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Oikonomia
A | Eph. 1: 10. A dispensation of the fullness of times (the mystery of his will)
. . . . . purposed in Himself.
B | Eph. 3: 2. The dispensation of the grace of God given me to you.
A | Eph. 3: 9. The dispensation of the mystery . . . . . according to the purpose
of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
B | Col. 1: 25. The dispensation of God given me for you.
In the fullness of "time" (Gal. 4: 4) when God sent forth His Son, the Greek word for
`time' is chronos, but in Eph. 1: 10 the word is kairos a "season", the time of harvest
(Matt. 13: 30), referring not to the clock, but to the season of the year. The usual Greek
words translated "gather together" are not found in Eph. 1: 10 but a compound of
kephale "head", anakephalaioomai "to head up" is used. The R.V. reads "to sum up",
but the presence of three expressions "the Head" and "the Fullness" and "all things" in
Eph. 1: 22, 23, and the added fact that in Colossians we learn that Christ is also "Head of
all principality and power" (Col. 2: 10), and that in Him dwells "all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily", make it imperative that we retain the word `head' in the phrase which
the A.V. translates "gather together", and read "to head up", and so suggest that what
Christ is to the Church of the One body now (Eph. 1: 22, 23), He will be when the goal, as
indicated in I Cor. 15: 28, shall be attained. Now, in this anticipatory dispensation,
Christ is All and in all (Col. 3: 11), but when "the end" comes, God will then be all in
all. Both Eph. 1: 22, 23 and I Cor. 15: 27, 28 flow out of the special interpretation
given by Paul of Psa. 8:
The Inheritance.
The A.V. renders Eph. 1: 11 "In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance", where
the R.V. reads: "In Whom also we were made an heritage".
Cunnington translates "We were made God's portion".
Rotherham reads "We were taken as an inheritance".
Moffatt reads "We have had our heritage allotted us".
The word kleroomai translated "obtain an inheritance" occurs nowhere else in the
N.T. Dr. Bullinger, in his Lexicon, tells us the word is in the middle voice and means "to
acquire by lot, to obtain, to possess", but leaves the question unsolved as to who it is that
obtains.
We have on other occasions expressed our conviction, that many a doubtful passage in
the N.T. can be rendered with certainty by referring to the parallel use in the 70: One
such passage is I Sam. 14: 42, where in answer to the casting of lots between Saul and
Jonathan, "Jonathan was taken". The Greek Katakleroumai here is the translation of the
Hebrew lakad "to take", in what is called the niphal or passive voice, "be taken", not
actively "to take". There are six occasions apart from I Sam. 14: 41-42 where this word
is used for being taken by lot.