Meaning of HOUSE

The house was "not" intended to be lived in (be inhabited), but only to offer shelter from the scorching sun and rain and to be the place to sleep, when one did not sleep outside on the roof.

The house, almost always one story, consisted of "a single" large space, built with stones and adobe (wood was a very expensive imported material).

The plaster and the floor were usually made of clay; Instead of windows there were a few openwork windows (without glass). Houses with several rooms were rare; When this happened the rooms all faced a patio, as did the stables and warehouses.

In this patio were the ovens and cisterns.
In the Hellenistic-Roman era, a type of house was built that could have a room on the upper floor (cf. Gen. 7:1).

Domestic communities, to which those who lived in the house (including slaves) belonged first and foremost, were of special importance in early Christianity (Acts 11:14; 16:15; 1 Cor. 1:16; Col. 4:15).

Community assemblies then took place in homes (Acts 2:46). The entire community is “God's building” (1 Cor. 3:9; cf. 1 Tim. 3:15); Christians are “God's householders” (Eph. 2:19).

The instructions to Christians about the various states of life (e.g. Col. 3:18-25) are called domestic duties.