<p>10:13&nbsp;<em>If the household be worthy</em>- Worthy of Christ (same word in :37,38). None are worthy (Rev. 5:4) except Christ (Rev. 5:9), yet if we are in Him, we are counted worthy. The Greek word is used about those who responded to John the Baptist producing fruit 'worthy of repentance' (Mt. 3:8; Lk. 3:8). It could be that the Lord is using the word in a technical sense, referring to those who had responded to John's preaching.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The apostles would have gone to the household because they had heard that it was worthy, or believing in Jesus (see on :11). But the Lord was well aware that there would be those who had a name as believers in Him who actually were not. Even though the household was &quot;worthy&quot; in the sense of having professed faith in Him, they needed to confirm that by accepting the&nbsp;<em>shalom</em>&nbsp;offered in Christ's Name. Note that the household was judged as worthy or unworthy. Here we see the beginnings of the house church movement which was so characteristic of early Christianity. We note too the household baptisms mentioned in the NT. One purpose, therefore, of the apostles visiting these households was to find out who had a name as a Christian believer, and to ascertain whether they were indeed believers. The test was whether the household who claimed to be Christian would receive them, the representatives of Jesus, who were as His body to the world. If the household publicly professed faith in Jesus, having heard something about Him or maybe learnt from John the Baptist, but refused to accept Christ's brethren and the word of Christ as they taught it- then they were classified as not actually believing at all. This has uncanny parallels with our own day, where many claim publicly to be &quot;worthy&quot;, to be believers in Jesus personally- but refuse and reject His brethren and are not seriously interested in His words. Herein lies the danger of 'out of church Christianity'. Whatever that means, if it means in reality that we profess a personal allegiance to Jesus but have no time for His people- then it is wrong and a path to rejection by Him. Vague connection with the idea of Jesus and advertising it publicly is not enough of itself- if we reject His brethren, then we have rejected Him. This is a sobering challenge to those whose closed table policies lead them to reject many of His brethren and representatives. There has to be a connection with the use of the same word &ldquo;worthy&rdquo; in 10:12- the labourer in the Gospel&rsquo;s work is &ldquo;worthy&rdquo; of being supported. The connection could simply be that the worthiness of the household is proven by whether they consider Christ&rsquo;s servants likewise &lsquo;worthy&rsquo;, and whether they treat them accordingly.</p>
<p><em>Let your peace come upon it, but if it be unworthy, let your peace return to you</em>- See on 10:12. If the household didn't accept Christ's brethren, then the peace of salvation which He had invested the apostles' greeting with, would be withdrawn. His&nbsp;<em>shalom</em>, His peace and fellowship with those who name His Name, is dependent upon whether or not they accept His brethren.</p>