If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.
God’s dispensation of grace
The ministerial calling is termed grace, because the designing to it is of grace, and the faculty qualifying us for it is from the free favour of God.
1. This assures ministers that their sufferings are for the good of the people, if they know they have a calling from God.
2. God distributes callings for the good of His Church.
3. As God gives ministers their calling, so also their people toward whom He will bless their labours. Every minister must be
(1) Separated.
(2) Authorized.
(3) Have his pastoral charge assigned him.
When the Lord lights candles, He finds candlesticks on which to set them, and when He gives a calling, He gives a people amongst whom this function should be exercised.
4. People are specially to depend on their own pastor. (Paul Bayne.)
The dispensation of grace
“If” here might very well be read “since,” as in Colossians 1:23; Galatians 3:4; 2 Corinthians 5:2, where the thing spoken of is not doubtful, but taken for granted. The connection is this: “You know then, dear brethren, that I am the Lord’s prisoner for your sake, since, or forasmuch as, you know the cause of it in my miraculous conversion, and my being called to the apostolic office. For your sakes, too, I have received this grace of God, that I should be the econome or steward of the heavenly house. Here it is the grace; in Colossians 1:25 it is the dispensation which is given, and the meaning is nearly the same. The office and the qualification are both from God. What is this economy or dispensation? It is the “law of the house,” the principle and mode of housekeeping--the Haushaltung Gottes, according to the Germans. The idea is beautiful. The house, the household, the father, the family, are the holiest things on the earth. There all sorts of varieties and diversities meet in unity, rule, and obedience, rewards and punishments, hopes and fears. There are varieties of ages, sexes, characters, conditions, temperaments, etc., and the scheme of disciplining and ruling the whole is economy, the house law or dispensation, and the person to whom this is committed is the economist of the house, as Joseph was (Genesis 39:4), or the heir, as Eliezer (Genesis 15:2; Genesis 24:2). (W. Graham, D. D.)