[B-Greek] OIKOS as an extended "family"

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Tue May 3 08:56:50 EDT 2011


I tend to think that you will never find such due to the fact that if it extends 
beyond one's own family you already call it "metaphorical" so that by definition 
it doesn't meet your criteria.

 george
gfsomsel 


… search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
_________ 




________________________________
From: Jeffrey T. Requadt <jeffreyrequadt_list at hotmail.com>
To: jgibson000 at comcast.net; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Mon, May 2, 2011 10:11:35 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] OIKOS as an extended "family"

Jeffrey (Gibson), you have given a good example of what I would consider a
metaphorical use of OIKOS. It's one way the early Christians understood
themselves and what the apostles taught as a new OIKOS, a new household, a
new family, a new body, a new temple. These are all metaphors that made
sense to the readers precisely because they had concrete meanings for these
terms. I guess an example of what I'm looking for is where the term for
"family" could mean "extended family" (such as cousins, grandparents, etc.)
as well as "friends and coworkers." Perhaps as a term of endearment? But in
that case the word would be used metaphorically again. 

I should probably explain more. I can understand how any concrete object or
relationship can be used as a metaphor of anything, such as "house of
Israel" being used to refer to the Israelite nation, or "children of
Abraham" used metaphorically for "those who trust God" or "family of God"
being used to refer to all those who have been "born of the Spirit" as in
John 3. What I'm looking for is where non-metaphoric uses are concerned. I
think the passages in the NT that refer to the house of God (OIKOS TOU QEOU)
refer either to the temple/tabernacle (concrete, as in Matthew 12:4, Luke
6:4) or the people who make up God's "household" (1 Timothy 3:15, possibly
Hebrews 10:21, 1 Peter 4:17). In these metaphorical cases, the OIKOS is
under the ownership/leadership/supervision/authority of someone, namely
QEOU.

My Greek search capabilities are mostly limited to the Bible and the
apostolic fathers. But I don't think I've found instances where OIKOS, when
not referring to a physical building, refers to anything other than what we
would call a "household"--a group of people and possessions under the
authority of a person, typically concrete in the person of the
father/husband/patriarch. And I get that early Christians would meet in
someone's house. But that doesn't make them part of their household.

I guess I'm looking for non-metaphorical uses when OIKOS refers to people
outside of one's actual family.

-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
jgibson000 at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 6:17 PM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] OIKOS as an extended "family"

On 5/2/2011 8:03 PM, Jeffrey T. Requadt wrote:
> I have been doing a little research into a church growth philosophy, and
> they make a big claim about OIKOS as the Greek word for "extended family"
> but ALSO denoting "8-15 people in our relational world"-as in co-workers,
> close friends, classmates. I have been trying to look in BDAG and LSJ and
> find no support for OIKOS as "close relational world" outside of actual
> genetic closeness or the ones who live in your household. I.e., not
> "extended household" but rather simply "household" (with reference to
people
> rather than buildings). Is anyone aware of contexts in which such an
> "relational world" meaning would make the best sense? I have a feeling I
> should relegate this one to the N.T. Greek Urban Legends. But I'm willing
to
> hear evidence otherwise.
>
>    
The household of God  is not one based on where one lives or blood 
kinship, is it?

Jeffrey

-- 
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net

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