Wrapping It All Up

How to Study the Bible April 8, 2015

Wrapping It All Up

Know It, Work It, Live It Page 1

Last Week We Looked At:

Book Study with Zechariah

Doctrinal study

Character study

And we had left

Passage study

Word study

We took a look at Romans 1:1-7 as our first example of a passage study

Romans 1:1–7

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We worked through it and came up with some words that jumped out

Bond Servant

Called

Set apart

Gospel

Grace

So let’s take a look at the first word on the list

______

Romans 1:1

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God… (NASB95)

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— (NIV)

“Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, κλητὸς ἀπόστολος ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ,” (Romans 1:1, NA28)

The word in the Greek is δοῦλος

So let’s work this

The term bond servant shows up in the NASB version of the Bible ______times in ______verses

All of those references are in the New Testament and are in relation of ones relationship to the Lord

The first time we see it used, it is of a individual who understands the term from an Old Testament perspective

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Luke 2:25–32

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel.” (NASB95)

Notice what her referred to himself as…your (God’s) ______

Is this an Old Testament concept?

Let’s look at another place we see the term, James 1:1

James 1:1

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. (NASB95)

Ἰάκωβος θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος ταῖς δώδεκα φυλαῖς ταῖς ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ χαίρειν.” (NA28)

The word again is ______but the Greek term is again δοῦλος

What does δοῦλος mean?

1401. δοῦλος dŏulŏs, doo´-los; from 1210; a slave (lit. or fig., invol. or vol.; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency):—bond (-man), servant.

James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 24.

One who is solely committed to another, slave…slaves are duty-bound only to their owners or masters, or those to whom total allegiance is pledged.

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 260.

When Paul speaks of himself as a slave of Jesus Christ or of God in Ro 1:1, Ga 1:10, and Tt 1:1, the term δοῦλος focuses attention primarily upon his belonging to Christ or to God. There are probably also important positive overtones, since in some languages of the ancient Middle East a phrase meaning ‘slave of the king’ or ‘servant of the king’ had become the title of an important person in the government.

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 740.

For example, in the Septuagint, this very word is used of Moses and other messengers of God, like the Prophets, who exercise spiritual authority. He is using the term in the sense of the Jewish usage that gave him spiritual authority as a messenger of God. The word also has the concept of bond-slave. The bond-slave in the Mosaic Law was a slave who became a permanent slave on a voluntary basis, not because he had to become one. James was a bond-servant of two masters. First, of God, meaning the Father, and second, of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning God the Son.

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Jewish Epistles: Hebrews, James, First Peter, Second Peter, Jude, 1st ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2005), 211.

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Ok, so what do we know so far?

The term is a very strong term…______

It is used within the meaning of what that term means in the middle east in ______

Remember, we have to deal with the term in the context of the ______, not the context of the ______.

We are still working fully on that context.

We also learned that there is more to the term from an Old Testament concept.

Slave could be someone who has ______themselves into the situation.

In the 1700s it was called indentured servitude. What can scripture tell us?

Exodus 21:2–6

If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently. (NASB95)

In the LXX δουλεύειν is the most common term for the service of God, not in the sense of an isolated act, but in that of total commitment to the Godhead. In this light we can understand why the word cannot be used without specifying to whom the service is rendered.

Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 267.

It is also the reason why those men in the history of Israel who have satisfied the divine claim on them in an outstanding and exemplary manner are given the honorary title of δοῦλοι e.g., Moses (Jos. 14:7 A; Jos. Ant., 5, 39); Joshua (Jos. 24:29; Ju. 2:8); Abraham (ψ 104:42); David (ψ 88:3 etc.); Isaac (Δα. 3:35); the prophets (4 Βασ‌. 17:23 etc.); and finally Jacob == Israel as the people of God (Is. 48:20 etc.). This shows us that any other attitude towards God than that of δουλεύειν implies disobedience and betrayal of His cause.

Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 268.

The Greek city state depended on the service of citizens, and these gave their service with all their powers and even with life itself. What is repudiated is service after the manner of the δοῦλος, who not only has no possibility of evading the tasks laid upon him but who also has no right of personal choice, who must rather do what another will have done, and refrain from doing what another will not have done. In the δοῦλος the free Greek world always sees its own antitype, and in δουλεύειν it sees the perversion of its own nature. Hence the Greek can only reject and scorn the type of service which in inner or outer structure bears even the slightest resemblance to that of the slave.

Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 261–262.

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The word is doulos (δουλος), the most abject, servile term used by the Greeks to denote a slave. The word designated one who was born as a slave, one who was bound to his master in chords so strong that only death could break them, one who served his master to the disregard of his own interests, one whose will was swallowed up in the will of his master. Paul was born a slave of sin at his physical birth, and a bondslave of his Lord through regeneration. The chords that bound him to his old master Satan, were rent asunder in his identification with Christ in the latter’s death. The chords that bind him to his new Master will never be broken since the new Master will never die again, and is Paul’s new life.

Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), Ro 1:1.

By referring to himself as a bond servant, Paul is pulling in not only the ______references but at the same time he is showing to the world he ministers in, that which is oriented towards Greek culture, that what he is also proposing is ______

Being a bond servant is a ______

This voluntary act that Paul made was made because the one who he served is also the one whom he loves. This one has and will continue to supply all of the things he will need to live life

______of his needs will be met by this voluntarily entered relationship and will be met for life.

By accepting what Christ did for him on the cross, Paul was set free from the ______, he was literally purchased by Jesus Christ out of the slave market of sin and then set free

As a result of this freedom, Paul willingly made himself a bond servant of the one who set him free

By extension, for us as believers, when we gave our allegiance to Jesus Christ and gave up on trying to do it alone, we identified with Him as our master. We willingly entered into the relationship of a bond servant, a slave. Not in any concept other than that which was shown to us through the scripture beginning in Exodus

He ______as well from the slave market of sin

He then set us free, we are no longer bound to the life we used to have, we are free from that life, we no longer have to sin, we can choose, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to do something different

A bond servant, a slave, a doulos, as per the scripture, is one of complete obedience and reliance upon the master. But it is a relationship that is entered into willingly with eyes open. It is entered into because of the love we have for the master, who has further promised to not only take care of us in this life, but has promised that we are fellow heirs with Him, we are much more than doulos By using the word δοῦλος before mentioning his apostleship Paul emphasizes that the authority he exercises is a derived authority. He is a humble servant of Christ, whose will he endeavors to fulfill.

Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, vol. 6, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 32.

We are bond servants of Jesus Christ, we are following ______

Philippians 2:5–7

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (NASB95)

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Jesus Christ identified Himself as a bond servant of God

Again, a willing servant, not a forced servant

A loving relationship, not a forced relationship

A relationship with the one who truly freed us from slavery

Let’s move this to modern terminology

We are appointed by Jesus Christ to be His ______to this lost and dying world. We have been given the privilege to be His ambassadors and to be His hands and feet in the rescuing of those who are lost

Just as there were those who were the “slaves of the emperor serving Rome” and acting in the role of ambassadors, governors, etc.

We, as citizens of heaven, yet still residing here, are privileged to be His ______

The beauty of doing a word study is you can really dig into all that the word or term truly means within scripture.

We are able to look at examples from the scripture as well as from the culture in the time period to conclude and then apply the meaning to us today.

How can we look at words when we do this?

Words can be studied etymologically. The knowledge of the components of a word and its formation may be instrumental in unlocking its meaning. Words can be studied comparatively. Words usually occur many places in Scripture and tracing a word through a concordance is basic home work for good exegesis.

Bernard L. Ramm, “Biblical Interpretation,” ed. Ralph G. Turnbull, Baker’s Dictionary of Practical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1967), 102.

We can also look at them ______, such as we just did.

At times, it may be important to look at them ______

This helps also to keep you locked into the context

As we approached this, we also learned that this can be a part of a passage study, or any other type of study we mentioned before

We will be better interpreters when we understand words and their usage. Authors make choices in the communication process, and it is our task to understand the choices they have made. Our goal is to be on their wavelength. Word study is a step in the process of exegesis; it does not comprise the whole. The authority of the Scriptures is not found in words, though each word has an important role to play; rather, the authority is embodied in the message.