God’s Economy and Eternal Purpose: The Church as Christ's Body
Orientation
Many view the Church as a human institution or a reaction to sin, missing God's positive, eternal intention.
- God's purpose from eternity past was to produce the Church as Christ's Body and expression.
- This is not a secondary theme but the very heart of God's divine economy (oikonomia).
- The Church is God's masterpiece, bride, and household, the centerpiece of His plan.
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
— Ephesians 1:22-23
Clarification
Grace is not merely leniency or a system, but Christ Himself given to believers as life and inheritance.
- The means of God's economy is grace, which is the person of Christ worked into us.
- This produces a new creation—the Church—apart from human effort or religious striving.
- The law was a shadow; Christ is the substance and reality of God's administration.
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:16-17)
— John 1:16-17
Structure
God's one administration from eternity past heads up all things in Christ by producing the Church as His Body.
- God's economy (oikonomia) is His household order to accomplish His eternal purpose.
- This spans to the 'dispensation of the fullness of times' to unite all things in Christ.
- Stewards distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ to equip the saints and build up the Body.
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:9-10)
— Ephesians 1:9-10
Weight-Bearing Prose
God’s eternal purpose, formed before creation, is positive: to produce the Church as the Body and fullness of Christ (Eph 1:23). This is the ‘mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (Col 1:27), a reality hidden in ages past but now revealed. God’s economy (oikonomia) is the divine administration to accomplish this. It is not a fragmented series of eras but one household order from eternity to eternity, aiming to head up all things in Christ (Eph 1:10).
The means is grace, understood not as a system but as Christ Himself given to believers. Through this grace, believers are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, becoming part of the new creation—the Church. This purpose stands even apart from sin; it is God’s intrinsic creative intention.
New Testament ministers are stewards of this economy, entrusted with the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8). Their function is not to establish hierarchy but to equip the saints for ministry, enabling every member to function so the Body builds itself up in love (Eph 4:11-16). Institutional systems that inhibit this mutual functioning fragment the Church’s growth. The flow of Christ as life through teaching and fellowship is essential for unity and maturity.
Integration
This is not a burden or a demand placed upon you. It is the revelation of what God has already purposed and is accomplishing. Your place in this is secure in Christ, who is your life and inheritance. The assurance of your salvation rests on believing God’s record concerning His Son, not on your grasp of these truths. Christ is worked into you as life to form the Church, His Body. This is God’s intrinsic work, His kindness displayed in the ages to come (Eph 2:7). There is no pressure to advance or qualify; you are already a co-heir with Christ. Rest in the certainty that God’s eternal purpose to have the Church as His expression is moving forward through Christ, who fills all in all.