Two Different Types of "Houses?"

Why does Jesus use two different words that are translated as
house? Neither of these translations is wrong. The words are masculine and feminine forms of the same Greek word. Why does he use the two different forms? The answer gets us closer to how Jesus’s listeners heard his words.

Jesus uses the feminine form, oikia, a little more often, in forty verses, as opposed to the masculine, oikos, which he uses in twenty-nine. However, Jesus uses compound words based upon the masculine form in thirty-two verses. Both forms are used frequently enough that we should suspect that he uses them in different ways.

The Greek Words

These two words are translated from ancient Greek literature into English in similar ways.

The feminine form, oikia (οἰκίᾳ) is translated as "house," "building," and "household." “Household” includes all the people that dwell on the estate, including slaves and servants, and all property owned by the family.

The masculine form, oikos, (οἶκος) is translated as "house," "dwelling place," "meeting hall," "household goods," "substance," and the "ruling family."

The Feminine Oikia

Let us look at how Jesus uses oikia. This is Matthew 10:13:

NIV: If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.
Listeners Heard: And, when, certainly, that household is worthy, this peace of yours must show up for it. When, however, it is not worthy, that peace of yours must be returned to you.

In this verse, note that a “home” as a physical building cannot be worthy. What is? The people in the household.

Here is Mark 6:4:

NIV: A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
Listeners Heard: A luminary isn't unvalued except within that country of his and among those relatives of his and among that household of his.

A “home” as a “house” doesn’t value anyone. A “household” of people does. In this verse, the “country,” and “relatives,” are groups of people like a household. So, Jesus often uses this female form to refer to the house as its people, the household.

Another shade of this meaning is found in John 14:2:

NIV: My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
Listeners Heard:  In the household of that Father of mine, there are many stopping places. Otherwise, I would tell you because I go to ready a place for you.

Here, the words in the NIV are translated to fit a big, physical house with Jesus preparing places in it. The verse, however, is more likely a description of a household of people with various places or roles, those positions could be permanent or just “stopping places.”

To extend our understanding of the female oikia in a different directions, here is Mark 12:40:

NIV: They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.
Listeners Heard: The ones gulping down the households of these widows and praying long as a pretext, those getting an excessive judgment.

It is not the buildings being devoured, nor the people, though that image is funny. Here, Jesus is referring to its resources, their household incomes and property.

The Masculine Oikos

Now let us look at some examples of how Jesus uses the masculine version, oikos.

First, we should have Matthew 10:6

NIV: Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
Listeners Heard: Go, however, more towards those sheep, the ones having been lost of House Israel.

This verse is interesting because it has a use of okios that we don’t see for oikia, using it to define a clan or group descended from a common ancestor. This is a “ruling family,” one meaning the masculine form doesn’t share with the feminine.

Next, we have Mark 2:26:

NIV: In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
Listeners Heard: How he entered into the house of the Divine during Abiathar, a chief priest, and he ate the loaves of public display, which is not allowed except for the priests to eat, and he gave also to those being along with him.

Here, Jesus is referring to a building, the building used as a temple during the time of David.

We see this same use of oikos in John 2:16 where Jesus drives money-making from the Temple: 

NIV: Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market.
Listeners Heard: Removed these from here. You don't want to make this house of that Father of mine a house of trading.

This next verse, Matthew 24:17 also clearly refers to a building,

NIV:  Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house.
Listeners Heard: The one upon the rooftop must not come down to take up some things from that house of his.

Finally, we have Luke 10:5. It is interesting because it has both words, the feminine oikia first, then the masculine oikos:

NIV: When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’
Listeners Heard: But into whatever household you enter, first say, "Keep peace in this house."  

Here, it doesn’t make sense to talk to a “house,” but it does to talk to a “household of people” so oikia. Those people are in a building, an oikos. So, oikios can refer either to “house” as a family descended from a common ancestor, or, more commonly to a building.

The last argument that oikos primarily means the physical building is supported by the three compound words made from oikos. Okios in these verses is not the root, but their prefix. The most common of these is the verb, oikodomeo (οἰκοδομέω) which Jesus uses in eighteen verses. It means to "build a house," and, more generally, "construct.” Its Greek root is doma, which means to “build.” Next, we have oikodespotês (οἰκοδεσπότης), which means the "master of the house" and "steward of a house." The root is despotes, a Greek word that means “lord” and “master.” Finally, we have another noun, oikoumene (οἰκουμένῃ), which is the “inhabited world.” The root is meno, a verb, meaning "stay." So, its sense is “house-staying” or the “habitation.”

My Choices

I tend to translate oikia, the female form, as “household.” In some verses, “estate” or “household resources” works better to cover the buildings, land, and resources.

I tend to translate "oikos” as the building, the “house,” but it also refers to the descendants of a given line. This is a popular historical use of “house” and in naming the royal houses.