to receive the grace which we have first been given; some will not, and the disciples are told to move on from there.
(4) And because stewards are not lords of the house, our role is that of education: "the drawing forth of what is latent or potential in another," particularly referring to the gifts given by the Spirit (Eph 4.11-12; see also 1 Peter 4.10).
*My addition: If we take 3 & 4 as true, then we also are confessing that we believe our communal, Triune, initiating, self-revealing God is always at work all over the world. Jesus' instructions in Luke affirm this, as some households were ready to receive peace and some were not. This places Mission firmly within the nature of God, and the Church merely draws out or "harvests" what God has already planted and grown (Matthew 9.37-38, Luke 10.2).
In this way, God's plan or predesigned order for the fullness of time is one in which God continually gives of himself to us for the purpose of maturing the Body of Christ and also bringing all things to God through the same Christ.
Hope this linguistic journey has been fun; it's an example of what makes me happy and hopeful in studying this old, "dead" language. And I continue to look forward to studying under Dr. Smith, hopefully learning even more about this "plan" God designed and how we best participate in bringing it to fruition.
Grace & Peace
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