Under this head we may notice four households mentioned in the NT : the ' household of Ctesar' (^ KaL<TaposoiKLa),Vh4^'^ ; 'theyof Aristobulus.'Ro 16"*; ' they of Narcissus,' Ro 16^^ ; and ' they of Chloe,' 1
Co 1^^. For the last see above (b) ; but the first three households were probably all part of the Imperial ' family ' at Rome. That ' Caesar's house- hold ' does not necessarily or even probably mean near relations of the Emperor is shoAvn by Light- foot (Philippians, p, 171 ff.); the meaning seems to be ' the slaves and freedmen of Ctesar.' Light- foot with much ingenuity and probability identifies several of the naiues mentioned in Ro 16 with the household. The curious phrases in Ro 16^*"" are probably due to the fact that Aristobulus and Narcissus were dead (for their identification with Avell-known characters see Lightfoot, and Sanday- Headlam, Romans^ {ICC, 1902], p. 425), and that their households were absorbed in that of Caesar, but still retained their old names. ' They of Aristobulus' would be equivalent to ' Aristobuliani,' and ' they of Narcissus ' to ' Narcissiani.' (If the view that Ro 16 is not a real part of the Epistle be correct, this argument fails ; but its veri- similitude is some ground for rejecting that view.)
3. The Christian Church as a family. — In the NT the word ' house ' (okos) is used figuratively of the Christian community, as in He 3^' * (Christians successors to the house [of God] in the Old Cove- nant), 10^' (see above, 2 (a)), 1 Ti 3'^ (where oUos is explicitly defined as ' the Church of the living God ' ; the phrase follows the instructions as to the homes of bishops and deacons ; see Home), 1 P 2^ (a ' spiritual house '), 4". The metaphor is further elaborated in Eph 2^""^ where the foundation, corner-stone, and each several stone that is laid (such is the best paraphrase of Tracra olKoSofiij) to- gether result in a holy temple, of which Christians are stones, ' builded together for a habitation of God.'
The conception is based on the Fatherhood of God and on our position as His children. It is carried out by various analogous metaphors. The Church is the Bride of Christ — this is the outcome of Eph 522f- ; cf. Rev 19' 2P- » 22"— and He is the Bridegroom, Mt 9" 222^- 258, ^^ 2i», Jn 329, 2 Co IP ; Christians are the olKetoL, members of the household, of the faith. Gal 6^"; Christ is their brother. He 2"'- ; the Church is a brotherhood, 1 P 2", filled with brotherly love {(piXadeXrpia), Ro 12^", 1 Th 49, He 13', 2 P P ; cf. 1 Jn 5^. The most usual desigTiation of Christians among themselves is 'the brethren' (Acts, passim); even heretics are 'false brethren,' 2 Co Il-«, Gal 2\ 'A brother,' ' brethren,' denote Christians as opposed to un- believers in Philem ^^ 1 Ti 6^ ; and so in 1 Co 9' ' a sister, a wife ' means ' a Christian wife ' (the ' apostle ' may have a Christian wife ; cf, 7^* ' only in the Lord'); in 1 Co 7^* 'the brother or the sister ' means the Christian spouse of an unbeliever (cf, V," and 5"); in Ro 16^ RV ('Quartus the brother') the definite article seems to distinguish this Christian from some unbelieving Quartus. Cf, also 2 Co 8^8 ('the brother whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches ' : but some translate 'his brother' — i.e. the brother of Titus, and interpret the phrase as applying to St. Luke) 822'-, Philem ', Ro 16S Ja 2« 2 Jn^^, and 1 Th 4^, where see Milligan's note.
In this connexion also we may note the sym- bolical use of words denoting family relationships. The Israelites of old were ' the fathers ' (Ro 15^), just as early Christian writers are called by us. Abraham is father of spiritual descendants, believ- ing Jews and Gentiles alike (Ro 4»"- '"•, Gal 3' ; in Ac 72, Ro 4^ and probably in Ja 22', physical descent is referred to). The teacher is father of his dis- ciples (1 Th 2"), though sometimes he calls himself ' brother' (Rev 1*. 'I John your brother' ; cf. Ac 1523 RV, ' elder brethren'). Also ' father' is used of any old man (1 Ti 5') ; in this verse (unlike v.") irpea-^vTepos cannot refer to a'presbyter. So ' mother'
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FAMILY
is used of any old woman in v.^ ; yonngermen and women are ' brothers ' and ' sisters ' (v."-). Jeru- salem is called 'our mother' in Gal 4^^, just as Babylon in Rev 17® is called ' the mother of the harlots.' In Ro 16'^ ' mother ' is a term of affection (' Rufus and his mother and mine '). Similarly the expressions ' without father,' ' without mother,' in He 7^ must be taken figuratively. Melchizedek's parentage is not recorded in Holy Scripture : ' he is not connected with any known line : his life has no recorded beginning or close' (B. F. Westcott, Hebrcivs, 18S9, p. 172). Disciples, likewise, are called ' sons ' or ' children ' of their master, as in 1 P 5i» (Mark), Gal 4i9 (the Galatians), 1 Ti P, 2 Ti 1^ 21 and Ph 2-' (Timothy), 1 Co 4'«- (the Corinthians), Philem " (Onesimus), 1 Jn 2^ etc., 3 Jn *.