House (3614) oikia by Greek Word Studies

House (3614) (oikia from oikos = house) is literally one's residence, home or abode. Oikia is an inhabited edifice, building or dwelling. By extension, oikia describes that which one possesses (property, possession, goods) as in Mk 12:40. Oikia describes the house where Jesus was born (Mt 2:11), the place which a lamp is to light (Mt 5:15-note), the place Peter's mother-in-law was ill (Mt 8:14), the believer's future home, our Father's house (Jn 14:2), and in short oikia described the place in which much of Jesus' ministry took place (see below and observe the uses of oikia in the Gospels). Oikia when used as a figure of speech is used to describe the human body as the habitation of the soul and contrasts the present state of our body with the future blessed condition of our glorified body (2Co 5:1). Jesus uses oikia as a figure of speech to describe where one chooses to build their "spiritual" house, the foundation on which one places their trust or faith (Mt 7:24, 25-note, Mt 7:26; 27-note). Oikia is used to signify a household or family (Mt 10:13, 12:25) = as a metonymy (figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated - e.g., as “crown” in “lands belonging to the crown” where crown stands for the "king" or ruler of the land) Oikia in the present context is used as a figure of speech or word picture (metaphor) by which Paul describes the body of Christ, the Church, an interpretation with which most observers are in agreement. J Goetzmann says that in Classic Greek the root word oikos... is attested as early as Mycenaean Greek and has been handed down from Homer on. It means both the dwelling place and the structure. Oikia, from Herodotus on, denotes the dwelling, the house. Originally the two words were differentiated in meaning, in that oikia denoted the dwelling place, and oikos the whole house, the premises, the family property, and even the inhabitants of the house. This original distinction was maintained in Attic law, where oikos meant the inheritance and oikia the house itself. Later, particularly after the LXX, the distinctions were not maintained and the words were used synonymously. In popular speech oikos meant any kind of house, but frequently also a particular house and even a temple. In such cases the divine name attached to oikos indicated the god to whom the temple was dedicated. But the word was also used in the metaphorical sense. It denoted the family, the property and other similar concepts connected with the house itself. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan or Computer version) Mounce adds that... In the legal terminology of pre-biblical Greek, oikos was distinct from oikia, the former referring to property left by a person after death and the latter referring only to a dwelling or house. By the time of the NT the terms are practically synonymous and most commonly denote a place where a person lives either literally (Mt 2:11; 7:24–27; 9:7; Mk 7:30) or figuratively in the sense of a family grouping (Mt 13:57; Mk 6:4; Jn 4:53; 1 Cor. 1:16; 2 Tim. 1:16; 4:19). (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan or Computer version) Oikia - 93x in 84v - Mt 2:11; Mt 5:15-note; 7.24-Matt.7.25" class="scriptRef">Mt 7:24, 25-note, 27" class="scriptRef">Mt 7:26; 27-note; Mt 8:6, 14; 10" class="scriptRef">9:10, 23, 28; 10:12, 13, 14; 12:25, 29; 13:1, 36, 57; 17" class="scriptRef">17.25" class="scriptRef">17:25; 19:29; 24:17, 43; 26:6; Mark 1:29; 2:15; 3:25, 27; 6:4, 10; 7:24; 9:33; 10:10, 29, 30; 12:40; 13:15, 34, 35; 14:3; Luke 4:38; 5:29; 6:48, 49; 7:6, 37, 44; 8:27, 51; 9:4; 10:5, 7; 15:8, 25; 17:31; 18:29; 20:47; 22:10, 11, 54; Jn 4:53; 8:35; 11:31; 12:3; 14:2; Acts 4:34; 9:11, 17; 10:6, 17, 32; 11:11; 12:12; 16:32; 17:5; 18:7; 1Co 11:22; 16:15; 2Co 5:1; Phil 4:22-note; 1Ti 5:13; 2Ti 2:20-note; 2Ti 3:6-note; 2Jn 1:10. NAS = home(6), house(75), household(5), households(1), houses(7). The NT has other passages that picture the church as a house, dwelling or building... 1Co 3:9 — For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 1Co 3:16 — Do you not know that you (plural - so he is speaking not so much of individual believers but of believers as a whole - the church) are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (plural)? Eph 2:22 (note) — in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling (katoiketerion) of God in the Spirit. 1Ti 3:15 — but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 1 Pe 2:5 (note) — you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Gold and silver vessels...vessels of wood and of earthenware - The interpretation of these two general groups lacks a clear consensus. (1) Some believe Paul refers to true and false believers (professors)... The Holman NT Commentary explains "a large house"... Paul drew another word picture to illustrate the distinctions between the true believer and the false follower. He took his imagery from his readers' understanding of an ordinary house. Such a house would have a variety of utensils and wares, some of gold and silver, and others of wood and clay. Correspondingly, the gold and silver are for noble purposes, while the wood and clay are reserved for ignoble use. Basically, a person does not use china cups to feed the dog. Jesus foretold the same truth. The church is a mixed group, some true to their Lord, others impostors (Mt 13:24-30). Though God knows who belongs to Him and though true disciples demonstrate a life reflective of His holiness, scattered among them are unbelievers who deny the truth by their doctrine and their lives. These are the wood and clay within God's earthly house. Their presence should not disturb or discourage those who are faithful. (Holman New Testament Commentary) Steven Cole agrees writing that... Paul uses the illustration of a large house that has different kinds of vessels. The gold and silver vessels are kept clean so that they may be used for honorable purposes, such as dinner parties. The wood and earthenware vessels are used for dishonorable purposes, perhaps in the kitchen or to carry out garbage or human waste. They often get broken and are cheaply replaced. It would be easy to misapply Paul’s point here. If you took his illustration to its logical conclusion, you could say that the dishonorable vessels serve a legitimate function and thus are just as necessary as the gold vessels. But that’s not his point. Rather, the large house represents the professing or visible church. Some who associate with the church are truly born again. Others, such as the false teachers Hymenaeus and Philetus, are probably not born again. They are the vessels for dishonor. Paul is saying that no one should be a vessel for dishonor. To put it another way, he is saying that God isn’t going to use a garbage pail life to serve the pure gospel to a hungry world. Can you imagine being a guest at a wealthy home, where you’re seated around a magnificent table? The kitchen door swings open and the cook comes out with a garbage pail and starts dishing the food out of the pail. Even so, God isn’t going to use dirty lives to serve the good news of Christ to the world. (2 Timothy 2:20-22 The Person God Uses) Wiersbe takes it not so much as referring to the individual members of the Church but of teachers writing that Paul is not distinguishing between kinds of Christians, but rather is making a distinction between true teachers of the Word and the false teachers he described Wuest writes... Paul has been speaking of the true Church, the Mystical Body of Christ made up of believers only. In this verse he is referring to the visible organized Church on earth, made up of saved and unsaved. Spurgeon writes... it is not such a very great wonder that there should be persons in the church who are not of the sterling metal of sincerity, nor of the gold and silver of truth, which endures the fire. You must not look at Hymenaeus and Philetus as if they were prodigies, there have been many like them and there will be many more; these ill weeds grow apace, in all ages they multiply and increase." Where, dear brethren, beneath the skies shall we find absolute purity in any community? The very first family had a Cain in it, and there was a wicked Ham even in the select few within the ark. In the household of the father of the faithful there was an Ishmael; Isaac, with all his quiet walk with God, must be troubled with an Esau, and ye know how in the house of Jacob there were many sons that walked not as they should. When the church of God was in the wilderness and had a barrier of desert between it and the outer world, yet ye know how Korah, Dathan, and Abirain were there, beside many other troublers in Israel; yea, even amidst the most select part of the visible church of God, in the priesthood, there were found those that dishonored it. Nadab and Abihu were slain with fire before the Lord; and Hophni and Phinehas died in battle, because they had made themselves vile, though God's anointed priests. Even when our divine Master had formed for himself A little garden, walled around, Chosen, and made peculiar ground in which there were but twelve choice trees, yet one of them bore evil fruit. "I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." In the great field which Christ has sown, tares will spring up among the wheat, for the enemy takes pains to sow them; neither is it possible for us to root them up. In the king's garden briars will wow, thorns also and thistles will the most sacred soil yield to us. Even the lilies of Christ grow among thorns. You cannot keep the best of churches altogether pure, for though the Lord himself has prepared a vineyard, and make a winepress and built a wall about it, yet the foxes come and spoil the vines; and though our great Lord has an orchard which yieldeth rare fruit, yet when he cometh to visit it he finds a barren fig tree, digged about and dunged it is true, but barren still. Look to Christ's fold on earth and behold there are wolves in sheep's clothing there; look to the net which his servants draw to shore, and there are both good and bad fish therein. Yea, lift your eyes even to the skies, and though there be myriads of stars, yet ye shall mark wandering stars among them, and meteors which are and are not, and are quenched in the blackness of darkness for ever. Until we shall come to the heaven of the Most High we must expect to find chaff mixed with the wheat, dross with the gold, goats with the sheep, and dead flies with the ointment; only let us see to it that we be not of that ill character, but be precious in the sight of the Lord. (from 2 Timothy 2:20,21 The Great House and the Vessels) (2) Others believe that Paul is referring to two classes of believers... Nelson's Study Bible interprets Paul's metaphor of a large house... to describe two categories of believers. Gold and silver represent believers who are faithful and useful in serving Christ. Wood and clay represent believers who fail to honor the Lord (1Co 3:12, 13, 14, 15). (Bolding added) MacArthur says that... Articles made of gold or silver are more valuable and presentable than those of wood or earthenware. The former would be prominently displayed as decorations or used for serving important guests as a gesture of honor. The inferior articles, on the other hand, were strictly utilitarian. They were common, plain, replaceable, and some were used for garbage and human waste of the house. They were used for those duties that were never seen and were kept out of sight as much as possible. Honor and dishonor do not refer to true and false Christians, respectively. Jesus makes clear in the parable of the wheat and tares (24-Matt.13.25" class="scriptRef">Matt. 13:24, 25, 26" class="scriptRef">6, 27, 28, 29, 30) and in His teaching about the sheep and goats judgment of the nations (Matt. 25:31-46) that the visible church on earth will contain both unbelievers and believers until He returns and orders the final separation. But Paul is not speaking about that distinction. (Ro 12:3, 6-see notes Ro12:3; 6, 1Co 12:17,18)... Honor and dishonor therefore refer to the ways in which genuine believers are found useful to the Lord in fulfilling the work to which He has called them. In this sense, all believers should be, but are not always, vessels of honor. (MacArthur, J. 2 Timothy. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos) Alexander Maclaren expands on and qualifies the idea of two classes of believers... ‘In a great house there are vessels of gold and silver.’ There they stand, ranged on some buffet, precious and sparkling, and taken care of; and away down in kitchens or sculleries there are vessels of wood, or of cheap common crockery and pottery. Now, says Paul, that is like the Church as we have to see it in the world. What is the principle of the distinction here? At first sight one might suppose that it refers to the obvious inequality of intellectual and spiritual and other gifts or graces bestowed upon men; that the gold and silver are the more brilliantly endowed in the Christian community, and the wood and the earth are humbler members who have less conspicuous and less useful service to perform. But that is not so. The Bible never recognizes that distinction which the world makes so much of, between the largely and slenderly endowed, between the men who do what are supposed to be great things, and those who have to be content with humbler service. Its principle is, ‘small service is true service whilst it lasts,’ and although there are-diversities of operation, the man who has the largest share of gifts stands, in Heaven’s estimate, no whit above the man who has the smallest. All are on the one level; in God’s great army the praise and the honours do not get monopolized by the general officers, but they come down to the privates just as abundantly, if they are equally faithful. And then another consideration which shows us that it will not do to take gold and silver on the one hand, and wood and earth on the other, as marking the cleavage between the largely and the slenderly endowed members of the Church, is the fact that the way to get out of the one class and into the other, as we shall have to see presently, is by moral purity and not by the increase of intellectual or other endowments. The man that cleanses himself comes out of the category of ‘wood’ and ‘earth,’ and passes into that of ‘gold and silver.’ Thus the basis of the distinction, the ground of classification, lies altogether in goodness or badness, purity or impurity, worthiness or unworthiness. They who are in the highest degree pure are the ‘gold and silver.’ They who are less so, or not at all so, are the ‘wooden’ and the ‘earthen’ vessels. The same line of demarcation is suggested in another passage which employs several of the same phrases and ideas that are found in my text. We read in it about the foundation which is laid, and about the teachers building upon it various elements. Now these elements, on the one hand ‘gold, silver, and precious stones,’ and on the other hand ‘wool, hay, and stubble,’ may be the doctrines that these teachers proclaimed, or perhaps they may be the converts that they brought in. But in any case notice the parallelism, not only in regard to the foundation, but in regard to the distinction of the component parts of the structure — ‘gold and silver,’ as here, and the less valuable list headed, as here, by ‘wood; and then, by reason of the divergence of the metaphor, ‘hay and stubble,’ in the one case, and ‘earthenware’ in the other. But the suggestion of both passages is that the Church, the visible institution, has in it, and will always have in it, those who, by their purity and consistency of Christian life, answer to the designation of the gold and the silver, and those who, by their lack of that, fail into the other class, of wooden and earthen vessels. (2 Timothy 2:20, 21 The Great House and Its Vessels) Harry Ironside feels that this refers to two classes of Christians writing that... Christians are like those vessels. There is a sad mixed condition in Christendom today, saved and unsaved, often united in the same church-fellowship. There are those who profess to know the Lord, and those who have never confessed Him; and people wonder why there is so little power and blessing. If you want to please the Lord who has made you His own, you must separate yourself from all that is unclean. Then you will be "a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." Regardless of one's interpretation, in the following verses it is clear that God's desire for all believers is that they should be vessels of honor. AND SOME TO HONOR SOME TO DISHONOR: Kai a men eis timen a de eis atimian: (Ro 9:21, 22, 23-notes) To reiterate, there are primarily two ways one could interpret this passage. (1) There is a large house, the church, in which there are some believers who are honorable and useful and some who are dishonorable and useless to the Lord. Although this is a possibility, I favor the second possibility. (2) The distinction is not between believers but between believers and unbelievers. Both can be present in a large house. The context shows that some who had been exposed to the truth, strayed from the truth and perpetrated false teachings. The Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary has an interesting analysis writing... Having drawn at some length the contrast between true and false teachers (vv. 14-19), Paul now points up a second contrast--that between noble and ignoble vessels. Both will be found in the church. In a large house where a wealthy man lives, there are not only articles of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Those that are gold certainly receive honor by the owner. Some less eminent articles are of silver. But others are of wood (e.g., wooden bowls for holding flour) or clay (e.g., pottery). The latter two have a more mundane use. We find the same two expressions in Ro 9:21 (note). In the verses that follow there we find that the former vessels are "objects of [God's] mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory" (Ro 9:23-note), whereas the latter are "objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction" (Ro 9:22-note). On the basis of this, as well as the context here in 2 Timothy, some scholars feel that the articles for ignoble purposes are the false teachers in the church (2Ti 2:16, 17, 18 - see notes v16, 17, 18), who are destined for eternal destruction. In that case, "if a man cleanses himself from the latter" (v.21) means that Timothy must expel from the church the ignoble members. Another interpretation is less drastic. It holds that in the local congregation are members who are prepared for "noble purposes" and others who are fitted for more menial tasks. Both have their place and function in the church. Verse 21 would then mean that the individual who cleanses himself from "the latter" (perhaps false teachings) will be "an instrument for noble purposes." He will be "made holy", will be "useful to the Master," and will be "prepared to do any good work." Both of these interpretations seem valid. Since we cannot be sure which one Paul had in mind, we can make both applications. To amplify the differences of interpretation on this passage let me quote from two well known and highly respected expositors both of which make fairly dogmatic statements! Warren Wiersbe flatly states that Paul ... He is not distinguishing between kinds of Christians, but rather is making a distinction between true teachers of the Word and the false teachers he described (2 Tim. 2:16-18). (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos) John MacArthur with just as much assurance writes... Honor and dishonor do not refer to true and false Christians, respectively...Honor and dishonor therefore refer to the ways in which genuine believers are found useful to the Lord in fulfilling the work to which He has called them. (MacArthur, J. 2 Timothy. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos) The New Geneva Study Bible explains that verses 20-21 "provide an example from everyday life of the importance of holiness—being set apart for a noble (godly) task." (New Geneva study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson) Knight reasons... That some have gone astray from the truth (2Ti 2:18) provides the setting for referring to vessels "unto dishonor". Therefore, the large house is to be understood as the Christian community in its broadest sense, within which are false teachers.... The analogy could represent society in general (Chrysostom), but that the imagery of the house has been used of the Christian community in 1Ti 3:15 favors that understanding here (Alford, Calvin)....Therefore, gold and silver vessels are esteemed as honorable because they are used for honorable functions. Similarly, wood and earthenware vessels are regarded as dishonorable because they are used for garbage or excrement and are sometimes thrown out with their contents. The implication is that there may indeed be vessels like the false teachers in the professing Christian community, but their activity indicates that they are dishonorable. (Knight, G. W. The Pastoral Epistles : A Commentary on the Greek text Page 417. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle, England: Eerdmans) The Preacher's Commentary cautions us to... be careful not to press this metaphor too far. The picture is of the utensils in a home of affluence. Some are used for special occasions (“honor”); some are used for menial tasks (“dishonor”). The contrast between the silver goblet used for a toast and the garbage bucket comes to mind. The context would indicate that Paul is still dealing with the contrast between true and false teachers, with Hymenaeus and Philetus still in mind. (Briscoe, D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. The Preacher's Commentary Series. New Testament. 2003. Thomas Nelson or Logos) 2 Timothy 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses (3SAAS) himself from these things, he will be (3SFMI) a vessel for honor, sanctified (RPPNSN), useful to the Master, prepared (RPPNSN) for every good work. (NASB: Lockman) Greek: ean oun tis ekkathare (3SAAS) heauton apo touton, estai (3SFMI) skeuos eis timen, hegiasmenon, (RPPNSN) euchreston to despote, eis pan ergon agathon hetoimasmenon. (RPPNSN) Amplified: So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) KJV: If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. NLT: If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for his purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. (NLT - Tyndale House) Phillips: If a man keeps himself clean from the contaminations of evil he will be a vessel used for honourable purposes, clean and serviceable for the use of the master of the household, all ready, in fact, for any good purpose. (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: If, therefore, a person separate himself from these [the utensils held in contempt], he shall be a utensil highly prized, in a state of permanent separation, useful to the master, for every good work equipped. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: if, then, any one may cleanse himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified and profitable to the master -- to every good work having been prepared, THEREFORE IF A MAN CLEANSES FROM THESE: ean oun tis ekkathare (3SAAS) heauton apo touton: (Ps 119:9; Isa 1:25; 52:11; Jer 15:19; Mal 3:3; 1Co 5:7; 2Co 7:1-note; 1Pet 1:22-note; 1Jn 3:3) What or who does "these" refer to? There is a difference of opinion, the NAS adding "things" but if one reads it literally "cleanses himself from these" it would be more reasonable to interpret it as "the vessels of dishonor" which would be evil people (assuming one holds to the interpretation that different vessels represent believers and non-believers, especially false teachers) and especially those who are teaching error, as for example Hymenaeus and Philetus. Wuest (who believes he is referring to saved and unsaved) paraphrases it... If, therefore, a person separate himself from these [the utensils held in contempt], Morris explains that We should not be influenced by the vessels unto dishonour in the church. In fact, depending on the particulars in a given case, such members may need to be brought under church discipline and even excommunicated. (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing) (By implication Morris appears to believe the vessels of honor and dishonor are both believers). Paul gave a similar instruction to the Corinthians commanding them... Therefore, COME OUT (aorist imperative = do it now! It is urgent!) FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE (present imperative = continually)," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH (present imperative + negative = stop doing this) WHAT IS UNCLEAN ,; and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2Cor 6:17-7:1) The idea of a holy vessel is brought out in Jehovah's words to King Asa (though Hanani the seer)... For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars. (2Chr 16:9) In Psalm 119:9 the psalmist asks and answers his own question explaining how one can stay cleansed... How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. (Ps 119:9) Spurgeon comments - How shall he become and remain practically holy? He is but a young man, full of hot passions, and poor in knowledge and experience; how shall he get right, and keep right? Never was there a more important question for any man; never was there a fitter time for asking it than at the commencement of life. It is by no means an easy task which the prudent young man sets before him. He wishes to choose a clean way, to be himself clean in it, to cleanse it of any foulness which may arise in the future, and to end by showing a clear course from the first step to the last; but, alas, his way is already unclean by actual sin which he has already committed, and he himself has within his nature a tendency towards that which defileth. Here, then, is the difficulty, first of beginning aright, next of being always able to know and choose the right, and of continuing in the right till perfection is ultimately reached: this is hard for any man, how shall a youth accomplish it? The way, or life, of the man has to be cleansed from the sins of his youth behind him, and kept clear of the sins which temptation will place before him: this is the work, this is the difficulty. No nobler ambition can lie before a youth, none to which he is called by so sure a calling; but none in which greater difficulties can be found. Let him not, however, shrink from the glorious enterprise of living a pure and gracious life; rather let him enquire the way by which all obstacles may be overcome. Let him not think that he knows the road to easy victory, nor dream that he can keep himself by his own wisdom; he will do well to follow the Psalmist, and become an earnest enquirer asking how he may cleanse his way. Let him become a practical disciple of the holy God, who alone can teach him how to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, that trinity of defilers by whom many a hopeful life has been spoiled. He is young and unaccustomed to the road, let him not be ashamed often to enquire his way of him who is so ready and so able to instruct him in it. Our "way" is a subject which concerns us deeply, and it is far better to enquire about it than to speculate upon mysterious themes which rather puzzle than enlighten the mind. Among all the questions which a young man asks, and they are many, let this be the first and chief: "Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way?" This is a question suggested by common sense, and pressed home by daily occurrences; but it is not to be answered by unaided reason, nor, when answered, can the directions be carried out by unsupported human power. It is ours to ask the question, it is God's to give the answer and enable us to carry it out. By taking heed thereto according to thy word. Young man, the Bible must be your chart, and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according to its directions. You must take heed to your daily life as well as study your Bible, and you must study your Bible that you may take heed to your daily life. With the greatest care a man will go astray if his map misleads him; but with the most accurate map he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to it. The narrow way was never hit upon by chance, neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life. We can sin without thought, we have only to neglect the great salvation and ruin our souls; but to obey the Lord and walk uprightly will need all our heart and soul and mind. Let the careless remember this. Yet the "word" is absolutely necessary; for, otherwise, care will darken into morbid anxiety, and conscientiousness may become superstition. A captain may watch from his deck all night; but if he knows nothing of the coast, and has no pilot on board, he may be carefully hastening on to shipwreck. It is not enough to desire to he right; for ignorance may make us think that we are doing God service when we are provoking him, and the fact of our ignorance will not reverse the character of our action, however much it may mitigate its criminality. Should a man carefully measure out what he believes to be a dose of useful medicine, he will die if it should turn out that he has taken up the wrong vial, and has poured out a deadly poison: the fact that he did it ignorantly will not alter the result. Even so, a young man may surround himself with ten thousand ills, by carefully using an unenlightened judgment, and refusing to receive instruction from the word of God. Wilful ignorance is in itself wilful sin, and the evil which comes of it is without excuse. Let each man, whether young or old, who desires to be holy have a holy watchfulness in his heart, and keep his Holy Bible before his open eye. There he will find every turn of the road marked down, every slough and miry place pointed out, with the way to go through unsoiled; and there, too, he will find light for his darkness, comfort for his weariness, and company for his loneliness, so that by its help he shall reach the benediction of the first verse of the Psalm, which suggested the Psalmist's enquiry, and awakened his desires. Note how the first section of eight verses has for its first verse, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way." and the second section runs parallel to it, with the question, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" The blessedness which is set before us in a conditional promise should be practically sought for in the way appointed. The Lord saith, "For this will I be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." Spurgeon's Comments) Therefore (3767) (oun) is a term of conclusion indicating that the statement it introduces is an inference drawn from the last phrase of the previous verse. In other words, since some vessels are for honor, one should “therefore” seek to be one of them. If (see notes on conditional clauses) indicates this is a conditional sentence, the condition (condition of the third class) that is to be fulfilled being to cleanse oneself from the defilement of fellowship with “these” (the dishonorable vessels, in context the false teachers) and the effects of their teaching and actions. Can you see the gravity and significance of what Paul is stating in this section? The bottom line is that each of us has the ability to make choices which determine whether he or she will be a vessel for for God's use. This is a most sobering thought and is amplified by the charge that follows (flee...pursue) in the next verse. D. L. Moody said that... God doesn't seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones. Steven Cole writes that... Clearly, Paul is presenting us with a choice: Do you want to be a gold or silver vessel, used for honor, or will you be a cheap clay pot, used for dishonor? Again, you may think, “Well, both are used of God, aren’t they?” The answer is, “Yes, but you don’t want to be used as a vessel for dishonor!”... In the context, “these things” refers to the false teachings that were being spread. It’s worth noting that false teachings are not just mental mistakes-they are sins that need to be cleansed out of our lives! When Paul says that a person needs to cleanse himself, he is not teaching that by our own efforts we can atone for our sins. If you could do anything in and of yourself to deal with your sin problem before God, then the death of Christ was pointless. But you can and must avail yourself of the means of cleansing that God has provided in Christ. That is your responsibility. If you come into the house dirty after a day of working in the yard, you don’t lick yourself clean like a cat does! Rather, you make use of the soap and water to cleanse yourself. The soap and water are the means of cleansing. But you make use of them by applying them to your body. God provided the blood of Jesus as the means of cleansing us from all our sins (1 John 1:7, 9). There is a sense in which we are completely clean the moment that we trust in Christ as Savior. But we walk in the world, where we get defiled. When we confess our sins, we apply the blood of Jesus to our dirty lives. To be a vessel for honor, you must walk in the light, confessing all known sin to God. Vessels of dishonor walk in the darkness and do not cleanse themselves from sin. So, you must choose the type of vessel you will be. Cleansing yourself to become a vessel of honor is your responsibility.

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Greek Word Studies

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