I N D E X
`God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy council of His own
will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass',
it is an evidence of uncertainty to say immediately `Yet so, as neither is God
the author of sin ... nor is the liberty and contingency of second causes taken
away', for that robs the words `freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes
to pass' of their meaning.  Instead, therefore, of reading into the word `will'
a fixed, unalterable decree, we must see in it, His `desire' (Eph. 2:3 thelema),
and that this desire is in harmony with His good pleasure and His purpose, and
if God's desire is implemented by infinite wisdom, power and love, who can think
of failure or frustration?  Why stretch out our hand to stay the ark of God and
speak of His `decrees', absolute, unconditional and fixed as fate?  This desire
of God is in harmony with His good pleasure eudokia.  This word is translated
`good will' (Luke 2:14), `desire' (Rom. 10:1), while eudokeo is the verb `to
please'.  The word translated `purpose' is prothesis, `something placed before'
the mind or, as in Matthew 12:4; Mark 2:26; Luke 6:4 and Hebrews 9:2, it is the
bread that was placed before Him, called the shew bread.  In Galatians 4:2
prothesmia is the `time appointed' by a father in his will for his son, and it
should be remembered that, where Paul does introduce a human illustration to
illuminate the character of God's `will', he speaks after the manner of men to
the Galatians concerning their own customs (3:15-18).  So in Ephesians, we are
dealing with no fatalistic decrees, but the will of a Father, with the
inheritance and blessing of His children in view.  This mystery, will, good
pleasure and purpose had a special dispensation in view:
`That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on
earth; even in Him' (Eph. 1:10).
The Revised Version reads `unto a dispensation' which recognizes the
presence of the preposition eis, which indicates a goal.  `With a view to',
while rather a free translation, is a good indication of the meaning of eis
here.  The word `dispensation' comes into our language from the Latin, where it
was used to translate the Greek oikonomia, which is the word found here in
Ephesians 1:10.  It means ordering, management, especially the ordering of
events by divine providence.  In theology, a religious order or system conceived
of as a stage in a progressive revelation, expressly adapted to a particular
nation or age, as the Patriarchal, Mosaic, Christian dispensation.  It also came
to mean `the age', in writing of the period a.d. 1643.  Dickens speaks of the
mysterious dispensations of Providence (Oxford English Dictionary).  As Paul not
only speaks of a dispensation of the fulness of times, but of a dispensation
that had been given to him for the Gentiles (Eph. 3:2) we cannot limit the word
to a period of time, or even to the disposing of God independently and without
the work of a steward, and this leads us to the kindred word oikonomos.
In Luke 16 will be found three occurrences of oikonomos rendered
`steward', three occurrences of oikonomia rendered `stewardship', and one
occurrence of oikonomeo `be steward'.  The apostle Paul also uses the word
oikonomos in the same way, `stewards of the mysteries of God', `it is required
in stewards, that a man be found faithful', `blameless, as the steward of God',
beside `chamberlain of the city' and `governors' (1 Cor. 4:1,2; Titus 1:7; Rom.
16:23 and Gal. 4:2).  When we examine the composition of the Greek word
oikonomia, or oikonomos, we find that they are made up of oikos a house, and
nomos or nomia from nemo `to administer'.  The reader will recognize in the word
`economy' the Greek word in English dress.  There is therefore in view in
Ephesians 1:10, a stewardship which is there defined as `the fulness of times'.
If we accept the Revised text we shall read at Ephesians 3:9 oikonomia
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