When Did “the Administration of God’s Grace” Begin?

Before we can answer the above question, several other questions must first be addressed. First of all, one concerning the expression “the administration of God’s grace.” That phrase cannot be traced one-to-one to the common Bible translations. Yet it is indeed derived from Paul’s teaching in the Ephesian letter, where he writes:

On behalf of this, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you, the nations. 2 For surely you have heard of the administration of the grace of God, which is being given to me for you, 3 that by revelation the secret is made known to me, as I wrote before in brief.
-Ephesians 3:1-3-

oikonomia

The translation word “administration” is the rendering of the Greek word “oikonomia,” in which we easily recognize our word “economy.” The Greek word is built from the elements “oikos” (= house) and “nomia” (= law), or possibly “nemo” (= to distribute). “Oikonomia” means “household” in the sense of an “administration” or “management” (as, for example, in a state economy). “Oikonomia” is also regularly translated as “stewardship,” in which the thought of “administration” is also included, for example of a city (Rom.16:23). Thus we read in Luke 16 about a rich man who gives his possessions into the administration of a steward or administrator (Luke 16:1-4). The idea is always that the administration has been allotted to someone. Because of the connection with the Greek word for “distribute” or “allot,” the word “dispensation” has become especially known through the Statenvertaling: something that has been allotted to someone. An administrator is emphatically not the owner, but someone who has received the owner’s possession as an allotment and administers it. An administration therefore, by definition, presupposes an administrator.

With this background knowledge, we now know that “the administration of God’s grace” is equal to “the household of God’s grace,” or “the dispensation of God’s grace,” or “the stewardship of God’s grace.” They are different translation words for one matter.

allotted to Paul

For the question of when “the administration of God’s grace” began, we are necessarily directed to the already cited Ephesians 3:2. For that verse is the only text where we encounter the expression. In 3:1 Paul establishes that he is a “prisoner of Christ Jesus” “for the sake of you, the nations.” He says this as an explanation of what precedes, where he had argued that “the nations,” who according to the flesh (2:11) were excluded by “the central wall of the barrier” (2:14), have now “in Christ Jesus, become near” (2:13). “The law of precepts” that, in the decisions of Acts 15, still remained maintained for the Jewish people (Acts 21:21-25), has been nullified (2:15). Within “the body of Christ,” the distinction between “Circumcision” and “Uncircumcision,” between Jew and heathen, no longer plays any role. Grace of God reigns (Eph.1:6,7; 2:7,8).

only through Paul

It is for this truth that Paul is a prisoner. He had been taken captive in Jerusalem (Acts 21) because he was accused of having brought a non-Jew into the temple. That accusation was false and yet illustrative, because it expresses how, in Paul’s evangel, the nations have indeed been brought “near” (2:17) “in spirit” (2:22; 3:5). They are no longer guests or strangers, but belong to God’s household (2:21,22). Jew and heathen together form “one new humanity” “in one body.” Behold “the administration of God’s grace”! Of this administration Paul says that it “is being given to me for you (= nations).” He is the administrator, for “by revelation the secret” was made known to him. Not to “the twelve,” and hence James, Peter, or John never speak of it in their letters. For these “pillars” among the apostles had, according to agreement, a ministry “for the Circumcision,” while Paul would go “to the nations” (Gal.2:9).

the administration of God’s grace begins with Paul

By now we can safely answer the question above this blog. “The administration of God’s grace” was given to Paul and through him revealed to the saints, the apostles and prophets (3:5). With that, it has not so much been answered when “the administration of God’s grace” began, but with whom this administration began.

The question concerning the beginning of “the dispensation of God’s grace” is therefore very different from the question of when “the Ecclesia, which is His body” began. Although both questions are usually confused with each other. And that mixture inevitably leads to confusion of speech. Terms begin to take on a life of their own and, instead of staying close to “the sound words” of Scripture, people start reasoning further (dogmatics!).

before Paul’s imprisonment made known only briefly

It is clear that from prison, in the Ephesian and Colossian letters, Paul elaborates fully on the secret made known to him concerning “the administration of God’s grace.” In Ephesians 3:9 he therefore also calls this administration “the administration of the secret” or “the administration of the mystery.” Those are two names for the one administration that had been entrusted to him. In Ephesians 3:3 Paul writes that he had written about this secret “before in brief.” Some think that by this he is referring to what he had brought forward earlier in the preceding chapters of this letter. That may be, but consider that he had already written about “the mystery” or “the secret” in earlier letters as well. For also in, for example, the close of the Roman letter, he refers to the secret that was formerly hidden, “yet now is being manifested.” He calls that “my evangel” (Rom.16:25-27). Certainly, he only touches on it briefly there, but does that not confirm exactly what he says in Ephesians 3:3?!

However this may further be, “the dispensation of God’s grace” could not begin earlier than when the administrator, Paul, appeared and was permitted to make known the Evangel of God’s grace among the nations.

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