See also: Stewardship
Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
Stewardship is the doctrine that man is not the owner but the steward of all that he has—his life, time, body, gifts, possessions, and opportunities—holding them in trust from God, the true Owner, and accountable to render an account of his management. A steward (oikonomos) is one entrusted with another’s household and goods, set over them to manage them faithfully according to his master’s will; he owns nothing himself but administers what belongs to his lord. So man stands toward God: ‘The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof’; every good gift is from above; we brought nothing into this world, and can carry nothing out; even our own bodies are not our own, but bought with a price. The believer is therefore a steward, not a proprietor, and the great requirement laid upon stewards is faithfulness: ‘it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.’ This stewardship extends to the whole of life. It embraces the stewardship of time, redeeming the days God gives; of natural gifts and abilities, employing them for His service and the good of others; of spiritual gifts, ministering them one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; of the gospel itself, of which ministers are stewards of the mysteries of God; of the body, glorifying God in it; and of material wealth, using it not as an owner who may spend all on himself, but as a steward who provides for his household, relieves the needy, supports the work of the gospel, and lays up treasure in heaven. The doctrine is enforced by the certainty of the reckoning: the parables of the talents and the unjust steward press home that every man must give account of his stewardship, and that faithfulness will be rewarded and unfaithfulness judged. Stewardship thus dignifies all that the believer has as a trust from God to be used for His glory, frees him from the bondage of ownership and covetousness (for nothing is finally his own), and summons him to faithful, accountable, and generous management of every gift, against the day when the Master returns to reckon with His servants.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines STEWARD as one who manages the affairs of another; and STEWARDSHIP as the office of a steward; the management entrusted to one accountable to a master.
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STEWARD, n. — 1. A man employed in great families to manage the domestic concerns, superintend the other servants, collect the rents or income, keep the accounts, etc. 2. In Scripture and theology, one entrusted with the goods or affairs of another, and accountable for their management; as, the ministers of Christ are stewards of the mysteries of God.
STEWARDSHIP, n. — The office of a steward; the management of another’s property or affairs, with accountability.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 — "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."
1 Peter 4:10 — "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
Luke 16:2 — "...give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward."
Psalm 24:1 — "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Stewardship is corrupted by the spirit of ownership—the assumption that “what’s mine is mine” to spend as I please—and reduced in the church to mere fundraising, a narrow appeal for money divorced from the whole-life trusteeship Scripture teaches.
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Stewardship is corrupted first by the deep-seated spirit of ownership that fallen man brings to all he possesses—the conviction that ‘what is mine is mine,’ to use, spend, hoard, or enjoy entirely as I please, accountable to no one. This is the assumption of the natural heart and the engine of covetousness, for the owner feels free to grasp without limit and to spend without reckoning. But the believer is not an owner; he is a steward, and everything he holds—his money, his time, his gifts, his very body and life—belongs to God and is held only in trust. To live as a proprietor rather than a trustee is to forget the Master to whom an account must be given, and to fall into the very presumption the parables condemn.
Stewardship is corrupted within the church, secondly, by its reduction to mere fundraising—the narrowing of a rich, whole-life doctrine into an annual appeal for money, a ‘stewardship campaign’ aimed at the budget. While the faithful use of wealth is indeed part of stewardship, it is only a part; the doctrine embraces the management of all that God entrusts: time, talents, opportunities, spiritual gifts, the gospel, the body, the creation. To shrink it to a money drive both impoverishes the doctrine and breeds cynicism, as though the church’s interest in stewardship were chiefly its interest in the offering plate. The recovery of the doctrine restores its breadth and its seriousness: man is the steward, not the owner, of his whole life and all his gifts, accountable to render an account to God; faithfulness is the great requirement; and the certainty of the coming reckoning summons every believer to manage all that he has—not money only, but time, ability, influence, and life itself—faithfully, generously, and for the glory of the Master who entrusted it and who will return to reckon with His servants.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine rests on man as oikonomos (household manager, steward) of God’s goods, required to be faithful (pistos) and to give an account (logos).
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Usage
"Stewardship holds man the steward, not the owner, of his life, time, gifts, and goods—accountable to God the true Owner."
"‘It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful’—and every steward must give an account of his stewardship."
"The spirit of ownership corrupts stewardship; so does reducing it in the church to a mere money-raising campaign."