Ephesians 3:2

εἴ γε ἠκούσατε. This claim to be conferring a benefit or at least to be suffering on behalf of his correspondents must be unintelligible except in the light of his special commission, and he cannot take a knowledge of that for granted. If he had been writing exclusively to the Ephesians he must have expressed himself differently.

τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς δοθείσης μοι εἰς ὑμᾶς. Cf. Colossians 1:25. This parallel makes it clear that St Paul is thinking, not (as in Ephesians 3:9) of the Divine ordering in its widest sense, but of the special stewardship conferred upon himself (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 9:17) by the possession of the grace. St Peter (1 Peter 4:10) also regards the possession of grace as constituting ‘a stewardship,’ i.e. as implying a definite responsibility for the use of it for the benefit of others. The thought and the word seem to come in both cases from the word of the Lord in Luke 12:42. See Additional Note, p. 112. The thought may be illustrated by Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16. The stewardship implied in the grace given is closely parallel in thought to Romans 15:15, τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν … εἰς τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν Χρ. Ἰ. εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, and to his ‘call’ by means of the grace, of which St Paul speaks in Galatians 1:15. The grace given us implies in each case ‘gifts’ to be used for service (Romans 12:6).

τῆς χάριτος κ.τ.λ. Cf. Romans 12:3; Romans 15:15; Galatians 2:9.