Strangers (3581)(xenos) means a foreigner . Xenos describes that when is unfamiliar because it is unknown (strange doctrine, Heb 13:9, a strange deity Acts 17:18). Xenos can mean strange in the sense of unheard of or surprising (1Pe 4:12). Xenos refers to Gentiles who are unacquainted with God as strangers or estranged or without interest in God (Ep 3:12). Words that use the xen- stem most often convey the sense of foreign or strange but can also convey the sense of guest whereas xenophobia is a fear of strangers. Xenos is used once in the NT to describe a host (who treats a stranger as a guest) and elsewhere we note that hospitable is a derivative which means love of strangers (philoxenos). William Barclay summarizes xenos... Xenos is the word for a stranger and a foreigner. In the ancient world the fate of the stranger was hard. He was regarded with hatred and suspicion and contempt. In Sparta xenos was the equivalent of barbaros, barbarian. A man writes complaining that he was despised “because I am a xenos”. Another man writes that, however poor a home is, it is better to live at home than epi xenes, in a foreign country. When clubs had their common meal, those who sat down to it were divided into members and xenoi. Xenos can even mean a refugee. All their lives the patriarchs were foreigners in a land that never was their own. (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press) In the ancient world the 'stranger' had an uncomfortable time. In the papyri a man writes...home to tell his people 'Do not be anxious about me because I am away from home, for I am personally acquainted with these places and I am no xenos, stranger, here.' ....' In the ancient world clubs in which the members met to have a common meal were very common; and those who sat down were divided into sundeipnoi, fellow-members, and xenoi, outsiders, who are guests only on sufferance and by courtesy. A mercenary soldier who was serving in a foreign army was xenos, a stranger (Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.1.10). In Sparta the 'stranger' was automatically regarded as a 'barbarian'. Xenos and bar-bows meant one and the same thing (Herodotus, 9.11). (Barclay, William: New Testament Words:. Westminster John Know Press, 1964) TDNT writes that... Strangeness produces mutual tension between natives and foreigners, but hospitality overcomes the tension and makes of the alien a friend. Historically foreigners are primarily enemies or outlaws who should be killed. It is then found, however, that hospitality is a better way to deal with strangers, and they thus become the wards of law and religion. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans or Wordsearch) Xenos - 14x in 14v - Mt 25:35, 38, 43, 44 27:7 Acts 17:18,21 Ro 16:23 Ep 2:12, Ep 2:19 Heb 11:13 Heb 13:9 1Pe 4:12 3Jn 1:5. NAS = host(1), strange(2), strange thing(1), stranger(4), strangers(6). Matthew 25:35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; Matthew 25:38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? Matthew 25:43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Matthew 25:44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Matthew 27:7 And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers. Acts 17:18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, "What would this idle babbler wish to say?" Others, "He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,"-- because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Acts 17:21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.) Romans 16:23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother. Ephesians 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, Hebrews 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. 1Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 3John 1:5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; Xenos - 9x in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX)- Ruth 2:10; 1Sa 9:13; 2Sa 12:4; 15:19; Job 31:32; Ps 69:8; Eccl 6:2; Isa 18:2; Lam 5:2 Ruth 2:10-note Then she (Ruth) fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him (Boaz), "Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner (Lxx = xenos - because she was a Moabitess in Israel)?" Strangers and exiles - They are not "tethered" to this present world but pressing on toward another world (Php 3:13-note, Php 3:14-note). Barclay adds that... All their days the patriarchs were strangers in a strange land. That picture of the sojourner became a picture of the Christian life. Tertullian said of the Christian He knows that on earth he has a pilgrimage but that his dignity is in heaven. Clement of Alexandria said:  We have no fatherland on earth. Augustine said We are sojourners exiled from our fatherland. It was not that the Christians were foolishly other-worldly, detaching themselves from the life and work of this world; but they always remembered that they were people on the way. There is an unwritten saying of Jesus:  The world is a bridge. The wise man will pass over it but will not build his house upon it. (Ed: And yet the wise man does in fact build his house upon the Rock! Mt 7:24, 25-note) The Christian regards himself as the pilgrim of eternity. (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press) STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT LONGING FOR THE LIGHT ...OF HIS RETURN The great Puritan writer Thomas Manton expounds on the spiritual meaning of a stranger... (1) A stranger is one that is absent from his country, and from his father's house: so are we, heaven is our country, God is there, and Christ is there. (Rev 22:3-note, Rev 22:4-note Isa 30:18b, 2Ti 4:8b-note Heb 9:28b-note Titus 2:13-note) Spurgeon writes: Oh, how sweet the prospect of the time when we shall not behold Him at a distance, but see Him face to face: when He shall not be as a wayfaring man tarrying but for a night, but shall eternally enfold us in the bosom of His glory. We shall not see Him for a little season, but “Millions of years our wondering eyes, Shall o’er our Savior’s beauties rove; And myriad ages we’ll adore, The wonders of his love.” In heaven there shall be no interruptions from care or sin; no weeping shall dim our eyes; no earthly business shall distract our happy thoughts; we shall have nothing to hinder us from gazing for ever on the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) with unwearied eyes. Oh, if it be so sweet to see Him now and then, how sweet to gaze on that blessed face for aye, and never have a cloud rolling between, and never have to turn one’s eyes away to look on a world of weariness and woe! Blest day, when wilt thou dawn? Rise, O unsetting Sun! The joys of sense may leave us as soon as they will, for this shall make glorious amends. If to die is but to enter into uninterrupted communion with Jesus, then death is indeed gain (Php1:21-note, Php 3:7, 8-note), and the black drop is swallowed up in a sea of victory." Thinking about the joys to come moved the renowned English physician Thomas Browne (1605-1682) to write, When we begin to talk about life after death, we're like two infants in a womb discussing the nature of their future life. The difference between our present knowledge and understanding of what it will be to share God's glory is no less great than what exists between unborn babes and a man in the strength of his days....As Christians, we know it is indescribable and thus we can rejoice, but it will be even greater than our wildest imagination." In life's darkest or most joyous moments, let's never forget that the best is yet to be. To see His face, this is my goal, The deepest longing of my soul; Through storm and stress my path I'll trace Till, satisfied, I see His face! -Chisholm The greatest joy on earth is the prospect of heaven. (2) A stranger in a foreign country is not known, nor valued according to his birth and breeding: so the saints walk up and down in the world like princes in disguise. (1Jn 3:1-note, 1Jn 3:2-note, 1Jn 3:3-note) (3) Strangers are liable (subject) to inconveniences: so are godly men in the world. Religion (specifically Christianity), says Tertullian, is like a strange plant brought from a foreign country, and doth not agree with the nature of the soil, it thrives not in the world. (Jn 17:15, 16 Ro 12:2-note) (4) A stranger is patient, standing not for ill usage, and is contented with pilgrim's fare and lodging. We are now abroad and must expect hardship. (1Pe 4:12-note Acts 14:22b) (5) A stranger is wary, that he may not give offense, and incur the hatred and displeasure of the natives. (1Pe 2:12-note 2Pe 3:11-note) (6) A stranger is thankful for the least favor; so we must be thankfully contented with the things God hath bestowed upon us: anything in a strange country is much. (1Th 5:18-note Eph 5:20-note - How possible? Eph 5:18-note, Col 3:17-note Php 4:6-note Ps 34:1-note He 13:15-note Job 1:21) (7) A stranger, that has a journey to go on, would pass over it as soon as he could, and so we, who have a journey to heaven, desire to be dissolved (Php 1:23-note Php 1:21-note, 2Co 5:8 Lk 2:29 30). (8) A stranger buys not such things as he cannot carry with him; he doth not buy trees, house, household stuff, but jewels and pearls, and such things as are portable. Our greatest care should be to get the jewels of the covenant, the graces of God's Spirit, those things that will abide with us. (1Jn 2:15-note, 1Jn 2:16-note, 1Jn 2:17-note Jas 4:4-note) (9) A stranger's heart is in his country; so is a saint's. (Mt 6:21-note Mt 6:24-note Mt 6:33-note) (10) A stranger is inquisitive after the way, fearing lest he should go amiss, so is a Christian. (Ps 111:10-note, Pr 1:7 2:5 8:13 9:10 10:27 14:26 27 15:16 33 16:6 19:23 22:4 23:17 2Co 5:11-note, 2Co 7:1-note Eccl 12:13, 14 Rev 14:7-note) (11) A stranger provides for his return, as a merchant, that he may return richly laden. So we must appear before God in Zion. What manner of persons ought we to be? Let us return from our travel well provided. (Mt 6:19, 20-note Lk 12:33 Moses in He 11:26-note 1Pe 1:4-note 1Ti 4:7,8-note) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/hebrews_1113-16.htm#s