VULNERABLE MISSION

Economy of Grace in Ephesians
ECONOMY OF GRACE
Having discussed grace and economy we can summarize the Ephesians presentation of
church as an economy of grace. Six observations provide an overview:
1. Ephesians claims to disclose a great mystery. This mystery has been hidden in
God in the past but now, in the fullness of time, has been made known to us (1:9;
3:9–10).
2. Furthermore, this mystery is revealed in an economy (oikonomia), that is to say, a
household rule, or operating system that has its origin and its ultimate fulfillment in
God through Jesus Christ by way of the church (1:23; 3:9).
3. This economy, or household rule, is a divinely designed system for the dispensing
of God’s multifaceted wisdom and for the display of that wisdom to powers and
principalities in the heavenly realms (3:10). Simply put, this self-disclosure of God
is the church.
4. God’s multifaceted wisdom is revealed, in fact, as an economy of grace (3:2). 19
What makes this economy a display of the many, many forms of God’s wisdom is
that God’s power (energeia) is distributed (metron) uniquely as a grace (charis) to each
part of the household body (4:7, 16). 20
5. The body is built up (oikodomeo) to its mature, healthy expression when every single
part is doing its particular, divinely graced and empowered work (4:14–16).
6. The church, as the operating system for the grace of God, therefore, functions to
fulfill God’s delight in reconciling all things to himself through Christ (1:9–11).
household, as well as his body. See, e.g., 2:19–22. In ch. 5 the mystery is further disclosed: this body is his bride
(5:23–32).
19 Commentators differ in their understanding of how oikonomia tēs charitos is being used in 3:2. A case can
be made that Paul’s own grace—to bring the gospel to the Gentiles—is in view. In this case the sense would be
“you will have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace given to me for you.” On the other hand, if the broader
use of oikonomia found in 1:10 and later in the chapter at 3:9 (“the economy of the mystery that has been kept
hidden”) is in view, then the sense would be more, “of course, you have heard about the revelation I received
for you about the economy of God’s grace, namely that by revelation the divine mystery was made known to
me, as I mentioned earlier” (1:10). In support of this reading are the six times cognates of oikos are used in the
preceeding four verses to describe the nature of the inclusion Gentiles now enjoy in the household of God:
Therefore no longer are you strangers and aliens (paroikoi) but you are fellow citizens of the saints and
members of the household (oikeioi) of God, being built up together (epoikodomathentes) upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself the chief cornerstone. In him the whole
house is joined together (oikodome) and rises into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being
built up together (sunoikodomeisthe) to become the dwelling (katoiketerion) of God by his Spirit (2:19–22).
While this latter understanding of the “economy of the grace of God” is consistent with the way the phrase is
used in this essay, the conclusion drawn about the particular use in 3:2 is somewhat immaterial to the overall
point. The whole constellation of thought in Ephesians points to the “economy of grace” under discussion.
20 Peter makes the connection explicit as well, though his allusion to the economy is indirect. See 1 Pet 4:10
and below.
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