Churches are societies devoted to God, called out of the world, taken in out of the common to be enclosures for God: he hath set them apart for himself; and because he hath chosen them, they also have chosen him, and set themselves apart for him. The Jewish church was separated to God for a peculiar people, a kingdom of the priests.
Thus our houses must be churches; with ourselves we must give our houses to the Lord, to be for him for a name and a people. All the interest we have, both in our relations and in our possessions, must be consecrated to God; as under the law all that the servant had was his master’s forever, after he had consented to have his ear bored to the door-post. When God effectually called Abram out of Ur, to the Chaldees, his family put on the face of a particular church; for in obedience to God’s precept, and in dependence on God’s promise, they took all the substance they had gathered, and should they had gotten and put themselves and their all under a divine conduct and government, Gen. xii. 5. His was a great family, not only numerous, but very considerable, the father of it was the father of all them that believe; but even little families, jointly and entirely given up to God, so become churches. When all the members of the family yield themselves to God, subscribe with their hands, to be the Lord’s, and surname themselves with the name of Israel, and the master of the family, with himself, gives up all right, title and interest, in his house, and all that belongs to it, unto God, to be used for him and disposed of by him, here is a church in the house.
—Matthew Henry, “Church in the house”