Slave
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δοῦλος names a slave or bond-servant, someone under another’s authority. Because the word can refer to actual enslaved persons and also to devoted service under God or Christ, it must be handled with care.
Reader summary
Full entry for δοῦλος (G1401) · Open the biblical lexicon
δοῦλος names a slave or bond-servant, someone under another’s authority. Because the word can refer to actual enslaved persons and also to devoted service under God or Christ, it must be handled with care.
The BSB source-word alignment has 126 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include servant (42), servants (34), a servant (11), slaves (10), slave (8).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (30), Luke (26), Revelation (14), John (11).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
δοῦλος names a slave or bond-servant, someone under another’s authority. Because the word can refer to actual enslaved persons and also to devoted service under God or Christ, it must be handled with care. In the Pastoral Epistles, Paul addresses enslaved persons under the yoke, calls himself a servant of God, describes the Lord’s servant as gentle and able to teach, and instructs slaves in household settings.
These passages do not make slavery morally good. They speak into real social conditions while also using servant identity to describe belonging to the Lord. The word helps readers distinguish coercive human bondage from glad allegiance to Christ, who Himself took the form of a servant.
δοῦλος carries both literal and theological weight. The Pastoral Epistles use it for enslaved persons in household instructions, for Paul as God’s servant, and for the Lord’s servant who teaches with gentleness. Canonical anchors show Christ taking servant form, believers belonging to Christ, and final worship rendered by God’s servants. The word must be interpreted with moral care and contextual precision.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness,
Paul identifies himself as a servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ. Servant identity frames apostolic authority as belonging to God.
And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind, able to teach, and forbearing. Servant identity shapes the manner of ministry.
All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited.
Paul addresses those under the yoke of slavery with concern for God’s name and teaching. The verse speaks into a social condition without making that condition righteous.
Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,
Household instructions address slaves under masters. The passage must be read as pastoral instruction within a fallen social order, not as approval of slavery.
But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Christ took the form of a servant in His humiliation. Servant language reaches its highest pattern in the incarnate humility of the Son.
Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul says that pleasing people would contradict being a servant of Christ. Servant identity means allegiance to Christ above human approval.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him.
In the new creation, God’s servants worship Him before His throne. Servanthood reaches its redeemed end in unhindered worship.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Complete loss of personal autonomy and will to a master; metaphorically, enslavement to sin or Christ.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 127 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read versea male slave
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 10 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 8 selected witnesses from 126 lexical occurrence verses.
δοῦλος is built from this root:
Paul’s self-description as a δοῦλος of God underscores that his authority in the letter is not self-appointed but derived from total submission to God’s rule, modeling the humble posture expected of all Christian leaders.1 Timothy 6:1-2
It frames Paul’s identity and all Christian service as total allegiance to Christ.James 1:1
Illustrates the shift of allegiance from sin’s mastery to righteousness.John 8:31–47
Describes kingdom leadership.Mark 10:35–45
Describes universal bondage to sin.Romans 1:1-7
Frames James’s authority as derived and submissive, shaping how the whole letter is to be received.Romans 6:15-23
The gospel addresses believers within real social constraints, not in abstraction.James 1:1
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
δοῦλος requires more care than a simple gloss can provide. In some passages it refers to actual enslaved persons living under masters. Those texts speak pastorally into a broken social order and must not be turned into moral endorsement of slavery. In other passages, Paul calls himself a servant of God, and the Lord’s servant is marked by gentleness, teaching ability, patience, and refusal to quarrel.
Philippians gives the deepest Christological frame: the Son took the form of a servant. The word therefore carries both the pain of human bondage and the glory of belonging wholly to Christ. Faithful teaching must preserve that distinction while showing that Christian freedom expresses itself in service to the Lord.
2Tim.2.24
δοῦλος is a noun for a slave or bond-servant. English renderings vary because some contexts emphasize social slavery while others emphasize devoted service or belonging. Interpreters should not hide the slavery sense where the text addresses enslaved persons, nor should they flatten every theological use into social slavery.
Scripture remembers Israel’s bondage and God’s deliverance, condemns oppression, and also calls God’s people His servants. The New Testament intensifies this by placing believers under Christ’s lordship and by showing the Son’s own servant-shaped humiliation.