Paul’s stewardship was to complete the word of God in order to dispense Christ with all His riches into the churches; today there’s still the need for stewards who are able to complete the word of God.
On one hand Paul the Apostle completed the word of God, and he in particular had a portion to write and complete the divine revelation through the fourteen epistles as recorded in the New Testament.
On the other hand, we all need to continue to complete the word of God by dispensing Christ into others and speaking the word of God to convey the divine revelation.
The entire Bible reveals that the desire of God’s heart is to dispense Himself into man; this is the central point of the whole Bible.
God’s economy is carried out by the dispensing of Himself into man, and the one new man is a corporate entity who receives God’s continual and eternal dispensing.
Our God is a dispensing God; He continually and eternally dispenses Himself as the Father in the Son and through the Spirit.
Then, God became a man, and through His death and resurrection He became not just the Spirit but a life-giving Spirit – He became a life-dispensing Spirit!
Today God is still dispensing Himself in Christ through the Spirit into all those who receive the gospel and are open, believe into the Lord, and take Him as their life and Savior.
Furthermore, God dispenses Himself through man; it is very rare that the gospel would be preached directly by God in heaven to man on earth (the Bible only tells us of Paul that was saved in this way) – it is rather that man goes and preaches the gospel and thus dispenses God into man.
So every saved believer is a steward, a dispenser; we all have a part in God’s dispensing, for we have been dispensed into, and the more we remain under God’s dispensing, the more we can allow this dispensing to flow through us into others.
God is like a steady stream dispensing Himself little by little into those who are parts of the one new man. All believers in Christ can and should remain under the divine dispensing for them to carry out their stewardship.
Our receiving of the divine dispensing should never stop; rather, we should continually be open to the forever-dispensing God, and we should let Him flow in us and through us to others.
When we enjoy God’s continual and steady dispensing, we’re constituted with Him, we are coordinated with the saints, and we’re built together as the Body of Christ, even as the one new man.
Paul’s Stewardship was to Complete the Word of God to Dispense Christ into the Churches
As seen in Col. 1:25 and 1 Cor. 4:1-2, Paul had a particular stewardship, which is to complete the word of God in order to dispense Christ with all His riches into the churches.
He had a very particular portion, a particular commission in the writing of the New Testament, for fourteen out of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written by Him under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The books that describe the mystery of God’s economy are Paul’s books, especially Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. The divine revelation is the word of God contained in the Bible, and this was completed when the New Testament was written.
In the New Testament the apostles completed the word of God in the mystery of God (which is Christ) and in the mystery of Christ (which is the church) to give a full revelation of God’s economy.
Paul in particular contributed to revealing the economy of God to dispense Himself into man for man to be constituted with God and be built up together to be the Body of Christ, the one new man, and the bride of Christ.
The word of God is the mystery; this mystery hidden throughout the ages is related to Christ and the church, the Head and the Body of Christ.
This mystery was unveiled through the apostle Paul, and it is a major part of the completion of the word of God as the divine revelation.
Hallelujah, the mystery hidden from eternity and from all times is now revealed to us in the New Testament age – Christ and the church!
Before the time of Paul, the divine revelation has not been completed; before Paul came forth to minister and write his epistles, God’s revelation was mainly the books of the Old Testament, and there were some of the Gospels and the Acts.
However, it was necessary for Paul to write a number of Epistles concerning Christ (the mystery of God) and the church (the mystery of Christ) in order for the divine revelation to be complete.
What we have in our hands today is the complete divine revelation, and Paul’s stewardship was to complete the word of God in order to dispense Christ with all His riches into the churches.
Paul didn’t just write his epistles; he dispensed Christ into the saints in the churches by his writings, and even today after many centuries we still receive the riches of Christ through his writings.
However, although the divine revelation was completed through the apostles, we need to continue to complete the divine revelation today in a practical way, especially as we speak the truth in the Bible to others.
We need to preach the word of God in full, that is, to complete the word; we need to speak of the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
Thank You Lord for the completion of the word of God done through Paul, who dispensed Christ with all His riches into the churches. Amen, Lord, we want to continue to complete the word of God in a practical way in our experience today. We want to remain under the divine dispensing, enjoy the completed word of God, and be full of God’s word to impart the divine revelation to those who hear us. Amen, Lord, may the hidden mystery regarding Christ and the church be shining forth through us as we speak to others!
Being the Stewards who are Able to Complete the Word of God and Dispense God into Man
We praise and thank the Lord that He used Paul the Apostle to complete the divine revelation many centuries ago, but there’s still the need for the completion of the divine revelation in a practical way today.
This doesn’t mean that we need to continue to write chapters and verses in the Bible; rather, this means that we need to preach the word of God in full; we must progressively, continually, and gradually preach the word of God in full to people.
In the Lord’s recovery we need more stewards who are able to complete the word of God. We all must bear the burden for this; we all must spend more time in the Lord’s presence so that He may become our portion for our enjoyment and thus we may have the riches of Christ to minister to others.
In this way we will become those who complete the word of God.
Many believers and unbelievers alike have the Bible in their hands, but is this Bible opened up to them? Can they understand the depths of the word of God, and do they see the divine revelation concerning Christ and the church? Most can’t.
In the aspect of writing the word of God to complete it, we don’t have a share; Paul did this, and him and the other apostles completed the word.
However, in the way of practically completing the word of God, we all have a share, for we all are stewards who should be able to complete the word of God and dispense God into man.
We need to teach the word, speak it, dispense it, and do this in a thorough way, in a progressive way, and in a continual way.
Satan – the enemy of God – is seeking to nullify the completion of the word of God. It is the subtlety of the enemy to veil the Word, which was completed through Paul (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
The attack of the enemy is to cause people to oppose the completion of the word of God, to oppose the things that are incomplete in their understanding, and not to receive them.
Without the completion of the word of God, God’s purpose can’t be fulfilled, and Christ can’t obtain His bride or come with His kingdom. So what we are ministering today is the completion of the divine revelation given to Paul.
Can God trust us with this? He did trust Paul, but can God entrust the carrying out of His economy to us? We all have the responsibility and the great privilege of receiving the completed word of God; with that privilege comes the responsibility to faithfully complete the word of God for many other people.
This is why in all the local churches we need more stewards who are able to complete the word of God.
In 2 Tim. 2:2 we see that Timothy heard the word from Paul through many witnesses, and he had to commit these words to faithful men who would be competent to teach others also.
Paul – the one who completed the word of God – ministered the word to many witnesses, these witnesses ministered it to Timothy, and now Timothy had to minister these things to faithful men, so that these faithful men will teach others also.
This is how God operates in His economy.
If the completed word of God reaches us but it doesn’t get completed in us, and we don’t become a steward who can completed the word of God in others, God’s economy stops with you.
But if we spend time in the Lord’s presence, enjoy Him as our portion for our enjoyment, and are filled with the riches of Christ, we can complete the word of God in our speaking to others, and we will dispense God into them.
The Body of Christ is built up as all the members carry out the stewardship of ministering the riches of Christ; there must be such mutual stewardship among us – you minister the riches of Christ to me, and I minister the riches of Christ to you.
Lord Jesus, we want to spend more time in Your presence to enjoy You as our portion for our enjoyment so that we may have the riches of Christ to minister to others also! May we carry out our stewardship by completing the Word of God in our speaking to others. Amen, Lord, recover the mutual stewardship among us, the mutual ministering of the riches of Christ among the saints, so that the Body of Christ may be built up and the one new man would be perfected! Lord, gain more stewards who are able to complete the word of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 11, 13 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 8, Carrying Out the Stewardship of God for the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Of which I became a minister / According to the stewardship / Of God, which was given / To me for you, / To complete the word of God, / The mystery which has been hidden / From the ages and from the generations / But now has been manifested / To His saints; / To whom God willed to make known / What are the riches / Of the glory of this mystery / Among the Gentiles, / Which is Christ in you, / The hope of glory. (Scripture song)
– God has worked in three directions / For His plan so marvelous: / As the Father, Son, and Spirit / To dispense Himself to us! / All creation gives the setting— / Heav’n and earth are for this plan; / ’Tis for this God made a body, / Soul and spirit—three-part man. (Hymns #1325)
– As Christ is God’s true mystery, / God to explain and God express; / So is the Church Christ’s mystery, / Christ to explain and manifest. (Hymns #821)
