The former term refers to those who take orders from someone else and whose significance is in connection with his or her master.20 In the context of the household, an oikonomos was a slave who was responsible for overseeing the household, including other slaves.21 As such, oikonomoi had to follow the master’s instructions and were continually aware of their dependence and need to give an accounting.22 In various ways Paul sends the message that the attention should be given not to the apostles but to the one who appointed them and the task for which they have been commissioned.
