Bible Lexicons

For οἰκία, ";a house,"; in the ordinary sense of the term, it is sufficient to cite such passages as P Petr II. 12 (1).12 (B.C. 241) ἐνωικοδομηκότας τὰς θύρας τῶν οἰκιῶν, ";built up the doors of the houses,"; ib. I. 14.10 (a Will—B.C. 237) καταλιμπάνω. . [τὴν ἐ ]ν Ἀλεξανδρείαι οἰκίαν ἐμοὶ ὑπάρχουσαν, P Ryl II. 125.25 (A.D. 28–9) ἔριψεν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ μου τὴν πυξίδα κενήν, ";he threw the box empty into my house";(Edd.), P Oxy I. 99.5 (A.D. 55) μέρος ἥμισυ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ μητρικῆς οἰκία [ς ] τριστέγου, ";one half of a three-storied house inherited from his mother,"; and BGU I. 22.29 (A.D. 114) (= Selections, p. 76) ἀνέβη εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν μου. In phrases similar to the last, the word οἰκία is sometimes omitted, e.g. P Oxy III. 472.4 (c. A.D. 130) ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ κληρονομεῖν μέλλοντος υἱοῦ προῆλθε, ";but it was from the house of himself and his son and future heir that he came forth"; (Edd.), P Iand 14.5 (iv/A.D.) ἄπελθε εἰς Λύκ [ο ̣υ ̣. This usage survives in MGr. The difference between οἰκία, the whole house, and οἶκος, an insula, or set of rooms, our ";flat,"; is, as the editors point out, well seen in such a document as P Tebt I. 46 (B.C. 113), where a certain Menches complains that a raid had been made on his house—.9 ἐπὶ τὴν ὑπάρχουσάν μοι οἰκίαν, and that the raiders had burst open the lock of his mother’s apartment—.13 ἐκκρούσαντε [ς ] τὸ χελώνιον τοῦ οἴκου τῆς μητρός μου : cf. ib. 38.14 f. (B.C. 113), P Fay 31.11 ff. (c. A.D. 129). The traces of the distinction are not readily observable in the NT; but note the appropriateness of the larger word in such passages as Matthew 5:15, Luke 15:8, John 12:3, 2 Timothy 2:20. Οἰκοδομέω is not used with οἶκον as object, except in Acts 7:47; Acts 7:49, and the temple is always οἶκος : see the significant contrast ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου, John 14:2. For οἰκία = ";household,"; as in John 4:53 al. cf. P Petr II. 23 (4).2 καταγράψας τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Ὥρου, and for the phrase κατ᾽ οἰκίαν with reference to the ";house to house"; census cf. P Tebt II. 291.29 (A.D. 162) τῇ [πρ ]ὸς τὸ θ ̄ (ἔτος) κ [ατ ]᾽ οἰκίαν ἀπ [ο ]γραφῇ, and Selections, p. 44 f. In the curious contract of service for 99 years, into which a woman enters with another, we find the formula—ἐν τῇ σῇ οἰκίᾳ καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἔργου σου (PSI V. 549.11—B.C. 42–1). With Matthew 26:6 cf. P Oxy I. 51.13 (A.D. 173) ἐν οἰκίᾳ Ἐπαγαθοῦ.