Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the NT: Household
Subjects in this Topic:
HOUSEHOLD.—In Mat_24:45 ( ïἰêåôåßá ), Luk_12:42 ( èåñáðåßá ) = servants, i.e. the dependants on an estate to whom the steward was bound in our Lord’s parable to serve out rations at intervals of a day, a week, or a month. It was their dependent and helpless condition which was the test of the steward’s faithfulness to his trust. The same English word translates ïἰêéáêïß in Mat_10:25; Mat_10:36, i.e. the inmates of a house, subordinate indeed to the master, but attached to him by ties of relationship or marriage. In Mat_10:25 there is a contrast and comparison between the ïἰêéáêïß (Christ’s disciples) and the ïἰêïäåóðüôçò (the Lord Himself), and Christ warns the Twelve that if He has been called Beelzebul (or Beelzebub) by His enemies (cf. Mat_9:34; Mat_12:24, Joh_8:48), those who belong to His household cannot expect to be free from this ‘reproach of Christ.’ In Mat_10:36 the contrast is between some members of a household and the rest. Here He warns them of the inevitable opposition that will arise when some in a house love Christ supremely, while others are hostile or indifferent to Him. The words of ancient prophecy (Mic_7:6) then receive a fulfilment. The very closeness of association emphasizes the antagonism, and ‘a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.’
C. H. Prichard.