DOULOS QEOU

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Jan 6 16:33:25 EST 2000


At 11:11 PM +0200 1/6/00, Kevin Smith wrote:
>Dear friends
>
>While working on Titus 1:1, I found that the noun phrase DOULOS QEOU is
>used four times in the NT:
>    Acts 16:17 - hOUTOI hOI ANQRWPOI DOULOI TOU QEOU TOU hUYISTOU EISIN
>    Titus 1:1 - PAULOS DOULOS QEOU
>    Rev 7:3 - ACRI SFAGISWMEN TOUS DOULOUS TOU QEOU hHMWN
>    Rev 15:3 - ...MWUSEWS, TOU DOULOU TOU QEOU
>
>RE: Acts 16:17. What connotations would the designation 'slaves of the
>Most High God' have coming from the slave girl? Would it be a derogatory
>or complimentary description?
>
>RE: Rev 7:3. The two plurals (Acts 16, Rev 7) both occur in contexts where
>the reference could be to preachers (In Rev 7 this is, like most things in
>Rev, debatable.). Is it possible that DOULOI QEOU means 'slaves of God' in
>the sense of 'those who do God's work'? Or is 'servants of God' in Rev 7:3
>simply another way of saying 'believers'?
>
>RE: Rev 15:3. If DOULOI QEOU = 'those who do God's work', then Moses would
>be an example par excellence; hence hO DOULOS TOU QEOU. Could this be the
>regular force of the singular? I know it is used in the LXX to designate
>some of the 'great men of God,' but I don't have the Gramcord LXX to check
>it out thoroughly.

A lot might be said about Paul's usage of DOULOS IHSOU CRISTOU also, but in
fact, the phrase DOULOS QEOU surely has its roots in one of the most
fundamental Exodus conceptions, that Israel is released from bondage
(AVODAH, servitude) to Pharaoh in order to become a servant/slave of Yahweh
(EVED-YHWH). The supreme expression of this conception in the OT is the the
poetic images of the suffering Servant of God in Isaiah 40-55.

-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu 
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