Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 24:45-51

THE STEWARDS OF GOD

Luke 12:41-48, where this parable is joined on to the preceding one by a question of St Peter, ‘Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?’ Mark 13:37 has ‘what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.’ Here, and throughout the discourse, the disciples are specially addressed.

οἰκετείας, the correct reading, according to the best criticism, is strictly speaking wider than θεραπείας, including not only the θεράποντες, but also the γυνὴ and τέκνα, here however it means the household of slaves, Lat. familia.

The imagery is drawn from a large estate (latifundium) or household, over which an honest and intelligent slave would be appointed as steward (οἰκονόμος, Lat. vilicus or dispensator), part of his duty being to give the daily allowance (τροφήν, or σιτομέτριον, Luke. Lat. diarium, Hor. Ep. I. 14. 41) to the slaves.

From this short parable springs the conception of the stewardship of the Christian ministry expanded in the Epistles and indelibly fixed in religious thought. Cp. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, οὕτως ἡμᾶς λογιζέσθω ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ὑπηρέτας Χριστοῦ καὶ οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων θεοῦ. ὧδε λοιπὸν ζητεῖται ἐν τοῖς οἰκονόμοις ἵνα πιστός τις εὑρεθῇ κ.τ.λ. Titus 1:7, δεῖ γὰρ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον�. 1 Peter 4:10, ὡς καλοὶ οἰκονόμοι ποικίλης χάριτος θεοῦ. And from the Latin Version of this and parallel passages such expressions as ‘the present dispensation,’ ‘the Christian dispensation,’ are derived. It is deeply interesting to trace in a few and simple words of Christ the genesis of such great and fruitful thoughts which are the very life of the Church and of society.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 24:45-51

Old Testament

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