STEWARD.

In the OT [OT Old Testament] a steward is a man who is ‘over a house’ (Gn. 43:19; 44:4; Is. 22:15, etc.).

In the NT [NT New Testament] there are two words translated steward:

epitropos (Mt. 20:8; Gal. 4:2), i.e. one to whose care or honour one has been entrusted, a curator, a guardian; and

oikonomos (Lk. 16:2-3; 1 Cor. 4:1-2; Tit. 1:7; 1 Pet. 4:10), i.e. a manager, a superintendent-from oikos(‘house’) and nemoµ(‘to dispense’ or ‘to manage’). The word is used to describe the function of delegated responsibility, as in the parables of the labourers, and the unjust steward.

More profoundly, it is used of the Christian’s responsibility, delegated to him under ‘Christ’s kingly government of his own house’. All things are Christ’s, and Christians are his executors or stewards. Christians are admitted to the responsibilities of Christ’s overruling of his world; so that stewardship (oikonomia) can be referred to similarly as a dispensation (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25).

c.h.d. [c.h.d. C. H. Duncan, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., Th.D., Lecturer in Philosophy, State College of Victoria, Australia; Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne]