House: home
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Oikos means a house, dwelling, household, family line, or the people belonging to a household. It can name a physical building, the social unit living under one roof, the temple as God’s house, or God’s people portrayed as His household and spiritual house.
Reader summary
Full entry for οἶκος (G3624) · Open the biblical lexicon
Oikos means a house, dwelling, household, family line, or the people belonging to a household. It can name a physical building, the social unit living under one roof, the temple as God’s house, or God’s people portrayed as His household and spiritual house.
The BSB source-word alignment has 113 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include house (43), home (24), household (14), [the] house (6), a house (5).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (33), Acts (24), Mark (13), Hebrews (11).
Oikos means a house, dwelling, household, family line, or the people belonging to a household. It can name a physical building, the social unit living under one roof, the temple as God’s house, or God’s people portrayed as His household and spiritual house. In Luke, salvation comes to Zacchaeus’s house as Jesus identifies him as a son of Abraham. The jailer hears the gospel with his household, but Acts does not teach automatic salvation apart from hearing and believing.
Jesus defends His Father’s house as a house of prayer. Paul calls the church the household of the living God, Peter describes believers as living stones built into a spiritual house, and Hebrews says Christ is Son over God’s house. The metaphor gives belonging and order without making a church building sacred by vocabulary alone.
Oikos moves between dwelling and household, then supplies temple and church imagery. The selected passages emphasize gospel entry into households, God’s house ordered for worship, and believers built together under Christ the Son.
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham.
Jesus declares that salvation has come to Zacchaeus’s house and identifies him as a son of Abraham. The household setting displays repentance and restoration, while the declaration centers on Jesus’ saving mission.
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Paul and Silas address the jailer with a promise that reaches him and his household. The following verses show the word preached to all in the house and a household response, guarding against an automatic-salvation reading.
And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Jesus cites Scripture to contrast a house of prayer with a den of robbers. His action judges corrupt use of the temple and asserts God’s purpose for worship rather than merely regulating commerce.
In case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Paul calls the church the household of the living God and connects that identity to conduct, truth, and ordered service. Household belonging carries both privilege and responsibility.
You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Believers are living stones being built into a spiritual house and holy priesthood through Jesus Christ. The image is corporate and active; God forms a worshiping people rather than isolated spiritual stones.
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.
Christ is faithful as Son over God’s house, and believers are that house as they hold firmly to hope. The passage combines Christ’s superior authority with persevering communal identity.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Physical dwelling expands metonymically to household, family, lineage, and the Church as God's spiritual household.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 114 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a house, household
Read versea house, household
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Read versea house, household
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Read versea house, household
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 8 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 112 lexical occurrence verses.
οἶκος is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Refers to covenant community, not a physical building.1 Timothy 3:14-16
The early church often gathered within households, highlighting the relational structure of Christian fellowship.2 Timothy 4:19-22
The church is portrayed as God’s family, emphasizing relational identity and ordered responsibility.Hebrews 3:1-6
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Oikos joins place and people without confusing them. A house can be entered; a household can hear the gospel; the temple can be called God’s house; and the church can be named His household or a spiritual house. Luke and Acts show the gospel entering domestic networks, but their narratives still include personal hearing, repentance, faith, and transformed conduct.
Jesus’ temple action places worship under God’s purpose. First Timothy makes household identity a reason for truthful and ordered behavior, not a pretext for control. First Peter pictures believers as living stones built together through Christ, while Hebrews places the house under the faithful Son and calls its members to perseverance. The church is therefore more than an audience assembled in a religious building.
It is a people God joins, orders, and inhabits under Christ, with hospitality, holiness, truth, worship, and endurance flowing from that shared belonging.
1Tim.3.15
Oikos can denote a physical house, its inhabitants, a household or family, and extended temple or community imagery. Context and modifiers distinguish dwelling from social unit or theological metaphor. The local artifact supplies the governed occurrence basis for exact G3624.
The Old Testament uses house language for households, dynasties, and the temple. God’s promise concerning David’s house, the temple as the Lord’s house, and prophetic criticism of corrupt worship all prepare for New Testament claims about Christ the Son and the people built as God’s dwelling.