Hospitality

In the NWT the noun ‘hospitality’ and its adjective ‘hospitable’ appear a total of twelve times in the New Testament. The Watchtower Society, in its publications, has always defined hospitality as ‘love of strangers’ and I have accepted this as true. And it is true. But the Greek words that translate into ‘love of strangers’ appear only five times. This, by deduction, means that seven of those instances must be derived from different Greek words. So this is a delve into what lies behind the English words, based on the assumption that if the underlying Greek is different, there must be different shades of meaning, lost in the homogeneity of interpretation.

Our first word is catalogued 5381 by Strong and is a noun – philoxenia. The two parts are obvious – philo (love) and xenia (stranger, foreigner). The familiar English word xenophobia describes the fear, or phobia, of strangers. Thus philoxenia is translated as ‘hospitality’, love directed towards strangers, foreigners, people with whom we are not familiar. Its adjective is philoxenos (5382) from where we get ‘hospitable’.

5381 appears as follows:

Romans 12:13 Share with the holy ones according to their needs. Follow the course of hospitality.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget hospitality, for through it some unknowingly entertained angels.

5382 appears as follows:

1 Timothy 3:2 The overseer should therefore be… hospitable,
Titus 1:8 For as God’s steward, an overseer must be… hospitable,
1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

True hospitality is offered willingly and joyfully, not out of obligation, or for personal gain, but as an opportunity to demonstrate Christ’s love to others. It is not optional; Peter commands us to offer hospitality without grumbling. Any such grumbling dismantles its foundation of love.
The holy ones, saints, are our fellow believers in Christ. Whoever they are, wherever they live, we are expected to care for one another first. This includes meeting their physical needs. The disciples of the first century church would sell their belongings, would hold everything in common, so that they could share with anyone who was in need (Acts 2:44-45). Merely wishing someone well while refusing to fill his needs is meaningless – we must ensure that they have their daily needs sufficed. The recipients are therefore impelled to worship God in thanksgiving and rejoicing. However no one is expected to burden themselves with hardship and debt. We should all be fairly and equally provided for (2 Cor 8:13). That hospitality and generosity should extend beyond our friends and acquaintances is noted at Hebrews 13:2. When we extend hospitality to strangers, it might be that we are entertaining angels!
Elders are especially encouraged to be hospitable. The first-century congregations met in private homes, being without ecclesiastical buildings, and so those taking the lead would be expected to do so by example and to open their own homes to all who would assemble for worship, including strangers. This appears to be what is meant by going from house to house – the homes of the believers, not the indiscriminate, ritualistic means of proselytising that some favour today.

However the seven other instances of hospitality in the NWT come from alternative sources, as follows:

Matthew 25:35, 38, 43 For I became hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you received me hospitably (Strong 4863)
Acts 17:7 Jason has received them hospitably (although this has been changed to ‘as his guests’ in the 2013 edition) (Strong 5264)
Acts 28:7 …Publius, and he welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days. (Strong 324)
James 2:25 …Rahab… received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way? (Strong 5264)
3 John 8 So we are under obligation to show hospitality to such ones, (Strong 5274)

Here are those Greek words:
4863 – synegagete, from verb synago, to lead together, gather, congregate, entertain.
5264 – hypodexamene, to receive, welcome under (one’s roof).
324 – anadechomai, to entertain as a guest. Lit. up, welcome or receive (with gladness, personal interest).
5274 – hypolambanein, to receive. Lit. to take from below, to support. Note Acts 1:9 where, having been lifted up, a cloud took [Jesus] from underneath, or received him. Perhaps hid him from sight. Various interpretations depending on version.
5390 – philophronos, courteous, from a mind-set of personal affection.

At Matthew 25 Jesus says that I was a stranger (xenos) and you gathered me (4863). Most versions go with ‘invited me in’, ‘took me in’. Providing food and drink, clothing and lodging, are certainly actions that would be described as hospitable. Although Jesus describes himself as a stranger, whilst none of us have ever met him personally, would we really think of him as a stranger? We know so much about him, his life and teachings, but there is even more that we do not know. How many questions do you have for Jesus? What would you want to talk about over a meal, by the fireside with a warming beverage? I am absolutely certain that it would be like entertaining an old, long-lost friend. So perhaps philoxenos is the wrong word here. However, it’s not that we do these lovely things to Jesus himself, but that we do it to his most insignificant brother. How do we recognise these ones? And would we still be willing if we discover that this brother is a poor man in filthy clothing (Jas 2:2)? Food for thought…

The next word (5264) is generally translated as ‘to receive’ or ‘to welcome’. Its four occurrences refer to:
1) Martha receiving Jesus as guest (Lu 10:38)
2) Zacchaeus receiving Jesus as guest (Lu 19:6)
3) Jason receiving Paul and his companions (Acts 17:7)
4) Rahab receiving the spies (Jas 2:25)
In these instances, we know that Jesus was a friend of Mary, Martha and Lazarus and often stayed at their home; that Zacchaeus knew enough about Jesus to be moved to repentance; and that Jason was, in all probability, a relative of Paul (Rom 16:21). None of these were exactly strangers and so hospitality in its form of loving strangers does not apply. However these were all acts of faith. Martha’s desire to love and serve her Lord; Zacchaeus throwing caution to the wind to face public ridicule; Jason braving civic unrest. What about Rahab? She did not know the spies personally, yet her welcoming them into her home, protecting the enemy, was an act of living faith. She knew enough about the Israelites to know that Jehovah was with them and so she welcomed them in, providing James with a great example of faith in action.

At Acts 28:7 we find two of our above words (324 and 5390). Here Publius both received (324) and showed courteous personal affection (5390). He was the principal man, chieftain, governor of the island, of whom Luke notes how the people showed them extraordinary kindness. He entertained his guests for three days giving Paul and his companions time to recuperate after the ordeal of the voyage and subsequent shipwreck. As a result of his kindness, Paul was on hand to heal the man’s father from his fever and dysentery.

The last example is 3 John 8 where we have (5274) – to receive, to take from below. This verse appears to be referring to itinerant preachers, travelling missionaries, and how they relied on support from local believers. This support could have been financial, but it would also have included food and shelter, and also much needed encouragement; in other words, providing them with a basis on which to continue their gospel work. The inclusion of the phrase ‘such men’ does suggest that we need to be discerning in who we support. The comparison of Diotrephes with Demetrius suggests that not all was well in the congregation. There are those within who like to hinder and expel!

The context of this last instance leads nicely to the modern world. Here in the affluent West, the Global North, governments have taken it upon themselves to ensure that their nationals receive a basic standard of living. It is called the Welfare State. Whilst everyone, in theory at least, is expected to pay their way, usually by working for a living, there are safety nets designed to encourage good health and to prevent absolute poverty. There is child benefit, housing benefit, unemployment benefit, disability allowances, old-age pensions, and so forth, designed to augment the household income for those who cannot care for themselves, or for a temporary period whilst the recipient works to resolve the cause behind the claim.
For our brothers in the first century, this welfare state did not exist. You worked for a living until you died. But what if you were unable to work? We have mentioned itinerant preachers. Paul himself was one. He lived in Corinth for eighteen months, and whilst there worked as a tent-maker. Most of the time he was not so settled, so he relied on his own resources, or the generosity of his hosts – the brothers and sisters in the congregations he was visiting. We can think of others in this category. Reading through Paul’s epistles he names many who were expansive in their kindness, gladly receiving him and caring for his needs.
For the majority of the world’s population today, there is no welfare state, yet even where it does exist disasters happen. Storms and hurricanes, floods and fire, do not respect wealth. If these do not occur in our immediate vicinity, we might feel that the opportunities to offer hospitality directly are limited. It might be possible to donate funds to the various disaster relief committees and charities, if we feel that they are honourably run. So many turn out to be scams, or quasi-corporations where senior management receive their generous remuneration before any relief is made. And that leads to a general observation about the modern world – it is broken, people are broken. There are so many with personality disorders and mental health issues that display themselves in violence and assault, theft, greed, ingratitude, and things like these. The reasons for these behavioural problems are manifold – a broken childhood, dysfunctional parents, refugees from warfare, famine and drought, drugs and alcohol abuse. You name it, people have had their lives destroyed by it. If we are prudent, we might feel uneasy about inviting complete strangers into our homes, and quite understandably so. Are there alternative ways of providing hospitality? We might have to do some research and be creative, but there probably is. We can, and must, pray earnestly for these ones. That too is a form of hospitality - loving the strangers we have never met.

Returning to the first century, there were events over which the brothers had little control. They knew of the impending destruction of Jerusalem – Jesus had warned them. But when the time to leave came, it was sudden. They were not even to waste time collecting their belongings. They were to go, as they were! Jesus said that they were to flee to the mountains of Pella. If, on arrival, they just happened to have family and friends there who would care for them, well and good. But how many of Jesus’s disciples had that luxury? Likely they would settle down and make a new life for themselves but that takes time and in the short-term they would be reliant on the kindness of the locals whilst they made the necessary arrangements.
Persecutions arose – sometimes violently and unexpectedly. Prisca and Aquila are mentioned as having to flee from Rome. They went to Corinth and set up as tent-makers but the immediate support of the believers in that city would have been invaluable. And yes, there were famines and earthquakes in the first century, so we can see the similarities in situation. This is why Peter commands his readers to be hospitable, without grumbling. Providing hospitality costs money and causes inconvenience. This might be tenable for the brief time that that itinerant is here - a few days of preaching and then he is gone. But what about that family expelled from Rome with just the clothes on their backs? Who might be with you for months while trying to rebuild their life? Were the poor allowed to excuse themselves from this demonstration of intense love? No! This self-sacrificing love is a hallmark of true discipleship. Without grumbling too; not in the hearing of our guests, and not in the hearing of God, who even knows our every thought, every word, whether uttered or not. Our guests must never be made to feel that they are an unwanted burden.

Finally, it is fascinating to consider the etymology of the English word ‘hospitality’, because really, it does not carry that same meaning of sacrifice and duty. We think of hospitality as inviting friends over for a meal, having someone to stay for a week, temporary situations of our making from which we derive pleasure and are very limited. That such invitees would be strangers is rare. We hear a lot about the ‘hospitality industry’ – providing food and lodging for commercial gain. In this case the love of strangers is completely without philanthropic motive. The love is for the financial benefits that can be extracted from them.
The word itself is derived from the Latin hospes – host, guest, stranger; itself from hostis – a stranger or enemy. These words are the root for such English words as host, hospitality, hospice, hospital, hotel. The Latin word hospitalis means a guest-chamber, lodging place, an inn, a place offering food, shelter and safety. None of these words denote pure love of the person themselves. This is why words matter, and especially so when translating the word of God. Does the word we think fits the bill really describe the full import of that original-language word? I am not a translator so I cannot pontificate on the subject. But I can offer an opinion. In this case, it is that it would be better to translate philoxenia quite literally as ‘love of strangers’ leaving the word ‘hospitality’ for those other seven instances. Martha, Jason and Publius were all hospitable in the modern sense, but what Paul, Peter and John were urging was way beyond that. We are to love strangers, giving them food, shelter and safety in whatever way we can. Think of the Samaritan in Jesus’s parable. He bound the victim’s wounds, took him to an inn and paid for his ongoing care. A beautiful story of hospitality in action.

Love strangers without murmuring
(1 Peter 4:9 - Aramaic Bible in Plain English)