Hausvater: /HAUS-fah-ter/
noun (German)
1. Housefather.
2. Spiritually responsible head of household, including the housefather as assisted by the housemother.
>> Example: "As the Hausvater should teach it [Christian doctrine] to the entire family ..."
(Martin Luther, Small Catechism, 1529)
It was in the bosom of the family that Jesus performed His first miracle [i.e., turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana]. He begins in this narrow circle. There is an object-lesson in this fact. The family is the Church and State in miniature.
Johannes Ylvisaker, The Gospels: A Synoptic Presentation of the Text of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John with Explanation Notes (1905; trans., Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1932), 137.
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