preserved silence on his apostleship. He speaks of himself as a prisoner for their sake, inasmuch as they had heard he was the apostle to the Gentiles.
The expression, dispensation of the grace gwen unto mé, is the designation of his office. It was an οἰκονο- pia, a stewardship. A stewardship of the grace given, Ths χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης, means either a stewardship which is a grace, or favour, or which flows from grace, i.e. was graciously conferred. Compare verse 8, in which he says, “ΤῸ me was this grace given.” Not unfrequently the office itself is called χάρις, a grace or favour. Rom. 12, 3. 15,15. 1Cor.3,10. Gal. 2, 9. Paul esteemed the office of a messenger of Christ as a manifestation of the undeserved kindness of God to- wards him, and he always speaks of it with gratitude and humility. It was not its honours, nor its authority, much less any emolument connected with it, which gave it value in his eyes; but the privilege which it involved of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Instead of understanding οἰκονομία in the sense above given, of office, it may refer to the act of God, and be rendered, dispensation. ‘If, or since, ye have heard how God dispensed the grace given unto me,’ i.e. if ye understand the nature of the gift I have received. In Col. 1, 25, Paul speaks of the οἰκονομία as given ; here it is χάρις which is said to be given. In both cases the general idea is the same, the form alone is different. His office and the grace therewith connected, including all the gifts ordinary and extra- ordinary, which went to make him an apostle, were both