March 22, 2010
God’s Economy
In the book of Ephesians Paul uses this work oikonomia, which in Greek is composed of 2 parts – oikos which is a household, and nomos which is an administration.
The Greek word means household law, implying distribution. 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.
God’s economy is a distribution – a dispensing. What is he distributing? He is distributing the divine life.
John 10:10b – “I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly.”
God’s economy differs from our real world economy in several ways:
Our real world economy has a limited supply. This means that the structure of the economy is that of a top-down one – the higher you are the more you have, whereas the lower you are, the less you have. This also implies that at some point (the poverty line), you have less than is able to sustain yourself. This also implies that if you want to give your supply away to help others – you will go lower in the economic ladder.
However, God’s economy is a bottom up economy. Jesus, full of the unlimited supply of the divine life, came to dispense or distribute it. He came as a grain of wheat, who died, and in his resurrection released the divine life for to partake. We who are Christians are now stewards – butlers – in God’s house, commissioned to feed others with the supply that we have received. Because the supply is unlimited, the more you give, the more you receive because God wants to supply Himself to all men.
Several verses powerfully speak this -
Jesus being the unlimited supply of life
John 6:35 - Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst.
John 5:40 - Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
John 7:37 - Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
Us being stewards – dispensers of the divine life
Eph 3:2 - If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
1 Pet 4:10 - Each one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
John 21:17 - He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.
How to receive divine life, and what happens when we receive it – becoming members of God’s household
John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, John 1:13 - Who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
This is what God wants. God wants us to receive the divine life and to come into His household. In His household, we are in a position to receive the unlimited supply that God is distributing.
Who is God? « Circle Well said,
March 23, 2010 at 12:27 am
[...] plan was not revealed yet. However, we know who God is today. The God we have today is a dispensing God. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)FTTA – first weekGod’s heart for [...]