Defining Hospitality
Monday, January 22nd, 2007
The word “hospitality” in our New Testament comes from the Greek PHILOXENIA. I know. I looked it up. I really did.
It’s evident that words evolve over time. This word at one time meant “affection for the foreigner, for the stranger”. Yet it is consistently translated “hospitality”, a word defined in most our churches as “having the gang over”.
There seems to be a move by modern translators to enlarge our vision of hospitality. The NRSV translates Romans 12.13:
Peterson, in The Message, translates 1 Peter 4.9:
What do you think? Have we so limited our hospitality as to eliminate the welcome of the “foreigner” into our homes? The visiting teacher, or the Swiss preacher’s family, we’ll welcome them (for a few days). But what about the real, homeless foreigner? Do we offer him (or her) a roof over their heads?
It’s evident that words evolve over time. This word at one time meant “affection for the foreigner, for the stranger”. Yet it is consistently translated “hospitality”, a word defined in most our churches as “having the gang over”.
There seems to be a move by modern translators to enlarge our vision of hospitality. The NRSV translates Romans 12.13:
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. (Emphasis mine.)
Peterson, in The Message, translates 1 Peter 4.9:
Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully.
What do you think? Have we so limited our hospitality as to eliminate the welcome of the “foreigner” into our homes? The visiting teacher, or the Swiss preacher’s family, we’ll welcome them (for a few days). But what about the real, homeless foreigner? Do we offer him (or her) a roof over their heads?