A House Built on Rock

Mat 7:24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them is like a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it did not fall: for it was founded upon a rock.

The word translated as "hears" is akouo, which means "having the ability to hear," "to hear," "to understand," and "to learn." The word translated as "sayings" is logos, which in Greek means "words." The word translated as "does" is poieo, which meads "to do," "to make," or "to produce." The word translated as "is like" is homoioo, which means both "to be made like," "to liken or compare to," or "to be like." The word translated as "wise" is phronimos, which means "to be in one's right mind," "to be prudent," and "to be sensible." It refers to a practical wisdom. A person with this quality knows how to take care of his or her interests.

In the first part of this verse, Christ is telling us that when we learn from his words, we are both "like" and "made like" someone who is prudent and sensible. He is specifically saying that he is imparting practical wisdom not just spiritual wisdom.

The world translated as "built" is oikodomeo, which means "to build" specifically a house, but is also a metaphor meaning "to found," "to edify," and "to build up." The word translated as "house" is oikia, which is the root for the previous word. It means a dwelling or the family in a dwelling, but it also means "property" in general. The word used for "rock," petras, is also a metaphor for "firmness" and "hard-heartedness."

In the second part of the first verse, we are being told that a prudent person builds up his house, his family, and property on something that is solid, but also has a certain toughness. Christ's teaching is often confused with a certain soft-heartedness, but though Christ teaches us to care deeply about other people, his teaching isn't easy. It is tough. It takes a firmness and resolution to hold to it.

In the second verse, all the disasters are translated in the past tense, but the actual tense of these verbs is what is called the "aorist" tense, which has no sense of past, present, or future.
These misfortunes "beat upon" the house, but the term used in Greek is prospipto, which means literally "fall onto." It is a play on the house that doesn't "fall" or pipto. The term translated as "was founded" is themelioo, which means literally to be built upon a firm foundation.

In this verse, Christ is saying that, though misfortunes are bound to fall upon us, we do not have to fall with them. Our foundation can hold us up, but here, that foundation is not faith, but understanding of the knowledge that Christ is teaching us.

These two verses were one of the reasons I began studying the words of Christ more closely.