Open your homes translates a Greek present participle (literally “being hospitable”) which has the imperative force. Hospitality was a very important trait in the ancient world and became doubly important for Christians for many reasons. For one thing, Christian missionaries had to travel from place to place and were usually dependent on the local Christian residents for their food and lodging. For another thing, Christians were often denied the support of pagan relatives and friends and so had to look to their fellow Christians for their basic needs. Furthermore, because of the absence of church buildings, the Christian homes were used for worship (compare Rom 16.5; 1 Cor 16.10; Col 4.15). While Peter may have had in mind the Christian missionary or itinerant preacher, perhaps he is referring primarily to the local situation, and this is indicated by his addition of the phrase “to one another.” This reference to the local situation also provides a natural transition to his discussion of church duties in the next two verses.

Open your homes to each other may be expressed as “receive each other as guests” or “welcome one another as guests in your homes.” It is possible that in such a rendering as “welcome one another” the implication would be simply visiting one another within the same Christian community. The implication of this expression seems to be somewhat wider, and therefore it may be better to translate Open your homes to each other as “welcome fellow Christians into your home.”

Practicing hospitality is often a demanding, irritating, and tiring task. So Peter adds that this should be done without complaining. The word for complaining includes the idea of murmuring, grumbling, or displeasure; the sense of the whole expression can be expressed also positively, for example, “with gladness” (Beare). Without complaining may require in some languages an expression of direct discourse, since the verb complaining implies some type of content, for example, “without saying, It is too much trouble” or “and not say, This is so difficult to do.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .