LlTER.\TURR. — J. P. Norris, Key to Narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, London, ISSa ; R. B. Rackham, The Acts of the Apostles, do., 1901 ; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Trarelltr and the Roman Citizen, do., 1395; A. Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles, Eng. tr., do., 1909, Luke the Physician, Eng. tr., do., 1907. W. A. SPOOXEK.
STEWARD.— 'Steward' in English may be taken to represent two Greek words, iwiTpotro! and oiVoi-i/iO!, the former being rather steward of an estate (as in Mt 20« and Lk 8^ ; see W. A. Becker, Charicles, Eng. tr., London, 189.5, p. 363), and the latter of a household. itrlTpoTros, however, occurs only once in the XT outside the Gospels, and there it is joined with oiKOfd/j.os : 6 K\Tjpoi>6tj.os [while still vrjwtos, ' an infant'] vtro iwiTpdirovs iari Kal oUovbfiov^ ('sub tutoribus et actoribus' [Vulg.] Gal 4^) ; this Lightfoot in his commentary translates ' under controllers of his person and property,' taking e'TriTpiTTous as the boy's legal representatives (so Vulg.) and olKof6p.ovs as stewards or bailiffs to manage either his household or his property. No doubt olKoi'diJ.os was often used as a general term for one who acted in either capacity.
The first instance we adduce is that of a public official : daTrd^erai i!'/tas''Epa(rTos 6 oIkov6^os ttjs 7r(5\eujs, Ro 16^ ('arcarius civitatis' [Vulg.]). Tlie city here is apparently Corinth, where St. Paul was at the time of writing (the Erastus mentioned in Ac 19-- as a messenger of the Apostle from Asia to Macedonia can hardly be the same person ; and even the one mentioned in 2 Ti 4-° as still at Corinth is perhaps more likely to be the same as the latter than the former). The office held by
Erastus was doubtless that of city-treasurer or something similar; cf. 1 Es 4"-'"', where the same title occurs. All the other instances of oiKopdpios and oLKovofila are in the Epistles and occur by way of coiiipari.son or simile.
(1) General, with further description : el y&p iKuf toOto TTpdfftTiti { — ivayyiXi^Qfiai), fitirOdv ^x***' ^^ ^^ &kwv, oUoiioij.tav TTeirliTTevfiai ('I have to bear in mind that I am charged with a stewardship and must carry it out') (I Co 9"). In 1 Co 4°, ^-qruTai iv tois olKOfdiiois iVa Triards Tis evpeOy, the faithfulness of stewards in general is spoken of ; but the phrase follows directly upon a special kind of stewardship {oLKOi'dpiOvt fivarripiup deou).
(2) Special : stewards of God, acting for Him : 5e? ydp Tbv iiriaKOTTov dv^yKXrjTov elfai (is $eou olKovliixov, Tit 1' ; ^idKOvos Kara, ttiv olKovofxiav rov 6iOv rriv doduadv /xoi els u^tas, Col 1^ ; iK'^-qT-qasL^ . . . /xdWov J) olKovop.ia.v 6eou ttjv iv ttIgtcl, 1 Ti 1* (here the sphere in which, or rather the method by which, stewardship is rightly exercised is added \_sc. by faith]).
(3) Steivards with the matter of stewardship described {sc. of grace, of mystery, or of mysteries) : ^Kaaros Kaduis ^Xa^ev xdpi(Tp.a, ets ^avToui avrd dia- Kovovvres w? KaXol oiKOfdfioi. ttoikIXtis x^P^^'^s ffeou, 1 P 4''' ; et ye ijKoijaaTe ttjv oUovo/j.iav rrjs x^ptros toO deou TTJs Sodeia"r)^ /J.01. els u^as, Eph 3- ; oijrojs ij/ias Xoyi^^odu) dvdptairos ujs innjp^Tas X-pLaroO Kal oUoifdfiovs /MvaTTjpiojv deou, 1 Co 4^ ; tIs i] olKOvofxla {v. I., Koivtovla) Tou /JLuaTujplov TOu diroKeKpUfifj-^vov djrd tCiv aiiLvuv iv ti^ Bev, Eph 3».
(4) One very curious extension of the use of the word occurs in Eph V°, els olKovo/xlav tou irXr}pu)p.a.ros Tui' KaipSiv, which is well paraplirased and explained by W. Alexander {Speaker's Commentary, London, 1881, in loc.) : 'The dispensation is the Divine arrangement of His household, or plan of govern- ment, which was to be carried out when the full time had come, which time had now arrived.' Here the idea of stewardship almost disappears, as it is the Master's own management that is re- ferred to. C. L. Feltoe.
STIGMATA.— See Marks.
STOCKS.— The Gr. term (rj ^6\ov, lit. ' the wood') tr. ' stocks ' in AV and RV is used to denote a wooden framcAvork containing holes, in which the feet of criminals were conhned. This ancient mode of punishment (cf. Job 13'-' 33") survived in lands further west till a comparatively recent period. Among both Greeks and Romans it was employed in the case of freeborn malefactors as well as slaves. When Paul and Silas were thrown into the inner dungeon of the prison at Philippi, the jailer, who was charged by the Roman magistrates (known as the Duumviri) to keep the prisoners safely, for greater security took the precaution of enclosing their feet in the stocks (Ac le^''). This infliction was part of the shameful treatment endured at Philippi to which the Apostle afterwards referred in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians (2^).
W. S. Montgomery.
STOICS (o! 'ZtmkoI 01X4(70001). —The Stoics are mentioned by name only once in the NT (Ac 17"*), when St. Paul met with them and the Epicureans at Athens. For the circumstances of this encounter see art. Epicureans. Though the Stoics are not again mentioned, St. Paul's speech on the Areo- pagus seems framed with them in mind, and one of his sentences, ' for we are also his ofl'spring ' (v.-"), a quotation from Aratus, is almost identical with the words of Cleanthes, one of the founders of the sect. Moreover, several other passages in the NT, e.g. 2 P 3'-''' "'■'^, He 4'-, suggest acquaintance with this system of philosophy. Among philosophies of this period Stoicism occupied an exalted position.