The primary passages are Mt 20^""" (Labourers in Vineyard), 24«-5i, Lk 8=^ 12*2-48 161-21 (the Unjust Steward). Some would add the parables of the Prodigal and of Dives as illustrations of wealth wrongly used. The secondary are Mt 2P^"'"' (Wicked Husbandmen) 25i*-^» (Talents), Lk 1912-27, (Minte), Mt lO^^- 182»-35, Mk 13=^, Jn 15"-»», Lk IV". Of these Lk 8^ yields no teaching.
The facts and teachings of the others may be thus summarized :
1. The steward's position. — He was entrusted with the oversight of part or all of his master's estate, including persons and property. He had the 'management of his affairs, the care of re- ceipts and expenditures, and the duty of dealing out the proper portion to every servant and even to the children ' (Grimm-Thayer). The education of the children as well as their maintenance was under his charge. His control was more or less absolute according as the master was absent or present. Christ teaches that we are all God's stewards. The trust covers («) ourselves (for we are His) ; [b) others whom we can influence ; (c) our time, means, opportunities, etc. For every- thing we rightfully have is from God (cf. Mt 5*^). What one has wrongfully seized is no part of his trust.
2. The steward's duty was to manage every- tliing with most watchful fidelity and utmost efficiency, and to do it in the interest of his master. So with us. We should therefore (a) discipline ourselves — body, soul, and spirit, so as
* See the whole passage in Weber, Jiid. Theol.^ p. 397 f. Edersheim, LT ii. p. 728 (Appendix ix.).
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to realize God's ideal for iis and be most efficient for service — a duty demanding care of the body, training of the mind, culture of the aflections, dis- cipline of the will, etc.; {b) pursue our calling, whatever it may be, in the interest of God's King- dom, whetiier our work be that of the labourer, the farmer, the merchant, the lawyer, physician, statesman, teacher, preacher, or any other ; (c) utilize time, influence, opportunities, money, in the wisest way ; {d) urge and help others to do the same. One must plan one's piobable life as a whole that it may subserve God's purposes in the largest measure possible.
3. The master's duty was (a) to assign to the steward only just and honourable work, and (b) to provide for his needs. The righteous God can be trusted to do both (Mt G^s). This leads to the topic that is commonly uppermost when Christian stewardship is thought of ; only it approaches the matter from a rather different, but the true, stand- point.
The arrangements between master and steward varied. Is it so in our relation to God ? or is there any definite arrangement or understanding ? Some have held that tithing represents it. Yet a regula- tion like that does not seem fully in harmony with the spirit of the new dispensation (cf. Jer 3P^), which deals in principles rather than rules, just because God is more careful to develop character than to get men's gains. Perhaps the best way of stating the case, however, would be this : God Mills that His stewards should spend on them- selves such a proportion of the income as is neces- .sary to their highest working efficiency. This will vary with different persons according to con- ditions. Each must determine honestly for him- self. 'To liis own Master he stands or falls.' In general, it will mean less than is commonly sup- posed. It must be determined not by love of ease or pleasure, not by selfishness or pride, not by custom or fashion (where these are wrong), nor even bj^ what would be reasonable and allowable in a normal world of sinlessness and blessedness, but wholly by the spirit of Divine love in view of the pressing needs of this abnormal world with its appalling sin, ignorance, and wretchedness.
4. Rewards and penalties. — All regards are of grace (Lk 17'"). Tliese begin now, but their fulness is hereafter. Tiirough faithful service there comes the perfecting of character, the richer development of the personality, and the final winning of our souls (21'''). We are now stewards holding all on trust. We shall then receive as our omu the inheritance prepared from the foundation of the world (Lk 16'-, Mt 25^). We shall be welcomed into eternal tabernacles (Lk IG") and be entrusted with the rule and authority for which we have become fitted (Lk I2•'^ Mt 24« 2^-"--'). The imfaithful shall be laeaten, or stripped of what they had, cut asunder as hypocrites, and cast into outer darkness with the unbelieving (Lk 12-'«, Mt 24^' 25-«-3»).
LiTERATURK. — Commentaries : works on the Parables ; Stir- ling, Stewardship of Life ; Hartnian, The Business Aspect of Christian Steteardship; F. W. Robertson, Serin, iv. 239 ; C. H. Spurgeon, An All-round Ministry, 260; A. L. Moore, God is Lore, 52 ; W. Houghton, Secret of I'niver, 80 ; the best treat- ment is that of C. A. Cook, Stervardship (Am. Bapt. Pulil. Soc).
J. H. Farmei:.
STIGMATA (cTlyixara, EV ' marks ').— The word occurs only in Gal 6'^ ' From henceforth let no man trouble me : for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus' (RV). The subject of the 'stigmata (or marks) of Jesus' comes before us in two ways : we have to consider (1) tlie meaning of the word fttigmata as used by St. Paul ; (2) the special sense in which it has come to be employed from the time of St. Francis of Assisi and onwards, esp. in the Roman Catholic Church.