Building Biblically

Have you ever thought about what a biblical house would look like? I have an acquaintance from my Sunday School class at work who is a custom home builder that I put on the spot one day by asking this question. After looking at me with a slightly worried expression, he admitted he had no clue what I was talking about. Let me share a few of the thoughts I mentioned to him and you can tell me if I have any idea what I am talking about.

Let me start by saying that there is no "one true biblical house", but that some houses may better fit God's purposes than others. I will give you a few fairly generic examples that might make sense for our day and culture.

For the sake of illustration, I have four "houses" sketched below.


House #1 is probably rather unbiblical and inappropriate for the typical family because it diminishes the importance of children by placing them far from the parents and primarily under the care of hired help. Children probably should not have to cross the entire house to meet their parents. Think of the theological distortion that children in this house would subtly suffer from: the Father is distant and far off and an intermediary is necessary.

House #2 fails in another fashion. It illustrates the other extreme that some parents have adopted by bringing the children into their own bedrooms to sleep. This approach fails to recognize the preeminence of the marriage relationship in the family and the subordinate role of children. It communicates that the children are the center of their parents world. What a disaster when people believe God is just waiting around for their approval!

House #3 is a better house because it does not fail in the fashion of the previous two. However, it can still be the home of an overly inwardly focused and isolated family.

House #4 recognizes that the Kingdom focused family will always make minister to other through their home. The family does not need large bedrooms for isolated retreats from other people. God designed people for relationships and meeting each others needs. Modern society's emphasis on autonomy has mislead us into thinking we are islands only joined by wi-fi or cell phones. People need to be together. The family that shares the common purpose of serving and engaging their community will be less prone to internal struggles than those that curl up around TV or the Internet, each in their own rooms.

These are just illustrations, but I hoped my friend would think long and hard about the homes he builds for customers. Think about the difference he could make in their lives by communicating his biblically informed vision for their home. Are you a home builder or architect? Please comment!