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Bible Dictionaries
Hospitality (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (φιλοξενία, lit. [Note: literally, literature.] ‘love of strangers’)
Hospitality, by which is meant the reception and entertainment of travellers, is and always has been regarded as one of the chief virtues in the East; it is therefore not surprising to find comparatively frequent references to the duty of its strict observance throughout the pages of the NT (Luke 7:44 ff., Romans 12:13; Romans 12:20, 1 Timothy 3:2; 1 Timothy 5:10, Titus 1:8, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9, 3 John 1:5 ff.). The customs of hospitality were clearly recognized as binding in the time of Christ (Luke 7:44 ff.), and hospitality was regarded as the proof of righteousness, and the natural test of a man’s character in the final judgment (Matthew 25:35). The conditions of the time made hospitality practically a necessity for travellers, while it was vital to the very existence of the early Christian Church. The ordinary ties of friendship as well as kinship had in many cases been severed, and Christians regarded themselves and were regarded by the outside world as aliens, bound together as the members of one family. The coherence of that family required that, whenever a Christian migrated from one place to another, he should be received as a welcome guest by the Christians residing there (cf. Sanday-Headlam, Romans 5 [International Critical Commentary , 1902], 363) and, indeed, without such hospitality missionary work would have been out of the question (cf. Acts 10:6; Acts 21:18, Romans 16:23). We accordingly find it commended and enjoined as a duty incumbent on the various Christian communities in the letters of the apostles, as well as in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (e.g. Clement* [Note: ad Cor. i. 17.] ). Thus St. Paul, in writing to the Romans, urges them to ‘communicate to the necessities of the saints,’ and to be ‘given to hospitality.’ The duty of entertaining the ordinary wayfarer was not indeed ignored. Thus in Hebrews 13:2 the faithful are enjoined not to forget ‘to show love unto strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,’ while later on, the heathen writer Lucian† [Note: de Morte Peregrini, § 16.] ridicules the liberality shown by Christians towards strangers. Discrimination must, however, be exercised, and no hospitality is to be accorded to those who come as the heralds of another gospel-‘receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed: for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds’ (2 John 1:10 f.).
But the Christian, though under an obligation to strangers in general, was obviously under a greater obligation to his fellow-Christian. The distinction between these two obligations is recognized in 1 Timothy 5:10, where the writer, in his enumeration of the various virtues which qualify women to be ‘enrolled’ as widows, says, ‘if she hath used hospitality to strangers, if she hath washed the saints’ feet,’ i.e. accorded especial hospitality to Christians as opposed to strangers. The washing of a guest’s feet by his host was a mark of honour to the guest and of deep humility on the part of the host (cf. 1 Samuel 25:41); hence the significance of our Lord’s rebuke to Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:44), and of His own action at the Last Supper (John 13:4 ff.). Again, kissing was and is another act of courtesy usually accorded to strangers of distinction, but significantly denied to our Lord by His Pharisaical host (Luke 7:45). In Palestine to-day the natives may be seen kissing the mouth, the beard, and even the clothes of their honoured guests (cf. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible, i. 143). They refuse all remuneration for their services, but, after three days, the host may ask his guest whether he intends to prolong his stay, and, if so, the host may provide him with work. For three days the hospitality accorded is regarded strictly as a right to which the guest is absolutely entitled, and the guest can, of course, on the expiration of three days, take up his abode in another tent in the same place, and thus renew his right. During his sojourn, the person of the guest is inviolable, and this is the case even if he be the sworn enemy of the man of whose hospitality he is partaking. The Oriental view of the binding nature of this virtue is well expressed in the two local proverbs-‘every stranger is an invited guest,’ and ‘the guest while in the house is its lord.’
Literature.-B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 1889, p. 429; E. C. Wickham, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 1910, p. 123; C. J. Ellicott, The Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul3, 1864, pp. 73f., 185; Sanday-Headlam, Romans 5 (International Critical Commentary , 1902), 363; Speaker’s Commentary: ‘Romans to Philemon,’ 1881, p. 786; C. Bigg, St. Peter and St. Jude (International Critical Commentary , 1901), 173; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, 1893, pp. 288, 368; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, new. ed., 1910; J. C. Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible, 1887, i. 143, 306, 443; H. C. Trumbull, Studies in Oriental Social Life, 1894, pp. 73-142; A. Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life, 1908; G. Robinson Lees, Village Life in Palestine, new ed., 1905; Smith’s Dict. of the Bible , ed. Fuller, vol. i. pt. i. pp. 1401-03; Hastings’ Single-vol. Dictionary of the Bible 365-67; Dict. of Christ and the Gospels i. 751.
P. S. P. Handcock.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Hospitality (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/h/hospitality-2.html. 1906-1918.
