The Household of God (2)

When Paul wrote to Timothy, one of his purposes in writing was “…so that [Timothy] may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the ecclesia of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Three different expressions are used here to describe one thing.  The household of God = the ecclesia of the living God = the pillar and support of the truth.  Note that the word ‘church’ does not appear in the Greek text at all here.

According to Paul in this reference, God’s household is also His governmental assembly and also the superstructure and the fixed seat of the truth.

An Ecclesia in the life and times of the New Testament era was a governmental assembly of chosen citizens, called together to administer the realm and make the arrangements necessary for a fair, just, safe society.  The Ecclesia of God is God’s governmental assembly of saints, called together to administer His kingdom ‘on earth, as it is in heaven’.

Some say “the house of God”, but the word used here refers to an inhabited house or the household that inhabits the house.  Today, we often distinguish between an empty house and an inhabited house by calling one a house and the other a household or a home.  This shifts the emphasis from the building to the people.

The second idea is the pillar (Greek stulos).  This refers to the vertical superstructure of a building that is tied to the foundation and supports the walls and roof structures so that the building will stay standing and will house and protect its occupants.

The third idea is the support – or ‘ground’ in some older versions (Greek hedraioma).  The root meaning of this word is a) steadfast, firm, solid and b) seat.  We express this meaning in English today when we talk about a monarch’s throne or a professorial chair in a University, or (in Australia for example) the Speaker’s Chair in Parliament.  It refers to a fixed, solid, steadfast seat of truth.

This one thing that Paul is talking about is, at the same time, God’s kingdom governmental assembly, His household, and the superstructure and fixed solid seat of the truth.

1 Peter 4:17 also uses the expression ‘household of God’.  Here Peter is explaining that God’s judgement begins with His own household.  It contains a similar idea to Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 10:6 – and one many of us are familiar with in the West today.  “Charity begins at home”, “get your own house in order”, “clean up your own act” – expressions like this speak of the principle that we have little authority to preach at or judge others if our own lives or households are chaotic or dysfunctional.  God is applying this principle to Himself.  He disciplines His own household – for their good and for the good of His kingdom and ultimately for the good of the world.

The remainder of the times ‘household of God’ is used in the New Testament are references back to historic events recorded in the Old Testament – Matthew 12:4 for example.

Quite some years ago now, I set some time aside to listen, think, study and pray around a question I was grappling with: what – on earth – is God doing?  Does He have a plan?  Is everything that happens just a response to the previous thing that happened?  Is there a meta-narrative – a big-picture story that is being worked out in the world?  If God is timeless and ageless, does He have an eternal purpose for our time-trapped earth and the people on it?

While I am the first to admit that what I learnt in that time is clearly not the whole story, I found it does go a long way towards some answers for our life here.

I first broke down my thoughts into three foundational questions: What is God doing?  What is God’s idea of ‘church’ or ecclesia?  Where is it all headed?  I then searched the scriptures for themes, ideas and direct answers to these three questions.  What I found was small in terms of volume or words, but huge in terms of the implications and applications of those things I did find.

I often explain what I found as a bit like being in a vast art gallery or museum and finding a few tiny little windows that almost disappear in amongst the mass of artifacts on display.  This has been part of my personality and make-up since boyhood.  I like to look into the un-obvious things.  My reasoning is, I can always come back again later and look at the things on display – the obvious; I am much more interested in what might be behind an obscure little hatch.  I also notice subtle changes in the backgrounds where the artifacts are displayed.  For obvious reasons, backgrounds are important when displaying artifacts, but they will inevitably be overlooked or unnoticed by many.

So … the questions:

What is God doing?

I found three themes running consistently throughout the documents of the new covenant – what we call the New Testament.  These are like three different ‘background’ elements.

He is establishing His Kingdom; He is building a household; He is making a future.

Obviously, when I speak of God ‘making a future’, it is future only in relation to us time-bound humans, not to God Himself.  This implies that God does indeed have a kind of ‘mind-map’ or a spirit-map that is being played out here in our time-space-matter world.

Following that, there are two more questions: What is God's Idea of "Church"? and Where is it all Headed?

See you next time,

Kevin.