Dictionary Home / F

Family

theological_term theological_term standard

The basic human community of related persons, ordinarily centered on marriage, parents, children, and kinship ties. In Scripture, family is a primary setting for love, nurture, responsibility, and the passing on of faith.

At a Glance

Family is the household and kinship network through which human life is ordinarily ordered and faith is often passed from one generation to the next.

Key Points

Description

Family in Scripture refers broadly to the household and kinship relationships through which human life is ordinarily ordered, especially the relationships of husband and wife, parents and children, and extended relatives. The Bible treats family as part of God’s good design for human life, a central context for covenant faithfulness, loving care, moral responsibility, and the transmission of truth from one generation to the next. At the same time, Scripture recognizes the effects of sin within families and teaches that loyalty to Christ is ultimate, even above natural family ties. Because family is a broad category rather than a sharply defined technical doctrine, a dictionary entry should avoid overstatement and stay close to clear biblical themes such as household order, care for relatives, honoring parents, and the place of marriage and children within God’s created order.

Biblical Context

The Bible opens with marriage and family at creation (Genesis 1–2), then traces family lines, household responsibilities, inheritance, covenant succession, and generational teaching throughout the Old Testament. In the New Testament, family remains important, but discipleship in Christ also redefines belonging around obedience to God and faith in Christ.

Historical Context

In the ancient world, the household was the basic social and economic unit. Family life carried responsibilities for labor, inheritance, protection, and religious instruction. Biblical teaching affirms those realities while correcting sinful patterns of domination, neglect, and idolatry.

Jewish and Ancient Context

In ancient Israel, family and clan structures were central to identity, land, inheritance, and covenant continuity. Jewish life strongly emphasized honoring parents, teaching children, and preserving the faith within the household. This background helps explain the Bible’s frequent use of household and generational language.

Primary Key Texts

Secondary Key Texts

Original Language Note

Scripture often uses household language rather than a single technical term: Hebrew bayit ('house/household') and mishpachah ('family/clan'), and Greek oikos/oikia ('household/house').

Theological Significance

Family is part of God’s creational order and a major setting for covenant life, moral formation, and generational discipleship. It also provides a key picture for understanding God’s people as the household or family of God.

Philosophical Explanation

Family reflects the truth that persons are relational, dependent, and morally accountable to one another. It grounds human life in stable commitments rather than isolated individualism, while also showing that natural bonds are good but not absolute.

Interpretive Cautions

Do not idolize biological family or treat it as the highest allegiance; Jesus calls his followers to place loyalty to him first. Do not flatten all family texts into one idealized model, since Scripture includes broken, blended, childless, extended, and covenantal household realities. Also avoid assuming that every cultural family pattern is biblically normative.

Major Views

Christians generally agree that family is a creation good and a primary sphere of responsibility. They differ on some household roles and on how directly Old Testament household patterns should be applied under the new covenant, but not on the basic importance of family itself.

Doctrinal Boundaries

Family is not a saving institution, and natural descent does not confer covenant standing apart from faith. The Bible honors marriage and children, but it does not make marriage or parenthood universal requirements for every believer. The family is important, yet Christ and his kingdom are supreme.

Practical Significance

Family is the everyday setting for care, discipline, provision, teaching, forgiveness, and spiritual formation. It shapes how believers think about marriage, parenting, caring for relatives, honoring parents, and living out the faith at home.

Related Entries

See Also

Data

Machine-readable JSON for Family

↑ Top