Understanding biblical hospitality requires thorough reading and understanding of the New Testament. The project's research identified three essential principles that helped lay the foundation for the thesis of biblical hospitality as a strategy for making disciples who make disciples.
首先，在耶稣三年的公开事工中，好客是一个反复出现的事件. The Gospel narratives give an intimate perspective on the reality of hospitality in the earthly ministry of Jesus.
耶稣的公开事工持续了大约三年. 在此期间, Jesus participates in biblical hospitality and calls his followers to a higher standard of hospitality. Numerous New Testament passages reveal Jesus entering a 房子 and participating in hospitality (Mark 1:29; 5:40; 7:17,24; 9:28; Luke 7:36; 8:51; Mt. 8:14; 9:28; 13:36). The ministry of Jesus and the practice of hospitality was not isolated; it was normative. 耶稣通过他的事工和教导，强化了好客的原则和实践. 路加福音14章就是一个例子, 耶稣勉励那些在场的人，要殷勤接待这些人中最小的, 不期待任何回报,
他又对请他的人说, 当你举办午餐或晚餐时, 不要邀请你的朋友, 你的兄弟姐妹, 你的亲戚, 或者你富有的邻居, 因为他们可能会邀请你回来, 你会得到回报的. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. 这样你就有福了, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the 公义的. (路14:12-14)
路加福音5章29节在利未家展示了好客, 马太福音8:14-15在彼得的岳母, 马太福音26:6-7耶稣在伯大尼受膏, 路加福音10:38在马利亚和马大的家里, 路加福音19:5-7在撒该家里, 路24:29在以马忤斯的路上. These selected examples communicate the seemingly standard practice of Jesus and his disciples regularly engaging in hospitality. 圣经中记载的基督在公开事奉中所表现出的殷勤好客是令人难以抗拒的, leaving us to conclude that if hospitality was a significant part of the earthly ministry of Christ, 这应该是他的教会目前事工的重要组成部分.
第二，好客是早期教会的道德规范. 有充分的证据表明，好客在道德上的重要性.
The New Testament reveals the significant role hospitality plays in shaping the ethical values of the early church. Hospitality was a virtue and a practice expected for the church and particularly crucial for church leaders. The apostle Paul makes two significant mentions of hospitality that support the influence hospitality played in forming the early church.
第一个, 罗马书12:13, 保罗在写作时，将好客作为基督徒的标志, "Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality" (Rom. CSB 12:13). Here the project director would like to bring awareness to the most common interpretation concerning Romans 12:13. A literal translation of "pursue hospitality" as "open your homes to 陌生人" may be grossly misinterpreted. Barclay Newman and Eugene Nida suggest a more satisfactory equivalent could be "welcome into your homes Christians who are 陌生人" or "welcome into your homes as guests those who are traveling." [1] John 斯托特 shares the commentary from Origen highlighting the intentional pursuit Paul calls for 罗马书12:13, “我们不应该只是在陌生人来到我们面前的时候接待他, 而实际上是询问之后, 仔细寻找, 陌生人, 去追寻他们，到处搜寻他们, lest perchance somewhere they may sit in the streets or lie without a roof over their heads." [2] Robert Jewett and David Kotansky provide a historical picture concerning the need for hospitality, "With a large number of Jewish Christian and other leaders returning to Rome after the lapse of the Edict of Claudius, 挑起冲突和敌意, there was a concrete need for the kind of hospitality that marked the Jesus movement and subsequent Christianity." [3] This commentary mentioned above is considering the persecuted Christian community of the day. Paul's exhortation for hospitality 罗马书12:13 called the early church to pursue Christian 陌生人 who found themselves in need.
第二个, 提多书1:8和提摩太前书3:2, 好客是当地教会长老的资格:“监督”, 因此, 必须无可指责, 只有一个妻子的丈夫, 自控, 明智的, 受人尊敬的, 热情好客的, 能教书,(提摩太前书3:2), CSB); "but 热情好客的, 爱美好的事物, 明智的, 公义的, 神圣的, 自控,(提多书1:8)考虑到长老的崇高呼召, 好客的伦理在基督徒的生活中必须占有重要的分量. Paul encourages believers when identifying pastor leaders in the church that they must give evidence of hospitality to be considered qualified. Hospitality had an enormous impact on shaping the practices and establishing leaders in the early church. The incarnation of divine hospitality and the tradition of the early church were powerfully connected.
第三，好客是促进福音传播的催化剂. 早期教会通过热情好客的实践而爆发.
好客与早期教会的发展之间的联系是不容置疑的. 从历史上看, 福音的信息从耶路撒冷扩散开来, 通过该地区, 最终到达已知世界的各个角落. 加伍德·安德森在写作中强调了这种联系, “待客之道既有实际意义又有象征意义. 务实, 好客使早期的基督徒, 就像古代世界的其他人一样, 在商业选择有限且不安全的情况下旅行. 对基督徒来说, this was especially important for propagating the Christian message and weaving a network of relationships among local church bodies".[4]
好客和宣教贯穿了新约全书. 希腊词根Oikos, 翻译过来就是家, 房子, 或家庭," is used over 180 times in the New Testament with much of its usage in early church hospitality. 早期的教会并没有在大型建筑和结构中发挥作用. 主要的敬拜场所, 研究, 团契包括打开他们的家，练习款待. 基督教的好客成为早期教会独特的标志. Mark Husbands and Jeffrey Greenman communicate the cultural oddity of Christian hospitality in Ancient Faith for the Church's Future:
Hospitality had a central role in the early church as believers forged a new identity in a hostile culture. 基督徒分享食物和资源, 当他们向陌生人开放自己的生活和家园时, they formed communities that transcended and changed conventional understandings of 房子holds and expressed new understandings of social relations and political identities. The outside world noticed and wondered about this odd assortment of people who claimed to be—and acted as if they were—family.[5]
There are numerous New Testament passages where Paul and his companions were welcomed in their missionary efforts. 福音传到吕底亚家(使徒行传16:15)。, 在腓立比狱卒的家里(使徒行传16:34), 在哥林多与亚居拉，百基拉同住(使徒行传18:2-3), 在凯撒利亚腓利家里(使徒行传21:8), 在马耳他岛上，在部流的家里(使徒行传28:7), 与该犹同住. 16:23)，并作为腓利门的客人(腓利门. 22). Derick Brown and Tod Twist connect the rapid progress of the church and the practice of hospitality, 希腊罗马好客的习俗似乎推动了早期教会的发展, as missionaries and believers found lodging and provision when they traveled for the sake of the gospel." [6] Early church missionaries were dependent on the hospitality of people in the regions they traveled. The biblical account of hospitality in the New Testament reveals the catalytic relationship between the spread of the gospel and hospitality in the early church.
Dr. 乔治·罗斯是教会植堂和传福音的助理教授. 教会植堂日主持. 本博客最初发表于 www.georgeross.net/blog 在一系列探索圣经的接待实践作为宣教策略.
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[1]. 巴克莱·蒙·纽曼和尤金·阿尔伯特·奈达, 保罗给罗马人的书信手册, 瑞银手册系列(纽约:联合圣经协会), 1973), 240.
[2]. 约翰R. W. 斯托特, 罗马书的信息:神给世界的好消息, 《宝盈APP登录》(莱斯特, England; Downers Grove, IL:校际出版社, 2001), 332.
[3]. 罗伯特·朱伊特和罗伊·大卫·科坦斯基，《宝盈APP登录》，编. 埃尔登·杰伊·埃普, 《宝盈APP登录》(明尼阿波利斯), MN:堡垒出版社, 2006), 765.
[4]. 盖伍德P. 安德森，《宝盈APP登录》编. 道格拉斯·曼格姆等人., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
[5]. 马克·赫夫斯和杰弗里·P. Greenman, Ancient Faith for the Church’s Future (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008), 153-154.
[6]. 德里克·R. 布朗和E. 托德·特威斯特，《宝盈集团bbin》，编. 道格拉斯·曼格姆(华盛顿州贝灵汉:莱克斯汉姆出版社，2014)，罗12:1-21.
