1) Cornelius
We have looked at many households in the Bible, and now come to a remarkable series of households in the New Testament, all of which are Gentile, evidently recorded by the Holy Spirit for a special purpose. The first we meet is, as far as I know, that of Cornelius. He feared God with all his house. (Acts 10:2). He was right in seeing that his whole household followed him in his fear of God, and God takes special note of it. When Peter recounts his visit with Cornelius to the saints at Jerusalem, he says that the angel told Cornelius to send to Joppa for Peter, “who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.” (Acts 11:14). We shall meet with almost exactly these same words in pondering another “house”, so that it would seem to suggest that these very words, which include the house, are the Holy Spirit’s own special message to those who truly desire to be saved. We need not now be concerned with who composed Cornelius’ household, but we must note the word is the same as of old: “Thou and thy house.” (Gen. 7:1).
2) Lydia
The next household we meet is that of Lydia “a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira.... whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there.” (Acts 16:14-15). The Lord opened the heart of Lydia and she opened her house. It is all individual. Her own personal salvation was unquestionable, and so she was baptized. But what about her household? Were the members of it saved? Were there children in it or not? On all this the Scripture is absolutely silent: and it is not silent for the purpose of giving us the opportunity to speculate about these matters. The Spirit of God has another purpose in view in the way He records these various households. So the important thing for us is to note what the Scripture says, and not add our own thoughts: and the Scripture records that Lydia’s household was baptized, without any mention whatever of faith, real or otherwise, on their part. The narrative is complete. The Spirit has told us all He wished us to know, and we dare not add to it by reasoning or surmising. As the Scripture records it, Lydia’s whole household was baptized on the ground of her faith.
It is very sad that these households which have been specially recorded for the instruction, comfort, and encouragement of us Gentile believers, have with very many been turned into a subject for vain speculation and dispute. How much better were we to come to the Scriptures to humbly seek to hear what they would teach us, instead of trying to force into them our own views and ideas. Let us, then, seek grace and humility to lay aside our own opinions, and to hear only what the Word says. It is no new thing in the Scriptures to see the household brought into a place of external blessing, on the ground of the individual faith and responsibility of its head. We noted this at some length in the case of Rahab, and might have spoken of the same thing in connection with other households.
Previous to Noah, individual relationship and responsibility, as in Abel, Enoch, and others was the principle that God recognized, and on which He acted. But with Noah came a new development in God’s dealings with man. Responsible government was introduced, and God commanded: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” (Gen. 9:6). This was something new in God’s order; and with the introduction of government, God also disclosed household relationship with its corresponding responsibility, attached to its head. “Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.” (Gen. 7:1). No mention is made of the righteousness or faith of the household, but the whole house entered the ark on the ground of that of its head: and so even Ham, who afterward proved to be so evil, was brought into a place of external blessing on the ground of his father’s righteousness and faith. “By faith Noah.... prepared an ark to the saving of his house.... and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Heb. 11:7).
Many other instances of this principle appear in the Old Testament. All the men of Abraham’s house were circumcised on the ground of Abraham’s faith. (Gen. 17:27, 27). We find Abraham’s whole household again linked with him, in Gen. 18:19. ~ ~ ~ Note that the Lord was ready to save all of Lot’s household. The angels said to him: “Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place.” Those sons-in-law were probably Sodomites, yet for Lot’s sake, the Lord would have saved them, had they been willing to be saved. (Gen. 19). ~ ~ ~ Potiphar’s whole house was blessed for Joseph’s sake. And Joseph was his slave. (Gen. 32:5). ~ ~ ~ We find the same principle when Pharoah wished to keep the little ones in Egypt. The grand reply is: “We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go.... there shall not an hoof be left behind.” (Ex. 10:9, 26). This beautifully illustrates God’s grand principle that the whole household, and all that he has, is included with the head of that household. ~ ~ ~ We find the same thing in the Passover: “In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.” (Ex. 12:3). ~ ~ ~ The Spirit of God takes care to point out to us in the New Testament, that when Israel crossed the Red Sea, all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (1 Cor. 10:1, 2). The Scripture tells us there were six hundred thousand men, “beside children”, (Ex. 12:37). Most of these men would be heads of households, and each brought his whole household with him out of Egypt. There were, doubtless, hundreds of thousands of infants and children, all of whom were baptized with their fathers “unto Moses.” By this baptism externally they “all” left the dominion of Pharoah, and “all” came under the authority of Moses, men and women, infants and children, alike. ~ ~ ~ Aaron’s bullock for the sin offering was “for himself, and for his house.” ~ ~ ~ At the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, the households of Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up with them, and these households included little ones. (Num. 16:27, 32-33; Deut. 11:6). ~ ~ ~ The Hebrew servant would not go out free, “because he loveth thee and thine house.” (Deut. 15:16). ~ ~ ~ Thou and thy household were to eat the firstling males of the herd or of the flock. (Deut. 15:20). ~ ~ ~ The same was true of the basket of firstfruits in Deut. 26:11. ~ ~ ~ We have noted Rahab, a Gentile, in Josh. 2:12, 18; 6:23-25. Here we find that her whole household, including the widest possible circle, were saved on the ground of her faith alone. ~ ~ ~ We find another Gentile in Judg. 1:25, who brought blessing and safety to “all his family” by his one act of faith. ~ ~ ~ Obededom the Gittite was another Gentile for whom God acted according to this same truth: “The Lord blessed Obededom, and all his household.” (2 Sam. 6:11-12). ~ ~ ~ Ittai the Gittite (another Gentile from Gath) well understood God’s order in this matter: “David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him.” (2 Sam. 15:22). They passed over to share their king’s rejection, along with their father. ~ ~ ~ When Israel was in great fear in the days of Jehoshaphat, “all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” (2 Chron. 20:13). ~ ~ ~ In Nehemiah’s day “they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced.” (Neh. 12:43). ~ ~ ~ We might continue, but I fear I have already wearied you; but I trust that this will make clear that from Noah’s day onward, God’s great principle was: “Thou and thy house.”
The households of Cornelius and Lydia follow on in this remarkable line of households that we find all through the Old Testament. Great efforts have been made to prove that these New Testament households had no children, or that all were of an age to believe, and had done so. To raise such questions when the Holy Spirit deliberately and intentionally is totally silent as to them, is merely to show that he who raises them has entirely missed the object of the Spirit of God. To the one well acquainted with the Old Testament, the term “household” should have become thoroughly familiar, and what it implied should have been well understood. It is almost what we might call “a technical term.” The meaning the Spirit of God has in using it, is to be found in the use He has made of it in earlier Scriptures: and we have seen that it means exactly what it says: all in the house. This might, or might not, include infants, children, or servants; and God did not upbraid Rahab when she stretched the meaning to include parents and brothers and sisters and their families. I suppose it is: “according to your faith, so be it unto you”. Some have pressed that we never find infants or children baptized in the Bible, so we may not include these in the households we are now considering: but we have already seen that some half million or more households, including untold numbers of infants and children, were baptized, as pointed out in First Corinthians. If we are to understand aright these Scriptures we are now looking at, we must accept these households in the way in which the Spirit uses this word, or its representative, as family, little ones, etc., in the earlier portions of the Word: and we must receive these Scriptures as they stand without adding to them.
3) the Philippian Jailor
But we must look further at the households that the Spirit is bringing before us. After Lydia, in the same chapter, verses 25 to 34, we find the household of the jailor at Philippi. Notice the jailor’s question, and the answer: “What must I do to be saved?.... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Reader, this is for us also. Accept it, believe it, rejoice in it, and thank God for His grace that has given us such a promise for our households. Notice that it is almost the same word as to Cornelius by the angel: but notice also that it does not say: “Believe on Jesus and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” No doubt every one who truly believes on Jesus will be saved: but the promise “and thy house” is for one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. This involves bowing to His Lordship, and seeking by His grace to keep His word, and put Him first in our lives.
The “house” being included in the head of it, Paul and Silas spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And the account continues: “And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.” (Acts 16:33, 34). One would suppose from this that all in the jailor’s house believed when Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to them: but the Greek New Testament, in the words uttered by the Holy Spirit, does not say this. The Revised Version renders it: “He rejoiced greatly with all his house, having believed in God.” The New Translation by Mr. Darby has “he laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his house, having believed in God.” The Greek word “having believed” is nominative, singular, masculine, and can refer only to the jailor. We have seen a very similar example of the rejoicing in the case of the wives and the children in Nehemiah’s day: and some of these “children” were almost surely too little to understand the cause of the joy, yet they rejoiced in the joy of their parents. Again we see that the Scripture is totally silent as to who composed the household, and as to their spiritual condition. The faith, conversion and baptism of the jailor are unquestionable, but the verbs rejoiced and believing are both in the singular, and apply to the jailor: though the household rejoiced with him, or “as a household”, or, “householdly”, if we could use such a term. Do not think it is an accident that the Spirit of God is silent in these cases as to the faith of the households, or who composed them. This silence is intentional, to bring home to us Gentiles, that God’s great principle of external blessing for the household on the ground of the faith of its head, also applies to us.
4) Crispus
The next household brought before us is that of Crispus. “Crispus, the chief ruler of the Synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.” (Acts 18:8). Here we have the faith of the whole household recorded, in contrast to the silence regarding those we have already looked at. But it is striking to observe that the Scripture says nothing about the baptism of the household of Crispus, though Paul tells us that he baptized Crispus, but says nothing of his household.
(1 Cor. 1:14). Please notice carefully that the households not spoken of as believing, were baptized: while another which did believe, is not mentioned as being baptized. Why is this? For surely the Scripture is absolutely perfect in what it relates, and what it withholds. Nobody would question the baptism of the household of Crispus: they all believed, and so of course were all baptized, even though the Scripture does not tell us so. But it might be questioned whether a household, in the absence of faith, had a right to be baptized. We believe that this shows forth the excellence and perfection of the Holy Scriptures in a way that speculation and surmising never can.
5) Stephanas
In 1 Cor. 1:14-16, we read of still another household: that of Stephanas. “I baptized also the household of Stephanas.” Nothing more is told us of this household until we come to 1 Cor. 16:15, when we read: “Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” It might seem from this latter Scripture that those in the household of Stephanas were old enough to minister to, or serve the saints, and so had passed the age of infants or children: but the word used in Greek for the household of Stephanas in the first chapter is a wider word than that used of it in the 16th chapter. This would intimate that all the house of Stephanas was baptized, but only part, a narrower circle, perhaps excluding little children, addicted themselves to the service of the saints. So once again the Scripture is entirely silent as to who composed the household of Stephanas, and silent as to their spiritual condition: yet Paul himself baptized it. If we are wise we will learn from these silences, as well as from what is revealed to us.
There was nothing further from my thoughts when I began than to touch on the vexed question of the baptism of our children; but in meditating on Scripture households, it seemed hardly upright to either pass over this remarkable series of households in the New Testaments or to refrain from seeking to point out what appears to the writer to be the evident intention of the Holy Spirit in recording them in this particular manner for us. I know nothing of “Infant Baptism,” or “New Birth by Baptism”, in the Scriptures; but I do not believe any true Christian who believes the Scriptures can deny that the baptism of households is plainly taught in the Word of God. They may not like it. They may not believe in it. They may refuse to bow to it, as so many around us refuse to bow to clear truths in the Scriptures that they cannot deny. But I do not believe that any honest Christian can say that the baptism of households, entirely apart from any mention of their faith, is not plainly taught in the Word of God. O my loved ones, may God give us grace not only to hear His Word, but also to do it. (See Matt. 7:24.)
6) the House of Onesiphorus
You will remember we have spoken of Jonathan, who was not willing to share David’s rejection. Onesiphorus is a name that will live to all eternity, as one who not only was willing to share the rejection and reproach of Christ, but who very diligently sought out Paul, and found him, when he was the prisoner of Nero, chained in a Roman dungeon. From that dungeon lie writes: “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.” (2 Tim. 1:15). Ephesus was the capital of Asia Minor, and Paul had labored there for three years. Read the latter part of the 20th of Acts, telling of that most touching parting between Paul and the elders of Ephesus. You remember they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him. But now Paul was a prisoner in a Roman dungeon, and they were ashamed of him, and also it was dangerous to be known as one of his friends: so all in Asia forsook him, and that included those elders at Ephesus. This does not mean they turned away from Christ, and later on the Apostle John writes a letter to the assembly at Ephesus, with much good to say of them: but they were a fallen assembly, though outwardly so fair, for they had left their first love. (Rev. 2:4). I think that fall began when they turned away from Paul. And it was not only those of Asia who forsook that scorned, rejected man at this time. At his first answer before Nero, no man stood with him, “but all forsook me”, the Apostle writes. Only Luke was with him of all his beloved fellow-laborers. They were dark days indeed. There are a few other names of those who were not ashamed of the rejected servant: his beloved “Prisca and Aquila”, who had so long been true to him, were still unchanged. Then there is Trophimus left sick at Miletum; and from the assembly in Rome there were Eubulus, Pudens and Linus and Claudia (the last, probably, a blue-eyed, fair-haired British maiden; only a little later we hear of a “Pudens and Claudia” in Rome as husband and wife.)
It was in these dark days that Onesiphorus came to Rome from Ephesus, “And”, writes the Apostle, “he sought me out very diligently, and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.” (2 Tim. 1:16-18).
How refreshing it is to find one whose love and loyalty stood the test: one who was willing to share the rejection and danger of the old Apostle. As he shared Paul’s rejection, he was also sharing the rejection and reproach of Christ, and like Moses of old, I doubt not, he esteemed it greater riches than this world could offer. There is something very touching in the little company bound so closely together by devotedness to JESUS— and another has said: “Devotedness to Jesus is the strongest bond between human hearts.” How closely would they be bound to each other, when all else had forsaken them: the old Jewish prisoner, the Greek doctor, the British maiden and the visitor from Ephesus. We can almost see them, and we can enter a little into their thoughts and feelings: may the Lord help us to be true and loyal as they were, in face of such fearful danger!
But it was the household of Onesiphorus we intended to consider, and I have wandered far away from it. The Apostle writes: “The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus.” (2 Tim. 1:16), and again: “Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.” The whole household is linked up with the loyalty of its head; the whole household is specially commended to the mercy of the Lord for Onesiphorus’s loyal and loving heart. Like Ittai of old, the whole household shared the rejection with its head. This is as it should be. May it be so indeed in our households!
- -
And the Lord is still rejected, and most today have turned away from Paul, and his teaching. Thousands upon thousands gladly accept salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ: but few there are today who are willing to go forth unto Him without the Camp, bearing His reproach. That is the test. Lord Jesus, give us so to have our eyes fixed on Thee, our hearts filled with Thy love, that like Onesiphorus and his household we may esteem Thy reproach at its true worth!
“Therefore sad and strange to them the splendors
Of the world must be,
O forgotten and rejected Jesus,
We have looked on Thee!”
7) Caesar’s Household
“All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.” (Phil. 4:22). I can hardly pass by this household, though I have nothing to say about it. It was perhaps the hardest household in all the world for a Christian, but Christians were there. Some of noble birth we know, some of lesser rank, but each name known by the Lord who had called them: and the day is coining soon when we will meet them. Some, we know, laid down their lives for their Lord and Master. Our lot may be cast in a difficult “household”, let us remember the saints of Caesar’s “household” if we are tempted to be discouraged. I might add the word for “household” is the narrower word, used also of the house of Stephanas in 1 Cor. 16:15.
Saints in Caesar’s Household
Phil. 4:22
The’ vice, flagrant and unblushing,
Nero’s palace boldly trod,
In that vile court’s baleful precincts
There were some who walked with God.
Like the few souls, who, in Sardis
Kept unspotted from the world,
So these Saints in Caesar’s household
Held their stainless flag unfurled.
Trusting in their Savior’s merits,
Leaning on their Savior’s might,
They were proof against temptation
Now they walk with Him in white!
Lord, Thy power can keep Thy children
In the most unlikely place.
There is no temptation sent them
Which is greater than Thy grace.
Kathleen Cooke
8) The Household of Narcissus
This is another household of which we know almost nothing, “Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus.” Such is the brief reference in Rom. 16:11. And there is not even the word for “household” in the Greek Testament, only “those of Narcissus.” But the Lord has allowed a very interesting old inscription to come to light, that may tell us a little more. Narcissus, (we do not know for certain that it is the same man) was the freed-man and favorite of Claudius Caesar, but was put to death by Nero. The old inscription records the name of “Dikoeosyne”, which means “Righteousness”, the wife of T. Claudius Narcissus; a woman who is described as “most devout and simple in her life.” This may well be the widow who was now head of the “household of Narcissus”, who had learned from the Gospel what was true righteousness. It is sweet to think of this devout and simple mother bringing up her household in Rome for the Lord, and rejoicing in His righteousness.
9) The Households of Aristobulus and Chloe
“The Household of Aristobulus” in Rom. 16:10, and “The House of Chloe” in 1 Cor. 1:11, are similar in form of wording to that of the household of Narcissus. They are two more witnesses to the blessed fact that in those early days, the heads of the households brought their households with them to follow the Lord.
10) The Elect Lady and Her Children
“The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth.... Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.... The children of thy elect sister greet thee.” (2 John 1, 3, 4, 13).
Here we have two more families of children who are followers of the Lord; and one family, certainly, with their Mother, walking in the truth. It is to this family, this Mother with her children, that the Spirit of God, by the Apostle John, sends the solemn message not to receive any into her house if they do not bring the doctrine of Christ, nor even to bid them God Speed, “for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” This is “truth” for today in which you and I should walk, just as truly as in the days of the Apostle John. But today there are perhaps many more who do not bring the “doctrine of Christ”, and we, even the ladies and children, need to give the more earnest heed to this solemn admonition.
11) Archippus
“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow-laborer, and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy house: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philem. 1:1-3). Philemon was evidently a wealthy man, with slaves under him. One of his slaves, Onesimus, ran away and went to Rome. Probably he stole from his master before he left. In Rome he met the Apostle Paul, and through him, Onesimus found the Lord, and became His slave.
Paul writes this exquisite little Epistle, commending Onesimus to his old master, as he sends him back again. This is God’s order, and we may well believe that Philemon receives him now “forever; not now as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord.”
Apphia we suppose to be the wife of Philemon, the mistress of the household; and Archippus was, we may suppose, their grown-up son. His name means, “Captain of the Horse.” Perhaps he was a young cavalry captain in the Roman army. We believe they lived at Colosse, (Col. 4:17), though of this we are not certain. But we do know that the assembly of believers in the town in which they lived gathered at their house.
A special service had been entrusted to Archippus, the son. What that service was we are not told; but the Apostle writes: “And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.” (Col. 4:17). When the man traveled into the far country, in Matt. 25:14-30, he delivered his goods unto his own servants: “to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability.” And I suppose there is not one of my readers to whom the Lord has not entrusted some special service.... to each of us according to our several ability. We may not do as the servant with the one talent did, and hide our talent in the earth; but the Lord’s word to Archippus comes to every one of us who belong to Him, and to each of our children, who are His: “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.”
Well indeed it is if we parents or grandparents may be enabled to help to train these abilities, these talents, so that they may be “fulfilled”, filled to the full, used in their best and highest way by each of our children. We have seen that these children are only a loan from the Lord to us, to train up for Himself. He has given to each abilities, talents, which they are responsible to use for Himself, and it is our happy privilege to seek to help them to fulfill this ministry. May God give us the faithfulness and the wisdom we so sorely need to truly do this wisely and well for Him, Whose they are and Whom they serve.
12) Timothy
We come now to one of the most charming of the New Testament families. We are introduced to Lois the Grandmother, and to Eunice the Mother, of young Timothy. The apostle bears witness to the unfeigned faith in both grandmother and mother (2 Tim. 1:5). And in 2 Tim. 3:15, we read, “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
What a heritage for any child! To know the Holy Scriptures. We may have little to leave our children in the way of earthly possessions, but if we have given them, from a child, the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, we have given them greater riches, greater treasures, than all else this world possesses. Lois the grandmother and Eunice the mother both had real faith, and we may be sure it was they who taught Timothy, while yet an infant, (for so the Greek word means) the Holy Scriptures, for his father was a Greek.
The result? You all know it. Read the First and Second Epistles to Timothy. I suppose there is nothing like them in all the literature in the whole world. By nature timid, ready to give way to tears, young and tender in age: this is the young man, one might perhaps almost say, boy, on whom the great Apostle leaned, more than on any other. Why? The Holy Scriptures hidden in his heart, and unfeigned faith.
This is an example that all may follow: may we the grandparents, and you the parents, seek with all our strength, and with wisdom from above, to do for our darlings what Lois and Eunice did for Timothy. Surely we may count on the only One Who can, to work that change within, that the Scriptures call being “born again”; and the unfeigned faith, and the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, will carry and guard each dear one through all the path before them.