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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:1-21
In the first chapter of this series we saw that Ephesians 1 reveals the plan of God the Father. In the second chapter we saw that Ephesians 2 reveals mainly the Son’s accomplishment to dispense the Trinity into our being so that we may grow into the dwelling place of God. In this chapter we come to Ephesians 3, where we have the dispensation of God’s grace.
The Greek word oikonomia, which is translated as “economy” or “dispensation” in chapter 3, is composed of two words: oikos, which means “house,” and nomos, which means “law.” Oikonomia denotes household regulations or household management. Because this word refers to a household administration and arrangement, it implies a plan. Some Bible teachers have pointed out that there are seven dispensations for God’s dealing with man. In Ephesians 3 the word economy or dispensation means “a plan,” “an arrangement,” “a system,” or “an order.”
In Ephesians 3 the word oikonomia is used twice, in verses 2 and 9. In verse 2 it is better to translate it as “stewardship,” and in verse 9, as “economy” or “dispensation.” In English a stewardship refers to the duty, office, or responsibility of one who is carrying out the dispensation. A steward is a servant who carries out the household management and administration. The stewardship is even a part of the dispensation. This is why Paul uses the word oikonomia to denote both the dispensation and the duty of the steward to carry out the dispensation.
The church is God’s house, and in His house He has a plan, an arrangement, a household administration, to distribute the riches of Christ into all the members of this household. Paul and the other apostles were not the only stewards to carry out this dispensation. Peter says that we all should minister the gift that we have received “as good stewards of the varied grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10b). The word stewards in 1 Peter 4:10 does not refer to the duty or responsibility of the servant; it refers to the steward himself, the one who carries out the household management. Every one of us should be a good steward of the varied grace of God to distribute the riches of Christ to nourish all the saints in the church.
When we use the word dispensation, we mean God’s household management, God’s plan. We do not mean dispensing. Nevertheless, in God’s dispensation the crucial matter is the dispensing of Himself into us. In God’s dispensation there is the dispensing. Paul may be considered the leading steward to carry out God’s divine dispensation, that is, to carry out God’s divine, eternal plan to dispense and distribute all the riches of Christ. Paul was commissioned with such a responsibility, such a service. This may be considered a stewardship. It also may be considered a dispensation. Paul had been committed with God’s plan, His dispensation, to distribute the grace of God. Such a plan to distribute the grace of God is called the stewardship of the grace of God. Paul was commissioned and committed by God with this plan to carry out God’s dispensing of His riches as grace.
In the dispensation, the plan, of the mystery of Christ there are three main items. The first is to make the Gentiles fellow heirs, fellow members of the Body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ (Eph. 3:6). God’s plan, His household administration, is to make the Jewish and Gentile believers fellow heirs of God. All these fellow heirs are fellow members of the Body, which is the Body of Christ, the church. Furthermore, the fellow heirs are fellow partakers of the promise in Christ, that is, fellow partakers of all the riches in Christ.
Second, God desires to distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles (v. 8). How can the Gentiles be made fellow heirs of God? This can only be through the divine dispensing.
Paul was a dispenser. We may compare him to Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph was the steward in Pharaoh’s rich house (Gen. 41:41). The king of Egypt had a great house full of food supply, and he needed a household administration to distribute this supply. Joseph was appointed to be a steward with the commission to distribute food. We may consider Paul a New Testament Joseph to distribute all the rich food in Christ to God’s people.
The dispensing of the rich food of God’s household is to make the nations, the Gentiles, fellow heirs of God with the Jewish believers. This cannot be done by education or organization. It can be done only by life dispensing. Paul did not use organization to dispense the riches. In Ephesians 3 he says that he announced the unsearchable riches of Christ (v. 8). Here the word announce actually means to distribute or dispense. Paul’s ministry was to dispense the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. Even today I regard Paul as my Joseph. Whenever I come to his Epistles, I receive a rich supply of food. Paul’s distribution of the unsearchable riches of Christ was to make the Gentiles fellow heirs with the Jews.
Third, the dispensation of the mystery of Christ is to bring forth the church for the manifestation of the multifarious wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose made by God in Christ (vv. 9-11). Out of the distribution and dispensing of the unsearchable riches of Christ, the church is produced to exhibit God’s manifold or multifarious wisdom. God exhibits this wisdom not mainly to man but to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies, that is, to the evil angels, the followers of Satan. God has set up an exhibition to let the fallen angels see how much wisdom He has. To those on earth the church is a poem, a masterpiece, but to the fallen angels in the air the church is a great exhibition. Through the church they can see God’s wisdom. This is God’s plan, which is the dispensation of God’s grace.
In God’s plan, His dispensation, the main thing is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. The dispensing in chapter 3 of Ephesians is deeper and more intimate than that in chapter 1. In Ephesians 1 we have a sketch of the dispensing. But in chapter 3 the dispensing of the Trinity is deeper, more particular, and more intimate. We can realize this because of Paul’s prayer in this chapter.
Paul, the leading steward, prayed for the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. First, he says that he bowed his knees unto the Father (v. 14). This means that he appealed to the source. He bowed his knees unto the Father, that He would strengthen the believers with power according to the riches of His glory through the Spirit into their inner man (v. 16). Our inner man is our spirit regenerated by and mingled with the Spirit.
The Spirit through whom the Father strengthens us is in our spirit. Not only is He dwelling in our spirit; He is even mingled with our spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” The word witnesses is very significant. The Spirit is with our spirit. This indicates mingling. Our inner man is a wonderful mingled spirit. This corresponds to 1 Corinthians 6:17: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” How can we be one spirit with the Lord? It is only by the Lord as the Spirit mingling Himself with our spirit. The divine Spirit has mingled with our human spirit to become one spirit. This is wonderful! The Father strengthens us through the Spirit into our inner man.
What does it mean to be strengthened through the Spirit with power according to the riches of God’s glory into our inner man? Let us consider our experience. Many times we Christians become bothered, puzzled, or even disappointed. The more we look at the environment and the more we consider our situation, the more we feel that we are poor and that we cannot go on. We may feel that we should not go to a meeting until something great happens to revive us. The more we think this way, the more we are weakened. The more we think this way, the more we remain in our subtle, deceiving, and even deceived mentality.
Suppose, when you come home from work on Friday evening, you are depressed and disappointed. It has been a poor day; nothing has gone well. When you come home, you are unhappy with your wife and children. Even your room does not seem pleasant to you. The more you consider your situation, the worse it seems. At such a time you need to remember Paul’s word: “I bow my knees unto the Father...that He would grant you...to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” Then you should declare, “Satan, get away from me! I will enter into my inner man.” If you turn to your inner man, you will be stirred up and strengthened. If you go on to pray for a few minutes, you will be strengthened even more. This strengthening even swallows up your physical weakness and tiredness.
I encourage you to practice in this way. Never say that you are weak or that you are tired, no matter how you feel. Sisters, when your husband comes home from work saying that he is tired, you should charge him not to say that he is tired but to bow his knees unto the Father that he would be strengthened with power into his inner man. When you say that you are tired, you are in your old man, your outer man, your mentality. You need to be strengthened into the inner man. Do not remain in the outer man. You may be tired, but He is not tired. He who lives within you is much stronger than you. He is never tired. He would strengthen you into the inner man.
In the phrase into the inner man, the word into is very significant. To say that we need to be strengthened into the inner man indicates that we are not in the inner man, that we live mostly in the outer man. When a brother tells his wife that he is tired, he is in the outer man, in the mind, living according to his physical tiredness. Therefore, he seeks pity from his wife. Sisters, do not sympathize with your husband. When he says that he is tired, encourage him to bow his knees unto the Father, that the Father would strengthen him with power through the Spirit into his inner man.
When you say that you are tired, you are outside of the inner man. You have an inner man. Why not stay there? Why stay in your tiredness? You need to practice bowing your knees unto the Father, that He would strengthen you into your inner man from your tiredness. Even when you are sick, you need to pray that the Father would strengthen you from your sickness into your inner man.
We may also use married life as an illustration. Many times married life is not sweet; instead, it may be somewhat bitter. Our married life can be sweet and happy only when we are strengthened into the inner man. Sometimes after her husband has gone to work, a sister may begin to consider how he has been treating her. Perhaps last night he was unhappy with her, and this morning he said that she was wrong in certain things. Then she may begin to consider whether she is wrong or right. The more she thinks about these things, the more darkness she will have within her. This indicates that she is in the outer man, in her mentality. The only thing that can help in this kind of situation is to be strengthened into the inner man. She should not stay in her mentality, her mind, her thinking. If we are in such a situation, we need to be strengthened from our thinking into our inner man and turn to our spirit and pray. If we practice this in every situation, we will be strong Christians. Through this practice the divine dispensing has a way to infuse us with all the riches of the Divine Trinity.
When we are strengthened into our inner man, Christ can make His home in our heart (Eph. 3:16-17). For Christ to make His home in our heart is a great matter. This is to have Himself fully settled in our inner being. Our heart is composed of four parts: the emotion, the will, the mind, and the conscience. For Christ to make His home in our heart means that He must settle Himself in our emotion, will, mind, and conscience. This means that Christ needs to occupy every part of our being.
We may compare our heart to an apartment with many rooms. One room is the mind, and other rooms are the will, the emotion, and the conscience. We have believed in the Lord, and we have Him within us, but He still needs to make His home in our heart. Paul prayed for the Ephesians that Christ would have a way to make His home in their hearts. We have Christ in us in a general way, but we may not have Christ in us in a particular way, saturating our mind, emotion, will, and conscience.
I travel frequently, and many times I am placed in a room as a guest. Often the host will encourage me to feel at home. But as a guest receiving hospitality, I never have the feeling that I am at home. I am just staying there temporarily. I cannot be settled in that place because it is not my home.
Christ desires to make His home in our heart, to occupy every part of our heart. He wants to occupy every part of our inner being. Our inner being must be saturated, possessed, occupied, and filled with Christ. If Christ has made His home in our heart, if He has occupied every room of our heart, we will not be weak. On the contrary, we will be those with a holy and even spiritual living. Too many times, however, we do not feel that we are strong in our spiritual life. The reason is that we have Christ in us in a very general way. Perhaps we have received Christ only into a corner of our “living room.” We have not given Him the liberty to move into another part. The result is that we are weak. We have Christ, but we are still weak because we are not saturated with Christ. We are short of the life dispensing into our mind, emotion, will, and conscience to saturate our entire being. But if we have been thoroughly saturated by Christ through the life dispensing in every part of our inward being — in our mind, emotion, will, and conscience — we will be strong. We will truly be one with the Lord. This was Paul’s goal as a leading steward and distributor of God’s grace. He desired that all the saints under his ministry would be saturated with the divine dispensing of life so that they would be fully occupied by Christ in their inward parts. For this reason he bowed his knees unto the Father, that they would be strengthened with power according to the riches of His glory through the Spirit, that Christ may make His home in their hearts.
When Christ makes His home in our heart, we will be filled not with all the fullness of God but unto all the fullness of God (v. 19). If we let Christ make His home in our heart, we will be filled with the Godhead, the Trinity, to such an extent that we will become His full expression.
The fullness here does not mean the riches; it denotes the expression, the manifestation, of the riches. For example, when you fill a cup with water, it is not until the water fills the cup to the brim and overflows that you can see the fullness of the water. The overflow is the fullness of the water. That overflow as the fullness of the water is the expression of the water. But if only a small amount of water is contained in the cup, no one can see the water. In a similar way, we must be strengthened through the Spirit so that Christ may make His home in our heart to fill us to the brim and even overflow from our inner being. When we are filled up to such an extent that Christ overflows from within our being, we become the fullness of God, the expression of God. Then others will be able to see that God is overflowing from within us. This overflowing is God’s full expression. This thought is higher, deeper, richer, and more profound than what is mentioned in chapter 1. Chapter 1 speaks of the fullness of Christ (v. 23), but chapter 3 speaks of the fullness of God, which is wider and richer.
For us to be filled unto all the fullness of God is something worked out by Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to His power which operates in us (v. 20).
Eventually, our being filled unto all the fullness of God and His working in us according to His power operating in us will be for His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto eternity (v. 21).
The crucial point in Ephesians 3 is that we need the Father’s strengthening through the Spirit so that the Son may have a free course to make His home in our heart to occupy our entire being, that we may have an overflow of the riches of Christ to be the full expression of God. This is worked out by the life dispensing, the dispensing of the Triune God to make us His full expression.
