For decades churches were told by church growth experts, that if they were not growing at a prescribed percentage every year they were in decline and ineffectual in the kingdom of God. Focus was turned to church growth; and churches grew; sometimes exponentially! Now these large churches are struggling with lack of intimacy and are creating small group ministries to address feelings of isolation and disconnectedness. Growth without the accompanying warmth of intimacy and fellowship leave congregants empty and confused and searching.

Hospitality or literally ‘lover of strangers’ (filocenos), and ‘love of strangers’ (filocenia), in the New Testament, comes from two Greek words: filos (love or friend) and xenos (foreign or alien) (The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary 1988), and is a central theme running throughout the scriptures. I'm going to look at the concept of hospitality from selected passages in both the Old and New Testaments to get a Biblical perspective about why hospitality is so important.

Beginning in the Pentateuch the Israelites were prohibited by the Law from mistreating the aliens or strangers living among them; this prohibition was based on Israel’s own experiences as strangers in Egypt. They knew how it felt to be mistreated and oppressed; and that collective memory was to impact their ethical treatment of strangers in the land (Exodus 22:21, 23:9). However, the Israelites were not merely to refrain from negative behavior toward the stranger, they were also to be proactive in their positive treatment of them. Strangers were to be treated as ‘native born’ and were to be ‘loved’ by the children of Israel. This requirement would be difficult to implement; and necessitated the punctuation and added weight of the phrase, ‘I am the Lord your God’ (Leviticus 19:34) reminding the people who was requiring this of them.

The prohibition against mistreatment of the stranger and the proactive principle of loving them instead was further developed and intrinsically linked to the Israelites’ relationship with God in Deuteronomy 10:12-22. It was not enough for the Israelites to simply ‘believe’ in God; they were to ‘love’ God with all their hearts and souls; because He first loved them. Out of this divine-human love relationship would grow their love for, and ethical treatment of, the stranger in Israel. God predicated His mandate of hospitality on the Israelites’ relationship with Him: His character, His love for the Israelites, and His ethical treatment of the stranger. He was also expecting the Israelites’ memories of past experiences as a mistreated and oppressed people to play a significant role in their hospitality.

In the law of the tithes and firstfruits the Israelites were to take a portion (ten percent) of the produce from their land and bring it before the priests as a thanksgiving to God for His provision for them. This tithe was to be distributed among several groups of people: the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and widows. This tithe was not just for the needs of the priests and Levites, but for the provision of food for the aliens in the land (Deuteronomy 26:12-13).

Many examples of hospitality to strangers exist in the Old Testament; here I only want to look at two: Abraham and Job. Abraham’s exercise of hospitality toward three strangers in Genesis 18 resulted in the entertainment of two angels and a theophany of Christ; and produced a confirmation of the arrival of the promised child the following year; and the deliverance of his nephew Lot from the destruction of Sodom. Job’s autobiographical statement in Job 31:32 is an early example of the importance placed on hospitality. He based his claim to having lived a proper life on the fact that he had never allowed a stranger to sleep in the street; his doors had always been open to them.

In the prophets Isaiah addressed the mandate for exercising hospitality. Israel had institutionalized its religious practices by this time and prided itself in its ritualized fasting. Chastising them concerning their concept of fasting, Isaiah detailed the elements of a proper fast: loosing chains of injustice, untying the chords of the yoke, freeing the oppressed, sharing their food with the hungry, providing the wanderer with shelter, clothing the naked, all the while staying engaged with ones own family (Isaiah 58:6-7). It is interesting to observe that Isaiah found it necessary to acknowledge that practicing hospitality did not mean one had to deny ones family in the process.

In the New Testament the disciples and the people to whom they ministered were familiar with the concept of hospitality developed throughout Israel’s history. Each of the Synoptic writers included an account of Jesus’ response to the question regarding the greatest commandment. In each instance the writer records Jesus’ response as a reference back to the relational command of the Law: to love God with all ones heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love ones neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28). Luke, however, is the only one who addresses the additional challenge of defining "neighbor"; and does so in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The lesson in this parable is not who is my neighbor; but to whom can I be a neighbor (Luke 10:29-37).

Matthew is the only synoptic writer who includes Jesus’ parable about the judgment of nations (Matthew 25:31-46). A possible means of identifying ‘the least of these brothers of mine’ in Matthew 25:40 comes from a comment Jesus makes in response to a question about His filial relationships in Matthew 12:50, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”  He points first to His disciples and acknowledges them as His brothers; then broadens this to ‘whoever’ does the will of the Father as being His brothers. This double statement implies that any of Jesus’ followers who go and proclaim the Gospel message are His brothers, sisters, and mothers. If this identification is accepted, Jesus is connecting the treatment of His followers, who are endeavoring to share the gospel message, to treatment of Himself. Anyone who does not practice hospitality toward those who are Jesus’ witnesses, effectively rejecting them, is also rejecting the message they are bringing: Jesus Christ and His salvation; thus fitting them for eternal destruction.

This interpretation is given further credence by an examination of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ instructions to the twelve in Matthew 10:11-16, "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” Here again, the criterion for judgment is the town’s hospitality toward the disciples; and by extension, their reception or rejection of the Gospel message; i.e. Jesus Christ. Lydia’s conversion in Acts 16:11-15 is an excellent example of this type of hospitality; she invited Paul and his traveling companions to stay in her home following her reception of the message of Jesus Christ.

Hospitality played a large role in the advancement of the Gospel. There was a communal aspect to the early church when believers were still part of the Jewish temple community; they met in the temple but also in individual homes; fellowshipping from ‘house to house’ (Acts 2:42-47).  Individuals, such as Lydia, who were saved opened their homes for the church to meet (Romans 16:3-5; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 2) and provided hospitality for itinerant ministers (3 John 5-8).

In Paul’s writings in Romans 12:13 he exhorts his readers to pursue the love of strangers; and makes the love of strangers (hospitality) a qualification for an overseer in the church in his epistles (1 Timothy 3:12; Titus 1:8). As intense persecution arose against Christians, many having their homes and belongings confiscated by the state, the practice of hospitality became even more significant. For example, in spite of the suffering that the believers in the book of Hebrews were experiencing, the author exhorts them not to ‘forget’ to entertain (filocenias) or “love strangers” (Hebrews 13:2). Hebrews 13:2-3 is very similar to the passage in Matthew 25:35-36, including the exhortation to visit those in prison; perhaps implying disciples who were suffering in prison because of their proclamation of the Gospel message. Included here is an additional caveat that some, while practicing hospitality, had entertained angels; perhaps recalling Abraham and his three visitors in Genesis 18 (Morris, Leon, Hebrews, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1988). The implication is that a positive relationship exists between the potential entertainment of angels and the divine benefits of this behavior for the host.

Peter also admonishes his readers, some again suffering for the cause of Christ, to be hospitable to one another; and to do it without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9). The attitude in the exercise of hospitality is important to Peter. Because hospitality is mandated by God it can potentially be done out of legalistic obligation; with the accompanying complaining, negative attitude; rather than doing it out of love for God and love for others. In the preceding verse Peter exhorted his readers to love each other deeply (1Peter 4:8); it was out of love that hospitality was to be extended.

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