“The Household of God” by P.T. O’Brien
“Throughout the NT [New Testament] God’s people are regularly spoken of as a family, and a cluster of terms, drawn from family life is used in discussions of the Church and early Christian communities. God is “Father” (Romans 8:15, Gal 4:6), and those who are redeemed by Jesus Christ are God’s children (Gal 4:1-7), with Jesus Christ being the firstborn of the family (Rom 8:29). Paul speaks in warm terms when he addresses fellow Christians as “brothers” (note, for example, Phil 4:1; adelphoi, lit. “brothers includes both “brothers and sisters”). The theme of family relationships if particularly prominent in 1 Timothy, where the church (ekklesia) is described as “the household (oikos) of God”, and “the pillar and bulwark of truth” (1 Tim3:15; cf Heb 3:1-6). The purpose of this letter as a whole is to indicate “how one ought to behave in God’s household.” Te order of the church is analogous to that of human household. Members are to treat one another as they would the members of their own family (1 Tim 5:1-2). They are to care for one another in need (1 Tim 5:5, 16), while overseers are to be skillful at managing the household of God, as demonstrated by their skill with, and care for, their own immediate families (1 Tim 3:1-7).”
- P.T. O’Brien, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1993), p.417
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3 comments:
How can we reconcile one another's differing ideas about caring for needs in the family?
That's a good question jen. We would be silly to think that anyone in the world could come together and there wouldn't be any differences. The simple fact that our brains are so dynamic makes it hard for anyone agree with themselves. Yet as family comes together what if we can focus the default response of our minds, when differing ideas arise, to what Paul writes about in Philippians 2?
I wondering if that's even possible? But it would be good thing to strive to be.
Great work.
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