7. The Christian Family

Desert Gorge The following is a collection of extracts from the published writings of twelve eminent scholars of Early Church history. They have been arranged by subject matter under various headings but not edited except to preserve the original meaning of the passage in its context. These editorial comments are placed in square brackets [ ......].

The Household Family

When Brad Blue writes that "early Christianity expanded throughout the Empire house by house," he captures well a significant principle of Paul's missionary strategy. When Paul's attempt to evangelize the Jews in the synagogues of the Diaspora failed, he was forced to turn to the Gentiles. Many of his first converts were entire "households," with the "heads" of each house probably becoming the benefactors or patrons of the church by offering their homes as meeting places. Such leaders probably would have taken responsibility for the weekly gatherings of fellowship, worship and the study of Scripture.(8)

The Structure of the Household

The structure of the household had a significant impact upon early Christianity in the Hellenistic world. The household was a social unit that included both the nuclear and extended family under the headship of the householder, who had complete authority over all the members. In many cases such households included slaves, freed persons, servants, labourers, business associates and tenants. Some of these homes were used for gatherings of social, professional and religious clubs or guilds. The owner probably was the leader of such meetings or at least was considered the benefactor or patron.(8)

House and Home

Neither ancient Greek nor Hebrew nor Latin has words that directly translate what modern Western English means by "family" or "house." The Greek "oikos", Hebrew "bayit", and Latin "domus" can all refer to the physical building but can all just as well, and more often do, mean: household, including material goods and slaves; immediate blood family; or family lineage. Perhaps the English "home" is a more appropriate equivalent for some of the same realities. Nor does the Latin familia refer only or even usually to the nuclear family, but rather to all persons and objects under the legal power of the male head of the family.(7)

The Family

The family is basic in Graeco-Roman society and thought. Part of the strains at the end of the Roman Republic were due to the clashes of rival families: part of the success of the Caesars was due to the concept of the supremacy of Augusta's House, the household of the Emperor which was dispersed in various parts of the world.(9)The sociological unit in the Hellenistic world, as in the Old Testament, was not the individual, the city or the state but the family or household. Early Christianity, including the NT itself, to a large degree addressed people not as separate individual entities but as connected to the household. (5)

House equals Family

In the Old Testament, the term house is frequently used figuratively as a reference to one's family, for example Genesis 7:1. A house or household included not only an immediate nuclear family but usually a somewhat extended family and those who were dependent on and connected to that family in some way, all under the authority of the householder. Thus when Joshua promises that "I and my house will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15), he means his family and other people living with his family under his authority will serve the Lord. Similarly in Genesis (41:40; 45:8, etc.), as Acts 7:10 recounts, when Joseph was made governor over Egypt and over Pharaoh's household, it means he had stewardship both of the nation and of Pharaoh's family and attendants.(5)

Economy of the Household

Prosperity (or want) came not to individuals in isolation but to their household. The very word economy comes from the Greek for "house law," because financial and other administration pertained to the household, not the individual. Such administration was often the responsibility of the householder's wife. Clement of Rome refers to women who have been taught "to manage the affairs of the household with dignity" (1 Clem. 1.3). Psychologically, a person's identity, from that of the householder to that of the slave, resided in his or her connection to, responsibilities toward and function within a household. Ordinarily a household was held together by a common religion, the family generally following the religious beliefs of the head of the household.(5)

Cicero wrote, "Since it is a natural feature of all living beings that they have the desire to propagate, the first association is that of marriage itself; the next is that with one's children; then the household unit within which everything is shared; that is the element from which a city is made, so to speak the seedbed of the state." (6)

Questions for Discussion

1. Consider Cicero's statement above about the family. "Since it is a natural feature of all living beings that they have the desire to propagate, the first association is that of marriage itself; the next is that with one's children; then the household unit within which everything is shared; that is the element from which a city is made, so to speak the seedbed of the state." How true is it today?

2. What are the pros and cons of living in a Greek or Roman household in Jesus' time?

Bibliography

(5.) Selections from "Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Development" editors Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids. A Compendium of Contemporary Christian Scholarship Copyright All rights reserved.

"You are fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household." Ephesians 2.19

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