What Does the Bible Mean by "Hospitality"?

I remember watching reruns of the Flinstones before school when I was a kid. We always laughed at the theme song which included a phrase in it "you'll have a gay old time." Of course, it was originally meant to mean "fun" time, but language changes over time, and so the old use of the word had long since passed away, only heard now in the songs of a bygone era.

I remember another time when someone was attempting to make the argument that the Bible thought children should suffer, vaguely alluding to the fact that Jesus said, "suffer the little children."

Such is the case with our word "hospitality." This word has come up in our church in recent weeks as we've been studying biblical passages and the effects of the religion of the Enlightenment (i.e., liberalism/inclusivism), and as I was looking at various books on the subject, it seems very clear that this concept is misunderstood.

Well-meaning books like Victoria Duerstock's Biblical Hospitality: Design, Organize, and Decorate Your Home for Gospel-Centered Community or Rosaria Butterfield's The Gospel Comes with a Housekey or Joshua Jipp and Christine Pohl's Saved by Faith and Hospitality are legion and seem to all communicate the same types of errors. We'll come back to the last one. 

Most of these popular books are written by laymen, and so one can hardly blame them for reading the English word "hospitality" and thinking along the lines of modern get-togethers and fellowship.

In each of these books, which are representative of a larger pool of books that all say similar things, "hospitality" is defined as inviting unbelievers or believers one knows over for dinner or a get-together. The modern definition has to do with inviting people over for a meal and fellowship, to host or entertain in the modern sense. It is seen as a means of evangelism and fellowship of the congregation.

Now, let me say that I think that having people over for these purposes is a good thing. Our church does this, and it is good to have fellowship in homes. The early church, of course, just met in homes, and had no buildings called "churches" otherwise, so it brings us back to that original familial setting and could possibly be a remedy to the business model of church, although our modern numbers are not always accommodated by the sizes of our houses.

However, this is not what the Bible means by "hospitality." The Greek word translated "hospitality" is a compound the word φιλοξενία made up of φιλος and ξενία "love for a stranger" or in the plural
φιλόξενοι "love for strangers." Whereas many books will note this, and make an application that one should love unbelievers in their homes, it actually refers to Christian travelers who are not known by the person practicing hospitality. 

In Romans 12:13, Paul writes, "Contribute to the needs of the saints, seek out a love for the stranger (i.e., Christian traveler with whom they are unacquainted)." 

Notice that this context is all about Christians treating one another in love. Yet, it is not the Christians they know within their congregation, but Christians who may come to them from other churches in need. Hence, φιλοξενία is used and not something like φιλαδελφίᾳ "brotherly love," as in 12:10, where he is giving a more generic command.

In Matthew 25:38, the false believers respond to Christ, "When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you?" To which He responds, "I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me" (v. 40).
  Notice that it is the believer who was the stranger (i.e., not known by these professed Christians) who was not taken in. 

In 3 John 5-8, John writes to commend Gaius for receiving the Christians he sent to the church.

Dear friend, you demonstrate faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers (even though they are strangers). They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone forth on behalf of “The Name,” accepting nothing from the pagans. Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we become coworkers in cooperation with the truth. 

Christ sets up this ministry in Luke 10:4-12:

Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag, or sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house!’ And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in that town and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come upon you!’ But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town! 

Romans 16:23, 2 Corinthians 7:15, Philemon 22, Acts 16:15, etc. speak of welcoming Christian strangers into the homes of other Christians.

This is why some have taken care of angels without knowing it, as Hebrews 13:2 suggests. They were strangers who came in the name of the Lord. "Do not neglect hospitality, because through it some have entertained angels without knowing it." If they had known these people, they would have known whether they were angels or not. It is precisely because they did not know them that makes this scenario possible.

Hence, when 1 Peter 4:9 says to show "love for strangers" to "one another" it is a command to take in other believers who travelers and are not known by the Christian host. Hence, one of the things the widow does in 1 Timothy 5:10 is to practice this love for Christian travelers by receiving them into her home. In fact, the word used here is a different one, ξενοδοχέω, which is again a compound word that means "to receive strangers." Likewise, those qualified to be elders must have a character that would receive strangers into his home, and hence, are to be φιλόξενον "lovers of Christian strangers/travelers" in 1 Timothy 3:2.

The modern-day equivalent would be housing missionaries who were not friends or known by the people housing them at first. It is not letting friends stay with them, or other members of the congregation stay with them, but Christian travelers. Housing missionaries is something Allison and I have had the privilege of doing a few times in our lives, but admittedly, it isn't a common opportunity in the American context, although one could apply it to Christians traveling, not only for ministry, but in general.

A good scholarly book on this subject is by Andrew E. Arterbury entitled, Entertaining Angels: Christian Hospitality in Its Mediterranean Setting. He notes that hospitality is not inviting others over for dinner and whatnot. Unfortunately, he does not let the NT data specify what this means in an exclusive Christian context.

So where did the change take place in our language? After all, our "hospitals" are places that take care of strangers in general, and the modern church thinks hospitality means having people over for dinner or a party (all good things of course, but not what the Bible requires of Christians when it is talking about hospitality). I think it changed with the inclusive principles of the "Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man" of Enlightenment liberalism. The stranger became anyone in the same way that the neighbor became anyone. Hence, hospitality includes opening one's home to believer and unbeliever alike (again, all good things, but not to what the term refers). It is simply one more example of generalizing something that is specific not only to believers but to specific believers. This is why one sees books like Saved by Faith and Hospitality. Not only does this book evidence a misunderstanding of the term, it also assumes the Pelagianism of the Second Great Awakening, where one saves others by actions rather than by Spirit changing individuals through the teaching of the Word of God.

On the other hand, some of it comes from the Second Great Awakening where the country preachers would ride around and make housecalls. The modern country preacher who visits people in their homes during the week stems from this, and people giving him a meal and whatnot, or the modern practice of having people over to the house just became assumed as part of this vital activity of hospitality to which we are all called. Hence, it was applied to believers one knew.

A correction of this is important for some because many people who think they are doing this by inviting friends or congregants over actually never have housed missionaries, some are not willing to do it, nor do they even know they should be. In many respects, this may be a post more relevant to my international audience, since far more opportunities to become hospitable people land in their laps than in ours in America. Let me encourage you if you are in such a position to help missionaries by housing and providing protection and for their needs that you do so, as I have argued here that it is a fruit of love. However, other things that are not biblical hospitality like taking in Christians who we know and are in need, or serving others when in your home (the more modern definition of hospitality) are still fruits of love, and that should be the root of all of our different kinds of service regardless of which correct category it fits under.