They Called Themselves Slave

Brown Donald

Description

An incorrect translation of doulos misleads the faithful Christian desiring to draw closer and closer in a faithful relations with their Lord and Savior.

The book is an easily readable book which shows that the English translation of dolos (slave) as servant (diakonos) is incorrect. The argument put forth is well documented, researched, and clearly presented to those of any religious or non-religious persuasion and academic level.



“Interpretation is an explanation of what is not immediately plain in the Bible…because of the multifaceted character of the Bible, and its interpretation takes a variety of forms. …A basic requirement for the understanding of these documents is the grammatico–historical interpretation or exegesis bringing out of the text the meaning the writer intended to convey and which their readers were expected to gather from it…the meaning of the text for hearers today must be related to its meaning for the hearers to whom it was first addressed.”

F. F. Bruce



“Scholars who deal seriously with literary texts have a name for texts that do not correspond to the actual words of an author. Such a text is called a corrupt text. It is defined as a text that has been changed from its original and reliable form to something different from that standard—a text that has been altered from the original, intentionally or unintentionally.”

Leland Ryken

Sujets

• Biblical Studies
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664205543
• Langue: English

Extrait

They Called Themselves Slave
 
A Brief Study of the English Translation of the Koinē Greek Word doūlos (slave) in the New Testament in the Context of Love and Obedience
 

 
Donald Brown
 
 

Copyright © 2022 Donald Brown.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
The cover is a photograph of a painting by Albert Gustaf Aristedes Edelfelt (1854-1905) courtesy of Lisa van der Plas https://flic.kr/p/bJTddB bJTddB. MS van der Plas has graciously released her photograph into the public domain.
 
Scripture quotations are] from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
 
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-0555-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-0556-7 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-0554-3 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020917629
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 06/09/2022
Dedication
All who know me and the story of my efforts to write this book know, without a doubt, that the completion of writing this book is a consequence of the ministry of God the Holy Spirit guiding and directing my efforts to obey him. In my mind, this is his book. Alongside the Holy Spirit, the loving support of my helpmate Diane, encouraging me each step of the way, is a testimony of her love for me. Without her encouragement, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit this book would have never seen the light of day. Even when I diverted my attention to other things, the Holy Spirit graciously worked through Diane and many others to constantly encourage me to continue working on the manuscript. In the initial days of writing this book, my thanks go to Timothy Frieberg for his invaluable patience helping me make the transition from WordPerfect to MSWord. In the final days of editing the manuscript, my special thanks to Dian Ray for her valuable assistance. Also, very special thanks to Professor John M. G. Barclay, University of Durham, who helped me focus on the book’s purpose: to equip the douloi Christou Iēsou (slaves of Christ Jesus) to faithfully fulfill their baptismal promises as they live out their gifts for ministry.
May God be glorified, honored, and praised with the publication of this study.
Donald Brown +
Pascha 2022
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
 
Chapter 1 Beginnings
Chapter 2 What Do The Texts Say?
Chapter 3 Citations of Texts Containing the Literal and Metaphorical Use of doulos and diakonos and Cognates
Chapter 4 Loving Obedient Slaves
Chapter 5 Conclusion
 
Epilogue
Bibliography
 
Appendix A–Part A
Table of each instance of doūlos and diakonos with cognates as translated in the Vulgate and three early English Bibles.
Appendix A–Part B
Table of each instance of doūlos and diakonos with cognates as translated in in four current English Bibles.
Appendix B
Canonical Books of the Bible with Apocrypha
Appendix C
Instances of 2 Corinthians 4:2 Translation in 60 English Bibles
Abbreviations
ABD. The Anchor Bible Dictionary
AGNT. Analytical Greek New Testament
AINT. A An Introduction to the New Testament
AV. Authorized Version (KJV)
BAGD. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
ca., circa. approximate date
cf. compare or “see also”
CED. Collins English Dictionary
CLD. Cassell’s Latin Dictionary
CNTG. Concordance to the Novum Testamentum Graece
GDNTT. Greek Dictionary of New Testament Theology
EDT. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology
GELNT. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
GNT. Koinē Greek New Testament
ISBE. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
KJV. King James Version (AV)
LXX. Septuagint [the Koinē Greek Old Testament]
MT. Masoretic text of the Hebrew Old Testament
NIDNTT. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology
NIV. New International Version of the OT and NT (English)
NT. New Testament (English)
NTW. New Testament Words
NRSV. New Revised Standard Version of the OT and NT Bible (English)
NAGENT. Nestle-Aland Greek-English New Testament
OED. Oxford English Dictionary
OSB. Orthodox Study Bible
OT. Old Testament (English)
PGL. Patristic Greek Lexicon
RSV. Revised Standard Version (of the OT and NT Bible)
TDNT. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
TDNTA. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Abridged
WPNT. Word Pictures in the New Testament
Introduction
Some years ago, after Evening Prayer, I had a casual conversation with Fr. Ed Murphy, the then Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Merced, California, where I was regularly worshipping at the time. In that conversation, he commented on a particular passage in the New Testament. He said that the correct translation of a particular word in the text was “slave,” not “servant . ” He pointed out that in almost all instances in English Bibles, the English translation of the Koinē Greek word doῡlos is “servant;” however, the Koinē Greek word for “servant” is diakonos . God used that casual conversation to prick my curiosity. From that time forward, I had an insatiable curiosity about doūlos and why it had consistently been translated in English translation as “servant” instead of “slave.”
As my initial response to this revelation went from simple curiosity to intentional research of the Koinē Greek word doῡlos , I became more and more convinced that God wanted me to produce the fruits of that research and study in the form of this book. I confess I have not always been obedient to God’s call to put my thoughts down on paper (read computer), but he is merciful, and at long last, by his grace and the leading and direction of the indwelling Holy Spirit, I have completed the study after numerous lengthy interruptions, diversions, and detours [chasing too many rabbits down too many rabbit trails]. Along the way, I began to think about how different my relationship might have been with my Lord and Savior if I had lived out a life of a loving, faithful, obedient, humble, loyal enslavement to Jesus, the Christ? Would the Church, the body of called-out believers, be different from what we find today if all of its members embraced the reality that we are called to be loving, faithful, obedient, humble, loyal slaves of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master?
It is important for the understanding of the thrust of this study of doūlos, that the sense of the term in the Koinē Greek New Testament is metaphorical except where the text is clear that the term is used literally . Chapter 3 will help those who may not have a clear understanding of the use of metaphor in the Greek or English New Testament. Up until recent times the RSV was the only English Bible that translated doūlos as “slave” [some 42 times out of 126 instances].
Here, in the beginning, I categorically state that this book is written for all the lay folk in the pews of their local worshiping congregations or parish churches, especially those who have had no formal training in reading Koinē Greek. Some of you will not know, but many will know, this is the language in which the Septuagint (LXX 1 ) and the Greek New Testament were originally written. The reader will find a few Koinē Greek words in the text, but do not despair. I have provided English transliterations and translations for those terms so that the reader will not get lost or feel this book is too scholarly and beyond their language capabilities. I purposefully included some Koinē Greek terms because it is necessary for the argument I will be presenting to be more comprehensible. I also believe that learning a bit of the original language used by the human authors of Holy Scripture will benefit our life in Christ.
It is a well-known fact that words in every language change in meaning and usage over time. Each of us could suggest one or more terms that have changed in the course of our lifetime. However, while we might all agree with the above, we also need to take notice that even though some might wish to take a term and change its definition and usage, claiming “current usage,” some important biblical and theological words, for Jews and Christians alike, need