Deeper understandings Stewardship: Biblical perspectives
We serve as conduits for God’s gifts to flow through us and into the world Editor’s note: This series is intended
to be a public conversation among teach- ing theologians of the ELCA on various themes of our faith and the challenging issues of our day. It invites readers to engage in dialogue by posting comments online at the end of each article at www.
thelutheran.org. The series is edited by Philip D.W.
Krey, president of the Lutheran Theologi- cal Seminary at Philadelphia, on behalf of the presidents of the eight ELCA seminaries.
By Marty E. Stevens W
hat does the Bible say about stewardship? Whenever asked, “What
does the Bible say about [fill in the blank],” my first instinct is to respond, “Well, it depends.” The Bible is a library of 66 books,
spanning many centuries and reflect- ing (and omitting) many voices. We all know topics for which the Bible is quoted to support diametrically opposed positions. But on the topic of stewardship, the Bible is remark- ably consistent in asserting that our
Author bio: Stevens is associ- ate professor of biblical studies in the Arthur L. Larson position of stewardship and parish ministry,
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Get- tysburg (Pa.).
relationship with possessions is an integral part of our relationship with God. In the Gospels, Jesus talks about
money more than any other topic except the kingdom of God—more than sin, more than love, more than heaven and hell. And, of course, what Jesus says about money is not unrelated to what he says about the kingdom of God. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus moves seamlessly from being generous to loving our enemies to giving alms to praying to fasting (Matthew 5:38– 6:18). All our attitudes and actions are caught up in our relationship with God.
The Greek word for steward-
ship is oikonomia, literally “house- hold management,” from which we get the English word economy. The person who manages the household economy is the oikonomos or stew- ard. Hebrew uses the phrase “over the household” to mean the same thing. When we study these words, we can find three categories of stewardship. The first is related to the man-
agement of property, where a stew- ard manager is left in charge of the estate while the master is elsewhere. Note that the steward isn’t the owner of the property—the steward is the manager or caretaker of someone else’s property. The steward’s author- ity derives from the owner and is in place to benefit others in the house- hold. The steward is to be faithful, wise, watchful and honest, for the master requires accountability. The second category of steward-
ship shifts from the management of human property to that of God’s
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property, if we can use such a phrase. In these texts we are “stewards of God’s mysteries” (1 Corinthians 4:1) and “stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). God’s gift of the gospel is given to each of us to steward faithfully for the benefit of others. Notice that there is no restric- tion on the stewardship of the gospel to those who are officially rostered in the church. The third category of stewardship
in the New Testament elevates our thinking even more. Consider these texts: God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a stewardship for the full- ness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:9-10); to make everyone see what is the stewardship of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things (Ephesians 3:9). I use the word stewardship in these texts to describe God’s manage- ment of the cosmic household of all time and all space. And Paul uses the word steward-
ship to describe God’s appointment of him as a proclaimer of the good news (1 Corinthians 9:17, Ephesians 3:2 and Colossians 1:25). When we look outside the New
Testament, we find that ancient Greek writers used the word stew- ardship to describe the human body and the solar system. While this may seem strange to those who have nar- rowed the meaning of stewardship to the congregation’s fall campaign to raise money, the ancient writers are actually very consistent with the New Testament use.
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